1,331Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, The Gamer or any other familiar characters.
Quick A/N: I've been able to secure some pockets of stillness in my everyday life, enough of them to revisit old hobbies like writing fantasy. You'll find this chapter's shorter and somewhat varying in style, but, as we all know, the ideal number of revisions and corrections is always one more than one anticipates.
Chapter 15 – Enemy Mine.
"Good to see you back, Kioshi."
"Yeah, it took you some time."
"More than I would've liked," I answered. "But less than I feared."
"Well, in time to begin my training." That was Kuraki.
"You're still suspicious?"
Sarai shook her head. "No, but it's still uncomfortable. I think I rely too much on sensing chakra."
"I know what you mean," I answered. I had discovered my shadow clones could also suppress their signature individually.
The door opened and the Commander entered the room. "ANBU, please check your soles."
"Clean," we answered one by one other after checking our shoes.
The Commander nodded and walked between the white, worn-down folding chairs toward the low podium at the front. The door closed behind us with a heavy sound.
"The last time we were all here together was over ten years ago," the Commander began with his raspy voice after surveying the room. He alone was wearing a mask. "And now we're all here again for the same reason. Among other things." We nodded. "So, captains, you've been informed and have heard the rumors. Dodai-sama has already given the greenlight." He crossed his arms. "Any comments?"
The captains began whispering among themselves.
"Another Fuse. Blade, suiton and genjutsu; quite skilled at them," I said. "And has earned the rookies unwavering loyalty, too.".
"None of us has much to say about Negai's skill or merits, Commander," Masanobu added. "We've got a perfect Seven."
"Was about time, too."
"Then it's settled, you'll be ten again. I'll get the papers done. Now, about new volunteers." The Commander unsealed a collection of thin manila folders from a small scroll.
"More recruits already?" Takamori asked. "How many?"
"And they volunteered?" Danjuro added.
"Six chunin," the Commander answered, handing over the dossiers, "and three green jonin."
"We're nearing forty-six ANBU already, in spite of the losses last month. I was under the impression Dodai-sama was assigning regular jonin and chunin to the new patrols," I said somewhat confused. "Why more ANBU?"
The amount of work and funds invested in getting a rookie to ANBU level was far from inconsequential. A chunin under ANBU training was quickly promoted to jonin and could easily outclass a regular shinobi, and that was costly. Was the Raikage preparing for some sort of conflict?
The Land of Lighting had always held pride about its strength and its way of living. Quality over quantity, we liked to say. And now, with few missions abroad for the ANBU, they aimed to increase both.
"Are we arming up, Commander?" Sarai asked as the Commander finished passing the dossiers.
"Same answer as last time, Sarai. 'Preparing for the worst' and 'take a look around.' Dodai-sama convinced A-sama and the counselors on Monday."
"What's the worst, then?" Danjuro asked.
"That's when he repeated 'take a look around.' But next semester's outline will come by the end of the week, so I expect an increase in domestic missions up north."
I skimmed through the dossiers while following the conversation, pausing at a particular one.
"Who got your eye, Kioshi?"
"This girl. Outspoken, Brash, and Impulsive… and her abilities are nothing of note for her age."
"She's recommended by both Samui and Atsui."
"But why?" I pressed.
"She recently lost a teammate, which forced her head in the game. She's been growing steadily."
What? "Who died?"
"Remember that scroll mission to Kakuri in Yuki? It was her teammate who took a kunai to the chest," the Commander answered. "Kid's name was Omoi. A chunin and an orphan just like her."
I remembered the talks over that mission, but no names had been mentioned. I felt a shiver crawl down my spine. How much had I changed already? Bee had not trained them, and now Omoi was dead and Karui was applying to the ANBU.
"She's been cleared by the psychology unit," Maeko added after skimming through her file. "We should give her her chance."
"Oh, by the way, Ochiyo asked for advanced nodachi training, Takamori. There're also three others in line to up their genjutsu and are asking for you, Kioshi."
"Sure, I'll give them the rundown on advanced theory first. Are you up for practice dummy duty, Sarai?"
"I'll volunteer for that," Kuraki cut in. "I need to dust off my genjutsu game. Besides, we'll begin your own training tomorrow, so it'll be a good way to observe you."
Quest Created:
You will find spirits never raise.
ANBU Mission - Find the mind behind the northern operation.
Rewards:
40000 Exp, S-rank standard payment.
Its antlers were more of a hindrance than the cold, the light snow or the wind. It was these trees, too lanky and robust, and abundant, that slowed down its movement.
The cotton-ball clouds overhead were losing their sunrise pink, and the deep white covering the ground now glistened. I crouched on a branch up one of the pine trees with my chakra signature suppressed, watching the summoning animal race up the treacherous slope to the Kokusai mountain pass.
Its steps were careless, the creature was unused to deep snow. Its head turned from one side to the other, its recklessness unmistakable. Its chakra signature was weakening. It was running out of time.
'Observe'
Name: Maruyama, the Golden Deer
Level: -
Age: 44
Maruyama was once considered the most noble of the Sumido clan. A reserved individual, Maruyama's life has been marked by the persistent fading of his clan's traditions to conflicts both internal and Mist's.
Relationship level: Bad.
There was no one else around. No other name windows or signature at all. The closest settlement, a minor port on the northern edge of the Ice Coast at the foot of the so-called Witches' Mountain Range, was a day's walk down the twisting gravel road several miles away. More after the heavy snowstorm two nights ago blanketed the area.
I channeled a small amount of chakra to a certain point on the right side of my head as I jumped down. My boots dug in the snow with a crunching sound.
Ding!
Condition Lost: Chakra Suppressed [Fully].
The stag's head turned, straightening his neck and withers, and raising its muzzle with a royal demeanor, unbothered by the snow that covered his spotted gold-and-chestnut fur.
I stood in front of him, waiting for another reaction for a moment, but none came.
"Why is a summoning animal from the Land of Water roaming these woods alone?" I asked aloud, my eyes set on his form.
His head moved slightly to the side, and his left eye then focused on me. "Shinobi-san," his authoritative voice broke the silence, mist emanating from his mouth.
"Are you looking for someone or something?" I asked when he said nothing more. "Or are you in need of help?"
He huffed a long breath with his muzzle still held high. "Would you help us, shinobi-san? Ones who you might call an enemy now or future wars?"
"If you're not here to harm my people, we're not enemies," I answered. "Not today."
Another pause followed. "My summoner was attacked. She's gravely wounded and nearly out of spirit. She fled up the mountains."
"By whom?"
"She was too weak to speak," the stag replied, his front leg stomping down the snow.
"Take me to her," I said nodding. "I can help her."
The stag huffed again. He turned and set a frantic pace descending back through the woods heading north. I could sense the chakra coursing through his legs. I followed close.
"How long ago did she summon you?"
"Nearly a half of your hours."
We reached the end of the thick woods ten minutes later, where the mountainside sloped down drastically. At the edge of my senses a metal signature became apparent. A small name window popped up at the distance a few seconds later.
'Observe.'
Name: Akiho Uzumaki.
Level: 24
Age: 16
Abandoned as a small child and ignorant of her lineage, Akiho was raised by the women of the red-light district of Chita in the Land of Water. Eventually, she managed to escape the country.
Relationship level: Neutral.
"An Uzumaki," I blurted out.
"Yes," the stag answered.
We found her in the underbrush, her back leaning against a small, lonely tree, with her knees against her chest. Her arms were limp to her sides, but her right hand was gripping a bloody nakiri kitchen knife. She was wearing civilian clothing far too slim for the cold and the falling snow that had begun to cover her figure. Her chakra felt like blue and green and dead leaves on a rainy morning, but there was so little of it.
After double-checking for any signatures or name windows around, I laid my hand on her head, noticing the clearly Uzumaki-red roots between the black hair. I channeled chakra to get a quick diagnosis, feeling the coldness of her ghostly pale skin.
"She's still alive but her heartbeat's weak," I said crouching down after focusing for a few seconds. "We have to get her warm."
I lifted her up, careful of her clearly broken left arm. I gestured to the stag to follow and ran back up the mountain and into the woods. A few hundred yards in I found a small outcrop between the trees with a clear ledge.
-120 Chakra.
A bit of earth chakra into the ground through the soles of my boots and the rock gave way, forming a medium-sized cave with a narrow entrance. I entered and let down the girl on the center.
'Kage bunshin no jutsu.'
Five shadow clones puffed into existence. One stuck a white-light chakra seal to the ceiling—a seal designed to burn brightly for twenty minutes and used mostly for field surgery—and activated it immediately, one knelt next to her head and put one hand over her temple and the other under her neck to disable most nerve fiber responses, pain included, and monitoring possible chakra fluctuations. The third clone knelt to her right and laid his hands between her breasts, controlling her heartbeat and blood pressure but, more importantly, also channeling fire-natured chakra to warm her up.
The fourth clone began scanning her body meticulously. "She's got cuts all over, from a kunai most likely, judging by the angular incisions. Some bruises and cracked bones, looks like from water jutsu; her clothes are drenched and almost frozen. Two ribs are shattered. Her left arm's the most critical. She's lost a lot of blood," he said as his hands hovered around over her body.
I knelt to her left, then carefully straightened her broken arm to her side. The fifth clone knelt by me and swiftly cut her blood-drenched sleeve with one of the scalpels I kept in my inventory. We both flinched at was under it. The wound was severe. It was a bone-deep gash five inches long and swollen, the lower part of her humerus protruded between the torn muscles. An open comminuted fracture that still was bleeding. I fought the shiver that crawled up my back.
The clone unsealed a bottle sterilizing liquid and cleaned his hands before pouring some over my own, then he unsealed some saline solution and began irrigating the wound.
I held the girl's left arm by the elbow and stabilized the broken bone, then my clone took over and held her arm in traction while I focused on cleaning the laceration. First removing remnants of her sleeve and other debris, then, slowly and carefully, removing unirrigated tissue and torn bone fragments.
Five worrying minutes later, after we verified there was no critical bone defect, we aligned the bone sections, and I laid my index finger over the fragmented bone.
-100 Chakra.
The mystic palm boosted osteogenesis when applied directly to the bone, and after another five minutes of concentration and more chakra, all the pieces were welded together. A little more chakra and the bone vascular system was also restored.
My clone and I aligned the torn muscle fibers and began reconnecting and mending them, slowly, to avoid scarring. He then pulled the skin to close the wound, and I fused the flaps together with more chakra. Her arm would be weak for a couple of days while the swelling reduced and the tissue stabilized, but nothing more. We dressed the wound with bandages.
I sighed. Purifying chakra to healing chakra—meaning achieving a perfect balance between both components and altering its properties to match the recipient's—was exhausting in a very peculiar way.
A clone had just finished healing the cuts and bruises all over Akiho's body, having cut off most of her clothes. The clone monitoring her temperature had just unsealed a couple of blankets. "She's stabilizing and there's no arrhythmia. She just needs more chakra to promote plasma and blood cell genesis and she should be set."
"How's her lymph-"
The six of us turned our heads north.
"Is there a problem, shinobi-san?" the stag, who had been sitting near the entrance but had remained silent, asked.
"Four shinobi are approaching fast from the north," I said as I laid the blankets over the girl's form. "Stay beside her, you both need the warmth."
One clone ripped the light seal off the cave's ceiling, then they all dismissed themselves.
I dashed out of the cave and into the mountain woods, channeling chakra to my left temple.
Ding!
Condition Gained: Chakra Suppressed [Fully].
Quest Created:
In this ugly town.
Defeat the incoming shinobi, save the girl.
Rewards:
-
Thirty seconds later, four small name windows appeared at the center of my HUD. Two chunin and two high-level jonin—hunter nin from the Land of Water, according to their bio—were running up the mountainside. I would need to be wary of the jonin; hunter-nin were part of Kiri's ANBU, and one had a title. I had already learned not to trust the level the Gamer system displayed.
Name: Reira Ishizaka
Title: The Red Mist.
Level: 91
Age: 26
Reira is a recently promoted captain of the Hunter-nin squad of Kirigakure. Her poise and her dedication to the corps have also earned her a place among the Land of Water's most influential government figures.
Relationship level: Very Bad.
As the they moved up the mountain side through the woods, I created two clones. They sank into the ground with ease, and I waited lazily against a tree.
Their boots skidded to a stop on the snow, and the four slitted masks turned to face me.
"This is surprising," I said with an evident frown. "I have to wonder, what are Mist ANBU doing in the Land of Lightning?"
Reira, the jonin with the title and whose mask had a row of red teeth painted where her nose would be, took a step forwards, showing her unarmed and uncovered hands. Her forearms were unarmored. A probable ninjutsu expert. "Shinobi-san, we're looking for a m-"
"You know exactly what I'm asking," I cut down any excuses she would have tried to come up with. "You're trespassing international borders. Tell me how you slipped past our patrols and maybe I'll let you go home with only a warning."
They all glanced at each other before their chakra surged. In a split second, I hurled the four shinobi into the woods with the full strength of my magnet release. Reira reacted quickly and replaced herself midflight.
Hit! Critical x5
1200 DMG.
Stun Applied.
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury applied.
Target is immobilized.
Hit!
520 DMG.
Whiplash applied.
Hit!
650 DMG.
Right arm disabled.
I saw the name windows of my two clones move underground to engage the others as Reira came running from the forest without her vest, weapons, hitai-ate, and mask, but a clear sneer on her pale face.
She charged at me with a flurry of blows. Her speed surprised me. Not even Yugito was this fast without using Matatabi's chakra. I pushed back, blocking a flying knee and dodging an uppercut, but retaliating with an elbow and fast jabs. I thanked the heavens for being already very tall for my age. Reira replaced herself with a stone, and I slammed my boot onto the ground.
'Earth Release: Rock Garden.'
-440 Chakra.
She replaced herself again to dodge my rock spikes and spewed three water blobs which quickly turned to human figures before even touching the ground. They jumped away, but six magnet-release-empowered kunai were enough to dispel them. Sensing her molding chakra as she circled behind me, I again channeled chakra into the ground.
-150 Chakra.
The sturdy earthen wall was enough to stop the three fast water bullets while I rolled to the side to avoid her rock spike from the side. When my hands touched the ground beneath the thin layer of snow that covered it, I released a good chunk of chakra.
'Earth Release: Stone Forest.'
-820 Chakra.
My own spikes exploded from the ground all around me, scattering the powdered snow, uprooting the nearby trees, and dispelling the three new water clones she had just created. She replaced herself away and I rushed her with kunai in hand. A stationary and reactionary battle would stretch for too long.
Hit!
510 DMG.
Hit!
510 DMG.
-320 HP!
Hit!
510 DMG.
She feinted to the right but jumped backward, her hands going through enough hand seals to worry me. My genjutsu was faster.
'Petrifying Gaze'
-40 Chakra.
Her eyes glossed for a second and she almost dropped to one knee. My front knee strike caught her blindsided and the ensuing cracking sound confirmed a broken nose.
Hit!
610 DMG.
She flew backward, snapping a short tree, tumbling over the snow, and crashing back-first into the trunk of another.
I had already unsealed two more kunai and lunged at her, but her eyes snapped open, and, with a piercing sound, a torrent of white-hot fire surged from her mouth.
I hastily replaced myself away. She had showed earth and water, and now a fire jutsu. The last two were even opposites. I looked at her. She was getting up, breathing harshly. A water blade had forming over each of her hands. She didn't wait long and ran at me.
Ox, Dog, Dragon, Rat, Dog, Boar, Snake, Tiger: 'Kunai Shadow Clone.'
-1250 Chakra.
Flinging my two kunai, they multiplied to twenty-five. She expertly slid down the flying blades as I summoned two more to my hands.
She jumped at me after her skid, just as I replaced myself with one of my real flying kunai. Turning mid-air to compensate for the awkward momentum, I launched myself back at her using with my magnet release while channeling wind chakra to the new kunai in my hands.
-50 Chakra.
She turned to face me and swung down both water blades. My blades went through hers, severing her left arm and piercing her midsection all the way through.
-250 HP!
Hit!
530 DMG.
Critical Bleeding applied.
Left arm disabled.
Hit! Critical x5.
1500 DMG.
Spinal Cord severed.
Critical Bleeding applied.
She coughed blood over me, and as I withdrew my humming wind blade from her body, she half-smirked. Then her vest began glowing.
My hands let go the kunai and quickly formed the snake seal.
'Earth Release: Earth Spear.'
-500 Chakra.
-220 HP!
The explosion shook the area, its thundering echoed throughout the forest but settled quickly afterward. I was left standing on the bottom of a smoking shallow crater, my clothes and vest singed and my ears ringing. There was no trace of Reira, not even a drop of blood on the overturned dirt.
Enemy killed.
52200 Exp awarded.
I berated myself for my had been too close.
As the darkness of my skin receded along the earth chakra and I rolled my shoulders around, I looked down at the faint beam of pale light at the center of the shallow crater.
'Observe.'
Renge Mask
- A porcelain mask representing the goddess, Benten. Can be sold for a high price.
All jonin dropped ryo and high-quality gear, and though at times an enemy with a title left something exceptional, half seemed to be high-priced collectibles and nothing more.
I received the leftover chakra and the memories from my clones: the other jonin was dead and the chunin were incapacitated, tied to a tree with ninja wire half a mile to the west.
I shunshined to their position and removed their masks. One chunin was unconscious and the other had his eyes opened wide and his jaw clenched tight. The results of my Kanashibari genjutsu. I rested a finger on each of his temples and channeled a small amount of chakra, and his eyes frantically blinked open. His chest convulsed, gulping air into his lungs. He bared his teeth when he tried to move his dislocated shoulder and grunted after noticing my eyes on him and the kunai against his jugular notch.
"This is what we're going to do," I said, gesturing with my head to the other chunin, unconscious and tied to the tree next to him. "You're going to tell me how you got into the Land of Lightning and, maybe, I'll let you go back home with your still-breathing friend."
The placid, deep sea that was her chakra flustered. It had been regenerating for the past few hours, now nearly five times what it had been when I found her. Still too little but enough to be out of the worst. I guessed. Uzumaki were undeniably unique in that regard, yet unfortunately, there was no factual information about them in the medical literature available in Kumo.
She jolted and sat up with her eyes wide. The thick wool blanket I had covered her with was thrown away almost into the small fire I had lit. I tilted my head just in time as an ivory-colored chain pierced the packed earthen wall behind me.
"Hey, easy! Calm down!" I said, lifting my hands in surrender. "You're safe, you're okay!"
Her gaze flicked from side to side, only stopping on me after she noticed her silvery chain.
"It's okay," I repeated. "You're safe."
She blinked and shook her head. "I've got to go!" she said with a hoarse voice. "They'll be following me. Th-"
"They are dead.".
"The Red Mist's group! And she's-"
"Yes, she won't be following you."
It took a second, but her shoulders relaxed, and her eyes closed. She took a deep breath and the chakra chain still embedded to the wall behind began to recede slowly into her back. That chain had the same signature as her chakra, only it felt much denser.
'Observe.'
Chakra Chain
- A chain materialized from an Uzumaki's life force.
She pulled up the other blanket at her feet to cover her naked torso.
"Is… Did Maru find you?"
"The deer? He ran out of chakra an hour ago and poofed away." I unsealed some winter clothes and a thick cloak. We were around the same size and her small breasts wouldn't be an issue, I hoped. "He'd gone up the mountainside and stumbled into me." I tossed her the clothes and turned to face the fire.
I heard her groan. "Take it easy. I patched you up the best I could, but It'll take time for the inflammation to subside."
I sensed her standing up and stumble around. She plopped down beside me next to the fire, and I handed her a bottle of water. "Why did you save me?"
"Why wouldn't I? You're not my enemy." I looked at her eyes. "And from what I can gather, you were being chased by Yagura's shinobi because of your chakra, weren't you?"
She turned to me with her eyebrows held high.
"I'm a sensor," I said.
She stifled a yawn, covering her mouth. "The Old Mother always made the other girls at the pink salon dye my hair. She only explained why some years ago." She breathed in and swiveled her head around, stretching her neck. Her black-dyed hair, still somewhat caked with dirt and grime, twirled around.
"And you ran away?"
"I escaped poverty. They must have heard about me and tracked me here." She sighed. "If I had known they would find me I would have gone farther. Maybe to the Land of Wind. Find a small town, work in something or other." Her eyes had focused on the small dancing flames on the bonfire, her voice, though raspy, had an underlying sweetness. She blinked some tears away.
"Even so, you escaped the war."
She scoffed. "People here keep talking about a war, as if someone would win, as if it were something grand and honorable. There's no war. Some people and a few shinobi tried to stand against the Mizukage and the higher-ups, but that was all. They were all persecuted publicly and shunned. After the Kaguya, all kekkei-genkai users were driven away from the country or downright hunted and killed by shinobi or mobbed on the streets by their neighbors." Her brows furrowed, but her shoulders slumped. "There's little anyone can do anyway, nothing a low-caste girl could do but run away."
Low caste? "You're an Uzumaki. Eve-"
"I was raised by whores," she said through clenched teeth and teary eyes. "And if I paraded my red hair and my chakra, shinobi would have captured me or killed me outright!" She took a deep breath, then she exhaled a visible breath. She pulled the blanket closer to her body. "The Old Mother was right. I had no choice but to run."
We sat in silence for a while. She had been born in a country that shunned her and put a price on her head because of her blood. Well, everyone had their own tragic story, particularly in this world. But she was right: there was no proper war, contrary to what we all had assumed years ago. We've just continued to call it like that. There was no big resistance, no shinobi armies led by Mei Terumi against Yagura's tyranny. Only some rebels and some survivors. There was only suffering until someone would notice Obito's genjutsu and had a strong enough political clout to do something.
"What are your plans from here?"
"Keep surviving. Maybe they'll forget about me."
"There are more Uzumakis around. You could jo-"
"Don't even think about it!" She glared at me, her hands holding the blanket, knuckles turning white. "I won't drag anyone else into this!" She relaxed an instant after and turned back to flickering flames before us, taking deep breaths and then long drinks from the bottle of water. The bags under her eyes showed more than just physical exhaustion. More silence crept between us.
"Are you real?" She asked just above a whisper.
"Real?"
"You… have no chakra, but you killed the Red Mist. How old are you?"
An Uzumaki sensor. "I'm fourteen."
"Fourteen?" Her forehead wrinkled. "Are you a summoning creature? You have weird eyes. Am I dead?"
"I'm real, I can assure you that. Or as real as I can be." A part of me was surprised that this girl had survived for so long given the circumstances, barely out of her teens with what seemed like no proper shinobi training. "So," I pressed on, "what do you plan to do now? You'll have to relocate."
"The Land of Wind, maybe. Away from shinobi. Or I'll stay here, I've been living under your noses for two years." She turned to me. "I mean…" She was looking at me through half-closed eyes, the dark rings under them turning broader by the minute.
"I'll keep you off the record," I answered. It wouldn't be the first time. "We could offer you asylum, but I suspect the Raikage would be a little too overzealous to have an Uzumaki around. How have you avoided our sensors?"
"All I've learned is to suppress my chakra. And to control my chains somewhat. And to avoid big cities and shinobi."
"What about your summoning animal?"
"The Old Mother said she found the scroll between my blankets when I was dropped at her door," she answered. "But Maru's family knows nothing about mine. He's the one teaching me what he knows about chakra."
"There's a small farming village to the south, near the western coast," I said after a while. "It's small enough for you to keep a low profile. There's an old couple living there that owe me a big favor, they'll take you in."
"That might be good." Her eyes were near shut, and her head bobbed.
"Sleep, you look half-dead," I said, gesturing to the sleeping bag behind me. "We'll talk when you wake up."
"Move those crates to the back of the hold, kid," the burly boatswain called out loudly to me.
I nodded back and took one of the crates, faking an effort.
"So, this cold a problem for you?" he asked.
"Better than a black lung, Isao-san," I answered somewhat shyly.
"You planning on staying? We might have a place for a strong kid like you."
"Maybe," I grunted as I let the crate down over the others. "Promised my dad I'd come back to the mine if I found no job around here. Won't be coming back, I'll tell you that much."
I walked down the plank later that day into the harbor, the icy winds blowing over my back. I faked a shiver as I hurried into the administration office, up the somewhat busy road. Taiyou was the local trading company here in Sanda, the small port at the northern edge of the Ice Coast. This was the northernmost human settlement in the Land of Lightning, and the irony of the company's name was not lost on me.
There were no signs of the chunin patrols around—I had already warned them about my mission and not to take the officer in until I was done here—and he was sitting behind a shabby wooden desk at the other end of the room.
"Cold?" the man asked, taking his eyes off the ledger to fix them on me.
I nodded, rubbing my hands together and blowing on them.
"You'll get used to it. Are we all set? We need to sign the BoL."
"Isao-san said we're done for the day. Tomorrow, we'll load up the open tops and she'll be ready to sail."
He grunted back.
I moved to the hearth at the side, reaching for the teapot beside. The rest of the evening was spent playing cards with the other longshoremen and sailors, all eager to get the docked ship watered and loaded by the morning, and getting the bill of lading done so that they could get paid.
After night fell and making sure most were asleep, I got up from my futon. Taku, a young dock worker barely out of his twenties, was sleeping peacefully on the futon at the other end of the room. I silently exited the door and sneaked across the hall to leave the bunkhouse. The coldness of the night air hit my face, and I squinted. The sky was overcast and lacked its usual brightness; only the faint light bulb above the door to the logistic management office provided some relief from the darkness.
Ding!
Condition Gained: Chakra Suppressed [Fully].
Hushed voices were coming from the small storeroom to my left, where I could see three name windows floating and sense three chakra signatures. Ever so slowly, I walked over the cold stone floor of the inner garden. The hushed voices became clearer.
"- will fetch a good price on the market," a voice grunted. "Easy in, easy out."
"And what market would that be, Takuma? She didn't tell us much this time," a deep voice asked back.
"That's strange of her, that's true," the third one, a husky voice, added. "But she's never let us down."
"You both saw her," the deep voice said. "She was scared; too anxious to wait and clarify the job. What do we really know about her? Only what we've seen, and I don't like what we saw last week."
"She's never let us down," the husky voice repeated.
The first voice grunted. "And we need the money."
"I know, I know," the deep voice said and then sighed. "If she pushes this too far, it'll break our contacts. The boatman will cut us out and we can't bribe the watersharks away from that."
There was a long silence, then the deep voice said, "I'd heard that she also smuggles people past border patrols better than anyone. Word is that she traffics children now fr-"
A shushing sound followed. "We won't even think about doing that," the husky voice hissed.
That was enough for me. Both a confirmation that my target had already left, and that these people would be gone by tomorrow. They were now the local patrol's responsibility.
Quest Created:
We are eternal.
ANBU Mission – Contact and deliver the dossier to the shinobi of Sunagakure.
Rewards:
30000 Exp, S-rank standard payment.
Quest Created:
Line that's drawn between.
Deliver Akatsuki information to the Kazekage's inner circle.
Rewards:
-
I was savoring the sensation of the sun on my skin and the strata deep under the sand, stacked as a deck of card; so many different minerals extending under the mile-wide layer of earth-yellow quartz gravel plains and sand dunes. I could sense the deposits of iron sand, its oxidized version, mixed in between.
The deserts of the Land of Wind were a beautiful landscape on their own way, though this particular one, the narrow stretch of arid land bordering the eastern coast, lacked the massive dunes the innermost desert was famous for, the one in which Suna was located. The stale air still smelled of the saltiness of the sea.
We had been half-running, half-walking over the sand for the better part of the day, each focusing our wind-natured chakra to swirl gently around us, though we were not in a hurry, else I wouldn't have brought Teru along. It was a great opportunity to get him away from the monotonous early ANBU life schedule: unremitting drills and unceasing local patrols. Also, his excellent control over the wind element was just the excuse to come on this mission. This kid would go places.
For the last hour we've been walking, and he'd been talking nonstop—with his head held up high but squinting from both the yellow-orange sun and glistening sand—about his uncle's butcher shop, about dry aging and how superior it was than wet aging, and about how unreasonably expensive it was to run a boutique butcher shop in Kumo. Sometimes I wondered if Teru had a turn off button that didn't require to pull rank or shoving strangers his way.
Between his words, I could hear his jadeite drop earrings dangle along his whirling wind chakra. His mohawk-styled green hair was, obviously, disheveled, but it sparkled under the golden sunlight.
"You know, captain?" He interrupted his monologue and turned to me. "You can call it the scent of the sea we're smelling, but really, it's the smell of land. It comes from the tidal marshes, all the things that lived and died and rotted at the shore, and blows inland and out to sea."
"That adds up," I said. "This desert by itself shouldn't smell like anything; dryness smells like nothing but thirst. So, I'm trying to sense the underlying sands."
"Not all deserts feel like… just sand?" Teru half asked with a smile.
"I forget you've only advanced your Wind manipulation skills. Just as we can feel the currents and sense their flow with precision when we release chakra into the surrounding air, I can sense all the sand and gravel beneath our boots, the humidity and lack of it, the fractured bedrock at the bottom…"
"Something odd you're feeling, senpai?"
"Not really. This coastal desert feels just as I would expect, sans the smell, but they say the inland desert is ancient and full of-"
A strange sense crept on the verges of my range, moving swiftly over and through the sand. In an instant, I levitated us off the ground by our gray vests.
"Wow, hey! What gives?"
The pulse of chakra quickly went past under our feet, and immediately I realized its significance.
"Sand shinobi are coming. Only designations from now on, Thirty-seven," I said as I released him.
"Sand shinobi?" he asked putting his mask on.
I nodded, putting mine on, too.
Some seconds later, before their metal signatures became clear, I sensed a particular chakra signature which, barring differences in its flavor, felt like that flare against a black canvas I was now so used to.
"Don't make any sudden moves," I said as I took a folder from my inventory. "And try to show some respect and answer if you are questioned."
Six shinobi appeared in a shunshin a few feet away from us. Three of them wearing cloth head-wraps and masks, one carrying a big fan and another a big, bandaged bundle. The last one had a large brown corked gourd strapped to his back.
"State your purpose," one of the masked Suna shinobi said.
"Captain Eight and Thirty-Seven, ANBU from Kumogakure. We're here under document number three-eight-zero-eight and on our way to Ayaka to meet with Sunagakure shinobi, whom I would guess are you," I answered methodically. I offered the file to the masked shinobi that stood closer, then turned to the figures behind him.
'Observe.'
Name: Sabaku no Gaara
Title: Kazekage
Level: 102
Age: 14
Gaara is the current Kazekage and the jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Shukaku. The latter still makes everyone else uncomfortable in both formal and informal gatherings.
Relationship level: Neutral.
Name: Temari
Title: Suna's Sickle.
Level: 78
Age: 17
Temari is a kunoichi known for her prowess with wind chakra and for being the Kazekage's sister. That last subject still makes her uncomfortable in informal gatherings.
Relationship level: Neutral.
Name: Kankuro
Title: Suna's Bunraku Puppeteer.
Level: 72
Age: 16
Kankuro is Sunagakure's leading Puppeteer currently serving his village and is known as the right-hand man of his brother Gaara, the current Kazekage. He doesn't bother with informal gatherings.
Relationship level: Neutral.
"Kazekage-sama, a pleasure to meet you."
"Kumo sends only two ANBU to discuss high-level threats?" Temari asked.
"We've been on Noda's trail for years now. She's still evading our attempts to capture her," I answered.
"A slippery one, that kunoichi," one of the Sand ANBU added. "We've been tracing her whereabouts here too, but it's as you say. She's suspected of abducting children from shinobi families around the country using local crime cells."
"The Land of Lightning has acknowledged the transnational capture warrant issued by the Land of Wind, and we're here to offer our intel and delineate a possible tactical framework," I said. "I've had close encounters with Mariko Noda and some groups she's worked with over the past two years. The extend of her abilities is still unclear to us, and Rain won't answer any enquiries. It's all in the file."
Gaara extended his arm to the masked shinobi, who passed him the file. After perusing the pages inside, he looked up at me. "This is valuable information, ANBU-san. The Land of Wind is grateful for this symbol of camaraderie," he said in a smooth voice.
"We were expecting you tomorrow," Temari added with some glare.
"We were expecting to contact you tomorrow at Ayaka. We can discuss things on our way there, I guess," I said.
"A cold dry front is approaching," the Kazekage said. "There's a small town close by, we'll meet there," he ordered. Gaara gestured south and began running.
We traveled with the group, Teru keeping the pace with little effort. Two hours later, we stopped when the coarse dunes revealed a depressed area beyond, covered by gravel and blanketed by thorny, wind-swept shrubs and small yucca plants. Taller vegetation stood farther to the center, and between the short greenish palm trees and mulgas, sandstone and conglomerated rubble stout building were a definite sign of human presence. Given the number of travelers along these routes, such stops were a commons sight, more so if fresh water was available.
Ding!
Location Discovered:
Moroka oasis.
"The Moroka oasis," Temari said, gesturing at the trees and buildings with open arms and a proud smirk.
"It's beautiful," Taru murmured.
Following the Sand shinobi, we were escorted to an unassuming restaurant and were shown to a private room on the back. After a quick early dinner and a thorough discussion about our common enemy—which also involved exchanging documents and preparing more of them to take back to Kumo—we headed to a small inn.
It was about half an hour after midnight, while I heard Taku mumbling in his sleep, that I sensed Gaara exit his room and move onto the roof of a nearby apartment building. Kankuro followed him but stayed on the roof of the inn.
Sensing Gaara's chakra simmer in a familiar way, I exited through my room's window and climbed up to the roof, half expecting either his sand to attack me or one of the Sand ANBU standing around the area to stop me. But neither happened. Kankuro turned his head toward me as I walked slowly over the lime-green clay tiles, greeting the freezing easterlies over my face with some trace of nostalgia.
"You're not using your mask," Kankuro said. I sensed his puppet and its metal contraptions hiding inside the inn's sandstone chimney and the other one bundled behind his back. I could even sense the chakra threats going from his right hand to the bundle tense. Kankuro hid his distrust behind a laid-back posture and loose clothes, having changed out from his black Bunraku costume.
"I'm not here as an ANBU, Kankuro-san." I sat down next to him and watched Gaara's sand bubble and move above the other roof. The gleam of the moon made his short auburn hair glow ruby red and the dark rings around his eyes barely distinct from his skin. Jinchuriki and the moon. Was this a common occurrence?
"Then why are you here? Your mission is complete. We've already discussed everything." I sensed his chakra extend from his left fingertips to behind the sandstone chimney.
"What do you know about the Akatsuki?" I asked bluntly.
Kankuro's face tensed and his chakra, muffled as he was keeping it, recoiled. "Only what Konoha has told us and what our spies have gathered."
"They are after the bijuu."
"That's what we've heard." His head turned to Gaara.
He was avoiding the subject. Not unexpected, given his history with his brother. "You know, the jinchuriki of the Nibi does the same thing," I said, trying to break the ice and show some empathy and rapport. "Even when she thinks no one is looking, she sneaks out her apartment to the roof of the Raikage's tower to watch the moon and the stars on nights like this. Although, under a full moon, things get trickier for her." That made him turn his head to me, an antagonistic frown over his makeup-free eyes.
"I've been collecting information on the Akatsuki. Of its members and their whereabouts," I continued after a small pause. "There is some information you should know, though you may already be aware of it. First, they're working as a mercenary group and mostly taking jobs from Iwa. Secondly, names like Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigake and even Deidara the Mad Bomber are whispered around. Most of them come from unreliable sources, but there are truths I've been able to confirm: The snake sannin was a member until some years ago, and Sasori of the Red Sand is an active member."
Kankuro's jaw clenched and turned his shocked eyes to Gaara. It took some time for him to calm his breathing down. "What do you want for this information."
I shook my head. "You're getting the wrong idea, Kankuro. Whoever wants the biju can't be rooting for world peace," I said. "Yugito Nii is a close friend, and I won't have her hunted down for who's sealed inside her."
Kankuro mumbled something under his breath.
"Relay this info to Konoha if you can." I turned my head toward the stars up in the sky. "The jinchuriki of the Kyubi would be the last the Akatsuki try to take, but they'll be making their first move in a couple of years. We should train up our forces, we need to be prepared." I stood up and looked at Gaara. "Whatever important information you gather, remember the Akatsuki's spy network is vast. Be discreet about it." I unsealed a small scroll and handed it over to Kankuro. "I know you can be trusted, with your brother's wellbeing if nothing else, so listen carefully: Assume all villages have spies within the chain of command, even without their knowing. Keep everything close, do not trust this information to anyone but those you know for a fact haven't got any contact with the Akatsuki. I did not give you this information."
Kankuro was eyeing me with knowing look and nodded with a frown. "I'll find a way to contact you if we find anything new."
I relaxed my shoulders and took a deep breath. The stars behind the desert haze, up against the cloudless sky, and the ice-cold wind howling between the top of the palm trees; disregarding the jinchuriki and his bubbling sand and underlying malicious chakra, this was a beautiful night.
Dungeon Found!
Dungeon level: 90.
Enemies: Strangler trees.
My black sand swirled above while maroon blood dripped down the kunai in my hands. A wooden vine snapped and tried to grab my left arm. I twisted my hand, cutting the rotting vine and splattering more dark blood over the ground, then jumped back as another root shot from the topsoil to grab my right ankle.
Six more creatures emerged from their hide spots between the imposing elder trees, just as I was expecting. I commanded the black iron sand.
'Arborescent World.'
-525 Chakra.
The black sand branched out from the enormous glob above my head, forking into spears and spikes. With loud crunching sounds, they pierced the ground and the trunks and limbs of the trees and snapped the roots and undergrowth within two hundred yards. The few creatures not hit by the first spikes found themselves pierced by a first, second and then a third set of needles that branched from them. I ignored the dozens of resulting notifications.
A low rumbling sound echoed from underground, and I floated upwards over the treetops, commanding the iron sand to disperse and come back to circle around me. The old trees that still stood tumbled while the soil cracked. Withered wooden appendages shot upwards, and a hulking blob of wood, vines, and blackened leaves, covered in mud and rocks, emerged from the quivering surface.
'Observe.'
The Bleak Spirit
Level: 98.
- An ancient guardian of ancient forests.
The long appendages hurled the uprooted trees at me, and I moved around the air then willed the iron sand to converge on the wooden creature below. Forming jagged chains, the black sand shackled the thing to the ground and most of its tentacles to itself.
'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.'
The clone shunshined away while I channeled a considerable amount of chakra to my lungs and throat.
'Wind Release: Funnel.'
-850 Chakra.
I spewed a concentrated wind stream that tore through the ground and trees and cut the remaining wooden tentacles and sprawling roots. The creature began wrestling frenetically against the shackles, and more wooden limbs protruded from its body into the air, grabbing felled trees and rocks before blindingly flinging them around.
It didn't seem to hear the screeching sound of the rasenshuriken that my floating clone had just formed above, neither did it notice the sphere being hurled down. The sharp sound came to a sudden stop when the shining ball of chaos hit the center of the creature, then it erupted into a massive vortex of howling winds.
I shielded my eyes from the collateral gusts and the rogue needle-like wind blades and ignored the multiple notifications and icons popping up on the corners of my view.
After a full couple of minutes, the dust and debris settled enough for me to see the crater that had formed where the strange plant-like creature once had been.
Ding!
Dungeon Boss defeated.
Quest Completed.
Rewards:
8000 Exp,
5000 ryo,
Small Fangshi amulet.
Earth Release: Mudslide scroll.
Ding!
Dungeon Cleared.
Rewards:
5000 Exp,
25000 ryo,
Map of the Land of Lightning's cave systems.
I floated back to the center of the crater, where the faint column of white light marked the location of the dropped loot. The rewards weren't particularly useful items, but the map and the jutsu might prove useful someday. I took the scroll and the wooden amulet.
'Observe.'
Small Fangshi amulet
- A worn out wooden talisman engraved with alchemical symbols.
Quality: Unique.
5% to CON while wearing this item.
With a roll of my shoulders and knowing all my chakra, health and stamina would regenerate in less than 20 minutes, I went back to the glowing blue orb floating at the edge of this damned somber forest.
Two hours later I was back at Kumo, largely due to Ikatama's quick summon to the shores of the southern Hiei Saline Lake directly north of the village's mountains. The fact that Ikatama was able to summon me to any place where we had previously left an imprint with his ink and my chakra—even if he wasn't physically there—was a staggering revelation, something I would certainly explore and exploit further on. Did it require a water body at all?
I headed straight to the old man's house as I did every Sunday, and we sat down to drink tea and read. The black tea was as hot as it should be on a cold afternoon and as astringent as it needed to compensate the heavily sweet taiyaki, but I could not focus on the book on my lap. Words slipped my attention as I mindlessly turned the pages, my mind was fixated on the flashing icons and windows in front:
Wind Release. Lvl Max.
- The rarest of nature transformations, transform chakra into wind or control the winds themselves. At higher levels, more advanced techniques can be used.
Choose your new affinity:
[] Fire affinity.
[] Water affinity.
[] Lightning affinity.
Yes, you didn't need an affinity to train an element, but it fucking helped. All the fire release and lightning release training I had been doing hadn't amount to much. They both sat below Lvl. 15 between my other passives while Earth Release was already past Lvl. 90. I hadn't even started with water release.
I still couldn't crack the Vacuum Bullet jutsu, so, again, skill level and grinding weren't everything. Just like real life, I guessed. Without anyone to teach me, jutsu scrolls or any advanced material to read from, all I was able to do was continue making blind attempts, review the theory, speculate, try, fail miserably, and then repeat. Following that line of thinking—and finally accepting that specific jutsu scrolls or books were near impossible to find even on the black market—I was keen to choose Lightning.
But it was the other window on the corner of my field of vision that had me lost in thought: my Chakra Control hadn't stopped at 100%. It hadn't changed to "Max" after a month of regular sweat-blood-tears training -meaning mostly painstakingly clone-spamming the rasenshuriken. I had disregarded it as nothing important, but it had just reached Lvl. 101 after Ikatama summoned me. And it hadn't got any new effects. Would it continue to grow?
With all the regular and advanced bases of tai-, nin- and genjutsu covered, I had started to move on to more experimental things: Adding earth chakra to the rasengan, getting into emotion-based and layered genjutsu, wide and narrow high-powered wind jutsu, and using my sands on real battles inside the dungeons and not just during secret clone training. But my Stats had barely increased if at all even after weeks of physical or mental training. I could only increase them by leveling up, and that had proven tortuous too.
I sighed and turned to look at the sky trying to soothe the frustration away. The cloudless Sunday sky showed nothing but deep blue, with the occasional white-winged snow finch or stonefly flying about. Turning my head, I saw Old Yataro with his eyes fixed on another fantasy book, one telling old adventures of some shinobi hero.
Yugito arrived a while after. She took the third cup on the tray and poured herself some black tea without saying anything. She was carrying a medium-sized scroll strapped over one shoulder. The old man's eyes turned from his book to her for a few seconds before fixing his wool scarf and turning back to his reading.
"What mission starts on a Sunday? Or is it tomorrow and I packed for nothing?" she asked before sipping on her tea. Her long dark blonde hair tied in a low ponytail fluttered with the wind, and the blue prayer beads around her right forearm and the crimson sash followed the rhythm.
"I've got a mission for us," I affirmed her. "But it's a special one." I unsealed the document I had got yesterday and handed it to her.
Her obsidian eyes widened after opening it and reading the few lines. "You got me a permit from Dodai-sama?"
The old man perked up.
"A week-long permit to leave the Land of Lightning," I answered. "To a remote place that I had to disclose, but it wasn't that difficult to convince Dodai."
"When are we leaving?" Yugito asked with a genuine smile.
I stood from my chair and stretched my neck and my arms. Even for a kid of fourteen, I was tall -almost as tall as Yugito already- and my lanky arms still felt unfamiliar. "Hey, gramps. Are you going to be all right by yourself now?" I asked looking at him. "Sadako will be coming tomorrow to check on you and have lunch, okay?"
The old man grumbled. "I'll be fine, kid. Bring me something back."
"Let's do this."
Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram: 'Summoning Technique.'
-300 Chakra.
Condition Gained: Chakra Marked.
"Brown lines?" Yugito asked. "Is that another of your summons?"
I nodded. Summoning now used very little chakra, regardless of who I summoned or who summoned me. I offered my hand to Yugito, who didn't hesitate to take it.
Irregular serpentine lines began creeping up Yugito's hand, slowly at first. Then they spread up her bandaged forearm and into her sleeves rapidly. Her eyes widened and followed the thin lines as they crept down her other arm only a moment later. She eyed my hand holding hers after the brown lines had settled on her skin.
"Are we-" She hesitated after half of minute of nothing happening. "Are we waiting for something?"
"Give it a few more seconds."
Ding!
You are being summoned.
Accept?
Finally, after a twist in my stomach, we were summoned away.
The sun stayed in its high spot, but the cold breeze had turned to freezing salt spray, and the yellowish, neatly trimmed grass under our feet was now replaced by jagged dark gravel. My eyes turned windward to the deep blue waters beyond the shore, where a massive bronze-brown tentacle slowly retreated into the rough sea. Farther away, almost a hundred of those tentacles towered over the raging waves. They also began sinking into the waters.
Yugito's gasp took me out of my contemplation. "Is that one of your ayakashi?" she asked.
"Yes, in a way. She's Ikatama's mother."
Yugito turned to me with wide eyes. "H- How big is she?"
"I don't know for a fact, but one can guess," I said. "She's old, though, and barely speaks."
Yugito's face turned to the ocean once more, watching the last of the tentacles disappear.
"She's the first one of her family," I continued. "The one who received her chakra from the ten-tails demise. That gave her her self-awareness and intelligence. And her size, too."
Yugito turned to me rather quickly. "The ten tails? They believe that story too?"
I ignored her question. Regardless of how positive her relation with Matatabi was and whether she had told her the Sage's story or not it shouldn't be my concern. "Now, what do you think of the place?" I asked turning my head and gesturing with my arms wide apart.
Yugito turned around, looking inland. The collection of tall mounts and hills spanned miles to each side of the island blocking most of the northern sea winds. The glossy black stones and gravel scattered the sun light and the ice in the canyons and saddles in-between reflected it. A small stream of clear water flowed from the glaciers into the sea some yards away. A gust blew from the icy hills, and her hair fluttered. Her smile was not wide.
"Where are we?"
"Very much north of the Land of Earth, on an uncharted island south of the sea ice cover up north. Sometimes you can see icebergs float by," I answered while turning to her. "Ikatama's mother brought me here the first time I talked to her. It's a great place to train."
She smiled some more. "Train! That's your concept of a week off?"
I laughed. "There's no one in a thousand miles around." I sat down on the beach gravel, cross legged, and unsealed my notes on wind manipulation. "You have water and you've brought food. We're set for all week to do as we please." I began circulating my chakra around my body, just as Ikatama's mother liked when her mark was on me. "I need to study."
"Study? You're always studying." Yugito's interruption made my smile falter and I turned to her. Her own smile had turned sour. She had her arms crossed and was looking down at me with some semblance of disdain. "You've been saying your training was going great, but every time I run into you, you're lost in that notebook of yours."
"I've reached the limit of most of my abilities, so no one can teach me what I'm trying to do now. Or it's never been done. I need to put all details into numbers and words."
"Train then!" Yugito still had her arms crossed.
"This is training, wh-" I squinted my eyes. "What's this really about?"
She didn't answer for a second but took a step closer. I stood up.
"Shoubee says you've gotten strong, even stronger than him." Now her eyes were squinting.
A smile grew on my face almost automatically. This was her ego talking. "I'm guessing you want to spar, then?"
She nodded and opened her mouth to say something.
"Don't think I haven't noticed," I interrupted her. "I can sense it, you know? I've been sensing it for over a month now. The mossy and ashen aroma of your chakra, the underlying turbulence that has not only grown progressively, but it now feels in harmony." I took her left hand in mine, gazing at it and almost seeing Matatabi's chakra travel to her fingertips. "You did it."
Her pursed lips turned into a grin and her eyes brightened. "Not a spar, a proper fight." She jumped back ten feet away. Her fingernails grew and her ponytail began fluttering wildly, with hints of reddish chakra sparkling around her. "I'll go easy on you!"
I felt my smile broadening. If you could see yourself through my eyes, Yugito. "We've got nothing to hide here," I said as the iron sands exploded from my inventory, the black settling in tendrils floating around me while the crimson sand formed a gigantic standing wave that stretched inland. "Nothing to hold back!" My chakra stirred in anticipation and I almost laughed at Yugito's surprised expression. I felt the freezing, salty wind on my side as I cracked my neck and rolled my right shoulder. More crimson sand bubbled deep beneath the slate-black gravel.
. . - . . . - . . . - - . . . .
His mother had a saying: Put a name on what troubles your mind. That was both the first step and the toughest one.
The meetings with some of the Daimyo's advisors had been fruitful. The late-night talks afterward with the Sumiro family and Jinichira-sama even better if not somewhat stressful. But today had been tiresome.
"That's our conclusion, Dodai-sama." The coroner's statement was cultured. "A severed carotid. A lucky hit."
Luck wasn't something shinobi should rely on nor believe in, and that was also what her mother used to say. Losing C was a blow for sure. A prodigal sensor and a brilliant shinobi, one he may have turned into his replacement. He died serving his country, that was what he had been telling himself for the last few days. The lack of evidence and of anything pointing to any party involved in the attack could mean everything or nothing at all.
Dodai dismissed the man away with a nod and a gesture. Things had changed too much, and some had grown out of control. He shouldn't ignore the writing on the wall, and he could only protect so much of their organization before the whole thing boiled over and drastic measures had to be taken.
He leaned back in his chair, looking up at a particular moldy crack in the concrete ceiling that had been there since he was just a young chunin in the force. He would give anything for a window, even a little hole to the outside world, but the ANBU HQ was deep inside the northern peak and there was nothing but suffocating rock surrounding him.
He had the support of the ANBU, probably. He could trust his son and had no doubt Takamori would understand. Most of the ANBU held the Land of Lightning higher than themselves. But the way forward would be an uphill battle, something he had never thought would come to. The ANBU were the key to this.
All this politicking, all the discussions, agreements, and schemes. The lies and half-truths and manipulations. His hand went to his eye patch, feeling the words inscribed upon its surface. Lightning. What he was doing was for the good of the Land of Lightning, but he wouldn't dance around it anymore. He had a foot in the water already and there was no turning back now.
His fists clenched in vain against the bile rising up his throat. Her mother had been right. It was difficult, but he had to accept it: what he was planning had a name. It was treason.
Author's note:
Hopefully you didn't find this chapter to be a patched-up collection of unconnected scenes.
Thank you all for the comments; they really bring joy to my day-to-day life.
If you spot any mistakes, please let me know.