Investigations

The day was going long. Our march under the burning sun would've been torture if I actually needed sleep or any form of sustenance. Nichiren and Hisako seemed to be holding up well enough. A cool breeze wafted through the pines as we walked alongside the wagon.

I was on the right, and I had my notebook out, turned to the 'notes' section because I was trying to help my social skills. Emphasis on the word try.

Charisma Check Failed: 4/5.

Oh, come on!

Charisma Check Failed: 4/5.

So, I had this idea to try and predict a conversation with my teammates. Create a flow-chart, plot out a normal conversation and all the interesting turns. The problem? I'm having trouble actually figuring out how they would actually react and say. Word-choice in particular is turning into a problem.

To put it in exaggerated fashion, the conversation would go like this.

"Hi, teammates!"I would say cheerfully.

"Hi, Daisuke!" Nichiren and Hisako would also say.

"Hi, Sensei!" I would say to Kakashi-sensei.

"Hi Daisuke," He would reply.

"I know you guys think I'm a freak…want to learn some jutsu? I promise it'll help!" I would offer.

"Sure!" They would say.

End-scene.

I hate being socially inept. I feel like I'm tackling a mountain without arms with this. Because there are infinite directions a conversation can go and without the ability to understand my teammates emotional patterns and thoughts, I have no possible means of creating a reasonable path…so what are my teammates issues?

Okay, so clearly Hisako doesn't like how powerful I am. I just don't understand why. I mean, sure, she's jealous. I can get that. I'd be pretty jealous too if I met someone like me and I didn't operate under the rules of an RPG. But…why on earth would I want to become Hokage? That's Naruto's shtick, not mine. All that responsibility and pressure. I'm already being set up to lead a clan, I don't need to make my situation worse. Ruling the world can screw right off.

I have the powers of an RPG character. Not the work ethic.

There's also the two Sensei's thing, which I stepped on last time I talked to her. Offended Kakashi-sensei, too, I think. But…why? If I got the opportunity to learn an awesome Jutsu, I'd take the opportunity immediately. I mean, Kakashi's great, but he's spending most of his time with Nichiren and Hisako. I'm not getting the Jutsu I thought I'd be getting! Wouldn't Kakashi be thrilled at not needing to shoulder all of the load?

…

Back on topic. This is about Hisako, not Kakashi. He's got his own issues.

So…okay, maybe a flowchart just isn't working for me. Stupid RPG mechanics. Uh…okay. So maybe instead of planning it out to absurd degree, since I need some level of emotional intuitiveness for that, maybe I can outline where I simply shouldn't go instead. Create a few danger zones that I don't enter?

Well...wait, what was it that Hisako said, on the day we became a team? "I don't like being told someone's unbeatable"? Probably why she's got so many issues with me. Geeze. Okay, so. Danger zones. She most emphatically doesn't want to be taught by me.

I blinked and held in the sigh of irritation. That doesn't make any sense! It's stupid. Childish! Well, she is twelve, so…small wonder. No offering to teach her that awesome poison kunai-coating jutsu idea that I had and was going to try at some point in the mission.

Sure. Fine.

…so dumb.

Any others? Well…probably shouldn't come up with Jutsu on the mission. Maybe? Does that even matter that much? I don't think it does. It shouldn't. But…it's better to be safe than sorry. Makes no real sense, though.

You know, I could be doing all the wrong things and I'd have no idea until after the fact. That agitates me. I could fix that with an amulet or piece of jewelry or some other article of clothing that increases my charisma. Not to level 8, but enough that I'm not losing my head over this.

But is increasing my charisma a good idea?

I don't think so. Not until Almost Perfect, but only because I won't have a choice – all the perks in my build after that need higher special stats than what I've got.

The thought of Hisako crushing on me freaks me out. Partially because she's twelve but mostly because I like the idea of her crushing on me. Which is freaky and makes me feel terrible for obvious reasons.

Another danger zone, anything including my ridiculous aptitude. Okay, simple enough.

Now…what do I do? I know what I don't need to do. But…I don't know, emphasize what she can do that I can't? Apologize for…actually, apologizing doesn't seem to work. What do I do, find something I can't do that they can and…keep letting them do it? I mean, I'm terrible at stealth and Nichiren's got that covered.

What if they're out of commission? What if they're out and the only person that can act is me?

…one of these days I need to start trusting them. They are kids, but they're also training to be soldiers, sickening as that might be.

So, rules for dealing with Hisako. Number 1, don't offer to teach her, try to shy away from what I can do and…find something she can do already? Maybe that'll work? I mean, she already knows she can do it, so what purpose would reminding her of that serve?

"I mean; you have way better throwing than I do!"

"Yeah, I know, Daisuke. That doesn't help."

Well…okay, maybe I'm overthinking this…oh…what did helping Nichiren teach me? I word best when I don't have to say much. Maybe that logic will work when I'm dealing with Hisako.

Maybe.

I probably wouldn't have stepped on her 'I don't like two sensei's' point if I was listening a little bit closer.

"Everyone brought water, right?" Kakashi called to the group.

Everyone gave their assent. Even I brought water…I might need a few hitpoints sometime down the road if I stub my toe on a rock.

We walked…and we walked…Hisako and Nichiren exchanged light banter through the trip. I kept quiet, never tiring. Nichiren and Hisako, by the time the sun set behind the horizon, were exhausted, even I could tell.

Off in the distance, I could make out the silhouette of a small town. This must our first stop.

The entrance had an arch built over it, with kanji written along the top spelling 'Takato Town'. We walked through it and into town square, and I noticed that the town was sparsely populated; only a few people had to move out of the way of the wagon as it passed through the town square. It made a right and we walked to a warehouse.

"Alright," Mr. Arai called to us, jumping down from the wagon. He looked at Kakashi-sensei "So, we got security from here. We'll see you tomorrow morning, Kakashi-san."

"We'll meet you here at six," Kakashi nodded with an impassive look in his eye. "Have a good evening."

"You as well," Mr. Arai bowed.

Quest Updated: The Organ Trail

Completed: Guard the Wagon on its way to the first stop.

Speak with Kakashi-sensei.

We all bowed back and headed off.

"So what now, Sensei?" Nichiren asked.

"Now we go get something to eat," Kakashi said, leading us to a ramen-stand. "Then we go check into a motel and wait."

"Wait for what?" I asked with a frown.

"Things," Kakashi eye-smiled. "We wait for things."

Oh. Right. We'll be investigating them later. At least I think that's what he's getting at. That's the only possible thing he's going to be getting at, so…yeah.

I shrugged in response.

We all paid for our own bowls. The miso-ramen was good, but not as good as Ichiraku's. That may have been my bias talking.

"So, how's everyone's first trip out of Konoha?" Kakashi asked. "Everything you hoped it would be?"

"I don't know yet," Nichiren replied, staring intently at the noodles in the chopsticks. "We haven't found anything interesting."

"Can't really say until we've found some interesting stuff," Hisako replied, folding her arms and resting her chin on them. "That's the deciding factor, right?"

"The trips been boring so far," I chimed in. "Too much walking, not enough Shunshin."

Sensei eye-smiled. "Sometimes it's really best to slow down and take in the sights."

"I saw trees," I replied to that. "I saw the dirt road, I saw rocks, hills…bunch of boring stuff."

Kakashi-sensei sighed and hung his head. "Daisuke…I would've thought you'd enjoy the peaceful scenery more."

"I probably would," I replied with a frown. "But I'm waiting for something to explode."

"What's going to explode?" Hisako asked with a tinge of panic.

"Nothing," I sighed. "It's an expression."

"Let's," Kakashi rose a finger to interject. "Go get a room and then we can talk, alright?"

I stood up and slid my hands into my pockets.

"Alright," Nichiren said, slurping down the broth and setting the bowl down.

Hisako slurped down the rest of her noodles. "Fine by me."

Kakashi lead us to a motel and checked out a small room for each of us. Then he lead us to his room, first room on the right. The inside was your typical motel room, bed, closet, shower. The only thing it was missing was the TV, but that was understandable.

Kakashi looked out the window briefly to ensure we weren't being spied on. "Shut the door behind you."

We did so. Hisako took a seat on the bed, Nichiren started leaning against the wall and I remained standing straight.

"Here's the plan," Kakashi got straight to business. "We'll rest here for a couple of hours. At eleven o'clock, we'll head to the warehouse and look through their shipping manifests. If we can't find anything, we might find ourselves looking through the crates themselves."

"How long would that take?" Nichiren asked, taking off his glasses and cleaning them with his shirt.

"If we're lucky, getting the manifests should only take about half an hour," Kakashi replied easily. "We can decide how we proceed from there."

I'm very lucky.

Intelligence Check Success: 10/7.

Perception Check Success: 8/6.

We could all sneak our way in through the windows. This is a small town, mostly populated by civilians, so if we're quiet we can avoid getting spotted really easily. The only problem will be if they have rogue shinobi involved. Speaking of which…

I rose my hand.

"Yes, Daisuke?" Kakashi asked, pointing at me.

"What do we do about rogue Shinobi?" I asked.

"You will come get me if possible," Kakashi replied immediately. "Then you are to let me handle them. Is that clear?"

"Yes Sensei," We chorused.

"Good," Kakashi nodded. "We'll be going across the roof-tops. Try to be quiet."

I only have 22 sneak. "What do we do if we're terrible at sneaking?"

"We'll have to improvise," Kakashi replied. "I'm sure you can invent a jutsu to help you out, in any case."

Probably.

Charisma Check Success: 4/4.

You know, that violated my rule in regards to Hisako; don't bring up what I can do. And…yeah, that was a flash of irritation. At me, or Kakashi? Maybe a little of both.

I think I'm getting the hang of this!

Actually, come to think of it, there might be a jutsu I can make...one that muffles my footsteps, in any case. Probably should wait until I'm out of eye-sight of Hisako and Nichiren, though. Anyway.

"Any other questions?" Kakashi asked.

"Where would we find the shipping manifest?" Hisako asked.

"There's probably an office in the warehouse," Kakashi replied. "They'll keep all their transactions there."

"Even their illegal transactions?" I asked. That's a little odd, why on Earth would anyone make a record of their illegal dealings…well actually…in my previous life, I barely remember talking with a retired military detective who was involved in a case where they tracked stolen bombs. How they found them? Apparently, when someone does something wrong, that person needs to tell someone else. One of their feelers heard something and arrests were made.

Interesting and even if they haven't told anyone, they still might have left some evidence around.

"You'd be surprised what people are dumb enough to leave lying around," Kakashi replied. "But just to be clear; look for evidence in the warehouse tonight, be as sneaky as possible and don't engage rogue ninja. Understood?"

We all gave our assent.

"Good," Kakashi nodded. "Now go get some rest…we've got a late night tonight."

Quest Updated: The Organ Trail

Completed: Speak with Kakashi-sensei.

Go with your team to investigate the warehouse at 11pm.

Ninjutsu Check Success: 57/25.

+150 EXP.

2930 more experience until level 11. At that point, I planned bring Ninjutsu up to 60 and then work on Genjutsu to bring them up in time for One-Handed Jutsu at level 16. Also work on Melee Weapons so I can get Ninja at 20.

The jutsu I just invented silences my footsteps by coating my feet with a thin layer of chakra that absorbs a lot of the kinetic energy, thus resulting in quieter footsteps. And protection from fall damage, like I'm wearing Cave Johnson's foot-based suit of armor.

…I haven't thought about Portal in so long…

You know, with everything Chakra's capable of, I wonder if I can make something like Portals. I know that the Fourth, known as the Yellow Flash, made teleportation possible through specially prepared Kunai, but actually opening a door for others to travel through? That might be fun to experiment with, simply so I can start thinking with Portals.

Maybe once I get Almost Perfect, I can start talking like Cave Johnson, make Portal tech and basically be a comedic Orochimaru. I mean, I'd have to assassinate my moral compass and anything resembling common sense, but it might be doable.

…not that I'm going too, but it's funny to think about.

Hi, I'm Shimoda Daisuke and here, we're going to talk about our latest invention; The Happiness Beam! This laser harnesses the latent power of the users own joy to project a beam that's trillions of degrees Fahrenheit! With the Happiness Beam, your enemies will be powerless to give you a bad time and we guarantee that the smoking ashes of your opponents will give you more joy, thus giving the Happiness Beam more to work with. It's the gift that just keeps on giving.

I just made myself laugh.

Anyway, it was almost 11 o'clock and I want thinking about more jutsu I could invent. Since I had Lightning Release available, I had this crazy idea. Since the brain and nervous system run off of electrical signals, maybe I can use chakra to boost their effectiveness and react faster? I might even be able to strengthen the chemical bonds of my cells, since that's all electricity. At least I think.

Medicine Check Failure: 30/70.

Right, okay so maybe not strengthen cellular bonds, but the rest should be perfectly within the boundaries of Chakra's capabilities. But I'll work on that later, when I'm at a training field incase lightning goes everywhere and starts damaging things.

At 11 o'clock I left my apartment and looked to my left and saw that Nichiren and Hisako were also awake.

"You guys have a nice nap?" I asked.

Nichiren yawned. "Wasn't long enough."

Hisako turned her head from side to side, popping her neck with each rotation. "You said it. But whatever, we got a job to do."

"Is everyone ready?" Kakashi emerged from his room.

"Hai Sensei," I replied.

"I think so," Nichiren frowned, pushing his glasses up. You know, someone needs to adjust the ear-pieces so they fit better on his head. I wonder if I can do that, actually. Or, no. I could get him some nose-pads and put them on.

…maybe I should ask him before I mess with his glasses, though.

"Born ready," Hisako nodded with a serious look on her face.

"Then let's go," Kakashi said, beckoning us to enter his room. We did, and shut the door behind us. Kakashi-sensei opened the window and one by one, each of us jumped out into the cool night air, landing on the roof of the building across the street.

Huh. I wasn't sure Hisako and Nichiren could make the jump. Well, there we go. They're coming along nicely.

We ran across the rooftops, jumping and tumbling as needed. We reached the warehouse in only a few minutes.

Quest Updated: The Organ Trail.

Completed: Go with your team to investigate the warehouse at 11pm.

Search for clues.

Optional: Avoid being caught.

"Security appears to be light," Kakashi-sensei said, looking in at the windows.

Down below, I could see several guards holding lanterns and making rounds. The office, from what I could see, was behind a door that said 'Management' and had several glass windows letting people in the warehouse know where their boss was. Naturally, that would be where we need to start looking.

"We could probably just get there by walking on the ceiling," I offered. "Those guys don't look like they'd be looking up."

"Good call," Kakashi nodded.

Then he carefully pried the window open and we slid in, sticking to the ceiling on our hands and feet.

Sneak Check Failure: 22/25.

SON OF A-

Perception Check Success: 8/3.

"Daisuke!" Kakashi whispered sharply. "Stay out of the light!"

I had crawled right into a beam of moonlight.

"Sorry," I whispered apologetically, crawling back into the shadows and staying there.

We maneuvered over to the office, neatly avoiding the entirety of the guards. We were stuck to the wall like a gaggle of oversized spiders, hanging over the door and watching for guards.

"Nichiren get us inside," Kakashi ordered quietly. "We'll watch for guards."

"Yes Sensei," Nichiren said, dropping quietly to the floor and taking out a pair of lock picks.

We watched the guards while Nichiren worked. There were four in total. Two of them stopped their rounds to talk quietly on the other side of the wall. Another was mostly just looking at the boxes, moving at a snail's pace, looking bored. The last one was leaning back in his chair, snoozing with his lantern to the side.

"I don't think there's anything here," Hisako whispered, sounding unhappy.

"Why is that?" I asked.

"The guards are so lazy," Hisako replied with a frown. "They don't look like guys that are guarding a high-priority secret."

She had a good point. If they knew something that could get everyone in serious trouble was here, they'd be tense and more active.

"We're in," Nichiren said.

"Good work Nichiren," Kakashi said, holding the door closed as we each dropped to the floor. "Wait just a second."

Kakashi made several hand seals and he…squirted the door hinges with water from his finger. Wait, no. Not water. Oil. That's genius! Don't want a squeaky door giving us away!

"Let's go," Kakashi said, slowly opening the door and ushering us inside.

The office was just a desk long enough to fit completely underneath the window, with several chairs lounging around the floor on wheels. There were filing cabinets, each with two drawers, underneath the desk and against the opposite wall. Each of the drawers required a key too open.

Because things couldn't be too easy, could they. Well, maybe one was left unlocked.

I pulled on one of the drawers and was very surprised when it opened with no resistance whatsoever.

I guess they forgot to lock this one.

Luck 10 to the rescue!

I checked the files. This one was shipping and financial reports from three years ago to the start of last year. Nothing I really noticed as interesting. "The stuff in this one is old…at least one year. I'm not seeing anything here."

"Don't take too much time," Kakashi replied. "Hisako, check that cabinet. Nichiren, see if you can't open the safe over there."

"It's locked," Hisako whispered back.

"Can you pick it?" Kakashi asked in response.

"Yes Sensei," Hisako replied, taking out a pair of lock-picks herself.

I had some on me. But my skill with picks wasn't…great. So, I kept at this folder. From what I could see, all of these were on the up and up. Nothing involving organs or other black-market items like excessive or specialized weapons. Everything had been notarized by Shinobi from Konoha…this company had been hiring Shinobi for a long time.

There was only one key lock on the cabinet, so the second and final drawer was obviously unlocked. With due diligence, I checked that one as well. This one went even farther back, with dealings that were verging on hitting their disposal dates. Nothing illegal of interest. No busts, no horrible track records, no employees fired. Nothing.

I shut the drawer with a huff. "This one's clean. Nothing interesting."

"Thank you Daisuke," Kakashi replied, not even looking up from the reports he was inspecting. "Get to work on one of the others."

There were two other cabinets and I picked one. This one was locked. I got to work with my picks and tried to carefully move the tumblers inside and-snap.

I broke my pick. With a growing sense of irritating, I carefully pulled the broken pick out and saw that a part of it had been left in the lock. I pulled that out as well and grabbed my spare pick.

Snap.

Snap.

Snap.

I growled softly, removing the pick and broken part out for the fourth time. Hisako trying to hold back a soft laugh and Kakashi looked at me oddly.

"You need some help, Daisuke?" Kakashi asked with an odd inflection in his voice.

"No I think I have it, Sensei," I replied, digging out another pick. Stupid 23 Pick Lock. I managed to knock all the tumblers into their correct place and finally opened the lock. I snarled out, "Finally."

The drawer actually contained records from this year. Well, the beginning of this year. Shipments actually went up as the Chunin exams were held this year and dropped off too normal again.

Interesting.

I wonder if Kakashi's going to ask us to take the Chunin exams when they come around…

Nothing interesting.

"I don't think there's anything here," Hisako said, closing the second drawer.

"Same," I replied, closing the first and opening the second.

"Most likely anything illegal is locked in the safe or some hidden compartment," Kakashi sighed, closing his bottom drawer. "Nichiren, how's the safe?"

"One more second," Nichiren said, tongue stuck out the side of his mouth as he fiddled with the picks. "It's open."

He's good at that. I'm surprised that the safe doesn't use a dial lock, but…eh. I guess we're lucky.

Inside, there was a lot of Ryo. Kakashi-sensei grabbed it and set it aside. No one grabbed it, as this shipping company was a fairly loyal customer to Konoha, and even I knew better than to aggravate our customers unnecessarily. Inside were some precious metals, some keys that hung from the inside of the door, but no documents of any kind.

Kakashi cupped his chin. "Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?"

Perception Check Success: 8/4.

"The safe has a false bottom," Hisako replied, pointing to the safe.

She was right. The bottom panel didn't even hug the walls of the safe correctly. It wasn't a problem when it was full of Ryo and everyone inside focused on that, but now it was painfully obvious.

"That's right Hisako," Kakashi eye-smiled, removing the false bottom, revealing a small stack of documents. "Very good."

After a few moments of reading the contents, Kakashi actually revealed his Sharingan-eye. Photo-graphic memory would be pretty useful in this case, so it makes sense. Mundane Utility, thy name is Hatake Kakashi. "Ah, it appears the manager of this warehouse feels he's underpaid. He's collected several items of potential black-mail on his employers."

"Like what?" I asked with interest.

"Here take a look," Kakashi passed the first sheet to me. "Be sure to share."

They can spend all this money moving bits of sharp metal but can't even pay their loyal employees? There was an angry-looking not written in the margins. The actual contents of the sheet detailed a series of swords and specialized kunai that were clearly illegal to ship, heading toward Earth country for some unspeakable reason. They'll regret this unforgivable offense.

Man, this guy felt really strongly about being cut out. I passed the sheet to Hisako, who was closest to me.

"Here we go," Kakashi said grimly. "Apparently a special-order box was moved through this warehouse yesterday. It just showed up on a wagon then left on a wagon with no markings. It was sent too…Takayama. That's the other stop we need to make before we transfer the wagon to Kusa."

Quest Updated: The Organ Trail

Completed: Search for Clues.

Meet Arai at the Warehouse at 6am.

"So we just need to get over there and find the package?" Hisako frowned.

"That's what it's sounding like," Kakashi nodded, carefully putting everything back where he found it.

"So…Daisuke," Nichiren started. "Are you getting anything?"

"Nichiren," Hisako growled.

"I think we're done here," I groused, folding my arms. "But it's not like I get every detail of a mission, okay?"

"Right, sorry," Nichiren said. "I…just don't want anyone to almost die again."

"…yeah that makes sense," I sighed. "Can we talk about this back at the apartment?"

"That would be best," Kakashi said, looking carefully up at the window from his crouch. "Okay…go. Back the way we came, the doors clear."

We moved fast, leaving the office and heading back the way we came. I made sure to avoid any rogue beams of light and we made it back to our apartment.

I was the last one inside, so I shut the window. "It's not like I get a vision that tells me all of the important bits. At most I just get a sentence whenever I start a mission or more rarely, when I need to do something important."

"A sentence," Nichiren repeated with a blink. "You get a sentence."

"Yup," I nodded.

"What kind of sentence?" He asked.

"Well, when I started this mission, I got the sentence 'The Organ Trail' and a sentence that told me to meet you guys at 6am," I replied with a shrug. "Not that helpful."

"The Organ Trail," Hisako repeated with a raised eyebrow. "What's that, a name?"

"…yeah kinda," I replied quietly.

"Are all our missions named like that?" Nichiren asked.

"Not really," I said. They looked at me expectantly and I continued. "Most of our missions are called D-Rank: Pulling Weeds or something similar."

"So when they have a unique name," Kakashi began, his lone eye puzzling out what I just told him. "That's when you know something's going to go wrong?"

"Basically," I nodded. "I know it's bizarre."

"What was the house incidents name?" Hisako asked with a tilted head.

"Upon a Midnight Darkly," I answered.

"That's ominous," Kakashi said.

"It was in the middle of the day," Nichiren argued, scrunching his eyes together. "What, was your bloodline trying to scare you off?"

"Maybe," Was my response. "I don't know. We handled it, though."

"You handled it," Hisako groused.

"It was mostly Sensei," I shot back, feeling just a little defensive.

"Let's not do this now," Kakashi interrupted. "We handled it, we got paid, it's in the past. Got it?"

"Yes Sensei," We said at the same time.

"But Daisuke, if I may ask," Kakashi began. "About something the Hokage said…"

After a few seconds, I realized he was waiting on me. Odd. "Go ahead."

"The Hokage said they figured that you get better in bursts as opposed to gradually," Kakashi continued. "Do these named missions have anything to do with that?"

"All my missions do," I said with a shrug. "It's like they feed into this bubble of experience and when it's full, I get all of the benefits at that time in a spike. It fills up from missions of all kinds as well as important events."

"Important events," Hisako repeated. "Like graduating from the academy?"

"Yup," I nodded.

"Oh," She blinked. She looked down and smacked her lips together. "Well. That makes sense, then."

"How much does training help fill this bubble?" Kakashi asked.

"It doesn't," I replied.

"Training doesn't help," Kakashi repeated, his eye doing that boggling thing again.

"Not even a little bit," I said with a frown. "I wasted so much time in the academy."

"But completing missions does," Kakashi said.

"Yup," I nodded.

"Do these power spikes give you power depending on what you were doing?" Kakashi asked.

"No, I actually get to choose what gets better," I shrugged. "I could invent ten Ninjutsu, but it's my survival skills that get better, for example."

The room was quiet, each of them looking at me with various expressions of confusion and befuddlement on their faces.

"I said it was weird," I said defensively.

"You did," Nichiren nodded. "And you were right."

"Is that why you have perfect chakra control?" Kakashi asked.

"I rose it to perfect before I left the academy," I replied. Then I frowned as I realized something. "I wasn't lying about getting the tree-walking jutsu on my first day of the academy, in case you were wondering. My control was already good enough."

"No, I believed you," Kakashi replied. "Is your Taijutsu 'perfect' as well?"

I shook my head. "No, but I could make it that way in one more power spike. I just have plans that need me to raise my other skills, first."

"Perfect Taijutsu in one more power spike," Kakashi said, pulling out his book. "That's…something."

I wonder if he noticed my eye twitching at the sight of that book.

"Do you keep track of this at all?" Nichiren asked.

"Yeah in my black book," I answered, pulling out said book. "I still don't feel comfortable sharing all of its contents with you guys though. Sorry."

"That's okay," Hisako said, sounding a little…like tearing up. "I…"

"So Daisuke…I think everyone wants to know," Kakashi interrupted. "I think everyone wants to know."

"My social skills?" I asked with resignation.

"It's not that big of a deal," Nichiren rushed.

"Seriously, we're kind of used to it," Hisako sniffed.

"I just wanted to know if they'll get better," Kakashi shrugged. "You said training doesn't help you, does that include your social skills?"

"Afraid so," I nodded. "My skills and abilities are completely static except for the power spikes. But I do have a plan for my social skills. It's just going to take a while."

"You don't really need to do that," Hisako frowned.

"Yes I do," I emphatically disagreed with her. "I absolutely need to do that."

"I'm assuming that we'll know," Kakashi nodded.

"If you miss it, I'll wonder if your brains leaked out of your ears," I nodded.

Kakashi blinked. "Alright. Get some rest everyone, we've got six and a half hours to sleep before we need to meet our Client…by the way, do you know if Arai is involved in any of this?"

"I've got no idea," I shrugged. "Sorry."

"Alright then," Kakashi nodded. "Good night, everyone."

I went to my room and…well, I didn't need to go to sleep. I stayed up. Thinking.

Was telling them all of that the wisest decision? It might have been. I mean, the Hokage's more or less cracked my bloodline and I haven't been dragged off to T&I like so many fanfics said would happen. He even called me a good person which I don't know how true that is.

…wait, that entire convo was like driving a lawn mower over my rule with dealing with Hisako.

Stupid ME.

What was I thinking? Was I even thinking? I guess not! I can't afford to do that no thinking thing! It could get people killed! It could get me killed!

Great, now I've pissed her off again.

Wait…were Kakashi and Hisako were talking in the room next to mine.

I leaned my ear against the wall and…

Perception Check Success: 8/7.

"…how do I even keep up with that?" Hisako asked, sounding distressed. "How do I keep up with someone who could have perfect Taijutsu in less than a week from now?"

"Well…" Kakashi started, seeming unsure of something. "You can't. I'm sorry, I know it hurts, but it's the simple truth."

"Thanks Sensei," Hisako groused.

"I'm afraid that's just what it is," Kakashi replied. "It would've been the same if you were in a team with a Hyuuga or an Uchiha."

"Did you see what he did to the rookie of the year? Who was a Hyuuga?" Hisako asked desperately. "It wouldn't be like that."

"It might be less than it is," Kakashi allowed. "But you still would be on a team with a member who more or less gets to cheat at a certain area of skill."

Ain't that the truth, Sharingan Kakashi.

"Then what do I do?" Hisako asked. "I feel utterly useless besides him."

"You're not useless," Kakashi admonished. "You and Nichiren displayed great aptitude at picking those locks and didn't break a single pick. Daisuke broke four."

"…that's true," Hisako sniffed.

"You've got a more consistent skill base over Daisuke's bizarre gaps…which are making more and more sense the more I think about it," Kakashi replied. "You also were the only one who saw through the Genjutsu back at the bell test."

"But he's the only one who broke free of the house," Hisako argued.

"Okay bad example," Kakashi replied. "But Hisako-chan, the only thing I can really say is that you should pursue your strengths. You're already pretty good at Taijutsu, you can identify Genjutsu and you've got excellent chakra control. You managed to get water-walking in a day. That's impressive."

"But Daisuke-"

"Stop worrying about Daisuke," Kakashi interrupted. "You can't do a thing about how powerful Daisuke is, so don't worry about it. Worry about how you are going to become stronger. Alright, Hisako-chan?"

"Yes Kakashi-sensei," Hisako replied. After a few seconds, she continued. "…do you…do you think I'd have talent in Genjutsu?"

"Actually yes," Kakashi sounded surprised. "I think we can explore that after the mission."

"Thank you Sensei," Hisako-sniffed.

"Also, I think maybe I'd better train you more in bukijutsu," Kakashi said. "You seem to train a lot more with a pair of kunai in your hand than regular Taijutsu."

"It's my specialty," Hisako admitted. "It feels better than normal Taijutsu for me."

Kakashi hummed. "Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Goodnight, Hisako-chan."

"Goodnight Kakashi-sensei," Hisako said.

I heard the door close and Kakashi walk out.

I jumped on my bed with a huff.

A Bukijutsu/Genjutsu hybrid, huh? That's an interesting idea. Then you add the poisons she wants to coat her weapons in and…we've got a very interesting shinobi on our hands. Then we have Nichiren, who wants to be a medic-nin and…we have her poison people and he works on healing them.

But who would be crazy enough to volunteer? Someone who injuries don't mean much to, is sturdy enough to shrug off things like poisons or at very least doesn't care if he loses a limb to keep it from spreading and is possibly smart enough to help them both understand what they're doing.

Oh no.