Red Riot - Chapter 25 - Red statement

Character list:

Matsu - The MC, a Kiri Chunin, with Uzumaki traits.

Himeko - Kaguya clanswoman with her Kekkei Genkai, Genin, and violence enthusiast

Sharkbait - Kenta Nogawa, Genin that trained with Matsu, skilled combatant, expert bait for sharks 

Shoto - Matsu’s stealth buddy. During the Academy he got so good he could sneak up on ANBU trainees and knock them out. Knows Rei isn’t dead.

Rei - Former graduate of Kiri Academy only for Matsu to fake kill her under Gengetsu’s order. Gengetsu (hopefully) doesn’t know she’s alive. She is training to be a Courtesan under the Madam at Matsu’s Okiya. 

Koremei Tendo - The current wielder of Shibuki. Weapons mistress with grounding in many styles. Preferred fighting style: Kenjutsu, Shurikenjutsu, and Taijutsu. She's a unit! Big girl!

Jonin Akiko - Matsu’s Sensei and exasperated mentor of other children, Matsu returned her beauty to her. She is getting over her PTSD.

Sayuki - Matsu’s second-in-command of the civilian graduates from his year at the Academy. She has her doubts about Matsu due to his “killing” of Rei but recognises him as a good leader.

Kitoma Kaguya - Former classmate from Matsu's graduating class. Always down to fight!

Gengetsu Hozuki - The Leader of Kirigakure. Sociopath, Psychopath, and all around dictator. Master of genjutsu. Illusion and reality sometimes blur with him around.

Tenpora - Matsu’s favourite instructor. Did a lot to help Matsu quietly become stronger. Didn’t harbour a grudge over Matsu’s “solution” to the Bloody Mist Graduation. 

_____________________

Fists flew and I shared a grin with my foe as Kitoma tried and failed to get through my Iron Body Jutsu. 

“This is just making me more fired up!” he roared as I evaded the bones that shot from his rib cage as a makeshift trap. 

I wove myself around them and backhanded him, empowering the blow as much as I could with my Ransōtengai. The chakra strings woven about my body were becoming great game-changers as I could flick the switch on a match merely for training benefits or to go for the kill with a stronger, faster strike. 

Kitoma buckled around a fist that I buried in his stomach only to grin at me through bloodied teeth. 

He’d become more resilient. It felt like I was fighting a monster that just would not go down.

I backed off and shifted my weight as a thought occurred to me. “I’ve got five methods of ending this match by killing you, you’re getting a bit too reliant on being able to outlast your foes,” I said.

“Says you,” he retorted, levelling a bone spear at my chest. 

I inclined my head, acknowledging the point. 

He wasn’t wrong after all. If I grew too used to being able to block any strike, when one did finally get through I’d be in a world of hurt. 

“Fair enough,” I said, dropping the jutsu and shifting my body. I shouldn’t rely on it in training beyond specifically trying to make it stronger. 

Evasion was always the best call against another shinobi as you never knew what tricks they’d possess. The Iron Body Jutsu, or Man of Steel upgrade I’d created, was a fallback, not something to be relied upon.

Not unless I ran into someone from the main series, and if that was the case I would be in a world of trouble. 

I didn’t want to think about what an unrestrained Orochimaru could do, nor a Hanzo the Salamander. Minato was another potential threat for me that I’d have to seriously consider. 

How would I fight such people?

If I wanted to become Mizukage, I couldn’t ignore that I needed to be able to stand equal to, or above shinobi like that. 

For now, I was stuck fighting at perhaps mid-chunin level properly without some of my aces.

Which wasn’t a terrible thing considering that my aces were the Gates, the Rasengan, and also some medical ninjutsu that made me extremely dangerous to handle in close range. 

I raised a hand and made the “come” gesture with a flick of my fingers. Seeing this, Kitoma roared and charged.

I flowed around his form, hand glowing green as I slashed at various tendons around Kitoma’s body.

He collapsed and I fell on him before he could do anything to compensate for his cut through Achilles tendons. 

I put a hand to his throat and another behind his spine. “My win,” I declared firmly. 

“Tch! You can use that as a fighting style?” he snarled.

I merely nodded, waiting for the fight to go out of him. He stayed quiet for a moment and I suspected that he was trying to form a bone armour to compensate but I knew that wasn’t going to be that easy. 

“Fuck!” he barked. “You win, this time,” he snarled. 

“Yeah, this time,” I said. 

I rolled him onto his back. “Need me to heal those up? They aren’t going to grow back naturally,” I explained.

I then made a snipping gesture with my fingers. “I made sure to cut all the way through.”

“Shouldn’t you be worried about your next fight?” Kitoma asked, looking to where the other two were watching with wide eyes. 

I shot them both scornful looks. “We both know they’re not actual threats to me,” I said. “I’ll fight them at the same time after I fix you up. It’ll be good practice,” I commented. 

That made Kitoma growl louder, though he still waved a hand at me. “You won so there’s not much I can do to stop you,” he said. 

“That’s the spirit!” I chirped back at him, before moving to heal him. “You were trying to form up a skeleton stopgap for that right?” I asked. 

He nodded. “I wasn’t expecting to have those tendons cut like that. You haven’t done that before.”

“You usually coat yourself in bone as an ablative armour, so it’s harder. This time you were trying for speed right?” I asked.

He grunted, nodding after a moment. 

I hummed in thought. “Maybe try and get faster with it on? It’s a pretty useful skill to have, bone armour. If you shape it right as well it could look pretty terrifying,” I commented. 

Kitoma eyed me. “You’re different…” he said slowly. 

I raised an eyebrow. “In what way?” I asked, wondering what he’d noticed about me. 

Maybe I’d fought him too many times and the adage of crossing blades was proving true with him getting proper insight into me?

Hmmm if that was true then Akiko would have… I considered my sensei and how she’d changed of late. Hmmm, maybe she had seen something that she believed in, or chose to put her faith in after all our spars. 

“You don’t treat the foes you fight as enemies that need to stay down… You also say things that will make me stronger… or are you just sneakier than those Hozuki that are always slinking around giving orders?” he said with narrowed eyes. 

I patted his leg and chuckled. “Maybe I’m just so sure of my strength that I know you’ll always be my minion?” I said, with a wide smile to let him know I was joking. 

When he merely glared I raised a hand. “That was a joke,” I said quickly to defuse the tension. “Honestly? You’re an amazing whetstone for me, and I like to think I’m the same for you. And for all the grouchiness and desire to fight, once the fight’s over? You’re not bad, you certainly don’t try and stab me in the back.”

A quiet consideration took hold in Kitoma’s eyes and I did a mental fist pump. I was killing my foes with kindness and in Kitoma’s case it looked to be working! 

That or the talk no jutsu was really the most overpowered thing in the universe.

I rubbed my chin, deciding to keep things moving. “Guess that makes us friends?” I said, alluding to the way most friendships normally work in Kiri. 

“Friends? That’s what you call this?” he said incredulously. 

I just nodded and healed up his Achilles before offering him a hand without any fear of him stabbing me for the offer. 

Kitoma eyed my hand before clasping it with a chuckle. “Well, you’re strong enough to claim that right,” he said. He stood and waved to his clansmen. “Let’s see you both try and take him, two-on-one!” he barked. 

That got them perking up and looking more confident. 

For my part I unsealed my bo staff, ready to test myself in something new. 

When I was done with them Kitoma had a smirk back on his lips while I had three broken bo staves. The broken weapons seemed to please the pair of Kaguya as despite their loss, they had a physical representation that they’d made me work for the victory.

I chose not to remind them that I once more had not been forced to activate the chakra gates, or the main chakra nodes as Mari had called them. 

With the fight done and my body feeling much more relaxed, I started heading for the training area usually occupied by the civilians part of my… team? Entourage? Faction?

Faction perhaps fit the best, we were small and not very strong, but we were looking out for each other. 

I made my way to the training area atop some old abandoned buildings and found only a handful of kids standing around talking. Sadly Shoto wasn’t here but others such as Sayuki, the girl I’d left in charge of the group when I’d left for the Land of Wind, was. 

Also of note was the trio of chakra signatures that I could detect while observing our group’s training. That was new and slightly worrying. I searched around, hiding out of sight to find who it was only to slowly ferret out that the three hidden observers were all ANBU.

Hmmmm interesting. ANBU, ostensibly from my understanding of it, only answered to the Mizukage. Gengetsu was keeping tabs on us?

That … might cause me some issues depending on how closely they were observing us.

If they found Rei… 

No, they obviously hadn’t or surely Gengetsu would have dragged me in and let me feel what it was like to experience some horrible torture with his illusions.

This was a risk… but it was also an opportunity.

I dropped onto the rooftop, making sure to let my landing cause a clack that announced my presence to the group who glanced over quickly. 

“Raging tide?” Sayuki challenged while her hand curled into a half-moon shape. 

I responded with my two middle fingers on both hands extended but held at my sides. “Calm ocean,” I replied.

Sayuki nodded, her eyes tight as she inspected me. “Back from your mission?” she asked. 

I nodded, approaching her while ignoring the tension in her and her friend’s bodies. 

It didn’t use to be this way. I used to be able to slip into conversation with them easily.

Then we’d gone through the graduation and I’d been forced to “kill” Rei in front of them. That, quite understandably, had made them a touch more careful around me. Thankfully, they accepted that I’d had no choice, but they still kept their guard up around me these days.

There wasn’t much I could do about it aside from getting close to them again, so I tried to put in the time.

“Yeah,” I said, scratching at the back of my head. “We ended up having to take on one of the Seven Swordsmen.”

That got a reaction from them. “Who?” said Sayuki.

“Hideo Munashi, a real piece of work. He had a mission in the Land of Vegetables like us, but his… didn’t end so well,” I commented. 

At a raised eyebrow I elaborated for them, telling them the fictional version of events. It was all too easy to lie to them, but much like Rei’s situation, the secret alliance between Sharkbait and me, as well as the murder of Hideo, was something we were going to take to the grave if we could. 

The kids listened, enraptured by my story and a few seemed interested that I’d healed up the new claimant for the Shibuki blade. Sayuki however had a thoughtful look. 

“That means there are going to be some openings for people wanting to become apprentices for the Shibuki blade, seeing as the previous crop is dead,” she said. 

I nodded slowly. “Koremei seems like a good wielder, very levelheaded, if a bit straightforward,” I replied. 

“Did you ask her what is… Who am I kidding you’re probably already her star apprentice,” Sayuki said with a shake of her head. 

I coughed. “Actually, Sharkbait and I had her teach us bojutsu, she’s rather proficient at multiple weapon styles.”

Sayuki and her friends all stared at me. 

The moment stretched out, making it clear just how unimpressed she was with me.

Then she sighed. “You had one of the Seven Swordsmen in close contact with you for a prolonged period of time. One that was more than happy to train with you and your team, one that you personally healed… and you didn’t ask to become her apprentice?”

I blinked as realisation set in for me. “Ohhhhh,” I muttered. That was probably what she was alluding to when she suggested owing me a favour. Had she been expecting me to ask her to take me under her wing?

I shrugged. “Eh, I don’t think wielding a sword is going to be in my future. Too much time dedicated to solely that, I have other skills I want to develop,” I said. 

The others all gaped at me. “You! You can’t just say that!” Sayuki spluttered. 

I shrugged again. “I did and I can, I’m just not interested.”

“B—but the prestige! Imagine how much power you’d get when you eventually wield the Shibuki blade!” 

I locked eyes with her. “That would entail that I plan to take up the blade from her, which means she’s going to have to die. I am not taking part in that as it is a frankly terrible setup,” I said. Honestly, it was easily worse than even the “Sith rule of two” situation. 

Sayuki stared at me. “Oh, that… makes a lot of sense,” she agreed, breaking eye contact with me with a blush. 

I nodded, only to consider her. “Would you be interested in being an apprentice with her?” I asked. 

Her head snapped back to me, “I don’t want to try my luck at taking this woman out!” she said quickly

I sighed and raised a hand. “I know we were just talking about it, but no, not because of that. There would be skills you can pick up from her that you couldn’t as a regular shinobi. There are also a lot of opportunities to learn more about the Seven Swordsmen organisation which, frankly, we know very little about.”

That got some thoughtful looks from the others and even a few slow nods. 

“Junta or Sanae maybe?” one boy said and I tilted my head, trying to recall which kid that was before I recalled the slightly blocky boy named Junta and the brown-haired girl with the unfortunate bowl haircut. 

I glanced around and noted neither was here right now. 

Another boy perked up. “Maybe we could offer it to Kizan and he’d rejoin us?” he said. 

Sayuki and I both shook our heads. “He’s proven too fair-weather as a friend,” I said to which Sayuki nodded.

The more I thought about it the more I liked it. “There might also be an opportunity to take up another blade if the chance presents itself,” I said. I immediately noticed that almost as one, they all relaxed. The other thing I picked up was how their body language shifted to be more inviting to me. 

I mentally sighed in relief. Well, that was one way to resolve that particular issue. I’d planned on handling it another way. “I got a good payout from the mission,” I said leadingly. The other kids perked up and Sayuki nodded slowly, her mind working at what my angle was. 

I raised a few stacks of ryo bills (that were good in all nations thankfully). “I was thinking, are there any of us that are lacking lodgings?” I asked, mostly thinking of Shoto who’d taken to squatting in my room with Rei these days.

Sayuki nodded, her eyes darting to two of the kids. “We’ve been hot bunking a few of them while running missions.”

I hummed. “I’m interested in what sort of missions you have been running as I’ve only been stuck on long missions myself.” 

Sayuki snorted. “Yeah, sure. But you’ve also been deployed to a front. War deployment comes with multiple missions assigned to your file should you survive and contribute enough.”

I blinked, having not expected her to know that. “How?” I asked and Sayuki smiled. 

“Your friends from the Suna front? They’ve been coming around and helping out.”

“Which ones?” I asked, expecting to hear Dende, Hanzo, and Hito. 

“All of them?” she said, rattling off Hito, Hanzo, Dende, Suzi, Ala, Maiko, Yayoi, and Mari surprisingly. 

“Huh,” I said. So this was what it felt like to have critical success in asking for your friends to help your other friends survive. “That… is excellent news, how often do they come around?”

Sayuki shrugged. “Every other day that they’re in the village. Ala’s been trying to help some of the kids pick up the lessons apparently you scored for her from that Chunin En guy. It kind of sounds like we need him to teach us though.”

“En’s dead,” I said without a hint of remorse. That man had been a petty bastard and I wasn’t going to mourn his loss. I’d used him perfectly to hide getting a very handy tool with the Hyuga eyeball he’d extracted from the prisoner I’d caught. 

I rolled my shoulders and nodded. “So, anyone doing any training today or are we all done?” I asked before turning and launching a Water Bullet Jutsu at a nearby rooftop. “From two hundred metres away!” I called as Shoto leapt towards me with a kunai in each hand. 

My wiry little friend cursed at me before landing and initiating a spar. “Bullshit you sensed me that far off!” he shouted as he tried to feint with his left and hide how his right was coming in at my blind spot. 

I caught the attack with my left and twisted him. 

Shoto didn’t resist, instead hurling himself with the motion while throwing his kunai. I twisted out of the way only to step into him and smash him into the ground. 

“Not working,” I said, deciding to bully him today with my greater mass and height. 

He growled before going still as I held my fingers on his jugular. We both knew how dangerous a touch from me was. “Alright, you win this time,” he conceded. “But I don’t believe you caught me that far out!” he said.

“You were next to the clothing shop for a few minutes,” I replied before pointing out the route he used to reach the roof. 

He cursed. “The fuck are you learning on these missions of yours?” he asked with annoyance, once more finding himself falling short in our stealth and sensory game. His eyes twitched and his fingers flexed in a prearranged signal.

I smirked at him outwardly, while inwardly I was raising my eyebrows. Shoto had spotted the observers as well? Interesting. “All sorts of things,” I said, reaching out and hauling him up before bumping my shoulder with his. With the hand that I clasped in his I tapped out a quick message telling him to not react and that I was aware of the observers.

“Good to see you bud,” I said.

Shoto grinned at that and his right eye twitched in half a wink as he received my message. “Heh, you’ve grown since the last time.” He waved a hand to indicate that the divide between us had grown even more with me now outmassing him along with having to look down on him. Huh, seemed he’d drawn the short straw with his genetics. Then again, as a shinobi, that wasn’t a bad thing. Usually, it would be quite the opposite. 

I’d just have to find chakra skills or jutsu to make up for being bigger and therefore a larger target on a battlefield. 

“The madam is going to be happy. You’re not that late for your birthday!” he said, and I paused as I realised that during the transit I’d missed my eleventh birthday. 

I hummed in thought. I’d graduated at nine, and then gone straight to war before undergoing another mission that lasted half a year. 

Time was moving along and as Shoto pointed out I was growing up, and also running out of time for a lot of crucial timelines. The largest issue was going to be the third shinobi war, but before I reached that there were going to be a lot of smaller, more crucial steps I needed to take to get myself and my friends into as strong a position as possible.

I gave Shoto a look over. “You’ve grown too,” I said, grabbing his shoulder and giving it a squeeze to highlight his wiry muscles. 

That got a grin out of Shoto.

Sayuki rolled her eyes at our byplay. “You’re both very pretty,” she snarked. 

She gave me a pointed look. “You were talking about methods of strengthening our group,” she said, wanting to keep me on task, no doubt. 

I nodded slowly. “There are a few things we can do, one of which you highlighted already.”

“The swordsmen?” she asked.

I rolled my hand in a “so-so” gesture. “That’s one thing that we can do, but I want to expand on that. We need insight into the various organisations that make up Kirigakure.” I began ticking off my fingers. “We need to be part of or even have high-ranking positions within the following organisations:” I raised my first finger, “the Seven Swordsmen.”

“ANBU,” a second rose with it. I felt the trio of observers shift in interest.

“The Hunter-nin,” and as my third rose Sayuki’s eyebrows rose, understanding my implications.

“The Academy,” I said, raising a fourth finger. 

And for the final finger, I looked towards where the Mizukage tower was. “And the administration.”

In another setting I might need places such as the hospital, but Kiri had no such infrastructure. This was something I planned to rectify when I was in charge. We relied too heavily on patch ups from barely trained medics. We needed better.

Sayuki nodded. “I understand most of those, but why the Academy?” she asked. 

“Recruits,” Shoto answered before I could respond. He rubbed his chin in thought. “We need people to bolster our force and make us an actual group worth paying attention to,” he said. “Is that why you had us feeding the younger civilians our methods?” 

I wobbled my hand in yet another so-so gesture. “Yes, and no. I wanted them to join us in the future, yes, but also… the current graduation process. Heck, most of the academy… it’s wasteful and it could be better. It is something that all our shinobi ostensibly attend and yet… it just feeds into the status quo.”

“Yeah? The clans like the current state of things, I’m pretty sure they’re not going to want it changed?” said Sayuki sceptically. 

“I’m not talking about just the clans,” I replied with a shake of my head. I gestured out over the rooftop and beyond at the buildings with the various shinobi that were visible. “Kiri… we survived the war, but what if we could have done better? What if the quality of each shinobi was greater? What if… each shinobi were loyal to Kirigakure? To the point that the hunter-nin weren’t as tied down?” I said out loud. 

Everything I was saying was true, but it was also serving another purpose. If the ANBU were going to report this to the clans I would have people annoyed with me. However, if they only reported this to Gengetsu? Well, there would be a very different response.

I was dancing a razor-sharp line, but I needed to take risks like this if I wanted to expand. 

It was like putting my head into a giant clam’s shell while I reached in to extract its pearl. There was risk, I just had to make it worth the trouble. 

“How would you… no, nevermind,” Sayuki shook her head. “You’d be the only person that could do such a thing, or in fact even bother to.” 

I nodded. “I realise that, but it doesn’t mean I’m wrong.” I sighed. “How long before the next year’s graduation ceremony?” I asked. 

“Two weeks,” replied Sayuki and Shoto together with a grimace. 

I sighed. “And there’s no way we can feed them the issue… We need to hope that they understand that there is another way.”

Shoto shook his head. “There’s no way the instructors and headmasters are going to just let things play out like last time. We… humiliated them back then.”

“They should have taken it as a compliment that we could do as much as we could thanks to their instruction,” I commented offhandedly. It drew a chuckle from Shoto while Sayuki merely smiled and shook her head. 

I sighed, scrubbing a hand through my red hair which was now almost ten centimetres long. 

It was starting to droop from its own weight instead of standing upright. I’d need to start taking hair ties with me or making sure I braided it so it wouldn’t get in the way.

Having long hair, as a shinobi, was an interesting statement. You could only afford it if you were confident in your skills and therefore able to avoid, or punish anyone who tried to use the handhold against you. 

I’d need to find a way to copy Jiraiya’s pin cushion jutsu. Or maybe I could lace it with chakra threads like my Ransōtengai. If someone tried to grab it, they’d end up stuck, or cut instead.

“The graduation ceremony needs to be refurbished. As it stands we waste the instructors' time with people that are going to die, or not contribute to Kiri as anything but a stepping stool to make others feel stronger.” 

I waved my hand again. “There are plenty of bandits out in the world to ‘blood’ our shinobi against. By turning our blades inwards we’re just creating a festering wound,” I said with a shake of my head. 

“Well, there’s not much we can do about it,” said Sayuki.

“Not right now,” I agreed. “But that doesn’t always need to be the way,” I added. I tossed up the coin purse I had that was bulging with ryo bills. “What we can do, however, is buy a base for ourselves,” I said with a smile.

I might have been looking at Sayuki as I said this, but I was really watching one of the ANBU moving away after fluctuating his chakra in a controlled pattern which the other two responded to. 

The Mind’s Eye of the Kagura was no joke, though. 

Each second I held the jutsu to observe the ANBU I felt the strain growing. I’d thrown myself into training with it as much as possible during my trip home, but there was a marked difference between being on a ship with a limited number of chakra signatures, all of which were the same, and being within Kirigakure proper. 

Thousands of chakra signatures entered and exited my sensory range. I tried to ignore them for the moment, honing my attention in on one of them. 

I made a signal as discreetly as I could to Shoto to take over talking with Sayuki and he dutifully began to quarrel with her about the type of building they needed in truth. It sounded like he was merely drawing her into an argument for the sake of it, but thankfully Sayuki bristled and bit back, taking the bait. 

I made a mental note to pull her aside later and help her with the more subtle shinobi arts that Shoto and I had been working on for years. If she was going to be anything in the power structure of the group I was forming I needed more from her.

I couldn’t afford for her to be a naive kid who was ignorant to the undercurrent of communication flowing around her. 

But for now, I watched the ANBU ghosting his way into the heart of Kiri. 

I “watched” as he entered the Mizukage’s tower only to vanish from my senses. 

I dropped the Mind’s Eye of Kagura Jutsu and almost staggered. Damn, I rubbed at my temple as my brain throbbed and a trickle of blood ran down my nose from the damage I’d done holding the Mind’s Eye Jutsu for just a few seconds. 

Ouch, ouch, ouch! That was going to linger, wasn’t it? 

I bit my lip to redirect my mind away from the mind-splitting migraine I was now subjecting myself to and instead tuned back into Shoto and Sayuki’s bickering as they debated what would be best. 

Shoto noticed my returning attention and instantly dropped his argument. 

“Actually, I think you had it right,” he said. “We should just buy up these buildings. Maybe we could pool our money, though?” he suggested. “Make it not just Matsu, but something everyone has a stake in?” 

Sayuki’s eyes darted from Shoto to me, realising that something must have just taken place but not understanding what. 

Good, there was hope for her yet. 

She nodded. “That, actually sounds like a good idea,” she said carefully, her eyes weighing each of us up for some further trickery. “I’ll talk to the others?” 

I waved my hand. “You do that. I think with more hands we’d be able to do more,” I said.

I then nodded my head to the side. “I think I might head for home, I’ve just come back from a mission.”

“Ah, alright then,” Sayuki replied with a blink at the sudden shift. 

“I’ll come with you,” Shoto said loyally. He must have caught me when I tried to hide the blood trickling from my nose. I shot him a look before nodding my thanks.

We departed and I felt the ANBU’s gaze track us for a few seconds before falling away. I almost exhaled and slumped in relief when neither of them followed us. 

“I think I need to move out of the Okiya,” I said and Shoto just nodded. 

It was getting a bit too risky to remain. Rei and the ladies were all too easy to be used as leverage against me.

Hmmm, I’d need to find a way to make sure they didn’t end up as hostages in future. 

For now, I just needed to make it home without any of the ladies even noticing my return.

I settled into my room and pulled the covers up, hoping that I’d get at least a few hours of rest to help my migraine settle.

I wasn’t surprised when my blankets were ripped off me by Rei. 

Her grinning face stared down at me while behind her a gaggle of the Okiya’s ladies shot me unimpressed looks. 

I laced my hands behind my head and gave them my best seductive look. “Mmmmm damn it’s hard being this in demand,” I said coyly.

A few of the ladies reared back, a blush growing on their features while others scoffed. 

Rei blinked in surprise. I chuckled, letting everyone know I was just playing around. When I stood I noticed that in my fugue of getting into bed, I must have taken my shirt off. 

At just shy of eleven years I had a body that put elite athletes of my old world to shame across multiple disciplines. It didn’t surprise me when most of the ladies couldn’t control the blush that overtook their features. 

Rei just cocked her head to the side before shaking it. She then crossed her arms and adopted a pose that I knew she’d copied from the Madam. “Why’d you go to sleep instead of greeting us?” she asked sternly, eyes glinting. 

I could only shrug and relay that I’d been tired, so I’d slept.

“The Madam needs you to heal up some… ailments,” Rei said, not dropping her expression.

I eyed her. “The Madam’s been teaching you some things I see,” I said, taking in the way she stood along with her dress which was of fine silk with a purse. Her fingers had small calluses on the tips which indicated that she’d been picking up the shamisen, with what I suspected also might be the koto. 

More telling was Rei’s control of her facial expression. 

“You’ve grown well,” I said with an easy smile.

Rei’s mask broke and she smiled back at me. “You really think so?” she said, unaware of the ladies behind her sighing and shaking their heads. 

I just nodded as I rose to stand. I draped a loose shirt over my torso and cinched it up before waving a hand. “Well, let’s go see to these ailments,” I said, deciding to handle this part of my “rental fee” in the women’s rooms instead of making them come to me. 

I was unsurprised when we finished with the Madam herself. What was surprising was how Rei badgered the madam into accepting more care from me.

Well, in truth she distracted the old woman while I saw to the swelling of her joints, and cleaned the arteries in her heart, lungs, neck and brain before working my chakra through her muscles. 

By the time I was done, the madam was unconsciously standing taller only to blink as she registered this. She swatted at me. “Brat! I didn’t give you leave to touch me!” she said.

I smiled. “Since when does a child need a reason to hug their granny?” I said cheekily, leaning in and wrapping her in my arms. “I’m back,” I added simply.

The old woman resisted for all of a second before her hardened frame shifted so that she was softly hugging me back. “Welcome home,” she whispered fondly. 

I held back on mentioning that I didn't think it would be my home for much longer. 

That could wait.

It was just another thing that I was slowly running out of time for.

_____________________

It took all of two days to see a response from the Mizukage. 

In the two days that I’d had though, I’d made the most of it, organising the purchase of not just the old building we trained on, but also its neighbour. Already we had some of the more handy genin in our group along with Dende surprisingly working on renovating the building and reinforcing it as much as we could. 

The second building I was planning on turning into an indoor training facility, but that for now was something I had to put on the back burner, especially after having spent all of my cash on the purchase. 

Hopefully, when I got better at fuinjutsu I could do something to further improve the living standards along with the robustness of our new home.

Again that wasn’t something I was expecting to be able to do any time soon, so I focussed on adding the simple things like plumbing, heating, and cooling to the apartments. Meanwhile, the “training” building saw a lot more destructive testing with the genin and even chunin in our group feeling a lot more comfortable throwing around stronger jutsu.

As the new landlord, I had mixed feelings about watching holes being punched into my walls, even if it was damn good training for urban and indoor combat. It was still painful watching them do it.

Akiko had emerged on the start of the second day and taken a long look at the work being done on one building while the other received the opposite. 

“Right, I guess this is technically not raising a fuss. Or at least not one that I can pinpoint an issue with right now,” she said after thinking about it for a good long while. 

She waved a hand at me and indicated the rooftop. “Come on, I’m going to drill you with genjutsu,” she said.

Around me, several kids “decided” it might be prudent to “train” on the rooftop. And if they happened to overhear what was going on? Well, that was just good fortune on their behalf.

 Kids with enough sense to eavesdrop on the lesson would learn more, and do better as shinobi. You needed to pay attention to your surroundings after all. Today they’d learn how to get the most out of some rather handy genjutsu like the False Surroundings Jutsu. Tomorrow it might be their lives.

A jutsu that helped mask a door as a wall, or make an area blend in with its surroundings. 

“The trick is getting the details in your mind’s eyes right, not just from the angle you’re looking at it from, but also that of other angles.” She gestured at the wall that lay before me. “There’s nothing good about it only taking into account one point of view, since if a guard were to walk past this they would have a shifting perspective. This sight, if they’re halfway decent, will register to them as odd and draw their attention—which is the opposite of what we’re looking for,” she said. 

She was about to speak again on another point only to frown. I turned with her towards the site that the ANBU agent would arrive at a second before the man did so. 

“Chunin Matsu,” intoned a tall ANBU agent as he loomed over the training area. “The Mizukage wishes to speak with you immediately,” he said before vanishing again, leaving me no room to ask any further questions. 

Akiko sighed. “Shit, looks like you couldn’t float under their notice eh?”

I raised a finger into the air. “I still managed two days,” I said with a victorious smile. 

Akiko twitched and shot me a look. “I’m not sure how… but I suspect you planned this,” she accused. 

I laughed and indicated that we shouldn’t keep the Mizukage waiting. 

“Shall we?” I said and she grunted before we both vanished in a shunshin. 

Unlike the ANBU agent who had barged into our training area, we had to arrive at the front doors and proceed into the building on foot. We presented ourselves to the reception desk and were told to wait. 

Akiko claimed a seat and sighed. “Get comfy,” she said and I nodded, aware that it would make all too much sense for Gengetsu to keep us waiting. 

He was calling the shots after all, and one of the best ways to remind people of that was to make them wait. It only became a snub if you believed yourself equal to him in some manner, and with Gengetsu’s… mastery of genjutsu, that would take a certain level of skill on your part, or, more accurately, arrogance on your behalf. 

I pulled out the Iwa and Konoha Bingo Books, my eyes flittering over the various shinobi on display. 

Within Iwa’s Bingo Book, I got a good look at their enmity with Konoha. 

Over a third of the book was dedicated just to Konoha shinobi alone, something that I hadn’t noticed at first but when you read nothing but a large chunk of Konoha shinobi for a while only to suddenly encounter an oddly familiar face from the Land of Grass.

Not long ago, it had taken me almost an hour of staring at the young man’s face to work out why I thought he was familiar. There hadn’t been anything that stood out. He was a brown-haired man whose hairstyle was slicked back with his headband holding it in place. 

He was otherwise rather stocky, but nothing should have jumped out to me. At first, I thought he might have been a “filler” villain of the week of some sort, only for my eyes to catch sight of some of the girls in the Okiya putting piercings in Rei’s earlobes. 

That had sparked a revelation. Instead of looking at him with brown hair, I imagined it as orange with metal piercings all throughout. 

This young man, by the name of Lee Kazetora, was one of the future Six Paths of Pain.

That… had been rather chilling to realise. I’d sat for a while after that trying to conjure up all the details of which path he was and what his gimmick could be. 

Yahiko would forever stand out as the one capable of gravitational force shifts, while Lee’s body… it was in charge of… energy absorption? That sounded right. 

I had hummed at that, pleased at my recollection, before spending most of my evenings working on recalling everything that I could about the major villains along with some of the side characters that were rarely seen. Perhaps I should focus on the people I knew I might end up facing, such as Naruto’s parents' generation? 

Well, that was all too reasonable.

I found it interesting that certain shinobi in my age range still hadn’t achieved a Bingo Book entry. 

There was no mention of Fugaku Uchiha, or Minato. No Ino-shika-cho trio, nor Izumi Inuzuka. ‘

No mention of Kushina Uzumaki, which after taking a moment to think about it, didn’t surprise me. 

She was most likely working with Mito as much as she could right now.

The only village that possibly had a Bingo entry for her would be Kumo. But then again, the whole Minato rescuing Kushina single-handedly from her Kumo captors smacked of so much Konoha incompetence to make me doubt it. 

Konoha had to have dropped the ball big time, which… wasn’t impossible considering other attempts on their youngsters with Hinata later on. 

Still, Konoha had to have fumbled big time only for Minato to miraculously rush in to save Kushina. 

Which… I doubted. Minato would no doubt become a beast under Jiraiya’s teachings later on, but initially? Being able to take out at least three shinobi?

There was a lot to doubt. Sooo much to doubt. 

I wasn’t buying it.

While the mission itself might not have even occurred or ever going to occur in this life potentially, I wouldn’t put it past an overly clever Danzo creating a false flag to secure Kushina’s loyalty to Konoha.

So, no Kushina Uzumaki being mentioned internationally as yet.

The only shinobi of my “age range” that had won themselves any infamy of note were the Hyuga twins and Mikoto Uchiha. 

I shut the book as I felt someone approach us. “The Mizukage will see you now,” said the kunoichi with a small incline of her head to Akiko. Then the woman did a double take as she took in Akiko’s face. 

Akiko bobbed her own head back in response while smirking. “Heh, that sure doesn’t get old,” she said as she rose.  

I tilted my head. “Still getting people reacting this way to your facial surgery?” I asked.

“Yup!” chuckled Akiko with a smile which quickly melted away as she adopted a serious expression. “Serious time now, apprentice,” she said formally and I nodded, falling quiet at her implied command. 

We walked, with Akiko ahead and me slightly behind her with a respectful distance separating us. 

We marched into what I could only call a miasma of chakra. For a moment it was all I could do not to choke before I flexed my own chakra and broke the genjutsu. Then the chakra flooded back into me. 

It was like I was a fish that had been swimming in clean waters only to find myself in an oil slick. Only the oil slick was maliciously trying to drown me. A feat that shouldn’t be possible with a fish… except the oil was trying to pass itself off as water to me.

The chakra came back just as quickly as I denied it, so I began a twitching, spasmodic interruption and change of flows throughout my body, allowing me to see through the haze and towards the desk where Gengetsu sat.

The Mizukage of Kiri didn’t look to have changed at all since the last time. He still had a thin moustache, a pompadour hairstyle that looked greasy to me, and a glint of amusement which shone in his eyes. 

He stared at me as I met his gaze. 

Akiko inclined her head and I matched her, breaking eye contact for a moment. 

Gengetsu hummed. “Welcome, welcome, thank you sooo much for answering my summons,” he said with a genial tone, as though there was any option for us to ignore him.

His smile was that of a host while his eyes reminded me of Hideo right before he threw an explosion. He had us right where he wanted us. 

I swallowed and waited for Akiko to speak up. She took a second to do so, “Lord Gengetsu, you called for my apprentice?” she asked. 

“Indeed, indeed I did. You see, I have something of a conundrum,” he said casually, lacing his fingers together. “I have an academy that is delivering a curriculum that is… out of date these days. It might have been appropriate during the war but it is rather archaic now, what with the war being over and all,” he said like a boy commenting on his favourite game which he just finished. 

You could tell from his words that he knew as well as anyone that should they want it, the “game” would restart just as quickly as it was dropped. 

People just had to join in on the fun.

“That is very… forward-thinking of you,” Akiko complimented. 

“Isn’t it?” said Gengetsu with a smile. “The thing is, I’m… well I’m a product of a much older system. So I might not be the best to move with the times.” He paused as though inviting us to voice our agreement.

Neither of us did. 

“Now, I have a problem, and you—” he levelled a stare at me that felt even more piercing than his eyes. My skin itched, and I felt like I needed to look behind me, but I couldn’t. The true threat was in front of me.

Or was it? 

Was this all a game of his, with him cycling a genjutsu through me as he walked round and round, toying with me?

I gave in to temptation and used the Mind’s Eye of the Kagura. My chakra cycling through the chakra nodes in my mind before I twitched my nodes in a controlled frequency. Soon, the world unfolded before me. 

Gengetsu wasn’t sitting on the edge of his desk; he was sitting on the lounge behind us. I became suddenly aware of the illusion in front of me that was talking, even as behind me, Gengetsu stayed perfectly silent.

Part of me wondered if this was as deep as the rabbit hole went. Was there another genjutsu underneath what I’d already found?

Did I need more? Or was I good enough?

I thought I knew the answer to that already.

I was still just a frog in a well, or in this case, a very small fish that was learning that I was swimming in shark-infested waters.

“—you Matsu, you might present an answer for my problem.” Gengetsu concluded. 

I nodded along, not letting anything show that I had peeled back a layer of this… situation I found myself in. “Give me a mission, Lord Gengetsu,” I said like a loyal little Kiri soldier.

“Hmmm, yes, that’s the issue though, what I propose… It isn’t just one mission, but rather… well I propose a challenge for you, young… Uzumaki,” he said with a tone that was laden with meanings. Moreover, it was laced with illusions as well. I suddenly found myself witnessing scenes of red-haired warriors fighting and dying to droves of shinobi.

I blinked, not letting myself react as the illusion faded. 

That’s all it was, I reminded myself, an illusion. 

“I need to update the Academy, but there are certain parties that… well they have an interest in letting things stand. I need… let’s call it a test case, where I, or rather you in this case, take a select group of shinobi and demonstrate that they could be more than they are under the current system.”

Gengetsu laced his fingers together once more. “Did you know that during times of peace, the various Villages will hold events labelled as Chunin Selection Exams,” he said with a scoff. 

I nodded, understanding that he was alluding to how the exams were not that at all. They were deterrents but also events like that of gladiator fights from my past life. If you did well enough, you demonstrated the power of your Village, while also drawing potentially rich clients towards your Village.

“You wish me to… win one of these events?” I asked carefully.

“Oh, I have no doubt that you could do such a thing. You’d make a wonderful statement with your… abilities and traits,” he said once more, eying my red hair. “You’d be good as a demonstration of Kiri’s might, but my use for you is a bit more than that,” he said. 

He levelled a hand at me. “I want you to take a team of rejects—the weakest of the next graduation class—and win at the very first chunin Exams that will be run in six months’ time.”

I blinked. “You want me to… be their sensei?” I said. “I’m not—”

“No, I don’t want to hear it from such a loyal shinobi,” Gengetsu spoke over me, his eyes daring me to challenge him while behind me the Gengetsu that was on the couch rose and ambled closer. “You are part of the show I want to present. In six months’ time you are to be at least Tokubetsu Jonin in rank with a mission log to match your achievements.”

“But, remember,” he said with a waggle of his illusionary finger as his counterpart drew closer, like a shark locked on its target. 

My instincts and training with sharks warned me I needed to leap aside, but my higher mind locked me in place, not even twitching to indicate I was aware of his approach.

“Remember,” he repeated, “this isn’t about you. This is about them, those rejects and failures. The children that die under the current system,” he said while his counterpart leaned in and whispered directly into my ear. “Those whelps that you care about,” he added with a level of vindictiveness I’d come to expect from him. 

Those kids meant nothing to Gengetsu. 

They were just tools and playthings to him.

I didn’t so much as shudder to indicate I knew he was there. 

He put his hands on my shoulders and smiled while his illusion mirrored him, stepping in and doing the same from the front.

“You, Matsu, will signal a new path forward,” he said. “You will establish a new system to educate and advance our shinobi,” chuckled the Gengetsu in front of me, while the rearmost Gengetsu leaned in and said. “And if you fail? The sharks will be the least of your worries,” he whispered.

I nodded slowly. 

Gengetsu was, in a way, giving me everything that I wanted, but also giving me enough rope to hang myself with. 

It was rather marvellous. By using me this way, he was either setting himself up as a visionary if I won. And if I failed? Well, he hadn’t lost anything there, not even prestige. 

To the people that mattered, he’d have set me up to lose face and credibility, and anyone could do with me as they pleased. 

I wouldn’t be dead in the water, just heavily maimed, which in Kiri was almost as bad. 

He stepped back. “Jonin Akiko? Make sure you get him up to speed,” he said, moving almost as one for the first time in this entire meeting. “I wouldn’t want your career to falter due to him falling short,” Gengetsu smiled. 

Akiko inclined her head. “Lord Mizukage,” she said. 

I matched her and Gengetsu waved a hand only to raise a single finger as we turned. “A thought occurs,” he said idly.

Akiko and I both held our positions, the salvation of the doorway singing sweet salvation to us. “During your meeting with the Board… how many people were in that room with you?” he asked with a small tilt of his head. 

I blinked. What? What sort of question was that?

“There was my team and Koremei along with the Board themselves, as well as the secretary, so that makes... eleven, not counting the ANBU,” I said. Technically, they’d been hidden in the roof.

Something I said caused Akiko to twitch, and I knew I’d done something wrong when Gengetsu smiled. “Ho? Eleven, you say?” he asked with a smirk.

He glanced at Akiko for a moment before chuckling. “Perhaps you’re not so far off being Tokubetsu Jonin ranked as I thought,” he mused. “Good work, Jonin,” he said to Akiko before he flicked his fingers to dismiss us.

We marched right out the door and away from the building.

Right as we crossed the threshold, something touched me right at the base of my skull, and I stiffened.

I hadn’t even felt them get close!

From behind me, a voice like darkness whispered in my ear, “Don’t disappoint me!”

And then the sensation vanished. 

I slumped. Damn, it was annoying to have my own thoughts confirmed. I still had a long way to go. 

I rubbed my face and sighed before brightening up. "So? What was that about the number of people in the room?" I asked.

Akiko chewed her lip. "I didn't notice any secretary..."

"Ah," I said, realising how subtle it was. If you noticed that secretary, you were practically advertising your sensory ability. That... was a very clever ploy on Gengetsu's part. Damn. Had he known I could sense his second body the entire time and just been fucking with me?

Hmmm, that was just the surface look at it though. There was more at play here.

Akiko shot me a worried look. “You alright, Matsu? Looks like we’re screwed,” she sighed.

“No, we just need to work hard,” I said, shaking off my worry about Gengetsu's trick for the moment. 

Akiko shook her head. “Matsu, the kids he’s throwing your way for the next chunin exams? None of them will survive the next graduation exam. The current his never going to allow things to change, not after being embarrassed by you.”

I considered that for a long moment. “Who’s his second, third, and fourth in command?” I asked. 

Akiko frowned but rattled off their names. I nodded slowly while inwardly sighing. “You know where they live?” I asked.

“They’re not going to just bow down and accept a change proposed by you…” she trailed off. “You’ve got that look about you,” she said warily. 

I smiled. “I’m sure I have no idea what you mean,” I replied innocently.

Akiko narrowed her eyes. “The fuck you don’t.” She then pinched the bridge of her nose. “At least tell me you have a replacement in mind?” 

I smiled and led her to where I knew Instructor Tenpora lived. 

He answered the door when I knocked. “Matsu?” 

I grinned. “Hi Instructor!” I said.

The tall man blinked at me. “You’re not my student anymore,” he pointed out reasonably. He was polite enough not to shut the door in my face, but he did shift slightly to present less of his profile to me.

“Hmmm true, but we’re going to be working closely for a while. Mizukage’s orders,” I said with a grin as I took the inch Gengetsu had given me and began to take my mile. 

Tenpora’s eyes flickered to Akiko and her very clearly marked, Jonin outfit. She nodded in affirmation, a smile tugging its way onto her lips. “What can I do for you?”

“Oh, you’ll find it’s what I can do for you in time,” I said vaguely. I rubbed my chin. “I always thought Headmaster Tenpora sounded good!” I said with a smile. 

“Cute, but I’m not going to try my luck in ousting the current Headmaster.”

I waved a hand. “Nah, you don’t have to do a thing, trust me!” I then smiled. “Can you help me draft the formal proposal for the school?” I asked. 

“I can help with that,” Tenpora said slowly, willing to give me at least that much. Akiko joined in, working through a formal written proposal. 

When we were done I stood. “Well, I should be off!” I said, dusting off my hands. 

“Shouldn’t you take that?” Tenpora asked, pointing to the proposal that we’d written up together.

I snapped my fingers. “Ah! That! Right! Can you do me another favour and take that to work with you?”

He glared. “I’m not—”

“I heard you the first time. I just need you to hold onto it for me. Trust me, you’ll understand tomorrow,” I said. 

I waved, leaving him confused and alone while Akiko smirked as I waved her goodbye. “I’m going to go drink in some public bars,” she said firmly. 

I just grinned. Excellent.

It was probably a good thing she wasn’t helping with my next task, or rather tasks, for the evening.  

She needed plausible deniability.

I, however? I needed some more street cred for people to sit up and take me seriously. 

I might be a small fish to people like Gengetsu, but in my old pond? Well, it was time to chum the waters.

I began to whistle as I set off on what I could only call a very enthusiastic walk.

____________________

A.N. The challenge and next few months of work are outlined for Matsu! We also have a few ideas regarding a certain event in Canon. 

In the not-so-distant future, we’re also going to have our first Chunin Exams!

For some reason I have the Trigun Total Slaughter song stuck in my mind. Weird, right?