SGM - Chapter 4

DING.

The tall, broad-shouldered baldie behind the front desk looked up at my entrance, brown eyes scanning me up and down before I could take more than a few steps inside. “ … Hmph. Welcome to the Higurashi Weapon Shop, new blood. Guessing you’re looking for the Genin Special?”

I paused mid-step, glancing down at my new outfit with the slightest bit of self-consciousness. I didn’t think I looked particularly new-blood in my new gear; an armored mesh long-sleeve protected my lean, athletic upper body, draped over by a black, high-collared jacket unzipped down to my collarbone. Tapered, dark navy pants were strapped snugly at my ankle by white bandages, tight enough to keep debris from falling into my new black sandals, while the same white bandages kept my brand new kunai, shuriken, and hip pouches secured firmly to my legs and waist. 

All in all, for the small chunk amount of ryo it had all cost, I considered my new attire much more ‘professional’ than my last. Hell, I even had armor now. Nothing more than lightweight chain mesh, maybe, but it made no noise at all due to Stealth Mode. I felt like a well-oiled grinding machine, ready and eager to forge my story.

But clearly I had a ways to go before the green was purged from my face.

“Genin Special?” I asked curiously, sidestepping the harmless ‘new blood’ comment without a shift in my stoic expression.

Higurashi-san studied me for a moment longer, bushy brown eyebrows scrunching inquisitively, before something in my even stare seemed to pass muster. He grunted, pushing himself off of the wooden countertop. “You heard me right. A standard fare of your quintessential shinobi kit: two hundred and fifty razor sharp kunai and shuriken, a bag of sixty-four smoke pellets, a box of thirty explosive tags, a fifty foot spool of ninja wire, and ten sealing scrolls - all bundled together for sixty thousand ryo.”

Sixty thousand ryo-

It wasn’t a tiny sum, one that sounded a bit too much for what was offered, but neither was I completely hurting for cash. In total, I had a little bit under a hundred thousand ryo stashed away beneath a wooden floorboard in my bedroom, booby trapped with ninja wire and carefully placed shuriken - some of my last few good ones, at that. My outfit only cost me around three thousand ryo in total, and if I took into account grocery budgeting, rent, camping supplies, and other necessities…

I’d still have a nice little nest egg left over; one that would be heavily supplemented by this mission reward.

That was what one partition of my brain was focused on.

At the same time, my main attention had never drifted from the shopkeeper. I had no problem with paying the full amount, but life as a street urchin had taught me the upsides to pinching ryo. A little haggling was never a bad thing.

“Are the kunai tri-pronged and ready to help me single-handedly conquer Iwagakure? Sixty thousand ryo is extremely steep, Higurashi-san,” I made my way closer to the front counter, eyeing the racks and displays of steel and iron, even as my brain worked to come out on top in this minor transaction. “Forty thousand, and I’ll sell you my current repertoire of ninja tools. A little cleaning and sharpening and they can be sold at market value.”

Probably not, but you never started off a trade by going easy or fair.

As expected, Higurashi-san snorted derisively. “You’re crazy. The salvage my daughter brings in every week from her training field is all the second-hand shit I need. But you’re also funny, kid - that school of yours must be teaching you more than fancy chakra tricks, eh?”

He paused, large, calloused fingers tapping loudly on the wooden countertop. “Fifty five thousand ryo. For making me laugh.”

That was a laugh? This old man was made from the steel he sold.

I found myself smirking, if slightly.

“Fifty thousand, and I’ll tell you the greatest knock-knock joke you’ll ever hear. It’ll blow your socks off.”

“Fifty three point five, and I won’t kick you out for trying to lowball a master negotiator. It’ll keep you stocked with quality equipment.

He was grinning now, too - nothing more than a baring of white teeth that could have just as easily been a snarl, but the tense energy in the atmosphere was dwindling down, shifting into something slightly more casual. I knew when I was beat, and there was no way I could get one over on an experienced blacksmith multiple times my age, so I just shrugged and pulled off my multitude of pouches.

“Touché, master negotiator-san. We have a deal.”

Higurashi watched with barely concealed bemusement as I emptied my pouches onto his front counter, leaving behind spots of corroded brown rust and flakes of pitted metal. My supply hadn’t run out since I’d never actually gone on real missions or trained before this past week, but neither had I possessed high quality equipment in the first place. A few dozen shuriken, kunai, a couple explosive tags that were most likely inert from mis-use…

“This wouldn’t have covered my tab at the bar, brat,” he snorted, turning around and grabbing a huge wooden barrel filled with all sorts of random metal tools.

I smiled, only a bit sheepishly. “You can’t blame me for trying.”

“Aye, judging by the state of this kit I probably would’ve done the same.” Unconcernedly, as if he was just cleaning his counter, Higurashi swept my dilapidated weapons into the barrel with his bare, muscled forearm, shaking the container slightly to get it all in before setting it aside. “Will that be all? If you’re gearing up for a C-rank, then I’d honestly recommend…-“

One half of my brain paid attention to the shopkeeper as he began to prattle on about camping supplies, but my eyes had already been drawn to something else in the store. I wandered towards a display of what, from a distance, looked like scrolls - but, as I got closer, I saw were actually tan, segmented lengths of some sort or canvas-like material. The kanji for ‘zero’ was scribbled over each protruding segment, along with much smaller script written around it that I did not recognize at a quick glance.

More importantly, though, I did recognize these strange objects as a whole.

They were weights. More specifically, they were the same kind of weights that Rock Lee used. 

For a moment, in my mind’s eye, I saw that awe-inspiring scene once again; a bowl cut-wearing boy standing before a stadium full of doubtful onlookers, a black sheep and concurrent underdog shining beneath the judgmental stares of the world. He would drop the weights from his legs, letting them fall to the ground and shake the entire arena with their pure weight, before moving so fast to attack his opponent that even Jonin were shocked by his speed.

My lips felt dry, and I wettened them with my tongue. A heavy wave of need flowed through my core.

If Rock Lee became such a monster from weight training, what’s stopping me from surpassing even that?

“Thirty thousand ryo, and the price is non-negotiable,” Higurashi-san suddenly declared, a mere foot behind me. “These were specifically commissioned by a Chunin a couple months back. Said he was ‘inspired’ by one of my daughter’s teammates. Poor bastard ended up in some trouble, though - had to pay off a lot of debt. Couldn’t pay me for the weights.”

My daughter’s teammates.

Was the village so small that I’ve potentially come across the life of yet another important character? First it was Team 8, back when I first met Mina, and now this bald-headed brute with ridiculous prices was Tenten’s father? 

Of course, I didn’t let my familiarity show. “Why are they so expensive?”

He brushed past me, yanking the two scroll-like weights from the stand they were attached to. With a proud twitch of his lips, the bald tapped one of the segments. “Weighting Seals, kid. I know my way around Fuinjutsu; nothing crazy, mind you, but my work is decent enough. See these seals here? You channel chakra into them, and each segment grows in weight. The more chakra you put in, the heavier they get.”

Higurashi-san, who I was beginning to suspect was not just a simple civilian shopkeeper, held his finger against the seal. The tip of it glowed a dim blue, weak but consistent, and the 0 shifted into a 1, and then a 2, until, a few seconds later, a 15 was proudly on display. Without warning he tossed it towards me, and with only a moment to act, I yanked the weight out of the air.

I immediately felt the weight. Fifteen pounds was nothing to a trained shinobi, even a ‘failure’ like me, but the difference between it and the weight of thin air was exceedingly obvious. I adjusted my grip on the weight, letting it fall against my forearm as I examined it in closer detail. There were four segments in total on the one that I held, meaning four different weight points, and with two weights, that made eight totalS

“What are the limits?”

He scratched his bearded cheek. “Honestly, a big part of its price point comes from the material more than the sealing formula. The weights are tough enough to hold a total of five thousand pounds each - they’re made for it, after all - but…” The man shook his head, a wry smirk on his face. “That Chunin had his head so far up in the clouds, he couldn’t see the ground anymore. You’d have to be a different kind of monster to hit that max.”

A different kind of monster?

I hummed noncommittally, tracing my fingers over the seals. “I’ll take these two.”

“… Hmph. I figured. You sur-“

“And I’d like to commission two more, for my arms. I’ll be back from my C-rank mission in two weeks’ time, at the most. Think they can be done by then?”

Higurashi’s eyes widened, but instead of looking thrown off or shocked by my blunt demands, he seemed more amused than anything. “Sure, kid. Sure. But do you have the ryo?”

…

It was my turn to smile.

Shameless Mode, activate!

“Funny story, that. See, this mission’s cash reward by itself would be enough-“

It took me all of fifteen minutes to convince him.

___________________________

Legs strapped with my brand new weights, and my pouches freshly chocked full of dangerous, razor sharp new kit, I stood before Daiki - the baldie’s actual name, apparently - with a small, grateful smile on my face. For all of his grumpiness and ‘brat’ this, and ‘brat’ that, the big guy was actually decent company. Unmistakably a worrywart, too; he was in the middle of giving me advice about ‘living off the land’, recounting tales from back when he, himself, was a Genin Corpsman counting down the days of his contract.

I suppose that was why I felt a kindred spirit within him. Underdogs just knew.

Fortunately, I was saved precious minutes of my dwindling free time by the sound of a distant door opening and slamming shut, and the sound of puttering footsteps sprinting down stairs before-

“Crap, I’m going to be laaate!”

Turning the corner at high speeds, practically sliding across the smooth wooden floor, was a pretty young woman with fair skin, dark brown eyes that looked identical to Daiki’s, and silky, light brown hair pulled up into two neat, orderly buns. I could tell from just a slight glance that she was fit, with nicely shaped thighs that looked as if they could snap a man’s neck with ease. Nice, supple breasts, soft and pliable pink lips…-

Belatedly, I realized that I was staring.

And so did a glaring Daiki. The man had formidable Killing Intent, as useless as it was against me.

“… Oh. I didn’t know we had a customer,” Tenten floundered, sliding to an abrupt halt. Her eyes flitted between me and her father, a furrow to her brow that hinted at an overthinking brain. “Huh, I don’t recognize you. What’s your name?”

I smiled wryly. Like father, like daughter - straight to the point.

Daiki scoffed, leaning his weight against the counter. “Don’t worry about him, Tenten. He’s just some broke punk that owes me money now, so he should probably see about getting to his mission.” 

“Oi. Weren’t you the one blabbering about the importance of genital hygiene behind enemy li-“

I tilted my head, barely dodging the hastily thrown pencil. Instead of gracing the attack with a response, I took a step towards the bemused looking brunette, inclining my head and offering my hand to shake. “Anyways, my name is Ryoto Igarashi. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She wasn’t necessarily short, but Tenten had to actively look up in order to meet my even gaze. A bevy of emotions flitted across her face, easier for me to read than the Sandaime’s - curiosity, interest, appreciation… She was only a girl, after all, perhaps around my age, and James Beckham saw fit to make me exceedingly good-looking. Was it narcissistic of me to say that I felt pleased when her eyes flickered down to my lips?

No?

Because it did make me smile, if only a little.

“… Heh. My name’s Tenten. Tenten Higurashi.” She shook my hand, then, her grip surprisingly strong for a pretty girl with such a sweet voice. “It’s nice to meet you, Ryoto. Now tell me; how did my greedy cheapskate of a dad force yet another new customer into ‘debt’ this time? Was it one of his specials? Or maybe he conned you into taking some ‘priceless’ hunk of junk?”

Behind me, Daiki made a sulky, disgruntled sound. “My daughter has no faith in my integrity. I played a trick on that prissy Hyuga kid one time…-“

Tenten scoffed. “You made him think he was going to prison because he touched an old war fan, dad. You said it was valued at five million ryo!”

“Yeah, valued. I’m sure some crazy person out there would pay that much! It was only worth three thousand ryo. Ain’t my fault his noble clan doesn’t teach basic economics.”

I could only assume that they were talking about Neji Hyuga, a Branch member of the esteemed Hyuga Clan. Also a Grade A asshole, but considering he died from a tree branch in James Beckham’s timeline, I was willing to give him a fair chance. If I ever met him, that is.

But that was a maybe. Right here, right now, there was only Tenten Higurashi, and I found myself intrigued. I wanted to know more about this strong-willed girl.

“All things considered, Daiki-san has treated me fairly,” I smoothly ducked back into the conversation, offering the baldie a veiled smirk. “I’m leaving for my C-rank mission in a couple hours, and I wanted to re-up on ninja tools. Judging by your headband, you were on your way to meeting with your team…?”

I could practically see her eagerness bloom before me like a sunflower, although it was girded by a healthy amount of wry fondness. “Yeah, we usually meet up pretty early for morning training before taking on a mission. We’re actually taking on another C rank today as well; just a simple escort mission, but I’m excited to finally stretch my legs! Maybe show off my hard work a bit.” 

Tenten smirked, holding up an arm, forming a fist, and playfully smacking her bicep. Though lean, I could clearly see definition through the thin fabric of her qipao, of muscle well-earned. It was impressive.

And her passion was cute.

“What about you? Where’s your team going?”

“Temporary teammates - I’m a Corpsman. And it’s Border Patrol,” I commented simply, coolly, “Near the fringes of the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers. It’ll be my first time leaving the village.”

My small smile shifted, overtaken by an eager smirk of my own. “Stretching my legs is long overdue. ‘Boring’ or not, I’m excited too. I’ll wish you luck on your mission, Tenten, if you do the same for me.”

I could feel her gaze fall towards my lips again, a subtle pinkness spreading through her cheeks as I smiled. I didn’t do it often, never really had any reason to before this week, but maybe there was something to this whole ‘happiness’ thing if it was accompanied by gorgeous women such as Mina Akimichi and Tenten Higurashi. 

“R-right,” the brunette whispered, a moment too late - she caught herself staring, and her pink cheeks burned red. She cleared her throat, dutifully staring me straight in the eyes and ignoring the suspicious glare of her silent dad. “Good luck, Ryoto-kun. Border Patrol isn’t as bad as some people, like my jaded father, make it out to be. You can learn a surprising amount of knowledge from the Daimyo’s men. Some of them are very nice.”

Her eyes glanced past me, towards the grandfather clock beside the front desk, and a flick of annoyance passed over her face. “Crap, look at me playing veteran Genin - I’ve gotta go! Lee and Guy get all mopey if I’m not there fifteen minutes early for warmup. Knuckleheads.”

I tilted my head, glancing at the clock as well.

8:45 AM. I had time, but I could also feel the atmosphere’s shifting. The KI from Daiki had reached an all-time high.

Maybe I'd do my own warm-up before heading out to meet my temporary team. My weights were light, only 25 pounds on each leg at the moment, but it was still a slight difference. I needed to feel no change in my center of gravity for this mission.

“I’ll walk you to your Training Grounds, then. I still have an hour until I’m expected at the front gate,” I stated calmly, matter-of-factly, ignoring Daiki’s glare as I headed for the exit.

He’d get over it.

Tenten blinked, but wasted no time hurrying after me - tossing a quick ‘bye dad!’ over her shoulder. Her gaze was as sharp and beautiful as a thorny rose when she fell into step at my side, light brown eyes staring up the side of my face. “Wait a minute. You don’t think I’m some damsel needing escort, right? ‘Cause I train with the likes of Might Guy every day! I’m not some delicate flower.”

I turned my head as we stepped into the streets, meeting her fierce gaze head on. “You’re right; you seem strong. Skilled. I admit that my intentions were 100% selfish here, and it has nothing to do with how helpless or competent you are.”

She frowned inquisitively, and perhaps with a bit of suspicion. “And why is that?”

And there I was, smiling again. “I just wanted to take a walk with a beautiful girl before I go MIA for the next couple weeks.”

…

Slowly, her head turned back to the road in front of us. I didn’t need to be the most experienced with women - and trust me, I wasn’t - to see that my words had both surprised and delighted her. Which was good, because that was my intention. Tenten’s cheeks were this nice pinkish-crimson, her pretty brown eyes wide and genuinely in shock as she stared down and bit the corner of her lip.

“… Jeez,” she muttered, her voice nearly squeaking, “Y-you can’t just say things like that with such an earnest smile, idiot - I wasn’t ready. My face is burning right now.”

My smile widened. “I know. The color red suits you, Tenten.”

She looked away, eyes wide and horrified, covering her flushed face with both hands. “Stooop!” Her voice was muffled through the flesh of her palms.

I couldn’t help it; I laughed. Freely. I think it was the first time I’d laughed in a very, very long time.

“… But- thank you.”

“Mm.”

We fell into a companionable silence after that. It wasn’t a very awkward one, but Tenten had gone contemplative, and I wasn’t a very talkative person by nature - so neither of us felt the need to force anything. It was nice. I caught her sneaking glances at me as I walked, but it wasn’t like the suspicious glances the villagers gave me when they thought I wasn’t looking - these ones were appraising. Thoughtful. They sent this jolting feeling down my stomach and across my skin, but the feeling wasn’t bad, so I didn’t say that I noticed her staring.

Before long, we reached the forest near Training Ground 10. Tenten stopped me here, reaching out and tugging me back by my sleeve when I went to step through the last layer of underbrush.

“This should be far enough. If I walked in there with a cute boy, I would not hear the end of it. From any of them. Plus, Lee would challenge you to a spar, and I don’t think you should go into your first C-rank with bruises,” she said, smiling wryly up at me. Her face had become normal again, no longer shining pink, but the way she looked at me was a bit different. I couldn’t put my finger on it.

But what she said made complete sense. If Rock Lee challenged me, I was certain that I would not be able to refuse. The call of the Grind was not a silent one, and I was sure that I’d learn a lot from whatever ass-beating he subjected me to. My taijutsu was practically nonexistent right now, after all.

“Then I will see you when we’re both back in the village,” I replied coolly, nonplussed.

She nodded eagerly, suddenly a bit nervous. “Right. Speaking of - so, we’ll be back next week. We’re just going to the Tonika Village, which isn’t too far off from the border. I was wondering if, uh…”

The kunoichi paused, sighed, and smacked her slowly reddening cheeks with the palms of her hands. “C’mon, Tenten, you’re a badass!”

“That you are,” I chuckled.

She shot me a halfhearted glare.

“When we’re both back,” she tried again, her voice calmer, “would you like to train together? W-with me and my team, obviously. Since you’re in the Corps, I figured you don’t have many people to spar against or learn from, and, well ; Guy-sensei’s really nice. I just thought it would be nice to hang o-“

Somewhere in front of us, the leaves ruffled suspiciously. 

“YOSH! IS THAT TENTEN-CHAN I HEAR, SENSEI?!”

“AH, INDEED IT IS YOUNG LEE!”

Her eyes widened dramatically. “Crap.”

But I was already walking backwards, my gaze never straying from new bun-headed friend. “It’s a date, then.”

She froze. “W-what?”

“I HEARD HER VOICE AGAIN, GUY-SENSEI!”

“LEE! LET US FIND OUR WAYWARD WEAPON SPECIALIST!”

I stepped into the foliage. “See you soon, Tenten.”

Wide-eyed, flushed, but smiling, the brunette raised her hand to wave-

And the last thing I saw before disappearing into the surrounding forest were two green blurs, moving with an indecipherable speed, tearing out of the woodworks and grabbing Tenten by the shoulders. She screamed, they laughed, and I-

I got the fuck out of there.

Team Guy was a force of nature I’d weather in a couple weeks. For now, I had my own shit to worry about.

___________________________________

My body, I found, seemed to adjust relatively quickly to my new weights.

I wasn’t sure if it was because I was overestimating the weights, or underestimating my body. Perhaps a bit of both? By the time that I’d left Yakiniku Q with a sealing scroll full of free,  steaming hot BBQ, and by proxy a tearful Mina who’d practically smothered me between her massive breasts in goodbye, the 75 pounds I’d put on both of my legs was already feeling like air. That isn’t to say I didn’t feel the effects of the weight, of course - my legs were sore in a way that I’d never felt, and so were my hip muscles - but I could still move relatively unimpeded after a few minutes of jogging and jumping jacks.

Perhaps I wouldn’t feel the difference once I ventured into the 100 pound mark. For now, I would keep them as they were, and see how my body felt tomorrow. As eager as my new abilities made me, I’d always been a strategic person by my very nature. Though things had changed, I saw no reason to suddenly become a complete meathead.

With only ten minutes left on the clock, I made my way to the Northern village gates.

Even with Magnetic Presence turned off, I noticed that I still got plenty of side glances - and not only because of my Kumo descendancy. It was uncanny, the attention you received when others found you notably attractive; some women looked at me as if my mere touch would send them to heaven, while others looked at me as if I was a savage planning to tear apart their clothes and ravage them… and I was almost certain they’d like it.

On the other hand, the glares from men seemed even colder and untrusting than before. Jealousy, or an intrinsic possessiveness for their women? Perhaps a bit of both?

I gave both genders a wide berth, regardless.

A quarter of my brain was still thinking about this phenomenon when I finally made it to the gate, where two figures waited for me beside the check-in station. I observed them as I walked up, just as they observed me in turn-

The first thing I noticed was that it was a male and a female, and they seemed wildly different in both age and stature. The man was easily in his late twenties or early thirties, maybe even a little older, with a strong, square jaw, tan skin, a sloping nose, and a slightly receding blonde buzzcut that seemed stiff and unhealthy - most likely bleached. He had small, beady blue eyes that seemed moist, like a boar’s. Dressed in dark navy attire and a green flak vest, he watched me with a disgruntled scowl on his lips.

Beside him, her emotions significantly less easy to read, was a young woman closer to my age. 18 or 19, if I had to guess purely by physical appearance. She was shorter than Tenten was, maybe about 5’2”, with equally short black hair cut into a messy bob, dark, apathetic eyes, and a pale complexion that seemed almost sickly. She stood with her hands tucked into the pockets of her black, form-fitting pants, looking entirely unimpressed by the world at large.

I nodded to them once I was within speaking range. “Yo.”

“‘Yo’? Psh - you’re cuttin’ it awfully close, aintcha rookie?”

It was the man who spoke to me first. He squared his wide shoulders, nostrils flaring, looking every bit the posturing pig as he stared down his nose at me. I suppose it would’ve been intimidating for most newbie Genin, to have someone so obviously their elder throw his weight around like this, but I suppose I wasn’t ‘most’ Genin anymore.

It almost made me smile unbelievably at how quickly aggression made itself known. My fellow failures were not pleasant creatures.

However, I didn’t smile. Those were meant for the likes of pleasant creatures, such as Mina and Tenten.

Instead, I met his gaze evenly, even as I had to tilt my head up a little to do so. “I’m here now.” My eyes flitted between him and the lady lurking silently to the side. “My name is Ryoto Igarashi. I’m sure it doesn’t need to be said, but you’re the other two Corpsmen here for the C-rank, yeah?”

The blonde man’s nostrils flared like open lids of wooden barrels. He opened his mouth to speak, probably to say something stupid, but it was the girl who beat him to the punch. She frowned, her placid expression twisting into one of minor annoyance - like she was dealing with the buzzing of mosquitoes flying too close to her ears. 

“Kozumo, shut up.”

Her voice was surprisingly young and airy, with a hoarse edge that made it seem like she wasn’t very used to talking loudly. Despite her quiet, bland tone, ‘Kozumo’s’ mouth clamped shut. Now he was embarrassed and annoyed, pinning a beady eyed glare against the side of the woman’s head. If she noticed, she made no move to show it.

Satisfied by the silence, she looked up at me. Her eyes were like shards of shiny obsidian, sharp and flinty and cool, as she slid a hand out of her pocket and jabbed her thumb back towards her chest. “Yaeko Nara. The asshole old man beside me is Kozumo Aikawa.”

“Not an asshole. Or old…” 

My nose twitched. That smelled like a lie.

Still, somehow watching Kozumo be bullied into subservience by this little lady made his passive aggressiveness more bearable. The tension seemed lessened, at the very least.

“It’s nice to meet the two of you, then. Let’s work well together.” I nodded my head in both acknowledgement and gratitude, thankful that my first ever cooperative mission wouldn’t be starting with some unnecessary feud between testosterone-filled ninja. I wasn’t usually the super aggressive type, but it was clear that Wrath still held some control over my actions despite Invictus’ ironclad willpower. 

It was better than being a pushover, for sure, but I had no interest in butting heads with every stubborn person I came across.

Yaeko stared at me for a moment longer, her stoic expression unshifting, before she nodded back. “We leave in five minutes.”

One sentence, and she was suddenly turning on her heel, hands stuffed back into the pockets of her slim pants as she walked away - heading straight for the gates. Kozumo and I both watched her slim back drift further and further away before, as if synchronized, our heads turned back towards each other, and the older man scowled.

The expression held significantly less heat than before.

“Don’t get it twisted, rookie - I’m older than you two brats, but I’m not that old damn it.” He rubbed the stubble on his cheeks, beady blue eyes narrowing at nothing in particular. “However, that girl… I’ve worked with her in several C-ranks already. Mostly bandit extermination, or shithouse gigs like this - Border Patrol, gate duty, whatever. She’s fucking terrifying. Follow her lead, and these two weeks’ll go by in a blink. Trust me on that.”

I found myself more surprised by the fact that he was openly talking to me without vitriol, than I was to hear about Yaeko’s supposed skill. Knowing what I knew about this world now, the idea that there were talented monsters everywhere, blending into plain sight, was as unsurprising as finding out that the sky was blue. 

Still- 

“... Who is she?”

Kozumo grunted, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “You can tell by the last name, but she’s a Nara. Wicked fuckin’ smart. From what she’s told me, she was a Chunin, looking to push up into becoming a Tokubetsu Jonin, when something went wrong on a B-rank mission and she ended up being demoted to the Genin Corps.”

He frowned again, this one more wistful than sad. “Must’ve been a hell of a mistake she made, to be knocked down into the shitter with us losers. She’s only been a part of our family for about half a year now. Doesn’t seem to mind it, at least.”

I hummed, watching the young woman pull a cigarette out of a ring on her finger. She palmed a lighter, seemingly materialized from nowhere, and lit the end of the tobacco stick with a flick of the thumb. “And you?”

The middle-aged man barked out a rough, unamused chuckle. “Don’t really matter none about me, eh? Something you should figure out fast, rookie - guys like you and I? We don’t matter. We clean the shit and pave the way for people like her-” He jabbed a thumb towards Yaeko, who’d closed her eyes, “To climb out of this hole and return to glory. Like a fucking phoenix or some shit. Put your nose to the grindstone, churn out these missions, and maybe you’ll come out the other side with a decent chunk of ryo and your head still attached to your shoulders.”

Bullshit.

It was fatalistic nonsense. Drivel spat out by a soul already broken by the system, stymied by decades of failure and plain ole’ bad luck. If I was not Ryoto Igarashi, I imagine that his words would have snuffed out my optimistic spirit. Made me doubt my future.

But I was Ryoto Igarashi, and it would be infinitely harder for me to fail than it would be for me to succeed.

“Sure,” I lied, offering him a small smile. A fake one, different from the ones I gave the people I cared for. “Then let’s do the best we can in this mission, and every one after it. Deal?”

He stared at me for a moment, his eyes wandering my face curiously. Confused for some reason. Maybe by my lack of reaction? Or the confidence I couldn’t necessarily contain? It was hard to be meek when there was irrefutable proof that you were special.

But then a grin split his lips, mystified but intrigued. “You’re a fuckin’ weird one, brat. But I don’t don’t like it.”

“So do you like it, or not?”

“Exactly!”

He laughed again, loud and obnoxious, and Yaeko opened her eyes to stare at us. It was about that time.

And, at exactly 10:00 AM, I took my first step outside of the Hidden Leaf Village for the first time in over ten years.