CH_5.12 (155)

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"Biding a chunin in a genjutsu. You have come far," said Mikoto, smiling. "I remember the last time you couldn't exclude others from getting trapped by the genjutsu. Isn't it good that we worked on that?"

"The genjutsu would've been useless if I caught my teammates in the genjutsu." Takuma sipped on the tea he had gotten so used to drinking for the past several months. He didn't like tea. At first, he couldn't refuse because he didn't want to offend Mikoto, but by the time he got comfortable enough, he had developed a taste for it.

Takuma sighed. "But, in that fight, I didn't feel like I had enough range. I know you said to train with the five I have, but I really need a couple more genjutsu of the visual, audible, and olfactory jutsu. Flower Hill is a momentary trap, and Mist Servant is better for crowd control than going against a stronger opponent."

"Are you saying you don't consider those two jutsu useful?" she asked.

"I didn't say that. They have different uses, which I just mentioned. But I felt like I needed more options…. That guy bull-dozed anything I threw at him. Sure, I was chipping away at him, but he was doing the same, and he had much more wood to chip away than me. The genjutsu gave me the key to put him down, and I need more jackpot keys like that."

Ever since he had started training under Mikoto, she had restricted him to the five genjutsu he knew. For the past nine months, he only trained those five genjutsu and nothing else. Between theory lessons and having deep discussions about the philosophy behind genjutsu, Mikoto had made sure Takuma could cast the five genjutsu in his sleep.

"I can't stop you if you want to learn more, but I believe it's time to move to the next stage," she said.

"Next stage?"

"You like Haze, right?"

Takuma nodded. Genjutsu: Haze was a tactile (touch-based) genjutsu that worked through contact. He couldn't use it because of the restrictions around a touch-based genjutsu during a battle, but he found the distorted vision caused by the genjutsu just so useful. He wished Haze had been a visual or auditory jutsu.

"It's time for you to learn how to change the connection component."

Takuma perked up, sitting up straighter. The connection component was the sense target to plant the genjutsu. Bell Clone Jutsu was an auditory jutsu, meaning it used sound to cast the genjutsu— but the connection component could be changed.

"You should change Haze's connection component from touch to vision," said Mikoto.

They had talked about the topic several times. Takuma knew they would be doing it somewhere along the line, but he didn't think it would come soon.

"Shouldn't I first learn a few C-rank genjutsu?" he asked.

Mikoto sighed. "I can't stop you, but as we discussed, pre-made genjutsu are crutches. You have to create your own and to do that, you need to understand the components. These five genjutsu are a good sample set. Experiment with them, and see what you can make from them before deciding if you want more practice material." She smiled. "I'm here to help you start your genjutsu journey. I'll be there to help you along every step until you're ready to spread your wings and take flight."

Takuma clenched his fist as his breath hitched for a moment.

'Don't… you know how it would end.'

He looked up at the woman before him. She was the only other person after Maruboshi to have taught him as a teacher. A few more months more, and she would have taught him as long as Maruboshi had done. She even knew his secret like Maruboshi.

But she wasn't as close to him as Maruboshi was… he hadn't let that happen.

"Thank you, ma'am… for everything."

———

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A figure sat atop the colossal sculpture of the Fourth Hokage's face carved into the Hokage Rock. The mountain's shadow hid him from view as he gazed upon the Hidden Leaf village. One red eye stared from behind the one-eyed orange mask with black stripes. The mask was framed by long black hair that reached the mid-back.

Uchiha Obito, or was it Uchiha Madara now… stared at the village that was once his home. The village was peaceful. The people went on enjoying their lives. Even when she was no longer in the world, they continued to live on as though nothing had changed. He looked around the village. Anywhere he looked, a memory or two would surface. Happy memories… or at least, they were once happy. Now, everything seemed washed with an unfeeling grey. No matter where he looked, a sickening feeling grew in his heart.

He placed his hand on his heart. It had been a while since he had felt anything; even though it wasn't pleasant, he was glad he felt anything. His feelings were a reminder of his goal.

To rid the world of the ugly.

To achieve absolute peace.

"Are you sure it was wise to join hands with Shimura Danzo?"

He glanced to the side to see a black head of Zetsu poking out of the mountain stone. The strange creature was his closest ally and had been with him since the day he had been "reborn." He was among the only few who knew the complete secret of the Eye of the Moon Plan.

"Perhaps it was not," he sighed.

He had wished to exact some revenge on the Hidden Leaf and thought approaching Danzo would be the way to go. He had heard much about the old fossil's reputation and knew about his desire to become the Hokage. And he also knew that Danzo was the opposite of everything the Hidden Leaf's Will of Fire stood for— and placing Danzo as the Hokage and seeing him twist it into his image would be a perfect revenge. It wasn't as straightforward as having the entire village and its people crushed to the core, but he thought it was enough.

But who knew that despite Danzo's reputation, the old man would possess a twisted sense of protection towards the village. He wanted the Hidden Leaf village to remain the strongest, and anything that threatened that, Danzo would go to great lengths to eliminate it.

"He wouldn't allow us to destroy the village. After all, what kind of king would want to rule over a broken kingdom."

Obito had no desire to go against Danzo at the current point. The Akatsuki was currently busy with working missions to amass funds, plant spies, and ensure the members were happy so they would continue to remain in the group— not all were like Kisame, who truly understood the importance of their mission.

"You should have given Orochimaru's words more thought," said Zetsu.

Orochimaru had warned him against Danzo. The Snake Sannin had told them that if Akatsuki was to engage with Danzo in dealings, they needed to be very careful because if they gave Danzo any chance, he would backstab them if it benefited him in any way.

"At least we have him as an ally for now," said Obito.

Danzo had hired the Akatsuki for some matter involved with the current proxy war between the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Storm. It wasn't as big as Onoki had them do for the Hidden Stone, but Danzo was a new customer, and it was normal for him to be cautious.

However, Obito had no desire to help the Hidden Leaf. Akatsuki would complete Danzo's request and increase his political influence based on his war achievements, but they would also make sure the Hidden Leaf suffered deeply in this war— deep enough that it would hurt, and they would have to work for years to right.

Obito looked down at the village and suddenly spotted a child with bright-yellow hair running in the streets with a shinobi on his tail.

Uzumaki Naruto…. His sensei's beloved child.

If it were in the past, he would've felt something, but now, as he watched the child, he felt nothing in his heart.

"It's not your time yet."

His whispered words flew with the wind.

———

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In a plain room with chairs (with built-in desks) a group of four young early teens sat facing a cork board with an adult man addressing him. All the people in the room had emotionless faces.

"This is the target for your mission." The man used a telescopic teacher's pointer to point at an image. "The target's name is Takuma. The target is a genin of the Hidden Leaf, and currently serves as a Senior Officer in the Leaf Military Police Force. He is in charge of the Narcotics Task Force. Your mission is to assassinate him. The dossiers in front of you have some basic information about him, but as part of this mission, you will be required to collect intel on your target and use it to complete the mission as efficiently as possible."

One of the teens raised their hands up. "Why is the target being assassinated?"

The man stared at the young teen for a moment. The children here hadn't been through their final initiation yet and had yet to be turned into perfect soldiers. And the one who asked the question was the youngest and apparently needed some more guidance. He made a mental note to communicate it to the master instructor.

"The target moonlights as a prizefighter and has built connections with the Hidden Leaf underworld. Our intel tells us that he has been taking bribes and is a deeply corrupt officer. He has let several groups operate without fear from the Police Force and is illegitimately profiting from it. The foundation has decided it has become imperative to remove him and set things right."

It was all false as the target had been culling drug groups inside the Hidden Leaf at an unprecedented rate. But it was bound to cause problems to the foundation sooner or later. It was better to remove the head and let someone less effective take the position. Until the trainees stopped asking unnecessary questions and completed their training, painting a negative narrative was an effective method to have them cooperate.

"Understood," said the young teen trainee.

The man nodded. "The target is proficient in genjutsu, utilizes Earth and Water Release ninjutsu, and is a genjutsu user. His experience as a prizefighter has earned him extensive experience in unarmored combat; expect him to have great close-combat defense. The combat recommendation against the target is to always work in duos to minimize the danger against genjutsu.

"Do not underestimate the target. He has actual on-field combat, and once traversed through an enemy state on his own after a mission with injuries, giving him some survival ability."

He didn't think the four trainees were ready to be on active duty as ROOT operatives, but taking a single genin was well under their ability. If there was one thing he could think as a point of difficulty was the location.

"The target is situated in the Hidden Leaf, which means based on where you decide to assassinate him, you risk external interference from other shinobi. Take that into consideration while drafting your plan and more importantly, your exit strategy. You can't leave any evidence behind."

The man gazed at the four trainees. Within a year, only two of them will survive. And the two who would survive would need to kill the other two to become true operatives. He wondered which two of the four would move onto to the final stage of their training.

A memory of a boy flashed through his eyes, but it faded away as soon as it came up. The memory once felt like he had been stabbed in the heart with a thousand needles, but now, it just elicited a dull feeling.

He had done so and so will these boys.

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