("Floating Brain")
The canon inspiration for the central hub.
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There were ways to protect the mind from outside invasion. One such method was using highly specialised and complex genjutsu to place mental blocks inside the target's mind to stop them from divulging sensitive ...
2025-04-20 14:56:28 +0000 UTC View PostA day after their return from the ROOT research facility, Campbell was summoned to Barbary's office to talk about it. On his way, he ran into one of his peers.
"You sure are lucky, Campbell," said Largemouth with a sarcastic smile, one of three squad leaders of the Inquisitor Unit at Ironwood Protection Company. His codename and mask were from the Largemouth Bass, a carnivorous fish known to pull ducks, swimming on the surface, underwater.
"Am I?" asked Ca...
2025-04-18 19:40:26 +0000 UTC View PostIt took a total of 24 hours after Krait left the bunker to call home for Barbary to arrive with Campbell, Kestrel, and a large team of ANBU staff from the Inquisitor Unit and Domestic Branch general support, who were going to seize and document everything before allowing other relevant outsiders to come in do their work like recovery and rehabilitation of the animal test subjects.
"This is terrible," Barbary said as he stood a few meters away from the staff, putting the kid they ...
2025-04-14 17:14:18 +0000 UTC View PostA buzzing hive of insects flew up to the ceiling, leaving behind the guard's body, which they had swarmed and which fell to the ground.
Krait pulled out his short sword from another guard and let the lifeless body sink to the ground, leaving behind a long streak of blood on the wall. He heard a scared whimper and turned to look at the white coat scientist shivering in fear in a fetal position a few steps away from another dead guard with a pool of blood that stained the white coa...
2025-04-13 15:18:02 +0000 UTC View PostKrait knew he had to hurry when he heard the commotion in the distance. Each passing second increased the possibility of something going wrong and lowered their chances of getting out safely. He glanced at one of his insects flying ahead of him and followed it until he reached a room with its door wide open and sounds coming from inside.
He cautiously looked inside to see a white-coat scientist in his fifties messily gathering documents and sealing them into storage scrolls. Ther...
2025-04-11 18:36:51 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma spared the last guard and dragged his unconscious body to the nearest open room in case Krait wasn't able to capture a guard alive. He didn't follow after Krait and instead maintained a distance between them to act as a barrier between him and the guards.
He found a guard sprawled in the middle of a corridor but didn't find a pulse and guessed Krait had dealt with the man before moving on. He walked in the opposite direction and happened upon a door secured with an aldrop....
2025-04-07 17:17:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe corridors flashed between red and white with an accompanying blaring alarm. A group of five decked guards hurried into the corridor and stationed themselves on either side of the door momentarily before the leading man prepared a flash tag and gestured for another one to kick the door down.
As the harsh flash dimmed, they rushed into the room only for the two men in front to fly out, with a powerful wave of water that slammed them against the opposite wall. The other three im...
2025-04-05 17:32:39 +0000 UTC View PostDeep inside Taiheiyo Evergreen Forest, Takuma and Krait hid in the bushes as they stared at a large hatch obscured by the forestry just enough to hide it from anyone who didn't know what they were looking for.
"That chakra signature is coming from here?" asked Takuma as he looked around and felt that the density of trees in the area was almost double that of the forest average everywhere else, as though they were planted to cover up the location. It made sense why the investigati...
2025-04-04 05:14:07 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma was back at Yamanaka Inenpachi's clinic.
"I'm interested in this research," said Inenpachi.
He already knew the iryo-nin had decided to take on the research because he would've politely declined over a phone call if he didn't want to.
"I'd like to preface this by saying we don't know if there'll be a positive outcome. We can set a target and work towards it, but there's no guarantee we'll succeed. Research is about asking a concise question and finding the answer, whi...
2025-03-24 22:17:33 +0000 UTC View PostComing across Kabuto lit a fire of urgency in Takuma. That weekend, he found himself in an office for an appointment. He sat on a lounger seat facing a full-wall library stacked with leather hardbacks on the mezzanine that stretched across three walls.
"Apologies for keeping you waiting."
The door behind opened, and an academic man stepped into the room. He was impeccably dressed in a crisp shirt, pants, and hair perfectly set with product. He smelled so incredible that Takuma wou...
2025-03-23 18:40:46 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma stared at Uchiha Gouki's photograph on the funeral altar.
Gouki wore his Police Force uniform in the photo with a stern expression befitting an Uchiha.
When Arisu told him that Gouki had died on a mission, he struggled to wrap his mind around the sudden news. Gouki was their colleague at Narcotics Taskforce, and the only Uchiha on their team before it gained momentum. He was there from the beginning, having joined immediately after the task force's formation was greenlit. H...
2025-03-19 20:26:27 +0000 UTC View Post———
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A team of Leaf shinobi entered a small town near the northern edge of Land of Fire. They were far from Hidden Leaf Village, which wouldn't have been strange if the group wasn't part of the Leaf Military Police Force, which generally only operated around the village.
Uchiha Gouki looked at the townsfolk look at them suspiciously as they walked through the town. He and his team were pursuing a wanted criminal who had fle...
2025-03-17 19:27:02 +0000 UTC View PostOn the first day of school, a six-year-old with shoulder-length cinnamon hair fiddled with her new notebook so that it would sit exactly straight on the table. She nervously glanced around the classroom with amber eyes at the other kids already talking and laughing. Some looked like they already knew each other from outside the academy.
Even her neighbours on both sides were chatting with each other. Only she was alone.
"Hey!"
She jumped when an energetic voice sudden...
2025-03-16 23:42:02 +0000 UTC View Post"—You have the potential; you should seriously try to become a jonin... No one's going to bring up the snake creep if you become a jonin—"
She wondered how long ago she had stopped believing that she would be able to kill him. It was always a daunting goal, but hate fueling her didn't allow her the mountain she had set herself to climb. It would've been difficult if he was just a jonin—but he was one of the Sannin—someone who even Third Hokage c...
2025-03-14 20:23:04 +0000 UTC View Post"He's not from Odama. I checked," Hidesine fidgeted with a cup of water. "He appeared out of nowhere one day. Didn't have a reference, just said he heard about me from someone, and wanted to know if I was ready to get out of the kiddy pool and take on some serious work."
"And you decided that brokering murders was the natural next step?" Takuma asked pointedly.
"My family moved to Odama when I was twelve. It's far better than the countryside—there are enough rich folk and...
2025-03-10 16:58:13 +0000 UTC View PostA comment from the last chapter:
So in a previous chapter Takuma said that he technically can make 3 clones (by both him and the first clone making another one) but that all 4 of them would have only around 20% chakra each, which would make them tired and is not the best for training, but has he considered using Soldier Pills? I doubt they would be hard to get as an ANBU and he could avoid the adverse effects by having only the clones consume them to have them train to t...
2025-03-09 12:46:12 +0000 UTC View Post
It had been three days since Takuma discovered that Okahachi's missing client, Kyussai, could be from Odama. He had forwarded the information and the sketch to the local shinobi, who were better equipped to find a person in their territory than him.
It was very possible that Kyussai had lied to the hostess, and he was wasting his time chasing nothing. However, he had no other leads to explore. Usually, in this situation, he would take on another case, but Campbell had asked him t...
2025-03-07 08:20:26 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma visited Kanaoka while looking for the missing Okahachi, the middleman, and now he was back in town to find the missing client behind six high-profile assassinations who had introduced himself as Kyussai, which Takuma doubted was his real name.
He was only back in town because Okahachi knew nearly nothing about Kyuusai even though he had brokered several high-profile assassinations for him.
———
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At an ANBU blacksite located underground in a semi-rest...
2025-03-03 20:50:46 +0000 UTC View PostThe past two months of Okahachi's life had been turbulent to say the least.
Until two months ago, Okahachi was a middleman for people who wanted to hire shinobi assassins. Five years ago, he set up shop at Kanaoka near Maizuru Quarters, and roughly a year and a half later, he convinced one of his regular shinobi to accept an assassination. It was a gold mine that had made him very rich.
However, it was shut down. Some normal agency middlemen stayed, thinking it would blow over, bu...
2025-03-02 20:24:28 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Takuma and Campbell returned with the Third Squad in tow, Barbary was alone in the courtyard, peacefully reading his book. The guards who were watching them were stunned when they dumped the injured squad members on the floor. Fukoji and the injured genin, who had helped bring the others back, stood there fearful and gloomy.
"Get an iryō-nin for them," Takuma told one of the guards, who hastily ran out to get one.
"Has he not arrived?" asked Campbell as he sat down, asking a...
2025-02-28 20:22:19 +0000 UTC View PostTwo parties faced each other in a trade route lined with woods on either side. A warm breeze flowed from between the trees, working to distribute the heat from the sun's rays hanging above. It was a clear day, but the mood between the two parties couldn't be cloudier.
"It'd be wise if you returned to Maizuru, gentlemen," said the black-cloaked ANBU-nin in a badger mask, his voice distorted by chakra.
Asawa Fukoji, the Third Squad's leader, raised his fist to silence his teammates ...
2025-02-24 19:33:51 +0000 UTC View PostOnikuma Kumagoro was a month away from completing eight years as the jōnin commander of Maizuru Quarters. He had been a jōnin for ten years, promoted just before the Great Five had waged the Third Shinobi World War. His contributions in the war had catapulted him to his current position.
Maizuru was a mess when he arrived. The previous leadership had been inefficient, slow, and unreliable. Open complaints from the border stations and fortifications, which were never addressed, filled ...
2025-02-22 18:53:20 +0000 UTC View PostI previously established the internal ANBU hierarchy as—
Operative < Squad Leader < Captain < Major < Commander
I have decided to modify it—
Operative < Squad Leader < Lieutenant < Captain < Commander
Below are the changes influenced by the above modifications—
Uchiha Itachi = Major —> Captain
Aburame Seinpachi = Major —> Captain
Barbar...
2025-02-21 17:11:36 +0000 UTC View Post
Three men sat in Barbary's office at the Ironwood Protection Company, reading Ratel's report after spending five days at Maizuru Quarters chasing his trash mail case.
"This is... unexpected," Barbary said as he held the page, which looked like a note, in his massive hand. "Is this accurate? The staff didn't make a mistake in decoding?"
"He's asking for immediate support, so it doesn't seem he's lying," said Dhole as he read his copy. His usual indifferent gaze held a shimmer of cu...
2025-02-17 16:05:40 +0000 UTC View PostGenin Oritada was a deputy at Maizuru Quarter's military police. He was the youngest among the group, only seventeen years old. By the time he was done with dinner, the sun had set, and the evening was on the verge of turning into night. He was tired after walking his daily route and wanted to jump into bed after visiting the public bathhouse.
But as he walked to his quarters, he saw someone stepping out from the shadow of the building. It was the inspector who had visited the station i...
2025-02-16 12:49:34 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma sighed, exhausted after not sleeping well the previous night and the few nights before. He had been sleeping late working on the case, and when he did turn in, he couldn't sleep because his restless mind ran rampant with thoughts about it.
He looked up at the signage of the local branch of the military police at Maizuru Quarters. The military installation housed more than a couple of thousand shinobi and was larger than small towns, which required an entity to maintain order, enf...
2025-02-14 19:06:35 +0000 UTC View PostThe next day, Takuma began his work in earnest. He was left alone with access to the record rooms, which was both a boon and a curse because while he could work without someone keeping an eye on him, he also had no help if he wanted assistance.
At first, he thought that if he asked for records, they would bring what he asked for while hiding things they didn't want him to see. He would then have to cause a ruckus repeatedly until they finally brought him what he wanted. However, it seem...
2025-02-10 16:46:44 +0000 UTC View Post"I should've gone through the trash mail as well. Maybe I'd have a case of my own," Amami said as she sat in Caracar's office, balancing her chair on its hind legs while she tossed a shuriken toward the ceiling just low enough that they wouldn't make contact, only if barely.
Takuma had returned from Chibumi copper mines and stayed for two days before leaving for the Maizuru Quarters, one of the Leaf's largest military installations.
Amami had joined half a month before him and was...
2025-02-08 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma was sitting on a rock in a dusty field under the sun when he heard the sound of footsteps and looked to his side to see his clone hauling two of the prison break culprits with him. He looked funny with the giant man twice his size on his shoulders.
"Yeah, laugh it off. I did more work than you," said the clone, unceremoniously dumping the two prisoners on the ground.
"Just because they were near each other," said Takuma, looking at his catch—the prisoners whom he had shot...
2025-02-06 17:42:17 +0000 UTC View PostRinji ran as fast as his legs could take him. The sun glared down at him as he sprinted down the rocky terrain, kicking off dust. He felt embarrassed when his breathing grew hotter and laboured; he was stronger, capable of striking harder and moving more weight when he was an active shinobi because he had been mining daily. But he hadn't properly run in years because running in the camp meant getting a kunai in the back from a guard, followed by a thrashing to remind him of his mistake.