EDIT: Changed the size of the border outpost from small to big after doing some research on import checkpoints at the border and ports.
———
.
As they sat in Fujita's office, the man had recovered from his initial surprise. He was still anxious, but managed to keep his nerves in control. T...
2025-07-13 21:14:59 +0000 UTC View PostThe angry sun glared down on a five-man band as they travelled across the Land of Fire on trade routes. They were dressed lightly but covered themselves well to beat the heat and protect themselves from the sun, while carrying between three and four absurdly large wooden cargo boxes on their backs.
While they jogged at a brisk pace, they w...
2025-07-12 01:41:00 +0000 UTC View PostCampbell exhaled through his nose, slow, steady. He adjusted his grip and kept his blade low with his shoulders rolled back. His stance was narrow, his feet silent on dirt. Every motion born of drilled repetition; every muscle etched with the shape of battle.
Across from him, Ratel bounced on the balls of his feet like a simmering fire. Hi...
2025-07-08 03:00:46 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma, like most people, had highs and lows in his life, but it had been so long since he had experienced a high period since starting his second life that he had come to cherish the "flatline" moments of normalcy.
The past few months had been the best flatline periods of his second life.
He walked to the front of the room and place...
2025-07-08 02:57:11 +0000 UTC View PostYamanaka Inenpachi's office was one of the calmest and quietest places Takuma knew, and yet, his time there was never so. He and chaos were always double-booked every time he visited.
"Are you ready?" asked Inenpachi as he closed his journal.
After spending numerous sessions with the iryō-nin, Takuma wanted to know what he ha...
2025-07-04 16:12:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe ANBU headquarters was a block of concrete built inside a mountain without any natural light. On the best days, it was a dreary place with art curated by a sixty-year-old as the only form of common decor. That was why people who worked in the building took it upon themselves to individualise personal spaces like their offices and desks to bre...
2025-06-30 21:35:50 +0000 UTC View PostEven though four ROOT agents had recently been captured in Inahara, there was much more buzz about the discovery of three agents. This wasn't surprising because they were found in the Hidden Leaf Village. The higher-ups were much more concerned about spies in their backyard, and because of it, there was tremendous pressure on the team to complet...
2025-06-30 00:34:58 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma felt strange to have luck on his side.
Inuzuka Yubi had managed to find a solid connection to ROOT by discovering an undercover agent or an external collaborator. It wasn't strange that they had left behind people in important positions, or those who simply existed in the village as a connection they could tap for information or mis...
2025-06-28 02:08:16 +0000 UTC View PostTen days had passed since Takuma returned home from Inahara. During that time, he led the team—and a number of water clones—to complete and organise the case material into a knowledge base that would serve as the foundation for the case. It was a lot of work, but they finally managed to complete it, allowing the people involved some well-des...
2025-06-24 00:58:08 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma checked his clothes for the fourth time before ringing the doorbell.
It was his first time visiting the Uchiha house after his run-in with Itachi. Even though it was a job requirement to keep his position in ANBU a secret, he felt guilty keeping it from Mikoto, especially since finding out that she knew about his real job. He...
2025-06-22 19:30:57 +0000 UTC View Post"A traitor? Like Orochimaru?" Takuma asked with concern because while he agreed with everything she had said, he couldn't see how a tumour like Orochimaru would help the village. Even if there were some upside, it would be drowned out by the downside.
"Orochimaru? Why did he come up?" Momoe frowned in confusion. Ah, because I bought...
2025-06-20 10:44:43 +0000 UTC View Post"Even the thought of swearing fealty to a clan makes me want to die."
It was clear that she had some complicated feelings and negative views towards shinobi clans. Could it be that she was a civilian-born shinobi and felt some form of complex towards her clan-born peers? But she had been above and better than the clan folk in their batch; ...
2025-06-16 22:58:46 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma wasn't expecting to meet someone he knew. He put down the shovel and bucket as he returned the greeting. "How have you been? If I'm not wrong, the last time we met was at Inuzuka Hana's promotion party, right?"
Okubo Momoe was his shinobi academy classmate. She had cinnamon brown hair that barely reached her shoulders but had...
2025-06-15 23:52:40 +0000 UTC View PostAfter taking over the case, he unexpectedly found some time on his hands as Amami worked on the agents and other prisoners. After what happened at Inahara, they needed additional information before proceeding with any new leads. Until then, they had to complete paperwork and process what they had from before.
In the meantime, he dec...
2025-06-14 02:41:18 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma's dry throat stung as he nervously swallowed. He gazed at one of the captured ROOT agents through a pane of glass, lying on a surgical table. The agent was missing one of his arms from his shoulder.
They were in the medical ward of the facility.
Down the hall, the other three agents recovered from the exact same condition.
... 2025-06-10 02:01:57 +0000 UTC View PostRui was on the road for longer than he had initially expected. Things had changed since he was stationed at Inahara and had limited access to information. Being ousted from the Hidden Leaf had changed ROOT's situation drastically. After he conveyed his messages and asked to be brought back in, he was called to a base he didn't know existed in a ...
2025-06-08 23:39:45 +0000 UTC View PostIt took until the following midnight for them to be released from their cells.
The door to Takuma's cell opened while he was repeating a kick routine. He opened his eyes to see Barbary standing in front of his cell. The ANBU lieutenant was so big that Takuma couldn't see his face because the door cut it off; he had to bend down to c...
2025-06-06 22:31:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe jōnin put all of them in jail, where they were treated like high-risk terrorists.
They were separated in different cells, stripped of their clothes and gear, subjected to cavity searches, slapped with chakra suppression cuffs while fūin-nin could draw suppression seals directly on their bodies, and chained to the cell walls to restri...
2025-05-31 01:17:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe vortex drenched Takuma as he struggled to run on the turbulent water. He looked up at the ROOT agent floating down toward the other riverbank in frustration. The unstable flow of water forced him to constantly adjust the flow of chakra in the soles of his feet just to remain afloat. He wouldn't drown, but he couldn't cover the distance quick...
2025-05-26 23:31:57 +0000 UTC View PostEarth Release: Rock Pillar Spikes
Takuma slammed his hands on the road when he heard sprinting footsteps. Sharp, earthen spikes in the shape of narrow pyramids shot out from the surface, but the intended target leapt over them like it was nothing.
He felt a lava of anger sludge in his veins as he deflected and dodged ...
2025-05-25 20:36:01 +0000 UTC View Post
'What do I do now?' Rui thought as he crashed into the boundary stone wall of a house that all but crumbled on impact. He bore the agony from his back as he slid down against the cracked stone. He wanted to rest, but the dozen or so feet-sized flying beetles that appeared from around the corner got him up to his feet and moving. ...
2025-05-23 18:55:17 +0000 UTC View PostTakuma gritted his teeth as he desperately gripped the handle of the kunai on the side of the wall, as he faced the full force of the Wind Release ninjutsu. It felt like trying to resist a windstorm that uprooted trees and houses. He raised his hand to protect himself from the dislodged bricks that came for his head while praying the wall...
2025-05-12 23:17:56 +0000 UTC View PostAll of it started very abruptly as the sun had just begun to fall from its peak, and temperatures began to cool. The people on the streets stopped in surprise when they saw heavily armed and armoured men appear on the street, moving quickly and with precision. They looked up to see similarly dressed men jumping across rooftops. One of the...
2025-05-11 23:33:58 +0000 UTC View PostThe city of Inahara was among the major cities in the Land of Fire. It had a large population and a growing economy, owing to its position as the centre of a thriving region in the country. It had a larger civilian population than the Hidden Leaf Village, generating more business for shinobi, which led to a significant shinobi presence that warr...
2025-05-09 21:36:44 +0000 UTC View PostEarly the next day, Takuma arrived at the designated spot where he was meeting Krait and the assault squad before they were leaving for Inahara. It was the city he had identified as the possible location of the kidnappings for the human test subjects used in the bunkers. It made sense that the courier also transported them with supplies and that...
2025-05-05 21:40:15 +0000 UTC View PostInenpachi watched as Takuma was utterly taken in by the mindscape. From the moment they had come in, he had become absorbed in the surroundings and hadn't made a single comment or asked any question.
Everything that didn't make sense to Inenpachi seemed to make sense to him.
"Do you recognise these things?"
Takuma had st...
2025-05-04 18:05:51 +0000 UTC View PostKrait and the assault squad successfully captured their target at the bunker. He was transported home to be interrogated by Kestrel at the facility managed by Torture and Interrogation. However, unlike the scientists with loose lips, the supply courier had the mouth of a monk who had taken the vow of silence.
That would've been a pr...
2025-05-02 18:09:46 +0000 UTC View PostThe two ANBU-nin stared at each other for a moment until someone else's footsteps broke the silence in the stairwell. Both of them looked up and saw a kunoichi skipping up the stairs by leaping from railing to railing every couple of floors. She looked at Takuma, ignored him, and did the same with Itachi until her eyes widened in recognit...
2025-04-27 18:16:37 +0000 UTC View PostThe bunker wasn't the place in his vision.
Takuma sat behind his new desk in the big open space assigned to the team for the case. All five people involved had a desk in the space they would be using for the coming months. All sort of evidence was transported to the room, taking over half the room's real estate with shelves, boxes, cupboar...
2025-04-25 19:26:23 +0000 UTC View PostMaruboshi sensed something was wrong when he returned home to find Takuma brooding in the living room. He was still dressed in outdoor clothes and had an untouched bottle of water on the table before him.
"How did the visit to the iryō-nin go?" he asked as he sat across Takuma.
Takuma pushed the bottle of water across the table to h...
2025-04-21 20:22:28 +0000 UTC View Post