Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_207

Takuma rubbed his ear, which had been ringing for more than an hour. The dynamite explosions used to destroy the mining infrastructure had set off his ears even though he was wearing earplugs. Sure, they weren’t professionally made earplugs, but Takuma expected to do something. His ears were especially sensitive because of training.

“You should have that looked at,” Anko commented by his side.

They were journeying back to Camp Banana after completing the job at the Gojiro gold mines. Some of the troops had to stay back to escort the miners—who had helped set up the dangerous dynamites as the shinobi weren’t experienced in that field. The rest of the troops returned to Camp Banana as they couldn’t leave the position under protected for long.

“It’s fine. I’m not going to bother the iryo-nin right now. They must be exhausted,” Takuma replied to her.

Everyone was exhausted. They had first traveled from Camp Banana to Gojiro gold mines, then fought a bloody battle, lost several people, finally destroyed an entire gold mine pit, and then mounted a journey back to Camp Banana. They had scant rest during the entire process, and then the jonin insisted that they return to Camp Banana as soon as possible.

Takuma looked ahead and saw one of the teams traveling together.

“That’s them, aren’t they?” Takuma pointed out to Anko. “The team that ditched the Evacuation Unit.”

“Hideki,” Anko spat as she evil-eyed the chunin in charge of the team.

Chunin Hideki and his two genin on the Evacuation Unit had broken away from the unit to set off explosions around the pit to surprise the enemy.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think he’s going to get reprimanded for what he did,” said Takuma.

“No, they won’t. Toridasu for sure ordered them to do that regardless of how the Evacuation Unit was doing. He wouldn’t have done that if he wasn’t protected by Toridasu.” As she ran, the ground under her feet exploded from chakra, startling the people around her, but she ignored them. “You know what the kicker is? Those explosions were fucking useful. He’s going to get fucking praised for it. Ugh, I want to feed him to my babies.”

Takuma shuddered at the thoughts of Anko’s snakes. He had one of them wrapped around him when she was rescuing him, but he was so out of it, that he didn’t pay any attention to it. However, from how Kameko described it during a small break, her snakes were absolutely dreadful.

“You can have partial credit for the mine collapse if that will help us get more sway in the camp,” said Takuma. He was a genin, and getting full credit would be huge for his reputation and career—but in the current moment, Anko, a chunin, getting some sway in the camp would do the entire time, and in extension, Takuma, some good. It was trading some of his credit and investing it in hopes that it would turn into more opportunities that would yield more benefits.

“No,” Anko shut Takuma’s down immediately, “you’re not going to do anything of that sort. I’m going to make sure that there’s no ambiguity in the report when I mention your actions and how crucial they were. Be careful when you say things like that. People will swallow whole when you offer a bite.”

Takuma nodded when Anko’s gaze lingered as though seeking a response from him.

“New people are going to come to the camp,” Takuma said. They had lost a significant amount of people; as such, Camp Bana was in need of new blood to replenish that loss. “At least I won’t be the new guy anymore.”

Anko said, “We might be looking at an advantage at our hands. The number of complete teams have decreased… the number of chunin have decreased,” they had lost four of the fourteen chunin, “Team-9 is a complete team that can go on active missions on short notice if required. There’s a chance if we play it right, we might be able to get some recapture missions.”

“Recapture missions?”

“The Gojiro gold mines was a late addition to Camp Banana’s mission calendar. Before that became a priority, we were in the midst of planning a big operation…”

Camp Banana was created by the enemy’s advance, who had already invaded the borders and captured the territory of the Land of Hot Waters. They had the dual purpose of being a stopgap and recapturing the enemy-occupied enemy territory. Before the Gojiro gold mines came along, Camp Banana was working on a plan to accomplish the recapture part of their purpose.

The enemy had captured three essential border cities that had great strategic locations as they were the hubs for trade routes and roads built in the region. Everything flowed in and out of those cities, and by controlling the cities, they had established a chokehold on the entire region. Camp Banana was planning to destroy that chokehold by recapturing the cities and move their base location up to one of those cities to ensure that they had a strong position in the region.

Anko continued. “With our losses, the operation could only realistically start after a month or forty-five days when the new blood has integrated enough to function as teams—but there were talks of a precursor mission before the operation… I think I can get us into that precursor mission.”

“What’s the mission objective?” asked Takuma.

“There are several towns and villages that feed into those three cities. Those villages and towns are being forced to send food and rations to the cities in exchange for not being pillaged and burnt. The mission is to cause chaos by killing the shinobi who come in to collect the food and rations. Some important towns are occupied as well, and we kill those shinobi as well. We want to draw more and more shinobi out of the city so we can pick them off so when the recapture actually happens, we can have an advantage, no matter how small it is.”

“Sounds like a lot of time outside the camp,” said Takuma.

Anko nodded. “Are you up for it?” she asked.

“It’s up to you, boss. If you think this is worth it, then why not,” he said.

Takuma didn’t want to waste his time. He could be doing the precursor mission outside the camp or do equally meaningful work inside the camp. He didn’t care where he did that.

“If we are going for this mission, the lead time will be busy,” said Takuma with a sigh.

“Busier than the lead time for what he just did?”

“Much busier,” Takuma sighed.

The battle at the gold mines told him he lacked attack variety. He needed to gain another weapon as soon as possible.

———

.

Dear Taro,

How are you doing, buddy? I hope you didn’t quit your job because it was too hard.

I just completed a long and hard mission that I can’t share the details about because I’m technically not supposed to be here. As I write this letter, I have just woken up from a sixteen-hour deep sleep because I hadn’t slept in more than two days.

The appeal of it all wore off very quickly. The food sucks, the water tasted off for weeks, my mattress should be ashamed of being called one, and the fucking humidity is the curse that doesn’t end.

I’m finally seeing the appeal of getting an off-the-field position.

However, I’m good at what I do, so I guess I can only complain so much.

Well… I guess I’m just writing this because I miss you and the gang.

I have made friends here, but it’s somewhat difficult to care when you don’t know if they will be alive by the end of the month. Kameko’s here, and I do not like her very much—she hasn’t changed much from the basic training days—but at least she reminds me of the Hidden Leaf.

So… while I feel a little homesick, I’m as safe as possible in my current situation.

Take care of yourself, okay?

I will see you soon,

Takuma.

———

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Dear ma’am,

I hope this letter finds you in good health.

This morning, after I woke up, as I sat on my bed, my mind fetched the memory of our discussion when I brought you my deployment order. Your words about it being an opportunity when I was so adamantly against it was the start of it all.

You were right. This is an opportunity. A great one at that. I still would’ve preferred working out of my office at the Police Force, though, but I believe that’d be most people’s preference.

Regardless of my preference, I believe this was the right move. I might be made for this—for wars—or is it for violence—or maybe it’s simply for killing.

There was a mission with a lot of deaths, and afterward, the iryo-nin were asking everyone if they slept well, how they were feeling, or if they were experiencing any out-of-the-ordinary distress. I knew what they were on the lookout for, and I’m thankful that they care.

I didn’t feel anything. I don’t like taking lives. I don’t feel any sick pleasure from it. If given the choice, I don’t want to do it—but, to be honest, it comes really easy. It’s no different than doing any other activity.

Alright, this is enough. I didn’t intend this to be so heavy.

Regardless of how I feel about it or don’t feel about it, I’m focused on making the most of what I can get out of here.

Your student,

Takuma.

PS: How’s Sasuke doing? I hope he’s having a great time at the academy.

PPS: I think I’m done with pre-made genjutsu. It took a long time, but I think I’m ready for some customization.

———

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Dear Kano,

I hope you’re in good health.

I know you’re not supposed to tell me about the investigation, but I wonder if there has been any progress in finding the blacksmith behind the touchmark or anything else related to the assassins.

I have attached the details of the office through which you can send letters to me.

Please send me a reply.

Regards,

Takuma.