Red Riot - Chapter 35 - Red Experience

Matsu Uzumaki:- person of high interest to other Shinobi Villages. Recently promoted Jonin. Medical/Taijutsu/Ninjutsu/Sensory specialty (Not that other villages know about two of these!) MC of the story!

Gengetsu Hozuki:- The second Mizukage and trickster Lord of Kirigakure. Master of Illusions and torment 

Sayuki:- Second in command of the Civilian Nin when Matsu isn’t around. Takes it seriously.

Idate Hozuki - student of Matsu. Hozuki clansman. Genin. 

Kuroiwa Karatachi - student of Matsu. Karatachi clanswoman. Genin. Capitalist!

Midori Terumi - student of Matsu. Terumi clanswoman. Genin. Straightforward thinking lass with good intentions for most people!

Han:- orphan student of Matsu that is raised by his uncle. Civilian-born shinobi. Genin

Minato Namikaze:- Genin of Konoha, applicant at the Hot Springs Chunin Exams.

Shibito: - Iwa shinobi that is involved in hunting groups of Kiri patrols. Encountered Matsu and suvived the encounter, barely. Currently TK Jonin ranked. (Canonically supposed to die to Minato)

___________________

I swallowed and felt a strange dissonance as my mind demanded I choke, while another warred with it that there was nothing wrong. 

I clung to the instinct and tried to drag it to the fore. My chakra coils jerked and wrenched this way and that as I commanded my chakra into ever-increasingly elaborate motions, making it rebound on itself only to surge through a section of my arm, leg, or neck at random.

Gengetsu orbited me. Watching with a pleased smile as I twitched with repressed panic.

He didn’t care about the water resistance or the schools of fish that he disturbed as he did so, merely sweeping through them like the illusions they were.

“What is genjutsu?” he asked calmly.

I stilled my chakra flatly, only to wrench it in a manner that caused a lancing pain through my core.

It did nothing to resolve the image before me. 

Chakra disruption and pain had done nothing? Fucking bullshit S tier shinobi!

I pushed everything I had into the chakra nodes within my mind, pushing for all I was worth with a single slow pulse that caused the world to explode into clarity around me.

I felt something burst, and the sea turned red through my eyes, wavering and rumbling for a moment, only for Gengetsu to frown and shake his hand at the world around us and it to resolve itself into the ocean. “Stop that, you’re only going to hurt yourself.”

“I’m not sure I can just accept that,” I replied through clenched teeth as I rejected the image around me, straining for clarity that wasn’t coming my way. I’d felt it! The world had shifted for a moment there! How far could I push this be—

Gengetsu held up a hand. “Stop! You’re worth too much to cripple yourself slamming yourself against a wall you can’t even perceive.” His lips twitched. “As amusing as it might be to watch you become a gibbering mess, I was honest in wanting to reward you for your successes.”

I clenched my fists and considered spitting at him, not that it would do much in an ocean.

Gengetsu chuckled. “Stop, and I’ll tell you how I’m doing this to you.” 

I blinked in shock, my mask of control faltering. “What?”

Gengetsu waved a hand at the watery depths around us. “You’ve amused me greatly Matsu. Your tenacity along with your… temerity, has been a cool glass of water after a long stretch of marching through the desert.” 

He pointed at me. “I shall tell you, and only you, about my greatest trick, and then you can decide if you’ll continue attempting to break yourself against my genjutsu,” he said.

I frowned. “That’s…” the most forthcoming he had ever been. Everything I knew about Gengetsu was screaming in my mind that it was a trap. This was the bait and I the fish…

And yet, it wasn’t like I had much choice. Unless I wanted to open the gates within the Village Hidden within the Steam, that would bring every shinobi within ten kilometres down on us. 

I’d leave that as my backup option. I relaxed, stopping my control exercises in an attempt to escape the illusion, for now at least. 

I felt an ache spread through my body as I held myself back from grinding my teeth.

What was the point of all those chakra exercises if Gengetsu could just do this to me at a moment’s notice?

I watched him smile. “Excellent, I knew you could be reasonable,” he stated as he adopted a lecturing tone.” Now, to let you in on one of my closet secrets, I’m going to have to tell you a story.”

He put a hand on his chest. “Once upon a time, a young shinobi was skilled at illusions. He was so skilled that he could twist people’s perceptions of where he was and what the world was like around him, and he became widely feared by his enemies, but he didn’t have the respect and fear that he deserved from his comrades.” 

Gengetsu spun a finger through the air. “Genjutsu, as you might know, is not as widely celebrated as Taijutsu, or Ninjutsu, but it is still one of the three foundations for any shinobi.

“Now the man, who while feared by his enemies, didn’t have the respect of his companions, which was an issue for him. You see, this young man had ambitions, big ambitions. He wanted to call the shots.”

Gengetsu suddenly loomed over me like he was a giant and I a dwarf. “So you know what the man did? He made it so that he was feared by his companions. He did that by being capable of casting anyone into an Illusion from his own Village. No one could live within Kirigakure without falling under his sway, knowingly or otherwise,” he announced with an unhinged grin. 

A moment later, he returned to his normal size and shot me a teasing wink that made me want to shudder. “So, care to make a guess? I know you’re clever.”

I frowned. “You’ve placed an illusion on everyone in the village?” I repeated. 

I suppose the mist that typically covered the Village did work in that manner; but it wouldn’t have been enough. Not for what he needed. He needed them to fear him. What had he said? Capable of casting anyone into a genjutsu?

Gengetsu smiled knowingly, watching me work through what he was telling me.

“You’ve been covering the Village in a Mist Illusion for years,” I said. My mind was sticking on that point. It stood out to me. People rationalised it as a security measure, but what if it was more than that? 

“Decades now,” Gengetsu replied serenely. 

I stared at him. “You’ve conditioned everyone to see your chakra as normal, haven’t you?”

“Oh, I’ve done more than that Matsu!” Gengetsu gushed gleefully. “I’ve made it so that an aspect of my chakra is always within their coils, so at the smallest thought from me, their world can shift, and they are none the wiser.” 

“Only that wouldn’t serve your purpose,” I reasoned. “They had to know it was you.” For the fear, if not the control. 

“Precisely!” Gengetsu said with a giddy tone as he pointed at me like I’d won a prize. “So now you know my biggest secret,” he said with a laugh. “No Kiri shinobi can ever truly be a threat to me!” he declared. 

I stared at him. That… No… I refused to believe that. 

Some flash of defiance must have appeared in my eyes as Gengetsu was suddenly in my face leaning in close to stare me in the eyes. 

“Think you’re going to pierce the veil? Be the first?” He leaned in to whisper into my ear. “You think you’re special?” he teased. 

He leaned back and laughed. “It won’t be enough! I am like a god to Kiri! My word is immutable.”

I stared back at his gleeful visage blandly. 

No, I refused to believe he was all knowing or all powerful. 

He had an amazing skill, but it was very well possible he’d grown complacent. There was no way he could track all of us and keep every part of our lives under his control. 

At least half, if not more, of what Gengetsu did had to revolve around the mind games he put us all through. 

He made us question our realities and bow our heads like good little soldiers. 

Fuck that. 

He could have his delusions of absolute control. 

Right now, he was strong, but as he’d revealed his powers only extended to those within Kiri or those who’d been under his sway for years. 

He felt safe in giving out his secret, which was a terrible risk but his ego was too great to consider he might be wrong and that it was possible to escape his control.

Heck, just stopping and thinking about it for a second, I had two methods to escape his control. 

Others wouldn’t have my meta knowledge, which would doom them to becoming like puppets unless they raged against his control to keep looking.

Nothing was perfect, especially not anyone claiming godhood.

I wasn’t a believer, that was for sure.

This jutsu of his had weaknesses. 

It wasn’t fast acting, meaning that an outsider to Kiri could slay him.

Someone like Mu. 

I held back a laugh. Everything was building towards that fight in a way, wasn’t it?

“What now?” I asked flatly, forcing my expression to shift so that it looked like I was trying to hide defeat when I was feeling anything but. 

Gengetsu spun, like a whimsical child. “Now? I train you, and you have become a good tool for me. Now you can embrace your role,” he declared.

Gengetsu surged in close. “Mu is going to arrive soon, and while I have tricks up my sleeve, I won’t be leaving anything on the table so to speak.” He waved a hand to the side. “Especially when you’ve proven yourself over and over again.” 

I nodded slowly, documenting his choice of wording closely. Tool eh? And he could acknowledge that outside forces could be a threat to him; that was interesting. Were the people raised within Kiri merely to be used as shields? No, tools. He saw them as tools.

Gengetsu cupped my cheek. “I want you, along with a few other tools I have, to be my guarantee for a very special goal.”

He leaned in with a crazed look in his eyes. “I want you to kill Mu’s successor. I don’t want anything of him to remain within this world. You will kill Onoki!” he said gleefully. 

I worked my jaw and nodded. “I’d been told the price of success was more work. If I kill him, who will you have me fight next, the Sage of the Six Paths?” I asked. 

Gengetsu blinked at me in shock before his face stretched into a huge grin. “Ahahaha! The Sage of the Six Paths! Oh, you’re a riot Matsu! An absolute riot!” 

He waggled a finger at me in mock reproach. “Oh, that was a good joke, making you kill a myth.” He shook his head and wiped his eyes. 

Huh, interesting. 

I toyed with an idea. It was a long shot, but then again… I decided to give it a chance. 

I hadn’t found much about the Sage of Six Paths from any previous interactions; most people simply cursed by his name in Kiri. “I thought he was part of our history?” I said, conveying cluelessness. 

Gengetsu snorted dismissively. “You believe that a man wandered the entire Elemental Nations and spread enlightenment? That he commanded every Element with but a thought? That he forged mountains?” 

Gengetsu shook his head. “There are times when you’re a very clever shinobi, Matsu, but then there are times like now when I am reminded that you were not raised as a shinobi.”

 He shook his head and clicked his tongue. “Well, not to worry! I’m here to educate you now.”

A sudden blaring of my instincts let me know that wasn’t a good thing and I started searching my surroundings.

He grinned. “Speaking of which,” he snapped his fingers and the world blurred once more into that of a forest where I found myself crouching on a tree branch. 

“Time to give you something you sorely need. Experience,” he declared a moment before a trio of fuma shuriken tore through the trees around me. 

They scythed through the branches and made a beeline for me. 

I threw myself forward, evading by closing the gap from where the attack had originated from.

Within a second, I locked eyes with what appeared to be a Suna Shinobi flicking his fingers back and forth.

Fuma shuriken attached to puppet strings?

 That most likely meant there was also the chance of puppets around here.

I didn’t question this ‘simulation’ Gengetsu had dropped me into. If this was his form of training, I could deal with it. It might even be, as he said, a reward for my good results. 

I created a water bullet that tore through the puppet body in front of me, only for wires to wrap around me. 

I vanished in a puff of replacement that I’d been more than ready to deploy, only to dodge a blast of kunai coming at me from multiple angles. 

I ducked and dove beneath the attacks my chakra senses flaring outwards while my eyes caught sight of three targets.

Hmmm, three puppets? 

Which of these were the real puppeteer?

The answer? 

None of them.

I slammed a water bullet through a tree to the side that exploded, sending blood and viscera into the air.

The scene froze, with the forest going still while the rain of blood continued to move. 

Annoyingly, the blood continued to splash over me.

I felt my brows twitch as I was forced to stay frozen as a statue as I was showered in gore.

Gengetsu walked out from behind a tree and clapped. “Excellent. That fellow was a shinobi I encountered when I was younger. He was considered an excellent stealth puppeteer, but in the end, I tricked him into stabbing himself with his own puppets.” 

Gengetsu inspected the exploded body thoughtfully. “This also works,” he said.

The scene shifted again and I found myself standing within a desert. The feeling of blood coating my body notably had not been removed. 

Fire suddenly surrounded me, cutting me off from exploring the desert. I turned to find myself facing off a mangy-looking shinobi, who looked to be half in the grave already. 

“Hehehehe,” panted the shinobi as I shifted my chakra and caused thin lines to snake along underneath the sands.

“Time to kill!” giggled the deranged nin as he made a clutching gesture. 

The circle of fire roared to life and closed in on me. I responded by making a clutching gesture of my own and Chakra strings wrapped around the man before cutting into him. Chakra began to pour off him as he resisted the cutting edge by expelling everything he had from his body. 

I flicked a kunai to finish him, only for him to replace himself to the side and lurch as though drunk. “We’re going to burn so well~!” laughed the deranged man.

I attempted to shift myself out of the circle of fire as a test, only to find I couldn’t pierce it without truly pushing a lot of chakra into it. 

This might have only been the second ‘fight’ I’d had to engage in, but I was sensing a pattern. Gengetsu was giving me fights from either memory or fantasy, and seeing how I did. 

This could be as much a test of skill as it might be endurance, so I would need to preserve my energy.

Seeing as this was Gengetsu holding the strings, I also needed to make it entertaining. 

I smiled and flicked out some kunai I knew had explosive tags. 

“Kaboom!” I replied with a mocking grin as I destroyed the ring of fire. 

In the turmoil of the sand and smoke flying everywhere, tackle the deranged man and split him open with an application of wind-aligned chakra on a simple kunai that I drove through his skull.

The kunai shattered after the use, much like I’d come to expect from experimenting with the jutsu and the shinobi twitching as he fell to the sands and bled out the last of his life. 

From there, I fought a kunoichi in the middle of a castle. She used misdirection and wardrobe malfunctions as her main methods of distraction. 

I’d grown up with better, so I didn’t even bat an eye as I kicked her in the neck hard enough to snap it. 

Then, I faced a team of shinobi who harassed and harried me, darting in and out each time like a pack of wolves. 

I faked them out with a feint, only to catch one of them napping with an explosive shunshin. 

I threw him into a barrage of his teammates' kunai and then set about slaying the rest in inventive manners. 

I felt bones break under my fists, eyes pulp as I gouged them out and when only one was left I pointed at them and ordered, “Kill yourself or I will torture you until you beg for death!”

When the final Shinobi stabbed themselves in the neck and looked triumphant, I had to blink in surprise. 

“Huh, I hadn’t expected that to work,” I said as the world shifted into another scenario. I suppose my blood-covered form sort of helped with intimidation though, that or Gengetsu tweaked the scenario just because he found it amusing to do so.  

When a squad of what had to be Konoha genin attempted to attack me I punted them like I was kicking a field goal only for a pissed off Jonin to take exception to that. 

That last shinobi got me, catching me unawares as I sent the third genin after his fellows.

The illusion faded with me staring down at the tanto striking through my chest. I turned my head and watched the illusion waver and fade until I was back in the room where it had all begun.

I sank to my knees, wondering how long it had been. Was this like Itachi’s Tsukuyomi? Did Gengetsu control the person’s perception of time as well? A quick check of outside showed that the sun had well and truly set. By my estimate the right amount of time had occurred in the illusion as out of it. 

“Well that was entertaining, you got sloppy after the eighth fight though, make sure to keep your guard up always Matsu,” Gengetsu admonished from his seat on the couch. 

I repressed the shudder that threatened to wash over me. I could still feel the lingering chill of death clawing at me. “That… I…” I worked my jaw as my mind raced, wondering what to say. 

Gengetsu sniffed. “Yes, yes, I’m very impressive, I know. My illusions are the stuff of Legend, I’ve heard it all before from others.”

“Were they people you fought? Once before? Or mere figments of your imagination?” I asked. 

Gengetsu turned his head and looked outside. I noted it was still nighttime. Was it the same day? “The best lies contain some truth I find. Consider that and report back here tomorrow at the same time.”

I rose, my chest still throbbing with phantom pain. “How is this training supposed to help me fight Onoki if you’re going to be fighting Mu soon?”

Gengetsu stared at me for a long moment as though he’d never seen me before, then his head tilted back and he laughed uproarisly. 

“Ahahahaha! You think you’re capable of fighting Onoki anytime in the next two weeks? Oh! Oh that’s rich! You have years of growth needed yet. I am merely assigning you a long-term mission Matsu.” 

He chuckled. “Oh, you kill Onoki. Ah, that’s rich!” he made a show of wiping at his eyes like he’d cried tears of joy at the thought. 

Gengetsu gave me a fond smile, like a favoured pet that had just done a new trick. “Matsu, I am rewarding you with these sessions. They are examples of fighting styles that most don’t get to experience until they are in the thick of it. You will get to witness some techniques that are clan secrets, hidden jutsu, final resorts and more.”

Gengetsu made a grasping gesture. “These sessions will be something that a young man like you will bleed for normally. That is your reward.” 

He shot me a sly look. “That, and I shall allow you to observe my eventual fight with Mu when the time comes so you might witness what it means to be a Kage.” 

He held up a finger. “Don’t try and fight Onoki until you are at least fourteen Matsu.”

He then let himself flop back into his chair and relax. His eyes glinted with the knowledge that any moment he could choose to strike out if he so desired. 

He looked like a tiger lounging in readiness for a coming hunt. 

I took a step and sure enough Gengetsu remained true to form. “Matsu,” he called, making sure he got in the last word and kept me on the hook. 

“Don’t go trying anything silly now in an attempt to spite me. No telling others about my little secret, hmmmm?” 

I looked right into his eyes and smiled. “Of course, I wouldn’t dream of it,” I replied easily. 

Gengetsu smirked. “I can see that you still think you can escape it. Got any ideas for that, hmmm?” 

I was tempted to lie and say no, but for some reason, I noticed a momentary hitch breathing. Was he playing with me again, or was he actually concerned that I might have some hidden method?

I decided to give him his entertainment. “I suppose if your chakra has seeped into mine, the only way to guarantee I get rid of it is to expel all of my chakra,” I replied with a casual shrug. 

Gengetsu blinked.

Then he stared. 

Then he threw his head back and howled with laughter. When he was done he waggled a finger at me. “Ahaha, death as your freedom? Hmmm, yes, very clever.” He nodded in acknowledgement and waved me off.

I marched out. It was amusing that to a man who had grown up with chakras in his body, the thought of not having them was impossible. 

I oddly enough had experience without it so it might be possible to trick my body into not going into shock. It would just require an insane degree of body control.

Something that would require mastery of self through Taijutsu. 

Interesting that sometimes the best counters to Genjutsu were Taijutsu. Most people wouldn’t think so but I could see a path.

Sadly, it promised to be a lot of work, but the potential pay off might be interesting.

If nothing else, it would be hilarious to be absolutely certain that genjutsu couldn’t sink its hooks into me. 

Being able to wipe the smug look off Gengetsu’s face would no doubt be an amazing memory. 

I chuckled as I walked over to my team’s area, where I collapsed into my futon. I groaned into it. 

Part of me wanted to question whether this was reality or merely another illusion, but I didn’t have the energy to ponder the philosophical issue of whether it was true. 

If nothing else, Gengetsu certainly reignited my own desires to grow stronger.

The trick would be doing it in ways he couldn’t account for. 

Despite the all-encompassing fatigue that gripped me, my mind continued to race around in circles. 

There were many plots coming to a head soon. Most of them involved putting Mu and Gengetsu in the same room and watching the fireworks from a safe distance.  

According to my canonical knowledge, this would be the best time for the famed death at the hands of the other fight.

Only I knew that Gengetsu was stronger than he would have been canonically thanks to getting to test his illusions against a Byakugan. Would that matter, however?

I knew that eels and other scavengers would be waiting in the wings should the two shinobi not kill each other and merely weaken themselves. 

The question, therefore, was what did I want from this situation, and how did me and mine come out ahead?

I chased that question around and around for what felt like hours, but was most likely merely minutes. 

Eventually, I decided that I’d let it be future Matsu’s problem to deal with. With that worked out I fell asleep. 

The first time I awoke it was to my students poking me with a stick. 

Midori was wisely standing far enough to the side to indicate she had no part in this harebrained scheme.

Idate and Han grinned at me. “Wakey wakey sleeping beauty—” I spun on the spot and launched my pole so it collected both of them. They fell to the ground with audible thumps but I kept spinning so I could kick them into a wall.

“Don’t wake me up for another hour. Bring breakfast,” I grunted as I settled back in for another hour’s sleep.

The morning’s lesson? 

Fuck around and find out. 

A review session in this case.

I allowed myself to doze for another few minutes and only rose when my students brought me back breakfast. 

I sat up and nodded towards them. “Alright, now we can discuss what’s coming your way.” ignoring how I’d smacked both of them around as those had been mere love taps with the usual shinobi training.

I waved my chopsticks at them. “Midori, Idate, and Han, you all made it through to the third round. Excellent work.”

I turned to Kuroiwa, who was looking particularly pleased with herself. 

The only way she could be happier was if she were counting her earnings from yesterday. “Good work hiding your actual skill set. You will be much more important to any missions you undertake without people flagging you as a medic. You also made them pay for that, so excellent work as well.”

Idate snorted. “She made us look like we’d sell out given half a chance!” 

I shrugged. “Nah, she played it well enough. And if anyone believes that after all the blood and guts everyone else spilt, that’s their mistake. Kuroiwa isn’t cheap, she’s just being tactical,” I said, heaping the praise on her enough to make her blush slightly. 

Was I playing favourites? 

Yes, but it always paid to keep a potential medic on your good side. I’d have to teach Idate and Han that lesson later. 

Midori was glancing between me and Kuoriwa with an amused expression, so hopefully she didn’t need it. 

I waved a hand towards Kuroiwa. “Make sure you set aside at least thirty percent for the Village as their due,” I said to wrap things up. I wasn’t going to talk any more about it. 

“Alright, let’s discuss the groupings. Way more Kiri shinobi made it through than they expected. They were hoping for no more than sixteen at most as that would represent a quarter evenly with Konoha, and Kumo making up the other slots.”

I snapped my fingers. “Discuss, what do you need to take into consideration with making your alliances to have better shots at not getting swarmed?” 

The team all looked at each other. Han squirmed. “I’m up against an Uchiha in my grouping; they… should be considered a greater threat by the others.”

I nodded and gestured for more. “That's easy to play with, think deeper, show that you deserve to be Chunin.” 

Midori hummed. “My group has me with another Kiri nin. On paper this looks like a good thing however…” she shook her head. “We can easily gang up on the others but I know the other person and they will likely make deals so that as soon as one of the other shinobi drop out they will switch targets onto me,” she stated.

“Good awareness, think about some counters or set them up in turn.” I snapped my fingers towards Idate. “And Lastly?”

Idate grimaced. “I’m in a group with a Kumo, Iwa, and Konoha nin… there’s no way they’ll let me talk plans with them they’re going to rebuff me.” 

“Which Iwa nin?” I asked leadingly.

Idate stared at me. “They did something during the second round didn’t they?” he asked trying to weasel the information out of me. 

I shrugged. “Might be worth looking into, especially if the Konoha nin is who I think it will be. Don’t just look into their skills but what they did in previous rounds or potentially further.” 

Idate looked pleased that he’d gotten that much of a prompt from me but I ignored it. By the time I finished up my meal they’d brainstormed some ideas to get in contact with the various groups that didn’t involve simply walking up to the various sections of the Village controlled by each group. 

I stood. “Let’s go talk with some of the others,” I announced, dragging my student’s to socialise with the others. I ended up having to check up on Sharkbait but he, like me had slept late and was only just waking up. 

I assembled the rest of the civilian shinobi and chaired a discussion for what they could do for the next week or more that they’d be forced to stick around. 

Amusingly, it took a while for them to accept the idea of working on their genjutsu skills. 

I watched them chat, letting the back and forth wash over me while making sure other shinobi didn’t get too close to catch what they were planning. Eventually, I spoke up. “Anyone here drawn Minato Namikaze into their group?”

Sayuki, surprisingly enough, raised her hand. “I did. What do I need to know about him?”

I smiled. “He’s more dangerous than he makes himself out to be. Expect him to have a silver tongue that will turn the others against you or, more specifically, towards his intended target.” 

Sayuki frowned. “Alright?”

I sighed. “No, you don’t understand. I watched him during the various stages. That kid has no enemies in Konoha that I could see. They all either accepted him, or liked him. He had no enemies,” I stated firmly. 

The group all frowned and considered that. Some of them were quick on the uptake. 

Han tilted his head. “So what? He beat everyone up until they knew not to mess with him?”

I wobbled my hand in a so-so gesture. “For Kiri, that might have worked,” I replied, knowing in a way I was actually referencing my own exploits. I’d beaten the toughest people I could in the academy to earn respect after all. 

“In Konoha it's a bit different. Remember, they have a more communal focus to their Village. So, it therefore means that he was able to sway all of them without annoying each group.” 

I raised a finger. “Now also take into account that Konoha has way more established clans than Kiri does.”

“So saying he has a silver tongue is, if anythin,g underselling his skills. If left alone, he’ll have everyone dancing to his tune in our group,” Sayuki mused aloud. 

“Precisely, he’s perhaps one of the most dangerous foes to have in your grouping,” I said, knowing that I was very much poisoning the well for Minato, but I owed him nothing.

I spent a little more time with everyone talking about the various ways to achieve their goals within the next stage before standing and announcing I was going for a walk. The others waved me off, happy to stick with their discussion as I drifted out onto the street. 

A familiar chakra signature had once again started to linger around the border of our area, and I wanted to see who had inadvertently helped me out with Gengetsu yesterday. 

I wandered along the street and paused at a few open shops, noting the various attendants of the nobles moving about for their patrons but no one else. 

I couldn’t simply lock onto and approach the chakra signature as that would be as good as shouting from the rooftops that I was a chakra sensor, along with giving any observers an idea of how skilled I was. 

So instead I meandered around, inspecting the goods on display and even pausing to purchase some meat skewers. I then bought some tea and set myself on a table to people watch like I had no cares in the world. 

For the more discerning shinobi, I made a show of pretending to track what people were purchasing and who they were talking with. 

For the shinobi who were more like Kakashi, always looking deeper, I made a show of winking at any young woman who happened to pass me by. Before long, I even had a few shy women approach me. They sat and enjoyed tea with me while I traded gossip.

From them, I learned small anecdotes and gained insight into the various nobility in attendance. 

Some of it was even actionable, such as the nobles from Tea being more amenable to those who approached with a small gift, while nobles from Steam were more laid-back and would appreciate entertainment in some manner.

I kept a mental log of the information, some of it surprisingly actionable, such as who was an established plant for foreign powers, such as Kumo and Konoha, from what I could gather.

 I’d pass on some of this to either the contacts I’d developed with Akiko during our earlier visit to the Land of Steam, or I’d pass it along to the others back in the Kiri district.

And throughout it all, the chakra signature of a certain shinobi drew closer and closer. 

They felt like a small moth, flitting closer and closer to a flame, or rather, me in this case. 

When I caught sight of them, I noticed right away that they bore no insignia or marking that they were shinobi. In fact, they were perfectly benign in their appearance, which only raised my hackles quicker. They were either adopting a henge or were a natural infiltrator. 

Still I remained in my seat and continued to people watch, letting the market serve as a nice neutral setting.

To my surprise, the woman approached me. “Is this seat taken?” she asked with a low, husky voice that I knew was an attempt at making herself sound sexy. 

I mentally rolled back the age estimate for her to somewhere around my own, possibly young teens, as she hadn’t yet developed the self-confidence I’d expect an older woman to have.

“By all surprise, I replied, making sure to furtively glance at her, only for my eyes to widen at how pretty she was. All perfectly curated to make me look slightly smitten with her.

I had to give it to the girl, she’d either dressed up well or had chosen a good henge. 

The pale skin and luxurious dark hair would have been hard-pressed to find in even the most upmarket red-light district. It wouldn’t have surprised me for this woman to be announced as a concubine for a Daimyo or even nobility herself. 

“So, a shinobi from Kirigakure? Will you be competing?” asked the woman.

“In a sense,” I replied, knowing she knew I wasn’t. 

Whoever this was had to have an idea of who I was. It wasn’t vanity to know that you’d garnered attention, especially when most of that attention meant people would be willing to kill you if you stepped into the wrong dark alley. 

“In a sense?” replied the woman, “rather mysterious of you.”

“Says the woman who has not introduced herself despite approaching me,” I shot back. 

The woman stilled momentarily, realising she’d somewhat overplayed her hand. “Kiko,” she said.

“Just Kiko?” I teased.

She nodded. “Just Kiko, what about yourself?”

I hummed and made a show of watching the people pass us by. “I think today I’d like to just be Matsu. Nothing more, nothing less,” I answered.

Kiko blinked uncertainly, but I smiled back. “Some days can feel heavy, you know?” I added, to which she slowly nodded. 

I decided then and there not to push for more. I perhaps could have used any number of tricks to dispel the illusion or trap her verbally or otherwise into revealing who she truly was, but I didn’t.

Instead, I talked with her about small, unimportant little things. 

Like how some nobles insisted on wearing the tiny little hats that made their heads look like swollen melons. Or how the furtive servants almost crashed together occasionally while others even sought to cause incidents.

Kiko watched me as I talked, trading her insights with a careful slowness. She was like a wild animal that had been stung once before and now she tested each step forward for a trap, only to slowly relax as she discovered that there was none, at least for the moment. 

Despite not actively trying to probe her, I couldn’t switch off being a shinboi. 

I noted the way she picked up the smallest of details. The way she studied me carefully when she thought I wasn’t looking. The way her tongue darted out to taste the tea she’d received a moment before, she committed to allowing any significant amount into her mouth.

I noted how she smelled faintly of smoke, lilac, and kunai oil. 

And most of all, I noted down how her chakra felt to me, roiling and surging like a fire devouring the fuel within.

All of that from simply sitting with her and sharing idle conversation.

Part of me wondered how much she was getting from me in return, but I kept up a mask, and I made sure to carefully consider her questions rather than offering off-the-cuff responses.

I could have gotten more from her; I knew I could have, it would be easy.

But I decided not to. 

For just a moment. I wanted to enjoy a cup of tea with a stranger. 

She’d helped me before, albeit unknowingly, and now I wouldn’t seek to exploit her naivety. 

Not today, at least.

I shared catty remarks with her over the state of dress one noble had while laughing at the lack of shame in another who proudly strode through the marketplace after what must have been a late night. His back was clawed up like he’d been in bed with a wildcat.

I smirked. “A shame some of those scratches reveal that the person doing the scratching was behind him,” I whispered. 

Kiko blinked at me, only to give the scratches another look before almost choking in shock.

I laughed enjoying her reaction enough to share a silly joke about a fisherman and three daughters seeking to reach the other side of a river that had her red faced and tittering.

I smiled, enjoying the moment of merely being without pushing for more.

By the time only the dregs remained in my cup of tea, midday had well and truly set in with some people in the markets having exchanged their stalls for others with new goods.

I sighed and cast a forlorn look at it. “If this was somewhere else, I think I might just refill it and enjoy myself a while more, but sadly, I need to be moving along.” I offered her a nod. “Thank you for being my companion this day. I enjoyed it.”

Kiko bobbed her head back. “I… did as well,” she said slowly as though the admonition startled her. 

“Perhaps we’ll stumble into each other again,” I mused, offering her a metaphorical toe in the door. 

She smiled widely. “I’d like that,” she said in a manner that caused some of my instincts to twitch. When my smile faltered, she noticed and realised she’d done something wrong, but not what.

I departed with a lazy wave for my room, where I sat and wrote out my observations for the day’s work of sitting in the marketplace. I activated the Mind Eye of the Kaguya and observed Kiko as she made her way back to Konoha’s district, where she settled down.

Hmmm, a shame. 

I lay back and allowed myself another moment of respite.

Gengetsu must have noticed, as it was only twenty minutes into my rest, that I was summoned back to his set of rooms. 

He smiled at me like a spider would to a fly. “Have a nice day so far?” he teased.

“It was,” I replied casually, causing his own smile to widen.

“Good, you’ll need that energy for today. We have a lot to cover, don’t disappoint,” he declared as the world faded away, and I found myself standing atop a burning ship as shadows flitted around me on the sea.

I pursed my lips as I started tracking numbers and positions. “You fought off forty shinobi by yourself?” I questioned aloud. I held back on adding ‘fuck off you did’ verbally but I very much implied it with my tone. 

The illusion paused, and Gengetsu appeared. “Hmmm, I did actually face them, but in a way I didn’t do it alone. Make of that what you will,” he said with a grin. “Also, there’s more than forty of them.” Then he vanished as the illusion resumed where it had left off.

I groaned. If this was how the day was going to start I already didn’t like the idea of what else he had in stock for me later to push myself.

I hold back on muttering anything aloud about cheaters who could summon giant clams as that wasn’t something well known within Kirigakure. 

One day I’d have a summon and it would be amazing I vowed to myself as I was promptly gangpiled by the small army of shinobi.

I started to activate the gates to even have a chance, only for the illusion to pause. “We’ll treat this as a failure,” he announced, cutting the legs out from underneath me. “Perhaps a more appropriate challenge.”

“I can beat them,” I replied tersely. 

“Yes, but you’re too reliant on that all-or-nothing ability of yours. It might be a wonderful all or nothing, but you need to consider developing other skills.” 

I pursed my lips. Was that his actual reason, or would me activating the gates transmit to real life, and we’d end up drawing the attention of any sensor within ten kilometers of the Village? 

Somehow, I suspected it was more the latter than the former. 

“Alright, I can accept that, but don’t stop the fight,” I lock eyes with him. “I’ll find another way to win this.” 

Gengetsu smirked and faded from view in time for a wave of kunai to plunge from above and attempt to skewer me. I replace myself with a bit of broken debris.

And then I get a horrible, no good idea.

I begin leading the small army of shinobi on a wild goose chase, testing the limits of what I can do with nothing more than the Replacement jutsu, the Clone Jutsu, a brace of kunai and what few explosive seals I had on me. 

I was exhausted by the time I killed the last of them, but I did so with a triumphant grin. 

Gengetsu materialised amidst the wreckage of the now thoroughly destroyed landscape. 

“Well, that certainly isn’t how I would have handled it, but there was a certain elegance in your barbarity,” he declared, as he gave me one of the best examples of a backhanded compliment I’d ever heard. 

I decided to just smile, pretending I was too stupid to notice the insult in his words. 

He huffed. “Very well, I’m not slowing down or pulling my punches.” And just like that, I found myself sitting in the middle of a manor with everyone screaming at me. 

“Monster!” They screamed while pointing at my hands. 

I looked down to find a kunai covered in blood while a rich-looking man lay dead at my feet. 

Hmmm, guardsmen were starting to react, the hall was in general chaos, and I was clearly in the wrong.

I was also exhausted from the previous fight. 

Time to do something audacious. 

I turned and bowed to the man still sitting atop a raised dais. “My Lord the mission is completed! He is dead! I will accept payment now or tomorrow at!” I declared loudly. 

Everyone in the room stilled as gazes swept from me to the lord, and even he looked taken aback. 

In that moment, I replaced myself and henged into one of the servants.

The man rose, a denial on his lips, only to frown. “The shinobi is tricking us! They have fled!” he shouted, causing the room to gasp in shock once more. 

I slipped out a side door and scurried as only a servant could. When guards approached me, I redirected them with a bowed head and an ‘order’ from the lord to present themselves to the banquet hall. 

Then I walked out the front doors like I was meant to be there and into the town outside.

The illusion faded at that with the sound of applause. “That was terribly entertaining to watch. I thought I’d thrown you into the thick of it. Wonderful adaptation.” His grin grew. “Let’s see what else you can conjure up hmmmm?” His smile stretched a little too large for me to be comfortable with.

Damn it, I’d been too entertaining with that trick.

The world shifted, and I found myself naked in bed with a stunning woman who was laughing at something, only for the door to explode off its hinges.

“My Lord, you shoul—” the protests of a servant faltered as a group of people entered. The Lord in question was among the first and he marched up to the edge of the bed.

“You whore! You will—” I moved, grabbing a small china plate from the bedside table. With a flick of my wrist and a flex of chakra, the man had his neck torn open.

The room stiffened with the guard’s eyes widening. 

Some of them reached for their blades, but I raised a finger. “Ut ut!” I said softly. “None of that now. You’re all reacting right now and not thinking things through. The Lady was entertaining a guest, and you barged in. That was a crime that had to be punished.” I flicked my fingers towards the bleeding out noble.

The men snarled, and I sighed, “Well my dear, it seems negotiations failed,” I announced only to frown as I caught her flicking a kunai at me. 

“Huh, didn’t see that coming,” I replied before flipping out of the bed, making sure to toss the sheet so that it hid my form as I moved. The woman had barely any chakra to speak of… hmm supression? Or something else?

Another brace of kunai punched through the sheet. I snatched them out of the air and responded by ending the guards that were starting to rise.

The woman I’d been sharing the bed with blurred her hands through seals and unleashed a blast of wind that I was forced to jump back into so it carried me out of the room and through the window. 

I crashed atop a nearby roof with a curtain wrapped around me with servants shrieking and guards surging out of their stations. 

I sighed. “What was the point of this illusion?” I said as I streaked away. 

Gengetsu giggled like a loon as he appeared next to me. “Oh, I’m mostly toying with you,” he declared, only for a huge plume of chakra to appear off to the side of the manor, followed by another directly opposite it. 

I stilled as I found myself staring up at a giant spider on one side, while on the other, a giant  Rhino appeared. 

“Oh wait, that’s right, this was that mission,” he mused. “I thought you might like some perspective.” And then like the asshole I knew he was, he vanished, leaving me half naked in the middle of a kaiju brawl with crippling low amounts of chakra. 

 I sprinted to the side, away from where the Rhino was charging and barely evaded the debris that blew out from the shockwave. 

The spider, I was surprised to find countered the charge with a web netting that absorbed and trapped the Rhino only for it to light itself on fire.

“Oh, excellent. That’s just what we needed,” I muttered as the flaming debris started to be hurled around.

I escaped to a nearby hill that served as a fantastic vantage point.

This apparently was a good ‘mission complete’ scenario as Gengetsu reappeared next to me. “This fight occurred when I was but a chunin,” he informed me. 

“Where is this?” I asked. 

Gengetsu sat mid-air and hummed. “It used to be a town in the Land of Grass. I’d been part of a long-term mission to observe how various nobility within the nation were dying. It turns out that the kunoichi you encountered was sleeping with them and poisoning them in anyway she could. She’d leave them to die with slow-acting poisons or trick them into honour duels with men much weaker than they only to find their strength sapped for the duels. She was delightfully malicious,” Gengetsu said with a certain relish. 

“Sadly, she was more committed to her goal of killing nobility, otherwise, I might have offered her a place within Kirigakure.”

I glanced at him, and he huffed. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. Kirigakure was still young then. We were accepting young wandering nin at the time. They, of course, needed to be thoroughly vetted, but still, talent like hers would have seen her reaching Tokubetsu Jonin I have no doubt.”

I glanced back to the Kaiju battle in time to watch the spider get lulled into attempting to poison the rhino, only for the leathery hide to darken and become too strong to penetrate. 

Then the Rhino rolled, crushing the spider beneath it. “I take it she didn’t survive?” I asked.

Gengetsu shook his head. “I found her body the next day, got myself quite the reward from the local Daimyo for my efforts,” he said with all the expression that someone would use when talking about the weather. 

I eyed him again, a few thoughts about this scenario running through my head. 

Was Gengetsu showing me his past? I almost felt a little sorry for him… Or was that what he wanted me to see?

He was in control of this illusion, after all.

It hadn’t escaped my notice that my actions in certain scenarios would be very telling, and he’d have an even better idea about me from them.

As much as this gave me a lot of experience I otherwise wouldn’t have, it still cost me something.

Gengetsu hummed. “Well, I think we’ve reminisced enough. Time for me to change things up and show you how big the world is.” He rotated in the air so he was looking right at me. “What style of taijutsu user would you like to face. I’ve fought quite a few in my time.”

“...” I stared at him for a long moment. He was oddly accommodating to me. A taijutsu fight was just as likely to wreck me as any of the fights I’d witnessed recently, but I’d also garner valuable information on how I would match up and what should and shouldn’t be done against certain users.

There was however one group of people that I would be interested in getting a better idea about. “The Uzumaki fighting style,” I announced.

Gengetsu raised an eyebrow at that but eventually waved a hand. I found myself standing on a lake with still water. Across from me, a short woman stood. She turned and smirked at m,e only to explode into action.

Waves kicked up with each step she took, and it was all I could do to twist with the first punch to skid backwards. 

Instead of pausing though, she kept sprinting at me, keeping the pressure on and hammering blow after blow at me. Then she shifted into a different pattern, going from straight vectors into sweeps and misdirections. 

I found myself deflecting and trying to counter, only to be out of position constantly and forced to disengage. Eventually she broke through my defences and landed a clawed hand into my jugular.

I felt the cartilage and blood rip out of me, only for the world to shudder and fade. 

I stared at the ceiling, lungs burning and heart hammering. 

Gengetsu leaned forward out of his chair and inspected me. “So, it seems you don’t measure up all that well to your family Matsu.” He clapped me lightly on the cheek with a smirk. “Get better.” 

He then made a shooing gesture. “Reflect on your fights. I’ll have more for you tomorrow,” he commanded. 

This time, he didn’t call me back as I staggered out of the room to collapse on my futon once more.

The rest of the week followed a similar pattern: I woke up, worked with my students on various tactics they could employ, linked up with the other civilian nin, and then wandered the markets to see if ‘Kiko’ was going to make an appearance.

She only showed up two more times but I learned a little more about her each time. I never let her know that she was all but outing herself by approaching me. If she ever reappeared to me while in disguise during a mission I knew I’d be able to spot her out. 

Later in the day, I’d meet up with Gengetsu and he’d drag me deep into an illusionary fight that he’d either witnessed or taken part in… at least according to him. I wasn’t sure which would be scarier, that he spun all of this from his mind, or that he had survived such fights.

The evidence was starting to stack towards the latter with the amount of information he had on each fighter. 

He showed me how Uzumaki, Uchiha, Karatachi, Kaguya, Terumi, Sarutobi, and even how the current Raikage fought. In most of those matches I got obliterated if I didn’t pull some form of trick.

I simply couldn’t match them blow for blow with my reach, speed, and power lacking in all regards. 

My technique also needed a lot of work but I had to give it to Gengetsu, his illusions were working. 

He dropped me back into the illusion of fighting against the mob of fifty shinobi within the wreckage, and I did leagues better without anywhere near as much chakra wastage. 

Experience was an often unspoken advantage that I was being gifted on a silver platter. 

During any downtime I rested as much as I could, keeping up my Mind’s Eye of the Kaguya. 

During the days of fighting within the illusion, I’d started to notice a few things. There was a resonance within my chakra each time I was taken into it. I couldn’t yet excise that chakra as my body was conditioned to accept it, but I had thought up another method of escaping it.

Becoming a Sage. 

Gengetsu had no experience with that and therefore wouldn’t know how to handle. 

That such a skill was still far out of my reach was sadly an insurmountable fact. So I worked on the only thing I could, my sensing skills, stretching them as far as I could in an attempt to sharpen them. If I could perceive natural chakra, then I would be much closer. 

Sadly, Nature chakra proved to be extremely elusive to my senses. 

My mind itched at the problem constantly. I felt like there had to be a trick to it that I was overlooking, but I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. 

Perhaps I’d need to wait for a summons to teach me, much like Jiraiya would have been taught. 

Still, there was a big power up there, one that would take me from Jonin to Elite if not Kage level in threat and add another ace up my sleeve. 

The more important prize of my work with my chakra sensing, that of witnessing someone perform the Shadow Clone Jutsu, continued not to materialise. 

Oh, and it was perhaps important to mention that I started a dedicated smear campaign against Minato to impede his efforts to form alliances against Sayuki and potentially stop him from advancing. 

This… surprisingly felt like it might have been the biggest attack on the status of Canon, despite facing off against Orochimaru and abducting a main branch Hyuga in Suna. 

If Minato performed badly here… there was every potential chance he’d be overlooked as a Hokage candidate later… Minato must have some good charisma to beat out any clan candidates that he would have come up against, so the question therefore, became just how good he was.

When the time came for the third stage of the exams I along with most of the Kiri contingent were relegated to standing atop the overhead gantries while more dedicated seating had been established for the Daimyo who could make it… and the Kage.

Everyone in the room was aware of them. The conversations, such as they were, were muted and stunted. 

Everyone positioned themselves so they could see the Kage. 

The Raikage was a grizzly man who sneered and growled often. 

The Kazekage was a quiet, temperate man who drew many admiring looks for his stoic beauty. 

The Mizukage, who chuckled and grinned while choosing to lounge on his throne. The very picture of indolence. 

The Tsuchikage sat on the edge of his with his seat with his bandaged fingers interlaced as he pointedly stared straight ahead. He held that position without so much as a twitch. He very pointedly never looked towards Gengetsu.

And finally there was the Hokage. 

He relaxed on his throne with a kindly smile and a twinkle in his eyes, and yet he did so with an inferno burning in his chest that could threaten us all at a moment’s notice.

The smallest gesture from any of the Kage drew everyone’s attention. It didn’t matter if it was a mocking laugh, a twitch of annoyance, or a polite clap of their hands for a well-struck blow that led to one of the Genin emerging triumphant.

Every gesture caused a sea of eyes to twitch their way.

All of them sat on thrones that were pointedly less ornate than the Daimyo, but they didn’t need them. 

They commanded the room without effort.

Everyone knew that the Daimyo could order many things done. 

Roads and towns could be built. Wars declared or the fate of nations changed.

The Kage could see those acts done and more. 

They could level forests, wipe away mountains, cleanse valleys. Destroy armies and beggar nations. 

There were times I had to remind myself to focus on the matches beneath me as one of the Kage would invariably shift, often it was Gengetsu or A, the Second Raikage, but a soft sweep of the hands from Hiruzen Sarutobi also caused me to glance over.

At one point I caught him looking at me with interest before he nodded and looked away. 

I shivered. Having the man known as the God of Shinobi take notice of you didn’t feel so good when you were from a rival shinobi Village.

I could do little but cheer for my students as they marched out to face their opponents. 

I was particularly proud to watch Idate and Midori emerge triumphant. Then Sharkbait once more fought through a tough match up, where despite being ganged up on he won through. 

I had no doubt that  Idate, and Midori would all garner promotions with this result upon return to Kiri. The politics of their clans would guarantee it with this showing.

The promotions awarded here at the actual exams were mostly for show and to drum up interest from the nobles. 

When Sayuki stepped onto the field, I watched  as Minato stepped forward and smiled at the other two.

I felt my heart sink as both of the others in their group chose to attack each other rather than Minato. 

Sayuki stiffened, stunned by this turn of events. She glanced at Minato and found him to be merely sitting to the side and waiting. 

She growled and threw herself into a fight with another, chosing to earn herself an ally. Only for when their shared enemy was disposed of the other Genin turned on Sayuki. 

“No! You diot! The Konoha nin is still fresh!” she pointed out. 

“I can’t fight him cause he helped me find a rare flower that was important for my girlfriend!” replied the Steam shinobi.

I blinked. What?

Sayuki dispatched the other Genin and turned as Minato rose with a gentle smile still fixed in place. “I don’t know what sort of bullshit you pulled off but I’m not letting you advance without a fight!” she snapped. 

Minato merely nodded back politely. “Very well,” he said with a sauveness that had some of the noble ladies tittering. 

I rolled my eyes and watched as Sayuki put him through his paces. When he closed she tried for trip him into a grapple that surely would have ended with a Rasengan or somehting similar to the chest only for Minato to suddenly accelerate and show of speed he’d been holding back on. He caught her back the back of the neck and put a kunai to her neck. 

“Surrender,” he declared, voice suddenly cold as ice. 

Sayuki growled. “Very well,” she announced. 

She rose and bowed to him before marching off, leaving him on the field to smile and wave. 

I felt a chill run down my spine as I watched Minato march back towards the cheering Konoha group. 

That kid had some S tier Charisma or luck… or potentially both to have gotten away with that. 

I made a note to thoroughly debrief Sayuki about that, if to help her process it better. She’d done well, but sadly you sometimes couldn’t account for every detail. 

Then I forgot everything as Mu shifted in his seat and Gengetsu stopped smiling.

When nothing else happened I exhaled in relief and shook my head as the next round of matches were called. If this was how things were going to be, I doubted anyone was going to remember the actual exams. I swept my gaze over the Iwa contingent and spotted a familiar face smirking at me.

Shibito.... that bastard lived eh? He smirked at me only to twitch when the Raikage scoffed.

I hummed. It felt like everyone and their servants were waiting for the actual event to occur but none of us had a say in when that would start.

I forced myself to ignore the Iwa Jonin and focus on the next fights as clueless nobles prodded me about guessing who’d emerge victorious. I kept a fake smile plastered on as I gave them what I could. 

When the next match was called I shifted with anticipation.

Han strode out with two other shinobi across from what clearly was an Uchiha. 

I smiled as instantly everyone turned towards the Uchiha.

"Typical, of course you understand you are outmatched. I was prepared for this!" The Uchiha sneered and put his hands into an all too familiar cross seal.

I leaned forward and grinned in delight.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu!” intoned the young Genin. 

I couldn’t stop the smile from appearing even if I’d wanted to. I didn’t care about the rest of this exam, Han had just inadvertently given me the keys to the Kingdom.

I vowed to fight tooth and nail for his promotion if for no other reason than this moment right now. 

The Uchiha vanished in a small puff of chakra smoke as I traced the way his chakra had moved as accurately as I could.

When he emerged with two other perfect clones of himself I had to hold myself back from laughing.

Shadow Clone Jutsu acquired!

___________________

A.N. Did anyone have that as a guess for what was going to happen?

Thanks go to my supporters! I hope you enjoyed this chapter with it being a big power up for Matsu in terms of skills with a late reward dropping into his lap.