The next day, Takuma arrived at the office in the morning with his belongings in a crate and his office furniture packed in a storage scroll. The greetings to the relevant people in the headquarters had gone well; they had treated him better than they would’ve treated a new squad leader because he was a direct report to a captain.
It wou...
2025-10-14 02:41:22 +0000 UTC View PostThe meeting continued for some more time before Ratel left for his round of greetings. He dismissed the squad for the day, but they hung around to decide who would use which office. They had to set up their offices quickly so they could start working, as the assassination attempt had already delayed their launch.
Boobook, standing in her o...
2025-10-13 00:40:10 +0000 UTC View PostWith the introductions over, the squad moved into the meeting room for their first informal meeting. The room had two rows of long benches facing a podium on wheels in the front. Takuma stood behind the podium as the team took their first seat on the benches.
“I’m sure everyone has questions. I’ll field them now, so go ahead,” Taku...
2025-10-10 22:27:39 +0000 UTC View PostIt was a week of rest for Takuma, devoid of the things he usually did. Aside from light warm-ups and walks around the neighbourhood, he was forbidden from doing any physical training. It was a much-needed vacation that he, to his surprise, managed to spend without doing any work.
In truth, it was a boon as he spent most of his time visitin...
2025-09-30 02:08:42 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the Hokage and Stag left, Takuma retreated to his room.
The conversation had gotten heavier by the end, but he didn’t let up because a busy personage like the Hokage wasn’t going to spend hours on a home visit. He asked a couple more questions while he had the chance.
“What are you thinking?” Grey asked as he appeared o...
2025-09-29 02:33:31 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma looked outside the living room and saw an ANBU-nin in the garden and the heads of four more regular shinobi patrolling outside the house’s boundary wall. There was more security he couldn’t see all around the house premises.
He turned around and looked into the living room, where the Hokage were chatting it up. Yesterday, he had...
2025-09-28 00:42:37 +0000 UTC View PostAfter ANBU cleared out of his house, Takuma shut the door to his room behind him and pulled out the chair from his study table. Sunlight streamed through the window, creating a bright spot on the floor while gently illuminating the silent room.
“Come out.”
He closed his eyes and focused inward, where he saw a near insignificant a...
2025-09-22 19:57:03 +0000 UTC View PostIn his quaint house on the outskirts of the village, silently taken over by ROOT, Danzo read the information set by his agents undercover in the Hidden Leaf Village. Because it wasn’t a scheduled routine report, the contents were short and to the point.
The assassination had failed.
The village raised its security level.
ANBU...
2025-09-21 22:12:49 +0000 UTC View PostMitarashi Anko was feeling the blues on Monday morning. She had so much fun drinking and dancing at the club late into the night, but now she had a work week in front of her before she could let go again.
“I don’t want to work,” she whined while getting ready for morning training. Fortunately, she had flexible work hours so she could...
2025-09-20 00:50:41 +0000 UTC View PostKon wheezed in pain as he hobbled his way through the field with a bloody hand on his aching belly. He had a trail of blood going down from the edges of his lips, and the simple act of swallowing blood and saliva felt akin to downing needles because of his bruised throat.
He almost fell over when he heard the thunderous roar of the Lightni...
2025-09-15 22:23:03 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma and the twin agents gazed at each other. It was from experience that both sides intuited that they had reached a critical point in the fight. They had already observed and probed each other and tested a few strategies to finish the job. The tactics were laid and the field was set.
Whatever happened next would most likely decide the ...
2025-09-14 22:10:57 +0000 UTC View PostThinking a clone would be the perfect teammate was a mistake. Unlike the twins, who probably spent years working together, Takuma never trained for team combat with his clones. They rarely shared a common goal and instead divided responsibility between them, such as work and training, and went their separate ways.
He was not Naruto. His co...
2025-09-13 00:54:00 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma gazed at the identical agents. There had to be a reason why they were given their identical personas. From their short exchange before, it was clear they had great coordination with each other. He even considered that they might be true identical twins under their masks who were brought up together as shinobi.
“Twins,” he mutter...
2025-08-25 23:34:09 +0000 UTC View PostWhile the world of chakra and shinobi was more dangerous, when it came to the depiction of horror, Takuma's original world was far ahead. The internet had allowed people to share their twisted imaginations with other twisted people who were inspired by it and built upon it using everything from simple words to advanced computer graphics. The res...
2025-08-24 22:58:56 +0000 UTC View Post"Is anything wrong?"
As Takuma was putting on his shoes at the entrance, Maruboshi called out.
"Not at all. Why do you ask?" Takuma said, smiling.
"You're armed to the teeth and you're wearing those clothes instead of your uniform." Maruboshi pointed at his unusual choice of attire. He wore a grey outfit with black and purple h...
2025-08-22 22:34:40 +0000 UTC View PostA private room at the prestigious Blue Diamond Bar on a busy Saturday evening was not easy to come by, even for those with money and influence. It smelled of cedar and vintage whiskey. Heavy curtains muted the noise of the city below, leaving only the sound of ice clinking in a glass.
Chūnin Onikuma Aoki, an appointed member of the govern...
2025-08-18 23:19:24 +0000 UTC View Post"You can depend on us. We will keep our ear to the ground for any news about ROOT," Chūnin Yamanaka Nakushi smiled as he finished presenting the plan his team had prepared for him, outlining their approach to collect information about ROOT.
Taro looked at his boss. He had them work late for the last couple of days to complete the presenta...
2025-08-17 22:05:42 +0000 UTC View PostHiruzen stared out of the window in his office. His meeting with Takuma, codename Ratel, had ended. Even though the reason for the summons was something else, the actual conversation had given him a lot to think about.
There was a knock on the door. He turned around to see the ANBU Commander of the Domestic Branch enter his office. Hiruzen...
2025-08-15 23:39:36 +0000 UTC View PostThe Hokage's Office was the most prominent building in the Hidden Leaf Village. It consisted of the immediate staff of the Hokage, as well as multiple levels of support staff reporting to the Hokage.
Takuma arrived there early, at nine in the morning, and was asked to wait until the Hokage was ready to meet. He was put in a private waiting...
2025-08-11 19:40:10 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma nodded his thanks to the group of hostesses who set the table with a variety of beautifully plated food. He glanced at the man, who invited him to the fanciest restaurant he had ever had the opportunity to visit, someone he had been looking forward to meeting since he had joined the unit a year ago.
"I must admit that the circumstan...
2025-08-10 21:37:28 +0000 UTC View Post"I want you to make a squad leader."
Takuma held his emotions. He wasn't surprised because he did think he had produced enough for a promotion, but it was still thrilling to see an ANBU Captain making the offer.
"I like that. I'm interested, of course," he said.
"Now, there are some conditions. You have essentially been on a lo...
2025-08-09 00:07:09 +0000 UTC View PostA week after leaving for the border outpost, Takuma returned home with two ROOT agents, the burnt remains of a third sealed in a special sealing scroll, and outpost's second-in-command, Chūnin Hyouma. He had called in an ANBU iryō-nin to help in transport because he had no medical expertise to keep his prisoners in their forced slumbers.
Fujita, with his team, arrived at what he could only call a fiery carnage. A long section of the road was burnt black with embers still burning red. The trees around the road had turned into dirty charcoal, replacing the clean scent with the choking smell of smoke.
As a Tokubetsu Jōnin, he knew it was the work of a B-rank Fire Release nin...
2025-08-03 20:32:34 +0000 UTC View PostEarth Release: Earth Spear
It was like opening the stopper at the bottom of the pool. A constant stream of chakra was mixed, transformed, and spread to every nook and cranny of the body. Takuma felt his body grow heavier as the bones grew sturdier, muscles became denser, and skin turned onyx. Every time he had used the jutsu in tr...
2025-08-01 22:57:39 +0000 UTC View PostEver since Takuma had learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu, his life had been significantly influenced by the jutsu. He had shifted most of his training to his clones while he handled work. Most of his training time was devoted solely to physical strength and conditioning, as clones were unable to build muscle.
The weighted gear gifted by Might ...
2025-07-28 22:53:32 +0000 UTC View PostIt was the fifth day of Takuma's stay at the border outpost, and things weren't looking good for Tokubetsu Jōnin Fujita. Even though they knew someone had replaced the patrol reports, there was no proof of wrongdoing.
The only evidence was the testimonies of shinobi who were on the patrol, but that couldn't be taken as concrete evidence, ...
2025-07-27 20:14:00 +0000 UTC View Post"The kid's a magnet. Or is it just his fate?" Kakashi said as he read Ratel's report from the border outpost.
"You believe in destiny?" Itachi asked out of curiosity.
They were in Kakashi's office in the ANBU Headquarters. Itachi had received Ratel's report and wanted to consult his former boss about it. He wasn't expecting any commu...
2025-07-25 12:25:40 +0000 UTC View Post"May I?" Takuma asked Fujita, pointing at the latter's chair behind the table.
Fujita, whose skin had paled in real-time from stress, nodded with some hope glimmering in his eyes. Someone had just made a move to screw him over. He was going to take any hand that would pull him out of his sinking doom.
"Who are you?" The smugness had ...
2025-07-22 03:44:49 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma sat on a high wall with a sandwich in his hand. His ANBU mask lay on his side, and he had pulled his black balaclava halfway so he could eat while he observed Jeju Hyouma in the distance as the second-in-command went about his day.
The people who passed by the wall on which he was perched avoided his eyes as though he would arrest t...
2025-07-20 17:18:34 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: In the last chapter, I wrote that the outpost was small, but I've changed it to be on the bigger side because it's the only post like that on that part of the border. The size itself isn't that important, but I just changed my mind and want to make sure everyone knows.
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Investig...
2025-07-15 02:02:05 +0000 UTC View Post