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Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_347

Harazo's spotlessly clean office was a stark contrast to the gritty reality of a prison labour camp he ran. The large windows that offered a view of the sprawling mines below, which could be picturesque even on an average day, now showed the problem on hand as they had a prison break hand along with an explosion that could've caused unknown damage to the mines and lives.

As the voice over the handheld radio delivered the shocking news, a balloon of silence hung in the office as they sta...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_346

"I'll be honest, ANBU-nin. I'm not sure if I can allow you to see one of our workers without knowing what you want from him..."

Takuma sat before the Daimyo's emissary for Chibumi mines in his office. A samurai named Dogai Harazo from a prestigious clan with an active presence in the Fire Daimyo's court. According to Shimura Bunradao, the Dogai clan was given the duty of managing the mine, and Harazo had gotten the position through his clan.

As Bunradao said, the man immediately s...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_345

Takuma didn't like abandoned factories because they reminded him of his time in Yu. The dirty factory that served as his "home" represented a miserable time in his life when he was alone in a place that never felt safe. As he stared at the Chibumi copper mines, even though it was an underground mine instead of an open pit, he realised his dislike of mines because he had almost died multiple times the last time he was in one.

The war had been an undeniably terrible time in his life. He s...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_344

Campbell stepped back as he watched the wooden training sword miss his neck. It was a predictable swing of an amateur who had just started his journey with kenjutsu. His sword sat limp by his side in hand as he simply dodged and evaded Ratel's swing.

His lessons with Ratel were over; he no longer had the obligation to teach him. But now, he was Ratel's squad leader—and continuing their kenjutsu training served as a good way to develop a relationship and find more about him so he could...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_343

As Takuma's trip to the prison labour camp at the Chibumi copper mines was confirmed, he was summoned to the ANBU headquarters for special preparations that all ANBU operatives were required to complete before their first outings.

He was escorted to a medical ward deep within the headquarters, asked to clean himself with a bath, and given a hospital gown before being taken to a medical operating room. He observed the stark white, sterile surroundings lit with cold white light tinged wit...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_342

"How's the new kid doing?" Barbary asked Campbell as they gazed out from the roof of Ironwood Protection Company's offices, which was secured shut with a thick metal hatch reinforced with fūinjutsu for security reasons, but that stopped no one from scaling the side of the building in case they wanted to enjoy a smoke break.

Campbell took a drag from his cigarette and waited for a moment before replying, "Ratel's working his way through trash mail."

"Uff, that's a tough start," Ba...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_341

The next day, Takuma sat in his office, gazing at the neat set of documentation, paperwork files and scrolls he had worked hard on before him, which was basically meaningless. It was a surprise because he thought he was helping with something of real value. It left a bad taste in his mouth.

It wouldn't have been a problem if he had been told about it in advance, but he was led to believe that he was doing something that would be used. He didn't need to be babied. He wasn't a green genin...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_340

"Here you go," Dhole dumped two tall stacks of messy files, folders, and loose papers on the desk in Takuma's empty office. It was half the size of his office in the Narcotics Taskforce, but he guessed he could set it up to his liking with clever and creative storage solutions.

"What do I need to do?" Takuma looked up at his mentor, who seemed to be not one for words as they had barely exchanged words while Dhole took him to introduce himself to the staff that worked closely with the Ca...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_339

"I guess you're my squad leader."

When Takuma left Barbary's office, Campbell was waiting for him outside. After their lessons ended, he wasn't expecting to see his kenjutsu trainer for some time while he got busy with his job, but then the man showed up two days later. After the stress and surprise faded, he guessed they would be working together in some capacity, and he didn't dislike that idea.

Campbell nodded. "Come on, I'll give you a tour."

They walked around the surpr...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_338

Two days later, Takuma sat in Barbary's office, facing the humongous man who would be his boss in the Inquisitor Unit. The man or his team hadn't delivered a good first impression, and the messy office with paperwork, files, and boxes stacked and towered all around the table and room wasn't helping it.

"I hadn't laughed like that in a while," Barbary grinned as he sat on his throne of a chair fitting for his size. "You got us good with that clone. It was funny to see the team so mad aft...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_337

Campbell watched Tapir and Takuma facing each other in the interrogation room. The tension in there could cut through the double-sided mirror clean.

"The information had to leak from somewhere," said Tapir.

"And why does it have to be my fault? You knew my assignment as well. Who's to say that the information didn't leak from your side," Takuma shot right back.

Everyone in the viewing room groaned at the words that were being thrown. Tapir was in on the 'induction' and was p...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_336

"How much are the grapes?" Takuma asked.

"Thousand ryo for half a kilo," the middle-aged woman running the fruit and vegetable shop answered.

"I will buy two kilos."

The woman looked at him, surprised, but Takuma wasn't paying his full attention to her. He had been her regular customer for several years now to the point she was worried about him when he went to war and was happy to see him alive when he returned—but in all those years, there was not once he had not tried t...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_335

Jyuro was an ANBU staff member working at the main training facility. He was in charge of operating and maintaining training machinery. He wasn't busy because operatives didn't have the time or energy for regular training. The staff's responsibility didn't involve combat, so they also didn't train frequently.

Moreover, few shinobi believed in the usefulness of training machinery. They saw them as complicated gimmicks and would instead train in old-fashioned ways, using simple equipment ...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_334

 "Easy there!" Takuma hissed.

"Don't be a baby," Ai rebuked as she held her glowing palms against a burnt spot on his back. "You should take it easy on this training. Repeated healing like this will leave your skin dry and flaky."

They sat in an empty room at the hospital where Ai worked. He had been visiting since he started training the Yang Release: Fire Dragon Scales.

"I will moisturise," Takuma said, his face wrinkling from the pain.

He had found a t...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_333

The progress with Yang Release: Fire Dragon Scales to train the Yang nature transformation for Shadow Clone Jutsu wasn't going well. He was making headway through repetition, but it wasn't fast enough to achieve his goal of creating a clone by the end of his training, which was ending in two weeks. He needed a way to boost his progress and knew what could help.

"You can still back out of this," said Anko as she pulled her leg up behind her back.

"I woul...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_332

"This is a great store," Takuma said as he led Utamatsu into a weapon store. "I particularly like their smithing—kunai, shuriken, spikes, hooks—this is the place to get them... They also have a decent collection of tags, but I'll show you a different place with a wider collection."

Takuma was no longer a customer because he shifted to an off-market vendor, who sold him high-grade weapons at a lower price by illegally skipping out on sales tax. He was not short on money, but he had m...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_331

To master the Shadow Clone Jutsu, Takuma had to increase his proficiency with Yin and Yang nature transformation to understand the jutsu better. The jutsu didn't require much in shape transformation, and thus, he only had to focus on nature transformation.

According to Mikoto's advice, genjutsu training was enough for Yin nature transformation.

Takuma sat on a park bench, his lunchbox full of homemade sandwiches beside him. The afternoon brought welcome warm...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_330

"Takuburo... you have no talent for the sword."

Deno Takuburo was crushed when he heard those words at the tender age of eight from his teacher, who immediately took back his words, but it was too late as they were engraved in his mind from that day forth.

He held no intrinsic interest towards kenjutsu. He wanted to learn it because it made him feel closer to his father, who, like countless others, had lost his life in the Third Shinobi World War. He liked going through the basic ...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_329

Even though the Third Hokage had advised Takuma that he should focus on 'advanced chakra training' before attempting to learn a B-rank jutsu, he wasted three days by overestimating himself by thinking that if a fresh-out-of-academy Naruto could learn the A-rank version in a couple of hours, he could learn the B-rank version in a few days.

Alas, Takuma wasn't the protagonist, nor did he have the talent.

It was his greed that made him deviate from the obvious path. Learning...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_328

None of the recruits passed all their criteria tests at the ANBU recommended levels. Everyone had a number of tests that they either failed or attempted at a level lower than the recommendation.

Takuma was no different. He passed 10% of his mandatory criteria at levels above the ANBU recommendation,70% at the recommended level, and the remaining 20% below the recommended level.

However, after agreeing to exit training in six weeks, Takuma decided not to shore up his skills that la...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: —CODENAME—

Hey guys, Fiction here.

Initially, I wanted to finalise Takuma's "ANBU-codename / animal-callsign" before the training period, but I will be honest:

I have not decided on his codename .

Embarrassingly, I have not even thought about it that much. Strangely, I'm not that invested in this particular decision and was thinking about giving him the name of a niche animal that sounds cool.

So, I thought about taking reading suggestion...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_327

Nasaki Isato had been working for ANBU for several years as staff and was surprised when Copperhead, a snake-masked ANBU iryo-nin, real name, Sango, told her that one of the new recruits wanted to talk to her. He didn't want her specifically, but a 'competent staff member'. Getting acknowledged as someone good at the job was always flattering to hear.

Usually, she would refuse anyone trying to meet her in her capacity as an ANBU staff member as it was seldom anything good, and ...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_326

The first week of the training period was busy as everyone gave tests for things they were sure they would pass. Everyone passed physical testing, weapon handling, field strategy, battle tactics, logical reasoning, data interpretation, arithmetics, verbal ability, reading comprehension, and other basics that anyone would expect from a shinobi who had passed ANBU recruitment and did it at the recommended level.

ANBU even tested their chakra control and jutsu comprehension by having them ...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_325

"Six recruits, double the usual admission size again," said ANBU-nin, codenamed Tepir. A middle-aged man in his forties with short, salt-and-pepper hair and more wrinkles on his face than someone his age, making him look older. He was ANBU's Master Instructor, and overseeing recruit training was part of his duties. He was once an operative but had transitioned into his current role after retiring from the field, but had retained his codename.

For the past year, his workload had more tha...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_324

Takuma walked with Hiruzen, feeling nervous to be alone in the company of the Hokage. Even the ANBU guards had fallen behind to give them space.

"I am aware that you will be joining the ANBU soon," said Hiruzen.

Takuma wasn't supposed to do his employment with ANBU with anyone, and if asked him, he would have outright denied it, but this was the Hokage speaking. There was no use hiding it for him, and lying to him was a crime written into the law.

"Yes, sir," Takuma nodded.<...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_323

Takuma was stressed.

Not only did he have Might Gai at his promotion ceremony, but the Hokage himself was coming to attend. It was supposed to be a low-key event he could enjoy with the people was was close with, but it turned into something high-profile.

"Look at you, so nervous." Mikoto ruffled his hair when she heard him sigh.

"Of course I am! The Lord Hokage is coming here!" said Takuma, feeling the jitters.

After living in the world for four years, his perception ...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_322

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed in contentment as he gazed at the empty side-table-trolley beside his desk. It was usually full of paper, requiring his attention as the Hokage. Even though he had been the Hokage for decades, he still hated paperwork with a passion. It was the bane of his existence.

In truth, the amount of paperwork wasn't much—but he had many other responsibilities as the head of the village than just toiling away at paperwork in his office. In fact, on a typical day, he was ...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_321

In the afternoon, after lunch, the Uchiha family gathered in the living room to relax together while doing their own things. This was a rare occurrence, as their schedule seldom allowed them to spend time together except for meals, and even that was not regular.

The youngest of the family, Sasuke, had a cute frown between his brows as he stared at the shogi board before him. His elder brother, Itachi, sat on the other side with a calm smile.

"There is nothing there, Sasuke....

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_320

The process of joining the ANBU was hectic.

He had to formally turn down the Police Force offer and participate in an exit process, which had him sit in three meetings with the Narcotics Taskforce, the Department of Organised Crime, and the personnel office. The only nice thing about the process was that he was able to keep his Police Force uniform and identity badge, which he was planning to frame in a shadow box to hang on his walls.

He also attended a farewell party with the OG...

Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_319

The rest of the day after his meeting with Fugaku was a blur for Takuma. The Chief of the Police offered him a deal he would be a fool to take, claimed that it suited him, and then gave no further explanation. In truth, Takuma didn't want an explanation—he didn't want to get roped into something clearly detrimental to his career, so he wrapped up the conversation and left behind a token statement of getting back to them.

He was so upset that he didn't even talk to Setsuna about the B-...