Red Riot - Chapter 29 - The cost of advancing

Matsu:- The MC, a Kiri Chunin, with Uzumaki traits.

Shoto: - Matsu’s best friend and stealth expert for the civilian born shinobi. Is going to start making moves of his own soon.

Sayuki - Matsu’s second in command of the civilian graduates from his year at the Academy. She has her doubts about Matsu due to his ‘killing’ of ‘Rei’ but recognises him as a good leader.

Gengetsu Hozuki:- the Leader of Kirigakure. Sociopath, Psychopath, and all around dictator. Master of genjutsu. Illusion and reality sometimes blur with him around.

Idate Hozuki - student of Matsu. Hozuki clansman. Genin. Thinks he’s destined for greatness!

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. Might have dealt with a good deal of sabotage during his time at the academy. Genin. 

Jonin Akiko - Matsu’s Sensei and exasperated mentor of other children, Matsu returned her beauty to her.

Rei:- the girl who should have died when Matsu was ordered by the Mizukage to prove himself along with the other ‘leaders’ of the student groups. Has been hidden in Matsu’s home in the red light district. She’s growing in interesting ways…

Yukari Terumi :- Friends with Akiko and currently engaged in a Honeypot mission.
                                              ______________________

A month and two more C-rank missions passed quickly with the various tasks I needed to complete as the leader of my pseudo-faction. 

I continued to work with my students on various jutsu and chakra control exercises. I ran them through hypothetical scenarios and tested their responses whenever we were stuck on a ship. 

Otherwise, I began collecting specific books about anatomy and reading through them. 

While many were considered good for their time, I knew they were wrong. This meant I had to adjust them, as they wouldn’t work as accurate teaching references. This, in turn, led to me sitting down and writing late into the evenings while Rei watched on in my room as I created my own books.

Whenever I finished the books, Rei took them and copied them out for me, creating a small set of duplicates that I planned to expand on when I had the time. It doubled as good practise for her while giving her insight into how the body worked.

I trained with Akiko and the Kaguya clan whenever I could to expand my skills as a shinobi. 

Perhaps due to my announcement of intent, Akiko had shifted all our training to what amounted to ‘how to make friends and allies’. When I suggested as much to her, she snorted and flicked me on the forehead. “It’s also about how not to make enemies,” she said pointedly. 

I could only nod. My announcement in the restaurant had been a spur-of-the-moment declaration, but with any action, there was a reaction. 

The Clans hadn’t done anything overt, but I noted that the Hozuki shinobi and even some Terumi now pointed me out when I was walking through the Village. 

Most of them laughed behind their hands, which was perhaps the best response. 

To them, I must seem an idiot. I’d done something impressive with the Academy, but there seemed to be a consensus that any of them could have easily done the same if they’d cared to try. 

In this case their apathy and mocking laughter suited me perfectly fine. It was the ones who watched me with thoughtful consideration in their eyes that worried me, few though they might be.

For now, they did nothing.

I could only gather that they were waiting for me to do something big to prove myself or something idiotic.

Gengetsu responded by sending an ANBU agent to inform me that the Mizukage wished to see me. I promptly sprinted over, only to sit in the waiting room for an hour before sitting another hour on a chair facing what I assume was an illusion, as the real Gengetsu worked at his desk without saying a word. 

I sat for an entire hour without being acknowledged or addressed once.

Part of me wanted to believe that this was all some elaborate ploy of his to make it seem like he’d spent the time talking with me in private. 

I could imagine how people would sit and wonder what had been discussed in this room when, in reality, literally nothing had been said.

But I knew the real reason was that Gengetsu just wanted to fuck with me and make me sweat. 

He’d heard about my announcement, and what was his response?

He sat me in his office and made me cool my heels, which was a huge waste of my time when I could have been working on so many other things.

The prick. 

I had to respect him though as I had little doubt I wasn’t the only one he was making sweat with his mind games.

My announcement wasn’t all bad, however. 

While the Clans had taken note, so had some of the civilian-born shinobi. More of them asked about me, and some even approached our training groups. 

A few even offered their help. We accepted them but kept them at a polite arm’s distance. More than a few had previously tied themselves with the clans so I had no doubt that more than a few were spies, or simply people looking to hitch themselves to a rising star.

I allowed them access to the simple stuff but kept the good stuff for the core of my faction of civilian-born shinobi. This included the powerful jutsu we had, like the Water Dragon Jutsu, the lessons on stealth and sensing, the first stage of the Rasengan, which no one had completed yet, and finally, the chakra node cleansing technique.

A skill that I was learning was something only I could perform, and since my time was limited, I kept it for those who I felt were the most loyal to me.

Like Shoto.

“So, how are you feeling?” I asked as Shoto began to rise out of the water. 

Shoto blinked, his hands flexing open and shit before he rolled his shoulders. “I feel good like my chakra is flowing better with each session. Certainly noticed it when you worked on the Gates for me but…” He inhaled and clenched his hands. “I still can’t sense what you’re talking about all the time with the ‘nodes and pathways’. I just… I can’t sense it. I can feel my chakra flowing like you’re describing but I can’t sense the structure holding it together.”

“Hmm, so the second step is what’s tripping you up?” I asked as I used my chakra to dry my clothes. 

Shoto nodded. “I feel better and I get that my chakra pool has grown along with my control but… I don’t think I’ll be activating the Gates anytime soon.”

“We need to find a way to increase your sensitivity to chakra perhaps? Or not chakra?” I mused rubbing at my chin.

Shoto shook his head. “Matsu… I’ve been talking with Sayuki, it’s been a month now and none of us are able to follow the instructions. I think… I think we’re not good enough sensors.” 

He grasped at the air. “We’re not you,” he stated glumly. 

“I’m not that—” a harsh snort cut me off.

“Matsu you’re all sorts of bullshit. I asked around and people are either born with their Chakra senses or they're not, and typically they don’t expand it as you have. I know some of it is thanks to a jutsu but still no one, and I mean no one has the sensitivity you do.”

“There are better sensors,” I said firmly. 

Shoto took a long moment to stare at me. “Matsu, I think there aren’t as many as you would assume. I don’t know of anyone who can observe a person performing a jutsu once or twice at most and steal a jutsu like you can. You realise that’s just utter bullshit right?”

I stared at him. “Well when you say it like that,” I replied slowly. 

Shoto snorted again. “You didn’t even notice, did you?”

I allowed the mask I kept up out of habit to fade as I rubbed at my face. “Urgh, honestly I just push myself as hard as I can I’ve been working on the logic that if I just keep pushing I’ll keep getting stronger.”

“Hehe! You’re crazy bro,” Shoto barked.

I nodded. “Yeah, that seems to be the best way to get ahead.” 

Shoto grunted. “Suppose it worked when we were in the academy.” he rubbed his jaw. “Man, I really have been slacking since the Academy haven’t I?”

I jostled him with my shoulder and indicated we should head out. “It’s because you haven’t had me to push you whereas I’ve been getting into fights, kicking butt and making a name for myself!” I said with a faux smugness. 

Shoto nodded. “Now that I think about it, it makes sense, in a twisted sort of way. You approach it with a desperation to improve whereas I’ve been just running through the same old patterns.” 

I nodded. “The body, mind and spirit will not grow without challenge,” I intoned with a sagely air. 

Shoto worked his jaw back and forth as he thought about my words. I could tell he wanted to punch me and when his arm lashed out to tap me, I swayed out of the way. 

“Asshole,” he muttered while his gaze continued to look off into the distance. 

We walked along the wharf towards where the ‘Trifecta apartments’—as the kids and new residents had taken to calling the buildings we own—were located.

We’d filled the entire apartment up with civilian-born shinobi who lacked accommodation on a basic rental scheme with utilities being somehting that we supplied. Seeing as it was a shinobi building we’d gone out of our way to also incentivise specialised businesses to take up housing on the bottom floor with extremely competitive leases. 

It was suprising the things you could do when you had what amounted to a battalion of Genin and a few months.

I was already making plans to purchase surrounding buildings to further the renovations of the community that we’d started to develop. It was small, barely touching a hundred people as yet, but it was a start on building up my own faction within Kiri.

“I’m going to have to start performing some higher-ranked missions soon,” I stated. “Think I can get Hanzo, Dende or Hito to run a mission with my students?” I asked. 

“Heh, give those guys an easy enough mission and you know the answer,” he said. 

I nodded. “While they are our seniors, they don’t have the same drive to advance as the others. They’ve grown comfortable in their roles as Chunin. They are happy enough to be perfectly average and therefore beneath a lot of people’s notice.” 

I walked towards the group in question who were sitting out in front of the apartment playing cards. 

I walked up right as Hito chuckled and dragged the centre pot to himself. “Fancy looking after my students for a simple mission?” I asked. 

Hito smirked at the other two. “I’m flush for cash for a bit, but I know two people who could do with some pocket money.” 

Dende and Hanzo replied with rude gestures but rose, accepting that he wasn’t wrong. “It shouldn’t be hard to find a simple shipping mission that needs guards,” Dende replied. 

“Can you give them a run-through of the clans of the Konoha like you did for me?” I asked. 

“Hmm? Yeah sure, should be easy enough.” Dende aimed a kick at Hito who was still cackling at his winnings while Hanzo waited off to the side. 

I followed them up to the roof where I found people training more than a few held water balloons and glared at them hatefully. I chuckled as I stepped to the side as Shoto tried and failed to tag me. 

“Tch, of course you noticed,” he said before smirking at the Chunin trio who each had five tags on their backs. 

“Come with me on my next mission,” I said as an idea crystallised in my mind. We’ll find an espionage mission to steal some secrets.” 

“Hmmm, think it’ll be that hard to steal from some merchant or Noble?” he replied, lacing his fingers behind his head. 

“If they’ve hired shinobi or samurai of their own? Yes,” I stated. “If we find the right missions we could also chain them together.”

Shoto nodded, liking the sound of that, before sighing. “Yeah, thanks for the offer, but… I know what I need to do,” he stated, his gaze shifting towards a building barely visible from our vantage point.

While he contemplated that I moved about and tapped my students on the shoulder before gesturing for them to move to the side.

When Han, Midori, Idate, and Kuroiwa were in a loose semi-circle, I broke the news. “I’m going to be looking to take a B-rank mission. This isn’t somehting I can just bring you all along on so I will be having a pair of chunin lead you on some missions. We all need to increase our completed mission list before the Chunin exams arrive after all,” I stated. 

“Tch, handing us off, are you? What’s next you’re going to take Han and Midori on as your personal apprentices?” 

I met his hostile gaze. I’d been expecting this for a while now. Tension had been forming in the group since I’d started working on Han and Midori’s Chakra nodes. Both of them had grown thanks to the treatments, and they’d also started working harder and harder with me giving them such personalised care, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Idate or Kuroiwa. 

While Kuroiwa merely shrugged and accepted it, Idate had started becoming bitter about the favouritism. 

Now that the topic had been broached, however, it was time to resolve this issue before it could cause any further problems. “I’ve been giving them more attention, as they’ve been hearing what I’ve been saying since we started out. You need to work hard, harder than anyone else. If anything, you’ve relaxed since becoming a Genin. Han and Midori have committed themselves, and in response, I’m giving them what they’re asking for.”

I shot a finger right into Idate’s chest. “On the other hand you’ve been trying to bully your way into your clan and getting nothing for it but rejection,” I said, not pointing out that the rejections usually came with him being treated like a training tool instead of a fellow shinobi.

I continued to stare right into his eyes. “If you want more from me you need to give me more in return,” I informed him.

 A flicker of uncertainty ran through his eyes. 

Han surprised me by speaking up. “Come on Idate we all know they’re beating you up. Why’d you wanna be part of that?”

“It’s my Clan!” snapped Idate. “You might not understand that being a civilian but the Clan is everything!” he shouted only to curl in on himself. “Or it was supposed to be,” he whispered. 

Everyone paused to give Idate a pointed look which caused him to snap his mouth shut.

I hummed. That outburst was rather telling, as typically, shinobi were required to stay quiet in most settings. This had been rattling him for a while now. 

“Han has the right of it. I’ve told you all my goals for you. Idate, if you want me to double down on you, then you need to show me that.”  

“How?” Idate asked the million ryo question. 

How did he prove himself to me? His situation was similar to Midori’s, but I’d accepted Midori into the fold despite her being a clan kid. The difference was completely in her attitude compared to his. Idate walked around with a chip on his shoulder that I needed to come off.

“I suppose it’s that Midori has taken in what I’ve been teaching more than anyone else. I feel safe giving her and Han more as they are both giving me more back in return,” I stated. 

Kuroiwa perked up at this. “Oh, so it’s like a transaction. I should have realised.” She clenched her fists. “I can give more,” she stated and I considered her. 

That… fit all too well for what I knew about Kuroiwa. She had a very mercantile view of the world, one that I had been toying with. 

I decided to nod in response. “Yes, it can be viewed that way. There is give-and-take in many situations, and I feel like I need to see some commitment before I offer you anything more.” I raised a finger. What I am giving you is what I feel will be enough to get you to chunin. Anything more than that?” 

Idate clenched his fists. “... I’ll try…” 

“Don’t try, do,” I replied easily. 

Idate stared at me for a long moment before bowing his upper body, it bent stiffly, like a door on rusty hinges he almost creaked as he reached ninety degrees. “Teach me, I want to be strong,” he stated. 

I ignored how there was a slight hitch in his tone and even Han didn’t leap in to needle his rival. Instead, he let the moment stand. 

I knelt. “I’m going to give you a task. During the next mission you go on, I want you to finish the first and second stages of the Rasengan training.”

“Second stage? I’ve barely gotten the damn ball to wobble!” Idate said in shock. “How am I supposed to complete the second stage!” 

I shrugged. “Effort,” I replied rather harshly. I then pulled out another sealing scroll and handed it to him. “The second stage is harder than the first and will demand you burst the rubber balls in this scroll. Do this, and I’ll know you’ve been putting in the effort.”

“But! This is!” Idate floundered as he straightened up. “Argh! Why do you always ask the impossible?”

“Impossible? No, this is merely difficult,” I said as I opened up my chunin vest and lifted my shirt to show off my stomach, which, at first glance, looked like scales made of white paper. 

My students leaned in as every ‘scale’ shifted. “What is…” Han said before trailing off.

The ‘scales’ of paper shifted, up, down, side to side, in an almost hypnotic pattern as they slotted into and out of place with each other resulting in a sliding mosaic. 

“What am I looking at?” Idate said, and I winked, causing the papers to fold over. A burst of colour appeared, and the ‘scales’ began shifting back and forth. It was like a gigantic Rubix cube, only it covered my chest, and the scales actually slotted over the top of the wire mesh armour I wore underneath everything else.  

“It takes a while to set up in the mornings,” I idly stated. “But it is good for working memory as well as chakra control with how I have to memorise which piece of paper goes where. I usually get it pretty accurate by the end of the day so don’t read too much into my result right now. It’s barely midday,” I said.

Shoto and a few others who’d been lurking walked up to join my students in inspecting the mosaic of colours. 

Shoto stared for a long moment before snorting. “You’ve got five yellow scales mixed in with your blues,” he said. 

Sayuki shot him a look. “Really? That’s what you’re choosing to take from this?” she said.

“He’ll get a big head if I say anything else,” he replied, crossing his arms as he did so. 

I rolled my eyes as the papers shifted back to become white side up. “Such a tsundere.” I tucked my shirt back in and closed my vest.

My students stared at me as though they’d never seen me before. “When do you… work on that?” Kuroiwa asked. 

“Hmm, I try to keep it as a background process so that I’m always working my chakra, shifting it, tweaking it this way and that. The memory game also helps train the mind,” I said, tapping the side of my head. “A strong memory helps in a lot of situations.”

My students all nodded. I watched them process this for a little while before turning to Kuroiwa. “I think you’d make a good medic Kuroiwa.”

She blinked. “Eh? Me? A medic? What makes you think that?”

“It is the path that would make you indispensable while also making you a lot of money.”

Kuroiwa’s previously stunned expression morphed into one of tight focus. “I’m listening.”

“If you were to become a medic you could charge people for any healing you did. It would also open up different missions for you to earn a lot from specific medical missions,” I lectured.

“Eh! Sensei what are you doing? Medics are supposed to heal people for free!” squawked Idate.

I hummed. “See I think that’s a mistake. Part of learning a lesson from an injury is making sure it sinks in. I’ve noticed that whenever I make myself available to heal a lot of people around here get reckless. 

“However, if I were to start billing them they might be more careful like they would on a mission,” I stated before shrugging. 

“There are always people hurting themselves however so even a simple clinic would see you doing pretty well for yourself and if you can’t extract money then you can put them in debt or get favours from them,” I said.

Kuroiwa took all of this in and for perhaps the first time since I’d taken her in as my student she grinned. “I want to be a medic Sensei! Please teach me!”

I chuckled and pulled out another scroll I had prepared. “Read everything in this scroll by the time I get back. Talk with people about it and try and understand it as best you can because I will be testing your comprehension and application of this knowledge,” I informed her.

“That shouldn’t be too diff—” Kuroiwa started to say, only to unseal the scroll and a massive stack of books to fall to the ground. Everyone stared, and Kuroiwa’s eyes bugged out of her skull.

Han reached out and picked up the closest book. “The anatomy of the heart,” he read, only to blink. “Sensei… did you write these?” he said, eying the words.

“Ah, yes during my downtime I’ve been creating aides for Kuroiwa.” I reached out and tapped Kuoriwa lightly on the forehead playfully. “Make sure to give me discounts when I need patching up yeah?” I joked. 

Kuroiwa nodded dumbly, her eyes still locked on the stack of books I’d ordered her to memorise.

A flicker of chakra had me looking up in time to catch Akiko appearing in a shunshin. “Matsu! I’ve got a handful of missions to complete within the Land of Hotsprings!” she ordered.

“Ah, I suppose that saves me the trouble of looking for a mission of my own,” I said, nonplussed at this sudden development. 

Akiko gave me a stern look. “You need to stop babying your team! Them getting enough missions to qualify for the Chunin exams is easy. Getting enough to be seriously considered as a Jonin is another thing entirely!” she jerked her head in a command to follow.

“Alright alright,” I said raising my hands in defeat. “I’ll come I just thought I was supposed to be making nice with the mission administration nin,” I replied as I followed,  tossing a wave at my friends and students as I departed. 

Hopefully, they’d respond to the challenge I’d laid before them. 

                                                        _______________

Shoto watched his friend vanish after his sensei. 

Jonin, his friend, was trying to advance to Jonin, and here he was languishing as a Genin. He glanced over to the four students Matsu had left behind.

They all were still reeling from how Matsu had basically just dumped revelation after revelation on them.

“Didn’t realise he did all that, did you?” he prodded.

The civilian boy, Han, shifted. “I mean I think I saw him writing in a book once but I didn’t realise he was doing that for Kuroiwa.”

“I just thought he was writing in a journal… I was going to try and read it if he ever left it out,” Idate admitted. 

“He’s always pushing himself in some way, isn’t he?” Midori asked, still looking at where Matsu had been last visible.

Shoto rubbed at this face. “Yeah, I feel like I shouldn’t be surprised by this, considering this is exactly what he was like when he was in the Academy; it's just that he hasn’t stopped pushing himself.”

Shoto considered that for a moment and then towards the students. “Hmph, guess I’m going to have to lift my game. You’re all pushing towards Chunin, and here I am as your senior lazing around.”

This caused several others to gain narrowed eyes.

Shoto smirked. They were all thinking they were going to have to attempt the Chunin exams as rivals. Shoto watched them, amused at how a fire had been lit within their group. He moved away from them his work down now that the embers Matsu had sparked were ignited.

Shoto paused as Sayuki approached him. “You’re going to do something stupid, aren’t you?” 

“Heh, that right there is why you’re a great second,” Shoto complimented. 

Sayuki, rather than acknowledging the compliment, narrowed her eyes, unperturbed by his diversion.

Shoto sighed. “If it works, it's not stupid,” he replied. “Also, I won’t be able to tell you if it works or not, but it’s something I’ve been working on for a while now. I think I can do it. I’ve been testing myself against Matsu.”

“Matsu isn’t the best sensor in the Village,” stated Sayuki. “And I think I know what you’re planning, and I don’t approve.”

“I can’t wait for the best. I need good enough.” Shoto smirked. “Ah, that’s a shame, but oh well I can’t wait for your blessing.” 

Sayuki twitched and changed tact. “Would Matsu approve of what you’re going to do?”

“He’d understand it,” Shoto replied as he hid a smile. 

Sayuki continued to stare at Shoto. “I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me.”

“Just that this has been in the works much longer than you might think,” Shoto said cryptically. 

Sayuki sighed, and he just winked before jumping over the side of the building. 

From there he attached to the side before shunshinning away. He reappeared closer to his target but still far enough away not to raise any warnings or alerts within.

He dropped down to street level and ambled along like he didn’t have a care in the world only to duck into an alleyway where he stepped into an alcove where he pushed a a specific brick that caused the entire wall to drop away. 

From there, it was a quick duck before he tracked down a hallway with various attached rooms, such as locker rooms, weapons racks, and even eating areas. 

Shoto had been testing himself against this site for a while now, and most of the time he waited until there were as few people within as possible, but not today. 

Today, he ducked into doorways or shimmied onto the roof as masked or hooded shinobi passed underneath. 

He worked his way further and further into the building, diving into cupboards or attaching himself to the roof above a door to evade any people who might have encountered him. 

Matsu once said that it was common for humans not to look up, and Shoto had to agree. When people thought they were safe, they didn’t perform the full inspections they should. 

It almost took the fun out of what he was doing, but that was managed by the understanding that if he was caught early, he would face a beating at least for what he was about to do.

He honestly expected to get beaten regardless. 

Just before the final corner, a kunoichi paused beneath him and sniffed the air, only to pause again. Shoto frowned. Did someone seriously have a scent-based method? He’d bathed and flushed his body with chakra before coming, but still… beneath him, the woman lingered.

Shoto frowned. She was wearing a mask, but for some reason, he suspected he knew her… Had he encountered someone with that build before? Most likely, but who?

The kunoichi moved on before he could work anything out, but her pausing only caused Shoto more worries. She had to know; there was no way she hadn’t. She’d reacted.

Only to then ignore him? 

Something stunk, and it wasn’t him because he’d bathed and made sure not to have any easy tells. 

Only for a fricken hound woman to apparently be on the roster today, he internally griped.

Another flip and twist saw him approaching the room he’d been targeting for a while now but never entering. 

It was always manned.

Shoto dropped down in front of it, knowing that time was limited. He couldn’t hear anyone moving about, but the hair on the back of his neck was sitting up, and his instincts were warning him that people were now aware of him. 

He gave the door a sharp rap with his knuckles. The knocking echoed down the hallway, and within one heartbeat and the next, a trio of masked shinobi appeared around him in a flicker of speed. 

“Shit, turns out the Guppy was right,” muttered one of the ANBU agents, a large muscled man with huge scars.

The kunoichi who had paused was also there while directly behind Shoto, where another ANBU shifted. “Should we—”

The door in front of Shoto opened on silent hinges. “Let the boy in,” a voice called.

“Sir! He’s an—” the large ANBU agent said, only to be interrupted. 

“I know who and what he is. He is an embarrassment upon you and all your fellows. The only person to detect him was a new blood guppy! Bring. Him. In!” ordered the voice, all warmth gone now. 

The man nudged Shoto to move, and Shoto entered with the trio. Behind them, more ANBU began to appear as they worked out where the threat had gone.

Shoto found himself in a small office with no decorations but instead a neat desk with scrolls stacked to the side and an ink brush set next to them.

“Genin Shoto, do you know who I am?” intoned the voice from the single shinobi behind the desk. With the hooded cowl over their form, it and the perfect controlled voice meant Shoto had no idea if it was a man or a woman he was talking to. 

That was probably by design. 

“I know that you are the commander of this cell of ANBU. You are directly under the ANBU commander of Kiri,” Shoto reported dutifully. 

“Do you know what this cell’s duties entail?” intoned the masked ANBU Lieutenant. 

“Predominantly Village security with patrols, observations and close-ranged missions that see you moving into the surrounding landscape, rarely will your agents link up with other cells for larger operations!” answered Shoto.

Behind him, the trio of ANBU shifted nervously, and they should; that was a lot more than any Genin should know. 

The shinobi before Shoto didn’t react at all to Shoto, stating what would be secrets aloud in another setting. 

They merely laced their fingers together and nodded. “Agent Whale, I want the operational Agents who have been in charge of this site’s security to report for retraining within ten minutes. They are to hand their masks back into the quartermaster and take up Guppy masks for their failures.”

“S-sir!” barked Agent Whale, who moved to complete the order. 

“Agent Guppy five-zero, you are hereby promoted to…” the hooded figure considered the kunoichi behind Shoto for a moment. “Catfish. You are to claim the Catfish mask and wear it with pride, but do not let yourself falter like others have done today. Do not let today’s success become tomorrow’s failure.” 

The cowled figure continued without missing a beat as the newly promoted Agent Catfish bowed their head. “Agent Trout? You are to take this Genin and have him join the current batch of recruits.”

“Sir! This is—” Agent Trout began to say, only for the Lietanent to raise their hand and silence to fall upon the room instantly. 

“I am well aware of who he is and what he has done. I’ve been keeping an eye on him since he embarrassed an entire training cohort.” The masked face turned back to Shoto. “You’ve kept me waiting for far too long, I feel Genin. Finally manned up?” 

Shoto nodded and replied easily, “I wasn’t confident enough to attempt this before.”

“Hmph, you’ve got potential. You’ll go far if you keep your head on straight. Follow Trout to receive your mask. He will run you through our procedures, and you will join the others going through their own testing. You’ll have an accelerated course to reach the same level as them, but I don’t think that will be a problem.” 

The figure flicked their fingers towards the door. “You’re dismissed.”

Shoto bowed to his superior and followed Trout out quickly. On the way out, they passed a group of uncertain ANBU agents. 

“Him?!” snarled one man, only for Trout to shake his head.

“He’s a recruit; wait until combat training to get your revenge,” stated Trout flatly. 

That got a dark chuckle from the other man. Shoto allowed his eyes to track over to him. 

Marlin eh? 

He noted down which other agents assumed a hostile position to himself and came up with quite the list. 

As they walked through the halls, Trout dropped back. “Hope you know you’re going to wash out, but not before we beat the shit out of you, you pompous little brat,” hissed Trout. 

Shoto kept his thoughts to himself.  

Matsu and he had spoken about all of this years ago when they’d tried to work out where their futures would take them. Matsu had a rather theoretical if accurate understanding of how ANBu operated, and that had drawn Shoto’s interest.

As the stealthy one of their friendship, he’d realised ANBU was perhaps the best place for him and thus started working out what would come next. After knocking out the ANBU recruits during the Matsu brawl with Kitoma, Shoto knew there would be interest and animosity. 

They’d be crazy not to keep an eye on him. Thankfully, that had made it all too easy to learn things in response, such as where their home bases were. 

This particular cell was the one he needed to rise through the ranks of so he’d approached it rather than the others. 

When Matsu had stabbed Rei in front of everyone, he could admit that his loyalty had wavered. Rightly so, in Matsu’s opinion. Upon discovering he’d duped and ran the risk of execution from the Mizukage Shoto’s loyalty was locked in.

Matsu was his guy, and he wanted him to wear the hat. For that, Matsu needed people to support him.

“—hear me? We’re going to break you!” snarled Trout as he realised Shoto was ignoring him.

Shoto turned so he was looking right into Trout’s eyes. 

“You’ll try,” he responded as he donned the Guppy mask all trainee ANBU agents wore, enjoying the way Trout’s steel grey eyes flashed with malice.

If these punks thought he’d only spent the last year working out how to submit his application to join ANBU, they were in for a very rude shock.

Matsu wasn’t the only one sparing with the Kaguya these days. It was just that Shoto was far more circumspect about it. 

He was looking forward to schooling these agents all over again.

It would be just like in the Academy if he had his way. 

                                              __________________

I wiped at the blood trickling down my nose as the ship set sail. 

Next to me, Akiko watched me. “Still causes bleeds?”

“I keep pushing for more from it,” I replied, lowering the chakra from the nodes within my brain so that the range and accuracy I could sense faded until I was at a mere kilometre in range. 

 I shifted my chakra so that the part running through my mind was aligned with the leaving chakra, and slowly, the pressure I could feel on my brain faded. 

“Hmmm, how far can you reach now?” 

“I’m up to five kilometres within the city. It’s easier to do in the field where I can sense up to seven these days.” 

Akiko whistled. “Impressive; between this and your taijutsu I’d say you’re advancing well.”

“Just my taijutsu?” I asked, curious if she didn’t think my other skills were worth acknowledging.

“Your Medical jutsu isn’t something I can determine. I have no idea how good you are, but you seem to be pretty damned good,” she responded, touching her face. “None of the few that I’ve sent your way have had anything to complain of.”

I grunted. In the two months that I’d been able to spend more time within Kiri I had been able to heal up scars and incorrectly aligned bones for a few people. Thankfully, they were only small cases but it did give me another question to follow.

Without a formalised hospital, how did people heal their injuries in the Village? The answer was an assortment of small clinics and clan-aligned doctors who only healed those of the clans that supported them.

There was no central structure, no dedicated space for healing or illnesses, and no one advised the Mizukage on health matters. The world was still too undeveloped for such large organisations. 

Part of me was glad for that as a hospital in Kiri? I felt like it would be twisted in some horrible way if it had already been in place. 

When I became Mizukage it was yet another task I needed to complete.

It made my trip to the doctor in my first year at the Academy thanks to Tenpora all the more fortuitious for me.

“So, the missions?” I prompted. 

Akiko handed over a trio of scrolls. And I opened them. “A rank mission to infiltrate Yugakure within the Land of Hot Water to steal jutsu and intel… B rank mission to establish information network that feeds towards a local agent posing as a simple merchant, and the assassination of the bandit ‘king’ in the southern province,” I read aloud.

Akiko pulled her cloak tighter around her. “What do you know about the Land of Hot Water?”

I hummed. This, surprisingly, was something I knew rather a lot of due to looking into Hidan, who was a future threat as an ‘S-rank’ shinobi who would become part of Akatsuki. 

He was a bit of a jobber, in my opinion, with his gimmicks, but I had to admit they were pretty great gimmicks to have. Immortality and the infliction of wounds upon a foe whose blood you gained was kinda useful. 

I didn’t say that, though. Instead, I said, “The Land of Hot Water is a minor nation that borders Frost, Rice, and Fire. It has many hot springs across the breadth of its land thanks to several volcanic mountains located in specific areas. Their only significant exports are the water from said Hot Springs, which they tout as being medicinal along with potatoes. Hot Water mostly trades with its neighbours but there is also some demand for their goods in Lightning, Sky, Noodle and ourselves, but they are aligned with the Land of Fire’s Daimyo on most international issues.”

“Huh, impressive. I wasn’t expecting much, but it’s geographic location.” Akiko shot me a pleased look..

I shrugged. “I don’t know much about Yugakure apart from it existing,” I stated. I also knew that canonically it wouldn’t exist beyond acting as a policing force within a few years. 

“Yugakure is a small Village when compared to any of the big five. I wouldn’t expect it to have more than a thousand Shinobi worth their name tops, and I wouldn’t rate them the same way I normally would. A chunin for them is probably only worth a genin for us.” She flicked her fingers like she was throwing away trash. “That being said, they have their uses as buffer states and methods of triggering larger scale wars.”

Casus Belli, I thought to myself. 

“Yugakure nin have perhaps five big names worth a damn.” Akiko opened a Kumo Bingo book.

 “Those are Faron the Flame wielder who supposedly spent a year learning under Hiruzen Sarutobi if the rumours are to believed.” She showed me a man which huge mutton chop sideburns.  

“Menma of the shadows,” she said, showing another page showing a thin-looking man who was remarked as an infiltration and stealth specialist. 

“Six-six who’s something of a weapons expert while being notable for denouncing his name years ago,” she said, paging the Bingo book to his section. The man in the picture had tattoos all over his face showing weapons and a large scar through his lips which caused it to look like he was smirking. 

“Jinpachi of the bow.” his page announced him as a long range specialist with the greatest vision of the world. He also was touted as the current owner of the Eagle summons which had me sitting up and making special effort to lock in his features. 

Huh, under notable feats, he had a confirmed kill from a kilometer away. That was impressive and a little worrying.

Akiko nodded. “He’s the main reason that having you around is going to be a relief. I don’t want to be sitting comfortably in a camp only for him to start raining arrows on me.” 

I nodded and began to push my chakra back into the brain nodes. I had a day to train myself to eke of a little more distance. I could probably settle for at least three kilometres but I didn’t think I was going to be able to sit idly while knowing this guy was potentially patrolling Yugakure.

Akiko turned the page for the last picture. “This is our target for the last mission. I want to take him out first, as we’ll be able to cash his head in in Yugakure, which will help us get a read on the Village.”

“Volcanic Ashan?” I read, glancing at Akiko after a moment. “He can spew Volcanic Ash?” 

Akiko nodded. “We have a contact in his camp who will allow us entry,” she replied. She then reached out and pulled my hair into a ponytail. “Hmm, with my beauty restored and your natural good looks, I don’t think we’ll have any trouble gaining entry.”

I tilted my head and considered what Akiko had just told me. “I gather that this friend of yours is seeing if Ashan’s bloodline can be acquired?”

“Got it in one. We need to make sure we don’t tread on her toes. She’s had a year so hopefully she’s made some progress on that front. If not you might need to do some medical trickery to you know.” She mimed a rounded belly on herself. 

I stared. “What am I supposed to do?” 

“I don’t know, but that’s up to you. We’re not supposed to kill Ashan until after that.”

“Wow, alright then. Who’s your friend?” 

“Hmmm, oh, her name is Yukari Terumi. That gonna be an issue?”

“On this mission, no. I don’t think there will be any issues. Is she going to take issue with me?” I asked. As thought about another famous Terumi from the canonical timeline.

 Hmm, a Terumi woman sleeping with what could be a Lava release wielder.

What are the chances? For some reason, I’d always thought Roshi from Iwa was involved.

“Nah, she’s not going to have any beef with you unless you mess up her mission. She’s been working on it since the war stopped, so don’t jeopardise that, and she’ll be peachy.” 

“Hmmm,” I replied before turning to watch Akiko’s reaction more closely. “Is she the other reason we’re going to Hot Water?” I asked. 

Akiko wobbled her hand in a so-so gesture. “There’s a rumour that I caught hold of which I want to check. The Land of Hot Water is potentially going to be the site of rhe first Chunin Exams post the second Shinobi war.”

That made me straighten up, which Akiko noticed with a smirk. “You didn’t think I was just going to be catching up with an old friend, did you?”

I chuckled. “Guess this is why you’re the sensei, and I’m the student,” I replied cheekily.

She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. “I wasn’t able to write a book for you, but I’m closing in on getting you a fuinjutsu teacher. I had to burn some favours just to learn who knows any ninjutsu. Apparently, the only ones worth their weight are clan shinobi, which adds new challenges. I can’t offer favours or other things as they’ve got backing.”

Akiko shook her head in annoyance before turning and watching as the ship cut through the water. “That being said if we can secure Yukari a pregnancy, she’ll put in a good word for us with the guy 'cause it’s her uncle.”

“Ah, the Terumi clan then?” 

Akiko nodded. “You’re going to have to make some deals you might not like Matsu, but that comes with the territory of dealing with people from a position of weakness. We want what they have, and they know it. Don’t expect him to teach you everything.”

I nodded. “We’ll have to secure Yukari first,” I said. “This mission of hers… it won’t be an official Kiri mission, will it?”

“Nope, but honeypot missions like this are considered net gains for the Village. Kunoichi that trip up a strong combatant with a good bloodline are applauded. If they can bring the child to term and the child does have the bloodlines, even if it is something minor like enhanced vision then they get certain benefits awarded to them within their clans.”

“Huh, internal clan politics,” I said idly. 

“In this case. it will work out for us.” Akiko raised a finger to the sky. “Just be aware that spending so much time with the Terumi will sour any attempts to be friendly with the Hozuki.”

“Who’s clan head just happens to be the Mizukage,” I pointed out. 

“Indeed. Feel like backing down from learning such an obscure shinobi art?” Akiko asked with a tinge of hope. 

I huffed and watched the ocean stream past. In the future, so much would depend on being able to effectively interpret or perform fuinjutsu. It was too powerful a skill to ignore once you knew of the heights you could reach with it. 

If I wanted to rise up I needed to have ways to deal with people like Jiraiya and Minato. 

“Not on your life,” I said, knowing that one day it might very well come to that.

Akiko sighed. “Alright, let’s keep working on your detection abilities. I’ll move away and approach you during the trip. I want you to improve your sensory abilities without that jutsu you use. Let’s improve your base awareness,” she said.

“Sounds good,” I replied as she slunk away, only to fade from my passive chakra sense as we began our first round of training. 

                                                            ___________________

The Land of Hot Water was pretty much like I’d expected. Forests with lush greenery spread out over the valleys, with fertile farmlands and odd smouldering mountains where volcanoes slumbered. 

The eastern part of the nation where we’d made landfall was also the site of a certain bandit group. Interestingly, the locals didn’t refer to him as a bandit but rather as a revolutionary. With his presence nearby, the taxes of the local towns and cities were being intercepted and returned to them in a display of power.

Unsurprisingly, this turned out to be a very popular move with the locals, who happily took their money back while singing Ashan’s praises. 

Intelligence gathering was all too easy. Almost every man, woman, and child was kept informed about Ashan and his ‘Liberation army’ acting on their behalf. 

“So, got his position yet?” Akiko said as she ghosted up next to me. 

I repressed the nervous twitch, annoyed that she could still do that unless specifically pushed myself with the Mind’s Eye of the Kaguya. 

“A lot of people seem to know that he’s basically somewhere within the Frostcap range to deny any forces from Yugakure or the Daimyo making it across to the eastern half of the nation.” I prused my lips at this. 

“Doesn’t make sense, does it?” Akiko prompted. 

I nodded. “By all rights, the Daimyo or any shinobi force should be able to move through the valley within the northern reaches of the Frostcap range,” I stated. 

“People think it’s haunted, so they don’t go there,” Akiko answered. When I shot her a questioning look, she elaborated: “While you’ve been talking to people in pubs and the markets, I’ve been working the old folks over for stories of the land. They love it when someone shows even a hint of interest in the old stories. Supposedly, the Valley was known as the Valley of Hell, and people avoid it due to the demons that reside there.”

I frowned. “Sounds suspicious.”

Akiko nodded. “But not our issue. We need to know where Ashan and his warband have camped up.” She gave me a pointed look.

“Judging by the food caravans, he’s in the central half of the mountain range, just south of said Valley of Hell, making camp while the weather is shifting into the rainy season for Hot Water,” I stated. 

Akiko smiled proudly. “Knew you could work it out. What’s his force projected at?”

“With the amount of food he’s getting?” I said while chewing over the information I had. “If we account for people being a bit more generous thanks to all the ‘tax breaks’ he’s been handing out, I’d estimate that he has a cool five hundred men and women following him. There’s obviously other people like camp followers following along, though as there are separate orders that are easier to track, which account for another two hundred, I’d say.”

I held up a hand. “That’s assuming he hasn’t ordered more supplies from other cities, which I think he’d have to be doing. So upwards of five hundred is the answer I can give with any confidence.” 

And wasn’t that an interesting number to announce after Akiko had told me that Yugakure could only field a thousand shinobi at most. Had over half the Village deserted to stand with this Ashan? I had to admit to being impressed. 

Akiko huffed out a short laugh. “He has seven hundred and fifty. Remember, we have a kunoichi on the inside.”

I huffed back at her. “Point taken, I should have just asked you instead of showing off.”

Akiko nodded. “Yup! Now, let’s get a move on I want to make it to Yukari by nightfall, it’s been over a year now and I want to surprise that friend of mine!” she said before putting her finger and tumb under her chin and grinning proudly.

I chuckled as a few men and even the odd woman turned to get a second look at Akiko. “Alright, let’s move.”

The run to the Frostcap range only saw us running through the night and late into the next day. We arrived just as the sun was starting to creep towards the horizon and I exhaled with relief when I spotted Ashan’s war camp.

I had to give it to him; he had a neatly laid out camp with the tents evenly spaced and no overhangs that would make it all too easy to dump an avalanche on him. Nor could a landslide underneath him happen.He’d chosen a good position. 

Sadly for him, his camp’s sentries weren’t up to the task of keeping Akiko or me out. We ghosted over timber walls and into the tents where we adopted Henges that made us look like your average grunt in a war camp. 

We made our way past tents, but as we progressed deeper and deeper into the camp, more established structures such as wooden buildings, stone and even a proper series of minka, or ‘folk homes’ with sliding doors, wooden verandas and what looked like small garden surrounding them.

The largest of which was where we found our two targets. 

“How do you want to get in?” I prompted Akiko as we approached. 

“The easiest way,” Akiko replied. “We’re going to ask nicely,” she said with a teasing smile. 

I chuckled, knowing what she meant. The human factor was always the weakest part of any security system and the most exploitable. 

We walked aorund a corner and shifted our Henge so that Akiko looked like she was wearing a fancy yukata while I was wearing something like a simple robe that denoted me as a servant. I dropped back a respectful distance, but when we approached the main gates, I hurried forward to talk to the guards on behalf of my ‘mistress’. 

“Kindly, sir, we have come a long way! Is it true that the maiden Yukari resides here? My mistress and she share a history and she has been hoping to visit!” I said while bowing deferentially. 

The man shifted and inspected me. He gave me a brief once over and even stepped up to pat me down before glancing towards Akiko. 

Akiko levelled an imperious stare upon him. “You shall not touch me, commoner!” she said haughtily.

“Listen, lady we’re just following orders. We’ll be quick, I promise,” said the man verbally, but the look in his eyes promised anything but a quick pat down. 

I adopted my best put-upon tone of voice and shot in front of the guard with my arms stretched out wide. “My lady is not to be sullied so! You dare impinge upon her honour?” I all but screeched. 

The man grimaced and gained a surly look that promised he was very much going to impinge upon her honour, but before he could do that, someone approached the front gate. 

“Ho, what’s this? Ohohoho! Is that my dear friend Kiki?” called out an auburn-haired beauty. She sashayed out past the guards and draped her hands around Akiko. “Oh, Kiki! You did come! I’ve been looking forward to this for so long!” 

Despite there not being such a thing, Yukari was playing the part of valley girl all too well. 

“Miss Yuri, we need to—” the guard started to protest only for another voice to join in.

“Yuri, my pet? What’s going on?” called out our target. 

I flicked my eyes to Yukari Terumi, waiting to see if she’d give the signal for his death. From here, I could see a slight bulge in her stomach, and there was no way a kunoichi would have even the smallest of bulges without a reason for it. She was pregnant, meaning the secondary objective was complete enough for our needs. 

Instead of giving the signal and consigning Ashan to death, she grinned and trotted back to Ashan.

She draped herself over him, even going so far as to grind her hips into him. “Oh babe, you’ve been wearing me out so much I asked an old friend to drop in and… help out in the bedroom,” she teased. 

I blinked and shot Akiko a look. This wasn’t how the plan was supposed to go. 

Akiko adapted masterfully, stepping forward with her chest leading the charge. “Ho? Was this the surprise you tempted me with to come here? A stud eh?” she said while fluttering her eyes at Ashan.

Behind her back her hand flashed through signs. 

Change of plans. Target is high value. Attempted secondary objective to be added. Protect asset while acquisition is occurring. 

Akiko sashayed up to Ashan a.k.a the target turned asset. “Well big boy?” she simpered. 

Ashan looked like all his dreams had come true and I mentally lowered my estimation of him. He was literally dancing to Akiko and Yukari’s tune without a lick of hesitation. Powerful fighter he might be but apparently the guy was dumb as a sack of rocks when someone shoved boobs in his face. 

Wait! What if this was all part of a plot? Wasn’t being weak to women the best weakness to spread around so that you could secretly—

“Ehehehehe!” laughed Ashan as he literally made the stupidest face I’ve ever seen. He even started to drool while staring at Akiko’s chest.

I took all my assumptions and dumped them instantly. 

This guy was an idiot, no savant included, he was just a straight up idiot. 

Akiko gave me a final order and I held in a sigh as she and her friend allowed themselves to be led away by Asahn.

The guards watched him go enviously. “Tch! Captain is the luckiest son of bitch around!” snarled one. 

The other nodded. “Two beauties! That’s just unfair! He’s a real man among men!” said the other. 

I held in the urge to scoff. That guy was a dead man walking. 

I jsut had to wait until Akiko and Yukari were done wringing him out. I pretended to make to follow only for the guards to close the entrance and give me nasty looks. “Sorry little boy, the Captain don’t swing that way!” chuckled one. 

I made a pained face and backed away from the guards as if cowed and instead began to move away. As I did I expanded my chakra sense to its absolute limit to take in the warcamp.

It was as Yukari had reported. Roughly a thousand men and women being led by the Nuke-nin Ashan the Volcanic. 

A cluster of chakra signatures outside the camp drew a sigh from me. Hmmm it seems we weren’t the only ones investigating the warcamp.

Hmmm, their positioning meant that they were observing from afar while staying our of sight from our position. I glanced around and noted that there didn’t seem to be anyone shifting about or preparing to strike out so no one in the camp knew.

Hmmm, what were the chances of this being a group that was simply passing by?

Pretty close to nil, I thought to myself as I ghosted out of the camp and arced my way to get closer to the group. 

Except the closer I got the more I felt the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. One of the people up there… their chakra was impressive. Easily equal to what I’d felt when I’d been in front of Suikizan Fuguki, and that alone sent alarm bells ringing in my mind. 

With my instincts honed through various missions and near death situations screaming in my mind I set about moving in a long looping run that saw me swinging around the opposite side of the mountain.

I stared up at the aptly named Frostcap mountain and groaned. I’d been running all day to get here and there was no way I was going to sit down and relax until I knew who was observing the warcamp. 

I ran, scampering over rocky clifffaces and through the snows to reach the top of the top of the mountain which allowed me a direct line of sight down at my new target. 

I drew out a spyglass and huddled into the snow to disguise my profile. My mind was starting to throb with how far I was pushing my sensory jutsu but it was worth it to keep track of the big chakra signature.

A big chakra signature… which belongs to a white skinned man with long flowing back hair and yellow serpentine eyes.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! My mind screeched as I got my first look at Orochimaru of the Sannin standing on a small plateaua observing the warcamp. 

The only consultation I had was that he looked young, far younger than what I iamgined when I thought of him. Which should mean he was no where near his ‘peak strength’ which was all sorts of bullshit. 

I wasn’t staring at Orochimaru the S rank, merely Orochimaru, the teenager. Which wasn’t that much of a relief. 

I observed him for a few minutes before forcing my attention to that of his companions. 

A lot of them looked like bog standard shinobi but all of them were wearing specialised brown cloaks that allowed them to sit in the snow without shivering their asses off, unlike me who was having to ride out the shivers that racked my body. 

So we had Orochimaru investigating Ashan who was a thorn in the Daimyo of the Land of Hot Water. The man must have hired Konoha nin to get rid of Ashan. 

That, or Orochimaru and a squad of shonobi were all just passing through.

And if wishes were fishes we’d all be living in castles, I thought to myself with a sigh.

I swept my spyglass back towards Orochimaru only to pause as one of the shinobi turned and I got a proper lok at them. I’d assumed they were a kunoichi but by turning I got a good look at their face and realised they were male. 

And their eyes were a familiar white that one would usually consider the sign of blindness. 

The Hyuga shinobi raised their hand and pointed right at me while their mouth moved. 

I didn’t hesitate to break from my position and set off at a dead sprint heading north which would see me heading away from Orochimaru.

Fucking Hyuga clansmen, they were always causing me trouble! I mentally vowed to create a jutsu to let me slip away from their notice if I survived this encounter. 

Something that became a much more difficult task as four shinobi broke from the squad to pursue me.

Fuck them, fuck this misison, and fuck Akiko for deciding she wanted to… I don’t even know? Get herself a babe with a kekkei genkai? 

I hoped Ashan had a microdick that she caused all sorts of problems for her!

If that was uncharitable of me towards my normally much more supportive sensei well I could only say that I was cold, tired, and so very done with having to deal with Hyuga shinobi and their bullshit Byakugan.

If they pursued I was going to make them regret it.

Four to one? Not the best odds, but I had a lot of aces up my sleeve, I was going to make Konoha regret not sending more after me.

A plan began to form in my mind as I assessed my surroundings. Time to do what I do best and kick ass. 

                                                   __________________

A.N. Thanks got to my Patreons!

I seriously toyed with who would show up and I considered going with someone from Kumogakure but then I realised that it didn’t make sense geopolitically for them to off Ashan.

Thanks go to my Platinum patreon who supports Red Riot to this degree! I’m sure many will agree that you’re a true MVP!

And as for the Chunin Exam? I was previously toying with Sunagakure getting the exams but again, couldn’t justify it apart fomr it being interesting with the Kazekage being familiar with Matsu. 

Oh, and for those curious, I deliberately didn’t include Orochimaru in the listed character sheet so you wouldn’t have the surprise ruined!