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Walk on the Moon (Naruto SI)
- Thread starter SixPerfections
- Start date
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
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I'm pretty sure if he was S Rank, he'd have put up a better fight against Hidan. No, I think he was just resurrected on the hope he'd know a bunch of Konoha secrets because of his family tie to the 3rd Hokage and because the author wanted to resurrect him.
Diraniola
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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If being resurrected is evidence of s rank we would also need to consider Haku.
RichardWhereat
Aia airëa Fëanáro.
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And if Emerald Ashes took that into account when writing the line, I would agree.
Instead that comes dangerously close to treason. No-one commit treason.
Diraniola
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Sitxar
Getting sticky.
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Is it a Trump thing? Because he his all I get when I google the line about treason.
RichardWhereat
Aia airëa Fëanáro.
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Hanada
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Do not necro. This is against Rule 7.
I've been reading hp fanfics lately and couldn't help but imagine rei in hp universe, what house would she be in at first I thought slytherin but now am leaning at gryffindor and I also want to know how will she turn out in the wizardry world especially in Voldomert at the height of his power era
Chapter 46
SixPerfections
Know what you're doing yet?
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000
000
The few bars around Konoha that almost exclusively catered to shinobi all shared several features that would have seemed very strange to the average civilian, assuming they noticed those features at all. To begin with, in blatant violation of all convenience and sensible fire regulation such establishments only ever had one door. Employees, cooks, delivery men, and costumers were all forced to use the front entrance because there simply was no other entry and egress point from the building. Said front door was most often rigged in such a way that it would be nearly impossible to open silently without using at least some moderately advanced technique. Purposefully left squeaky hinges, small bells on the door, slightly askew installation forcing the wood to scrape lightly against the floor each time it was opened. Once inside, every table and chair in the establishment was positioned in such a way that at the very least the person sitting on them could keep an eye on the door out of their peripheral vision. Drinking always carried the possibility of leaving you vulnerable. Yet drinking, for many a veteran shinobi, was nearly a necessity to ensure their lives remained smooth enough to function. The most popular ninja watering holes tended to be the ones that managed to make the costumers feel the most secure as they went about drowning their faculties in booze.
Of course, having only one entrance meant that unless you were willing to put some new holes in the walls there were few practical ways to leave the establishment without being noticed… something that Kakashi somewhat regretted as he saw Maito Gai walk through the front door from his seat at the bar.
The sharingan wielder calmly took a sip of his drink, debating whether it would be worth it to try to hide with a jutsu and sneak his way out before he was spotted. The choice was taken out of his hands, however, when Gai quickly spotted him and flashed a blindingly white grin in his direction. An inaudible sigh escaped Kakashi's lips. Well, I guess it can't be helped at this point.
Kakashi kept his eyes straight ahead, determined to give as little as possible in hopes that his "rival" would get bored and wander away. Not that Kakashi disliked Gai per-se. In fact he had a very high opinion of the man, one that he was careful to never even hint at. However he couldn't help but quickly feel exhausted when he was forced to spend more than five minutes at a time with someone as energetic as Gai.
In moments the green clad Jounin walked around the bar and sat down heavily in the stool next to him, letting out a deep satisfied sigh. He turned his head to face Kakashi, his face splitting into a sidewards grin filled with too-white teeth that almost seemed to glow in the relative darkness of the bar.
"Kakashi," he said in greeting while casually waving the bartender over. "How fortunate that I found you, my friend. I was hoping that I could have a word with you."
Kakashi relaxed slightly, as Gai apparently wasn't here to try to drag him into another absurd training exercise disguised as their "rivalry." At least not this time. One thing that Kakashi could appreciate about Gai is that he tended to be very direct, occasionally even to the point of societal impropriety. His one visible eye lazily slid over the green-clad Jounin, the man's smiling visage a mask that gave absolutely nothing away.
"Oh?" asked Kakashi, letting the question hang in the air.
Gai took a moment to place his order before turning back to him, the wide smile never leaving his face. "I would like your professional opinion about something. Or someone."
"Oh?" asked Kakashi again, his interest reluctantly piqued.
Gai's wide grin slowly dripped off his face, his countenance morphing from his usual expression to something normal and far more thoughtful. "Rumor has it that you had an interesting encounter last year with young Rei Yamanaka."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, surprised by the topic. Also a little annoyed. Genma, you gossipy little bitch. The only person who he'd told about the encounter had been Genma while he'd been half-drunk. Though he shouldn't be too surprised the story had gotten around, he supposed. It was a rather well known fact Genma was a worse rumormonger than a fishmonger's wife.
"Perhaps," hedged Kakashi, trying to figure out why Gai of all people would come to ask him about that. "Why the sudden interest, if you don't mind me asking?"
The conversation lulled for a second as the bartender, an old retired Chunnin with a bad limp, came and dropped out a small bottle and cup of warm sake for Gai. The larger man his time taking a long sip before responding. "The Hokage discussed with the possibility of my becoming a Jounin sensei again this year."
Kakashi made a sound that was halfway between interested and bored. It wasn't that big of a surprise, he supposed. In the nine or so years he had been a Jounin Gai had already trained two different teams of Genin. The cells had disbanded after all his students had made Chunnin and found their own niche in the village. By all reports all of Gai's former students had done quite well for themselves with only one KIA among the six of them.
"And the Hokage wants you to take the Yamanaka girl as a student, I take it?"
"He didn't come out and say so outright... but I could read between the lines, yes," replied Gai easily.
"Ah," replied Kakashi. The conversation fell in to a brief lull as each man concentrated on their drinks. Eventually it was Kakashi who broke the silence, his one eye sliding over to his friend. "I have to say, it's a bit unusual for you to come to ask me about it, isn't it?" he said, fishing for more information.
Gai easily relented, apparently not too interested in keeping things close to the chest this time. "Normally I like to go into these things blind, to an extent, so my assessment of new potential students isn't colored by bias. However this new cell…" Gai trailed off for a second, a small frown suddenly marring his brow. "The Hokage already has plans for what he wants it to specialize in."
"Oh?"
"The Hokage hinted quite heavily that he wants this new cell to specialize in deep recon."
"… Ah."
That was… unusual, to say the least. Many considerations went into making and organizing Genin cells, not the least of which was what sort of specialization and role the team was expected to fulfill. There were many possible specializations when it came to a cell of ninja. Tracking. Infiltration. Defensive. Heavy combat. Many teams had hybrid specializations where they were trained in more than one thing, while others had a more narrow focus. Not only did specializations make a Genin cell more useful to the village in carrying out certain tasks, it also tended to heavily influence where shinobi where likely to end up in their careers after they graduated from Genin to Chunnin and the cell officially disbanded.
Certain specializations, however, were considered generally inappropriate for a Genin cell. There were two specializations in particular that Genin cells generally didn't touch. The main one being capture/interrogation… and the other one being deep recon.
As the name implied, deep recon operatives were expected to operate deep behind enemy lines. For obvious reasons weak, stupid, inexperienced baby Genin were not generally considered good candidates for a specialization where a single slip-up could easily land you in a life or death fight against enemy ninja deep in the heart of another village's territory. Typically that kind of training was not made available to ninja until they were at least Chunnin. More realistically, the most common place where that specialization was taught and was by far the most useful was within the ranks of ANBU.
That a mere Genin cell was supposedly going to be groomed in that directions said a great deal… both good and bad, depending on who you were asking.
Little wonder that Gai had decided to go the extra mile doing his due diligence as soon as he heard the news.
Kakshi carefully considered how to answer Gai's question before giving his honest assessment. "I think the girl might have a few screws loose."
"Oh?" replied Gai, seemingly not particularly perturbed by his less-than-glowing assessment. "How so?"
"Would you have attacked a Jounin while you were an academy student and then proceeded to taunt them with knowledge you shouldn't have?" asked Kakashi.
One of Gai's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Shouldn't have?" he asked with concern.
"Nothing that isn't an open secret among higher ranked ninja," said Kakashi with a dismissive wave. "But nothing an academy student should have known, either."
"Hmm," hummed Gai thoughtfully. "Interesting. Her family?"
Kakashi made noncommittal sound. It was certainly the most likely explanation for her knowledge.
"And the rest of it?"
Kakashi shrugged. "From what little I saw, she really is a genius. At keeping herself concealed, at any rate." In that particular field at least, Kakashi couldn't help but be uncomfortably reminded of Itachi.
"Rash, too," continued Kakashi after a brief pause. "Very rash. Good luck keeping a leash on that one."
Kakashi's reply caused Gai to grin widely, once again showing off his straight, too-white teeth. "I don't leash my students Kakashi," he said, his voice suddenly louder and more bombastic. "I create conditions that allow them to flourish and grow. There is no greater joy than nurturing Konoha's young saplings to flower into the thick trees that will continue to uphold our village."
Kakashi had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "I'll be sure to leave all of the teaching to you, then."
He conveniently left out how close the girl had gotten to him before he'd noticed she was there. Honestly, she was just an academy student. It was a little bit embarrassing.
000
It was much cooler than what she had become used to, high up on the Hokage monument looking down upon the village. Occasional gusts of wind pulled at her hair and clothes hard enough that if she wasn't sticking to the surface with Chakra she might have worried about being blown off the mountain. The night was cloudy, doing a fair job of hiding the light of the half-moon in the sky. Rei just breathed, feeling a strange moment of peace as she sat with her legs in front of her and looked out at the village and beyond, into the forest and into the distance as far as the eye could see. It calmed her to see by the light of the moon that the world out there stretched out, going on much much further than what existed inside the borders of Konoha.
What was out there, she wondered. Her wandering spirit called out to her, urging her to pick up and see what was over the horizon. It was a part of her from her previous life that had never changed, even as so much of her old self seemed to be dying bit by bit, year by year. If she could remotely stomach the thought of spending the rest of her life in service of Konoha, perhaps she would have been satisfied with angling to take over the Toad Sannin's role as master spy one day. Always traveling, with somewhere and something new on the horizon. It was a nice daydream. Freedom. What she had always wanted.
Power was needed for freedom, in this world. This she had long ago realized. In fact, Rei had begun to think of the two terms as practically synonymous. It wasn't even a stretch to think so, in the world of the Elemental Nations. In this world Rei had always hungered for power for the sake of freedom. Recently though, she knew that some things had changed. She knew that she had also begun to crave power for the sake of power alone. It was somewhat strange thinking about it, now that she was taking a rare bit of time to herself in order to think and reflect. Was it wrong, wishing for power for it's own sake? The person she was in her previous life would have unequivocally said "yes." Now, Rei was left with the disconcerting feeling that somehow the pursuit of power for it's own sake was supposed to be a bad thing, but not really being able to remember why that was.
Perhaps it wasn't really important. She needed power for her freedom, so what did it matter if she also wanted power for it's own sake, really?
Rei stood up, eyes still fixed firmly on the horizon. It's okay. You have time. One day. One day, she would be spoken of in the same breath as the Sannin, as Itachi Uchiha, as the Jinchuriki and all the other monsters and calamities in human form that existed in this world. And then… and then let them try to tell her what she could do with her life.
It's okay. You have time.
Of course, sometimes sacrifices had to be made in pursuit of power.
Rei sighed, and with a flare of determination vanished any lingering hesitation. She'd made her choice, and it was the right one. This needed to be done. No matter how much the idea on a gut deep level made her want to exercise excessive amounts of violence.
Arrangements had already been made through Elder Black. It was time. With one swift motion Rei bit the back of the thumb, quickly drawing a fat drop of blood. Her hands flashed through familiar hand signs before she slammed her palm down onto stone.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
The jutsu took Chakra from her coils, using it to bring creatures here from an entirely different realm. When the cloud of smoke cleared, two Rats stood before her. One she recognized right away. Slate gray with streaks of brown around his snout, they were roughly of equal height now as opposed to three years ago. He wore a similar tattered vest as the one he'd had the last time she had seen him, one that reminded her of a homeless man's version of a Chunnin vest. To her pleasure he bore an ugly scar that she had given him on his face, when she'd by some freak miracle managed to win their death match by splitting his snout in two. His black eyes seemed to narrow on her, what might have a sneer coming across his murinae face.
"Summoner," he greeted, though the tone was far from friendly.
"Virulent," replied back, plastering a smile on her face that was the furthest thing in the world from friendly.
The two stared each other down for a solid minute, tension and the potential for violence hanging thick and cloying in the air. It would have gone on longer too if the other Rat that Rei had summoned didn't clear her throat and interrupt them. Her, because it was a definite feminine voice, far more melodious and pleasing to the ear than Rei would have expected from a Rat.
"While watching the two of you glare at each other all night would of course be my ideal of a wonderful time," the second Rat said in a voice positively dripping with sarcasm. "Eldest Rat expects you two to rub faces and make up, remember? This is not an auspicious start."
With great reluctance Rei broke her staring contest with Virulent and flicked her eyes to look at the newcomer. This was not a Rat she had met before. She was a bit shorter than Virulent and noticeably slimmer, her fur sable in color with reddish highlights. The new Rat wore what looked like a cross between a tool belt and a utility belt. Two foot-long blades were sheathed very prominently at her hips. The Rat tilted her head as she examined Rei, her body language practically advertising her evaluation and curiosity.
"Why don't you introduce us, Bro?"
Bro? Rei thought, momentary shocked out of her tense and aggressive mindset. Virulent also seemed chagrined by the address, turning to glare at the female Rat who bore his displeased look like water washing over a rock.
After a few pregnant moments of awkward silence, Virulent sighed and turned back to Rei. "This," said Virulent, vaguely gesturing at the other newcomer. "Is Dagger. A general pain in the ass all around. And like she said," Virulent said, injecting venom into the word and briefly turning back to glare at the other Rat. "She's also my littermate."
Littermate? The idea of someone she hated as much as Virulent having a sister was… a bit shocking, actually. She'd just sort of assumed that such a miserable person would be all alone in the world. While outside she gave nothing away, on the inside she had been thrown a bit off balance by the revelation.
"He wanted to keep it a secret, 'cuz he thought you might try to hurt me to get to him as a form of revenge," Dagger said, ignoring the death glare she was getting from Virulent and plowing right ahead. "Of course that's stupid. I told him if you wanted to commit suicide by Rat you were much more likely to go after him than me. Plus you're one of The Family now, and the Elders seem to trust you. More than good enough in my book." Pause. "Plus, my brother's an asshole. You're not the first person in The Family who's thought about killing him, trust me."
"Dagger," Virulent hissed at her, anger and -maybe embarrassment? - clear in his tone.
Rei decided it was safe for at least the moment, and turned her attention fully to the newcomer for the first time. "So," she began slowly, trying to get a feel for this new Rat. "You're the other 'specialist' that Elder Black promised me, then?"
"That's right," she said in that strangely melodious voice. "Our family is one of the few that still keeps The Family's legacy as the best thieves to ever live alive and well, see? I agreed to come because, not gonna lie, a whole new world to see and whole new things to steal sends a right frightful shiver all the way down my tail. Give me a chance to impress you and I'll give you a chance to impress me, miss Summoner. You won't find a better thief than me anywhere, and that's a fact right there." Pause. "And I guess my brother's pretty good, too. He does all right."
Rei's lips twitched a little, even against her will. Dagger didn't seem too bad… despite her unfortunate familial affiliation. Time would tell, she supposed. Rei shrugged. "Having you steal things is the plan, and you'll get to see plenty of this new world by doing the missions I have in mind for you." She paused, turning to look at Virulent again. "That's not going to be a problem, is it?"
Virulent didn't seem particularly happy, bearing his teeth and his tail slapping the floor in agitation. "I agreed to be part of this Mischief," said Virulent in a way that made Rei think he didn't really have much choice at all. "Long as you don't waste my time, I'll get the job done."
Rei looked back and forth between Virulent and Dagger. Both seemed to be on the same page, if one of the siblings was clearly more unhappy about it than the other. Rei resisted the urge to sigh. It will have to do.
"Come on. Let's go somewhere more private," Rei said. "I'll tell you what I have in mind."
000
"Your target is here," said Rei, pointing at a city on a map. "The Village Hidden in the Rocks."
Though she was loath to bring Virulent into her room, it really was the most secure location that pretty much guaranteed they couldn't be overheard. Rei and the two Rats were seated on the floor, a map of the Elemental Nations laid out in front of them. The two Rats had been looking at it with rapt interest since she had first opened it, taking in geography, cities, mountain ranges, anything they could about what was essentially a strange land to them.
Dagger made a humming sound before speaking. "Why there? And what's the payday?"
Having Dagger turned out to be a blessing. Rei could just speak to her and ignore Virulent entirely. The male Rat seemed perfectly content to ignore her as well, which worked out just fine for Rei.
The questions Dagger asked were far more complex than the female Rat probably realized. Rei decided that a brief summary would suffice. "I'm using this as a test run. I want to get my hand on as many fire element jutsu as possible, since that is my primary element. The Hidden Village with the largest proportion of fire nature ninja is, unfortunately, Konoha. For a lot of reasons stealing from here is impractical and far too risky. But," Rei said, as a slow grin creeped across her face. "There are other options. While earth is by far the most common element in Rock ninja, their second most common elemental affinity is fire by a considerable margin. That means they will have plenty of fire jutsu in their clan libraries to steal. Your mission is find as many fire jutsu as possible in their clan archives. Get in, copy the scrolls, and get out. It's the information that I'm after. Having all those scrolls disappear could cause a lot of… problems down the line, so I'd like to avoid that."
Dagger made a thoughtful sound, but something about the way her body language shifted made Rei think the female Rat was excited by the prospect. Even Virulent seemed to perk up a little as she outlined her plan. Well. It seemed like they actually enjoyed the whole thieving thing, didn't they?
"Why only the fire jutsu?" asked Dagger. "There are probably a lot more valuable things in those libraries than just that, don't you think?"
"Undoubtedly," said Rei easily. "But like I said, I'm treating this like a trial run. Getting too greedy just increases the chances of detection and failure, no matter how good you are. Besides that, it can wait. The point of this material is to make me stronger, but I can only work on so many things at a time. When I'm ready for something else I might decide to send you out again at that point."
Dagger gave her the Rat equivalent of a raised eyebrow. "Well, if you're sure," she said slowly before turning back to the map. "Just figured you'd be a little more eager to gobble up as much as you could in one go, what with your reputation and all."
And what kind of reputation was that? Rei wondered, a little bit surprised that apparently she had a reputation at all within The Family. Shrugging it off, she said, "I never expected to get this kind of opportunity, so it's all just a bonus, really. No harm playing it a little bit safe. Speaking of which… how long do you think it would take you to travel there, do the job and come back?" There was no point in asking if they were capable of it. Breaking into highly secured ninja libraries and such was what they had been brought in to do in the first place, after all.
Surprisingly, it was Virulent who answered. "Two months."
Rei looked up, surprised to hear him speak for the first time since they had entered her room. The two of them locked eyes, and suddenly the tension in the room ratcheted up until it was thick enough to cut with a knife. Dagger froze, watching the two of them warily.
As seconds stretched by, the thought occurred to Rei that if indeed her goals were more important to her than the grudge she had against Virulent… then she needed to start acting like it. Swallowing back the poison that naturally wanted to spill out of her mouth, Rei contorted her face into a facsimile of a somewhat genuine smile. Sometimes, it wasn't necessary to mean it. Sometimes, just going though the motions somewhat convincingly could be enough.
"That would be about three weeks before my graduation," Rei said, her voice forcibly calm and pleasant. Even friendly. The fact that it actually sounded genuine seemed to put the two Rats even more on edge. Too bad. They were getting fucking sincere and reasonable Rei. "Plenty of time for me to learn a new trick or two before getting placed with a Jounin sensei. Please work hard on this assignment, Dagger-san, Virulent-san. I am in your debt."
"Yeah," said Dagger, slowly inching slightly away from her. "No problem."
"Well," said Virulent, sounding a bit unnerved. "We should get started right away then. You ready sis?"
"Yup."
"Alright then."
At some unseen signal, the two of them ran for the window and practically threw themselves out. Rei's smile fell from her face as she looked after them. That had been… odd. Though she was somewhat glad that she'd apparently freaked them out, another part of her was puzzled. What in the world had caused the two of them to bolt like the hounds of hell were on them?
"Oh well," she muttered to herself. She'd have to leave that mystery for some other time. Might as well get started on the other activity she had planned for that night. Rei had carved out a block of time to start out some very special training that very evening.
It was time for her to start training in that fire jutsu Worm had stolen from the Sarutobi clan.
After all, her goal was to be feared. People rarely feared something quiet and subtle as much as they did something loud and in your face. Killing someone with poison or stealth just didn't have the same psychological effect as blowing them up with a loud, overpowered jutsu.
Another part of her, however, was just excited that she had a real good excuse to burn lots and lots of shit. Rei allowed herself an excited little grin.
She could hardly wait.
000
A/N: So. It's been a year since I've updated. For anyone who still reads this story after all that time, thank you.
Part of the reason I haven't updated in so long is that I've also been writing my own book, which I hope to publish through Amazon's Kindle Store by the end of the year. If you're at all interested I'm going to be giving away advanced copies for free in exchange for an honest review on Amazon. Keep posted for updates on that as we get closer to the publication date. Updates on that project will only come with new chapters of this story, so you can be guaranteed to get more of them in the future.
As for this story, I came back to it because I needed a little break from my other writing, and also because I always felt it was a shame that I didn't continue it. Writing this story has taught me a lot about writing that I've made good use of. I also planned it beginning to end years ago, so maybe eventually I'll see it all realized. Keep posted for more updates. I'm writing so much now that updating this story doesn't seem nearly as daunting as it did just one year ago.
Keep it real, and thank you for reading!
Chapter 46
000
The few bars around Konoha that almost exclusively catered to shinobi all shared several features that would have seemed very strange to the average civilian, assuming they noticed those features at all. To begin with, in blatant violation of all convenience and sensible fire regulation such establishments only ever had one door. Employees, cooks, delivery men, and costumers were all forced to use the front entrance because there simply was no other entry and egress point from the building. Said front door was most often rigged in such a way that it would be nearly impossible to open silently without using at least some moderately advanced technique. Purposefully left squeaky hinges, small bells on the door, slightly askew installation forcing the wood to scrape lightly against the floor each time it was opened. Once inside, every table and chair in the establishment was positioned in such a way that at the very least the person sitting on them could keep an eye on the door out of their peripheral vision. Drinking always carried the possibility of leaving you vulnerable. Yet drinking, for many a veteran shinobi, was nearly a necessity to ensure their lives remained smooth enough to function. The most popular ninja watering holes tended to be the ones that managed to make the costumers feel the most secure as they went about drowning their faculties in booze.
Of course, having only one entrance meant that unless you were willing to put some new holes in the walls there were few practical ways to leave the establishment without being noticed… something that Kakashi somewhat regretted as he saw Maito Gai walk through the front door from his seat at the bar.
The sharingan wielder calmly took a sip of his drink, debating whether it would be worth it to try to hide with a jutsu and sneak his way out before he was spotted. The choice was taken out of his hands, however, when Gai quickly spotted him and flashed a blindingly white grin in his direction. An inaudible sigh escaped Kakashi's lips. Well, I guess it can't be helped at this point.
Kakashi kept his eyes straight ahead, determined to give as little as possible in hopes that his "rival" would get bored and wander away. Not that Kakashi disliked Gai per-se. In fact he had a very high opinion of the man, one that he was careful to never even hint at. However he couldn't help but quickly feel exhausted when he was forced to spend more than five minutes at a time with someone as energetic as Gai.
In moments the green clad Jounin walked around the bar and sat down heavily in the stool next to him, letting out a deep satisfied sigh. He turned his head to face Kakashi, his face splitting into a sidewards grin filled with too-white teeth that almost seemed to glow in the relative darkness of the bar.
"Kakashi," he said in greeting while casually waving the bartender over. "How fortunate that I found you, my friend. I was hoping that I could have a word with you."
Kakashi relaxed slightly, as Gai apparently wasn't here to try to drag him into another absurd training exercise disguised as their "rivalry." At least not this time. One thing that Kakashi could appreciate about Gai is that he tended to be very direct, occasionally even to the point of societal impropriety. His one visible eye lazily slid over the green-clad Jounin, the man's smiling visage a mask that gave absolutely nothing away.
"Oh?" asked Kakashi, letting the question hang in the air.
Gai took a moment to place his order before turning back to him, the wide smile never leaving his face. "I would like your professional opinion about something. Or someone."
"Oh?" asked Kakashi again, his interest reluctantly piqued.
Gai's wide grin slowly dripped off his face, his countenance morphing from his usual expression to something normal and far more thoughtful. "Rumor has it that you had an interesting encounter last year with young Rei Yamanaka."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, surprised by the topic. Also a little annoyed. Genma, you gossipy little bitch. The only person who he'd told about the encounter had been Genma while he'd been half-drunk. Though he shouldn't be too surprised the story had gotten around, he supposed. It was a rather well known fact Genma was a worse rumormonger than a fishmonger's wife.
"Perhaps," hedged Kakashi, trying to figure out why Gai of all people would come to ask him about that. "Why the sudden interest, if you don't mind me asking?"
The conversation lulled for a second as the bartender, an old retired Chunnin with a bad limp, came and dropped out a small bottle and cup of warm sake for Gai. The larger man his time taking a long sip before responding. "The Hokage discussed with the possibility of my becoming a Jounin sensei again this year."
Kakashi made a sound that was halfway between interested and bored. It wasn't that big of a surprise, he supposed. In the nine or so years he had been a Jounin Gai had already trained two different teams of Genin. The cells had disbanded after all his students had made Chunnin and found their own niche in the village. By all reports all of Gai's former students had done quite well for themselves with only one KIA among the six of them.
"And the Hokage wants you to take the Yamanaka girl as a student, I take it?"
"He didn't come out and say so outright... but I could read between the lines, yes," replied Gai easily.
"Ah," replied Kakashi. The conversation fell in to a brief lull as each man concentrated on their drinks. Eventually it was Kakashi who broke the silence, his one eye sliding over to his friend. "I have to say, it's a bit unusual for you to come to ask me about it, isn't it?" he said, fishing for more information.
Gai easily relented, apparently not too interested in keeping things close to the chest this time. "Normally I like to go into these things blind, to an extent, so my assessment of new potential students isn't colored by bias. However this new cell…" Gai trailed off for a second, a small frown suddenly marring his brow. "The Hokage already has plans for what he wants it to specialize in."
"Oh?"
"The Hokage hinted quite heavily that he wants this new cell to specialize in deep recon."
"… Ah."
That was… unusual, to say the least. Many considerations went into making and organizing Genin cells, not the least of which was what sort of specialization and role the team was expected to fulfill. There were many possible specializations when it came to a cell of ninja. Tracking. Infiltration. Defensive. Heavy combat. Many teams had hybrid specializations where they were trained in more than one thing, while others had a more narrow focus. Not only did specializations make a Genin cell more useful to the village in carrying out certain tasks, it also tended to heavily influence where shinobi where likely to end up in their careers after they graduated from Genin to Chunnin and the cell officially disbanded.
Certain specializations, however, were considered generally inappropriate for a Genin cell. There were two specializations in particular that Genin cells generally didn't touch. The main one being capture/interrogation… and the other one being deep recon.
As the name implied, deep recon operatives were expected to operate deep behind enemy lines. For obvious reasons weak, stupid, inexperienced baby Genin were not generally considered good candidates for a specialization where a single slip-up could easily land you in a life or death fight against enemy ninja deep in the heart of another village's territory. Typically that kind of training was not made available to ninja until they were at least Chunnin. More realistically, the most common place where that specialization was taught and was by far the most useful was within the ranks of ANBU.
That a mere Genin cell was supposedly going to be groomed in that directions said a great deal… both good and bad, depending on who you were asking.
Little wonder that Gai had decided to go the extra mile doing his due diligence as soon as he heard the news.
Kakshi carefully considered how to answer Gai's question before giving his honest assessment. "I think the girl might have a few screws loose."
"Oh?" replied Gai, seemingly not particularly perturbed by his less-than-glowing assessment. "How so?"
"Would you have attacked a Jounin while you were an academy student and then proceeded to taunt them with knowledge you shouldn't have?" asked Kakashi.
One of Gai's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Shouldn't have?" he asked with concern.
"Nothing that isn't an open secret among higher ranked ninja," said Kakashi with a dismissive wave. "But nothing an academy student should have known, either."
"Hmm," hummed Gai thoughtfully. "Interesting. Her family?"
Kakashi made noncommittal sound. It was certainly the most likely explanation for her knowledge.
"And the rest of it?"
Kakashi shrugged. "From what little I saw, she really is a genius. At keeping herself concealed, at any rate." In that particular field at least, Kakashi couldn't help but be uncomfortably reminded of Itachi.
"Rash, too," continued Kakashi after a brief pause. "Very rash. Good luck keeping a leash on that one."
Kakashi's reply caused Gai to grin widely, once again showing off his straight, too-white teeth. "I don't leash my students Kakashi," he said, his voice suddenly louder and more bombastic. "I create conditions that allow them to flourish and grow. There is no greater joy than nurturing Konoha's young saplings to flower into the thick trees that will continue to uphold our village."
Kakashi had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "I'll be sure to leave all of the teaching to you, then."
He conveniently left out how close the girl had gotten to him before he'd noticed she was there. Honestly, she was just an academy student. It was a little bit embarrassing.
000
It was much cooler than what she had become used to, high up on the Hokage monument looking down upon the village. Occasional gusts of wind pulled at her hair and clothes hard enough that if she wasn't sticking to the surface with Chakra she might have worried about being blown off the mountain. The night was cloudy, doing a fair job of hiding the light of the half-moon in the sky. Rei just breathed, feeling a strange moment of peace as she sat with her legs in front of her and looked out at the village and beyond, into the forest and into the distance as far as the eye could see. It calmed her to see by the light of the moon that the world out there stretched out, going on much much further than what existed inside the borders of Konoha.
What was out there, she wondered. Her wandering spirit called out to her, urging her to pick up and see what was over the horizon. It was a part of her from her previous life that had never changed, even as so much of her old self seemed to be dying bit by bit, year by year. If she could remotely stomach the thought of spending the rest of her life in service of Konoha, perhaps she would have been satisfied with angling to take over the Toad Sannin's role as master spy one day. Always traveling, with somewhere and something new on the horizon. It was a nice daydream. Freedom. What she had always wanted.
Power was needed for freedom, in this world. This she had long ago realized. In fact, Rei had begun to think of the two terms as practically synonymous. It wasn't even a stretch to think so, in the world of the Elemental Nations. In this world Rei had always hungered for power for the sake of freedom. Recently though, she knew that some things had changed. She knew that she had also begun to crave power for the sake of power alone. It was somewhat strange thinking about it, now that she was taking a rare bit of time to herself in order to think and reflect. Was it wrong, wishing for power for it's own sake? The person she was in her previous life would have unequivocally said "yes." Now, Rei was left with the disconcerting feeling that somehow the pursuit of power for it's own sake was supposed to be a bad thing, but not really being able to remember why that was.
Perhaps it wasn't really important. She needed power for her freedom, so what did it matter if she also wanted power for it's own sake, really?
Rei stood up, eyes still fixed firmly on the horizon. It's okay. You have time. One day. One day, she would be spoken of in the same breath as the Sannin, as Itachi Uchiha, as the Jinchuriki and all the other monsters and calamities in human form that existed in this world. And then… and then let them try to tell her what she could do with her life.
It's okay. You have time.
Of course, sometimes sacrifices had to be made in pursuit of power.
Rei sighed, and with a flare of determination vanished any lingering hesitation. She'd made her choice, and it was the right one. This needed to be done. No matter how much the idea on a gut deep level made her want to exercise excessive amounts of violence.
Arrangements had already been made through Elder Black. It was time. With one swift motion Rei bit the back of the thumb, quickly drawing a fat drop of blood. Her hands flashed through familiar hand signs before she slammed her palm down onto stone.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
The jutsu took Chakra from her coils, using it to bring creatures here from an entirely different realm. When the cloud of smoke cleared, two Rats stood before her. One she recognized right away. Slate gray with streaks of brown around his snout, they were roughly of equal height now as opposed to three years ago. He wore a similar tattered vest as the one he'd had the last time she had seen him, one that reminded her of a homeless man's version of a Chunnin vest. To her pleasure he bore an ugly scar that she had given him on his face, when she'd by some freak miracle managed to win their death match by splitting his snout in two. His black eyes seemed to narrow on her, what might have a sneer coming across his murinae face.
"Summoner," he greeted, though the tone was far from friendly.
"Virulent," replied back, plastering a smile on her face that was the furthest thing in the world from friendly.
The two stared each other down for a solid minute, tension and the potential for violence hanging thick and cloying in the air. It would have gone on longer too if the other Rat that Rei had summoned didn't clear her throat and interrupt them. Her, because it was a definite feminine voice, far more melodious and pleasing to the ear than Rei would have expected from a Rat.
"While watching the two of you glare at each other all night would of course be my ideal of a wonderful time," the second Rat said in a voice positively dripping with sarcasm. "Eldest Rat expects you two to rub faces and make up, remember? This is not an auspicious start."
With great reluctance Rei broke her staring contest with Virulent and flicked her eyes to look at the newcomer. This was not a Rat she had met before. She was a bit shorter than Virulent and noticeably slimmer, her fur sable in color with reddish highlights. The new Rat wore what looked like a cross between a tool belt and a utility belt. Two foot-long blades were sheathed very prominently at her hips. The Rat tilted her head as she examined Rei, her body language practically advertising her evaluation and curiosity.
"Why don't you introduce us, Bro?"
Bro? Rei thought, momentary shocked out of her tense and aggressive mindset. Virulent also seemed chagrined by the address, turning to glare at the female Rat who bore his displeased look like water washing over a rock.
After a few pregnant moments of awkward silence, Virulent sighed and turned back to Rei. "This," said Virulent, vaguely gesturing at the other newcomer. "Is Dagger. A general pain in the ass all around. And like she said," Virulent said, injecting venom into the word and briefly turning back to glare at the other Rat. "She's also my littermate."
Littermate? The idea of someone she hated as much as Virulent having a sister was… a bit shocking, actually. She'd just sort of assumed that such a miserable person would be all alone in the world. While outside she gave nothing away, on the inside she had been thrown a bit off balance by the revelation.
"He wanted to keep it a secret, 'cuz he thought you might try to hurt me to get to him as a form of revenge," Dagger said, ignoring the death glare she was getting from Virulent and plowing right ahead. "Of course that's stupid. I told him if you wanted to commit suicide by Rat you were much more likely to go after him than me. Plus you're one of The Family now, and the Elders seem to trust you. More than good enough in my book." Pause. "Plus, my brother's an asshole. You're not the first person in The Family who's thought about killing him, trust me."
"Dagger," Virulent hissed at her, anger and -maybe embarrassment? - clear in his tone.
Rei decided it was safe for at least the moment, and turned her attention fully to the newcomer for the first time. "So," she began slowly, trying to get a feel for this new Rat. "You're the other 'specialist' that Elder Black promised me, then?"
"That's right," she said in that strangely melodious voice. "Our family is one of the few that still keeps The Family's legacy as the best thieves to ever live alive and well, see? I agreed to come because, not gonna lie, a whole new world to see and whole new things to steal sends a right frightful shiver all the way down my tail. Give me a chance to impress you and I'll give you a chance to impress me, miss Summoner. You won't find a better thief than me anywhere, and that's a fact right there." Pause. "And I guess my brother's pretty good, too. He does all right."
Rei's lips twitched a little, even against her will. Dagger didn't seem too bad… despite her unfortunate familial affiliation. Time would tell, she supposed. Rei shrugged. "Having you steal things is the plan, and you'll get to see plenty of this new world by doing the missions I have in mind for you." She paused, turning to look at Virulent again. "That's not going to be a problem, is it?"
Virulent didn't seem particularly happy, bearing his teeth and his tail slapping the floor in agitation. "I agreed to be part of this Mischief," said Virulent in a way that made Rei think he didn't really have much choice at all. "Long as you don't waste my time, I'll get the job done."
Rei looked back and forth between Virulent and Dagger. Both seemed to be on the same page, if one of the siblings was clearly more unhappy about it than the other. Rei resisted the urge to sigh. It will have to do.
"Come on. Let's go somewhere more private," Rei said. "I'll tell you what I have in mind."
000
"Your target is here," said Rei, pointing at a city on a map. "The Village Hidden in the Rocks."
Though she was loath to bring Virulent into her room, it really was the most secure location that pretty much guaranteed they couldn't be overheard. Rei and the two Rats were seated on the floor, a map of the Elemental Nations laid out in front of them. The two Rats had been looking at it with rapt interest since she had first opened it, taking in geography, cities, mountain ranges, anything they could about what was essentially a strange land to them.
Dagger made a humming sound before speaking. "Why there? And what's the payday?"
Having Dagger turned out to be a blessing. Rei could just speak to her and ignore Virulent entirely. The male Rat seemed perfectly content to ignore her as well, which worked out just fine for Rei.
The questions Dagger asked were far more complex than the female Rat probably realized. Rei decided that a brief summary would suffice. "I'm using this as a test run. I want to get my hand on as many fire element jutsu as possible, since that is my primary element. The Hidden Village with the largest proportion of fire nature ninja is, unfortunately, Konoha. For a lot of reasons stealing from here is impractical and far too risky. But," Rei said, as a slow grin creeped across her face. "There are other options. While earth is by far the most common element in Rock ninja, their second most common elemental affinity is fire by a considerable margin. That means they will have plenty of fire jutsu in their clan libraries to steal. Your mission is find as many fire jutsu as possible in their clan archives. Get in, copy the scrolls, and get out. It's the information that I'm after. Having all those scrolls disappear could cause a lot of… problems down the line, so I'd like to avoid that."
Dagger made a thoughtful sound, but something about the way her body language shifted made Rei think the female Rat was excited by the prospect. Even Virulent seemed to perk up a little as she outlined her plan. Well. It seemed like they actually enjoyed the whole thieving thing, didn't they?
"Why only the fire jutsu?" asked Dagger. "There are probably a lot more valuable things in those libraries than just that, don't you think?"
"Undoubtedly," said Rei easily. "But like I said, I'm treating this like a trial run. Getting too greedy just increases the chances of detection and failure, no matter how good you are. Besides that, it can wait. The point of this material is to make me stronger, but I can only work on so many things at a time. When I'm ready for something else I might decide to send you out again at that point."
Dagger gave her the Rat equivalent of a raised eyebrow. "Well, if you're sure," she said slowly before turning back to the map. "Just figured you'd be a little more eager to gobble up as much as you could in one go, what with your reputation and all."
And what kind of reputation was that? Rei wondered, a little bit surprised that apparently she had a reputation at all within The Family. Shrugging it off, she said, "I never expected to get this kind of opportunity, so it's all just a bonus, really. No harm playing it a little bit safe. Speaking of which… how long do you think it would take you to travel there, do the job and come back?" There was no point in asking if they were capable of it. Breaking into highly secured ninja libraries and such was what they had been brought in to do in the first place, after all.
Surprisingly, it was Virulent who answered. "Two months."
Rei looked up, surprised to hear him speak for the first time since they had entered her room. The two of them locked eyes, and suddenly the tension in the room ratcheted up until it was thick enough to cut with a knife. Dagger froze, watching the two of them warily.
As seconds stretched by, the thought occurred to Rei that if indeed her goals were more important to her than the grudge she had against Virulent… then she needed to start acting like it. Swallowing back the poison that naturally wanted to spill out of her mouth, Rei contorted her face into a facsimile of a somewhat genuine smile. Sometimes, it wasn't necessary to mean it. Sometimes, just going though the motions somewhat convincingly could be enough.
"That would be about three weeks before my graduation," Rei said, her voice forcibly calm and pleasant. Even friendly. The fact that it actually sounded genuine seemed to put the two Rats even more on edge. Too bad. They were getting fucking sincere and reasonable Rei. "Plenty of time for me to learn a new trick or two before getting placed with a Jounin sensei. Please work hard on this assignment, Dagger-san, Virulent-san. I am in your debt."
"Yeah," said Dagger, slowly inching slightly away from her. "No problem."
"Well," said Virulent, sounding a bit unnerved. "We should get started right away then. You ready sis?"
"Yup."
"Alright then."
At some unseen signal, the two of them ran for the window and practically threw themselves out. Rei's smile fell from her face as she looked after them. That had been… odd. Though she was somewhat glad that she'd apparently freaked them out, another part of her was puzzled. What in the world had caused the two of them to bolt like the hounds of hell were on them?
"Oh well," she muttered to herself. She'd have to leave that mystery for some other time. Might as well get started on the other activity she had planned for that night. Rei had carved out a block of time to start out some very special training that very evening.
It was time for her to start training in that fire jutsu Worm had stolen from the Sarutobi clan.
After all, her goal was to be feared. People rarely feared something quiet and subtle as much as they did something loud and in your face. Killing someone with poison or stealth just didn't have the same psychological effect as blowing them up with a loud, overpowered jutsu.
Another part of her, however, was just excited that she had a real good excuse to burn lots and lots of shit. Rei allowed herself an excited little grin.
She could hardly wait.
000
A/N: So. It's been a year since I've updated. For anyone who still reads this story after all that time, thank you.
Part of the reason I haven't updated in so long is that I've also been writing my own book, which I hope to publish through Amazon's Kindle Store by the end of the year. If you're at all interested I'm going to be giving away advanced copies for free in exchange for an honest review on Amazon. Keep posted for updates on that as we get closer to the publication date. Updates on that project will only come with new chapters of this story, so you can be guaranteed to get more of them in the future.
As for this story, I came back to it because I needed a little break from my other writing, and also because I always felt it was a shame that I didn't continue it. Writing this story has taught me a lot about writing that I've made good use of. I also planned it beginning to end years ago, so maybe eventually I'll see it all realized. Keep posted for more updates. I'm writing so much now that updating this story doesn't seem nearly as daunting as it did just one year ago.
Keep it real, and thank you for reading!
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Ayashi
Connoisseur.
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i'm guessing Virulent lied and her just staring at him for so long probably made them think she knew about it. And the fake 'sincere' smile afterwards probably came across entirely opposite to Rei's intentions...
Abhorsen
Making the rounds.
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Really glad you are continuing, and even more glad you are publishing on Amazon. I hope this pays off for you because you're a great writer, and it would be great if that could be you full time job. Count me in for the free book, if possible.
Mr.IAmHere
Your first time is always over so quickly, isn't it?
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Nice to see this back! The first bit of the chapter seems to be a rewrite of the first bit of chapter 36. Should the Chapter 36 bit be seen as not part of the story's canon anymore?
RichardWhereat
Aia airëa Fëanáro.
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More from one of my favorite jump destinations, awesome!
Gai, Neji, Lee, and Rei would be an amazing team. All Gai has to teach Lee, is quiet and subtlety.
Gai, Neji, Lee, and Rei would be an amazing team. All Gai has to teach Lee, is quiet and subtlety.
IvanDead
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Prince Charon
Just zis guy, you know?
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It took me a bit to remember what this was, but I'm glad to see it.
ItsComplicated
OrlongKarsa
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Seeing if this story has updated is in fact the only reason I bother to log into this website.
Glad to see you back! Here's hoping you finish it, or at least write more !
Glad to see you back! Here's hoping you finish it, or at least write more !
Tavarokk
Pursuer of perversion
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Really made my day here. This is one of my favourite fics ever, along with DoS, great to see it back.
customers?
Vajra
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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defenestrator
I clearly do not know where the happy button is
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Getting recommended for Deep Recon mission seems like a questionable role for Team Gai.
Sure, Rei's the perfect candidate for it, possibly the best the last few generations. She's probably not too far from being Kabuto-tier, and exceeded it with her summons in play.
...However, while having a Hyuuga is great for long-range scouting and surveillance, it's offset for Neji being a Hyuuga. Any enemy nin that sees his eyes would need to be neutralized too, no one's mistaking those freaky white pupilless irises from anything else.
And then there that matter of the walking fashion disasters. Gai got that jounin rank for a reason so no problems from him. Lee, however, I do not recall ever seeing perform a simple henge.
Sure, Rei's the perfect candidate for it, possibly the best the last few generations. She's probably not too far from being Kabuto-tier, and exceeded it with her summons in play.
...However, while having a Hyuuga is great for long-range scouting and surveillance, it's offset for Neji being a Hyuuga. Any enemy nin that sees his eyes would need to be neutralized too, no one's mistaking those freaky white pupilless irises from anything else.
And then there that matter of the walking fashion disasters. Gai got that jounin rank for a reason so no problems from him. Lee, however, I do not recall ever seeing perform a simple henge.
Tavarokk
Pursuer of perversion
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I think you're mixing up recon and infiltration when speaking about Neji - it's less of an issue what you look like when the objective is to never get seen. Agree about Lee, though.