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Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_318
Takuma sat in Maruboshi's living room, gazing at the package that had arrived for him via the courier. Maruboshi was on an overnight wilderness trip, leaving him alone at the house.Even though ANBU had given them seven days to a week to decide, the package arrived in three days. This could eithe...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_317
The day after Takuma returned from the ANBU recruitment, he found himself visiting the Torture and Interrogation headquarters. While he was away, they sent an invitation to Maruboshi's house. How did they find he was living there? Oishi Yori, Taro's mom, asked her son who gave her Takuma'...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_316: ARC-09
The last team to return was the Five and Sixteen duo, who returned two hours before the deadline. From the conversation, all teams had completed their tasks, and while they didn't discuss specifics, they had been given similar tasks: robberies, sabotage, bounty, and assassinations.The deadline p...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_315
Three woke up with a start and glanced at the running scenery around her."I am awake," she said from the princess carry in Takuma's arms, "you can put me down now."Takuma didn't put her down and continued to run at full speed while following the standard procedure of throwing...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_314
The forsaken factory brought up bad memories. The dust in the air, the smell of abandon and rust, even the way faint sounds echoed—everything reminded him of the factory base in Yu, where he had spent over two of the worst months of his life.If it weren't for the task, Takuma would've left...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_313
Agando Morosumu, a.k.a Four, felt a bead of sweat slip down his face. He sat in a restaurant with food before him, but he had no appetite because he was in the middle of a task, and his target was aware of his presence.Two tables down, he could feel three men glancing at him. One of them had a bount...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_312
Yamanaka Amami scouted the estate in the cover of the night. The main building and one of the secondary buildings, which seemed to be the guard quarters, were well-lit—but the rest of the grounds were covered in darkness. As long as she stayed clear of a couple of lamp posts around the property, s...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_311
A silence hung between Takuma and Three as they sat in their shared inn suite. It was their second inn due to their decision to switch places daily. They sat in comfortable chairs opposite each other around a circular table, but the set of four open scrolls given to them by the informant, along with...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_310
When the local newspaper hit the streets in the early morning, the article about the robbery at the high-ranking samurai's house became the topic of discussion and chatter among the city populace. It wasn't something they hadn't seen before, but it was rare enough to be a once-a-year sig...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_309
Sune Jakusho had been looking to the evening for the entire week. He had been making progress with the geisha, Yuri, and thought it would be another week before her futile resistance would crumble. He didn't mind her reluctance and defiance—in fact, he appreciated it—the prize was so much mo...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_308
The Zakahira estate was abuzz with commotion. The house of a high-ranking samurai was robbed in broad daylight. For that to happen in the Ember Imperial City was astounding, and the news was bound to spread throughout the city by the following day.A man with long salt-and-pepper hair dressed in a bl...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_307
The target's name was Sune Jakusho, a low-level samurai who was connected to a local yakuza-styled gang involved in extorting "protection fees" from businesses, duping elderly people with no relatives into signing over their wealth, and running a predatory loan shark business with absurd...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_306
As far as first impressions were concerned, Takuma wasn't entirely pleased with his assigned partner."So how do you want to play this?" asked Three as the duo sat at a two-person table at a teashop. Both had their masks off and were dressed in civilian clothes; revealing their faces was ...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_305
The ANBU were a bunch of assholes, Takuma decided when they didn't reveal duo pairing at the camp and declared they would only announce them when they reached the capital city. They were clearly trying to make it hard for the candidates by decreasing the time the duos would get to establish each...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_304
The ANBU had set up a temporary camp to house the candidates. It was a bunch of tents around a campfire and was located near a small stream. After Takuma had passed through the woods, the ANBU-nin showed him the way to the camp. Instead of immediately going to the camp, he first went to the stream t...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_303
Two candidates ran into each other on the fourth day as they left the fourth checkpoint at dawn.Number #16, Yaya Utamatsu.Number #5, Igabi Kyusu.Both of them had their masks on and faced each other cautiously. They subtly put a distance between each other where they felt comfortable enough to react ...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_302
ANBU-nin codenamed Leopardreclined on a patio chair on the log cabin deck outside the forest with a thin gauze-like cloth spread over her face because wearing her mask while she relaxed was a massive pain. Even though she was at work, it felt like a vacation because others handled the job, and all s...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_301
A dirty wild boar sauntered out of the woods while looking around the flat meadow for any predators. When he decided the field was clear, he found a good patch of grass and put his nose down to get food in his belly. As he greedily ate the green, he felt something in his surroundings and snapped his...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_300: (Sparta!?)
Three hours after the questionnaires were collected for evaluation, the candidates gathered in the hall on the ground floor. Takuma stood in the crowd, wearing the 'Scars' mask; he was surprised when he was instructed to wear it as he thought it was placed in the room only to mess with him...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_299
"How are they doing?" Eisbar asked as he returned from his break. He was a fit middle-aged man of average height with light grey streaks all over his hair that well complemented his blacks, giving him a mature, charming salt-and-pepper look.Six hours had gone by since they had locked the can...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_298
At a location far from the office building with the candidates, a group of ANBU-nin and department staff used another building as their base. They preferred to be in the same location, but a Hyuga was participating in the assessment, and they didn't want to be seen by the Byakugan.They were insi...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_297
At six in the morning, Takuma and Maruboshi stood in front of the latter's house. Takuma was dressed in the standard Leaf shinobi gear with a slightly chunkier backpack with what he thought he would need during the two-week assessment. Seeing that they didn't know anything about the assessme...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_296
As the last hour of the gathering wound down, Takuma and Arisu sat shoulder to shoulder, feet kicked out, leaning against the wall, away from the tables. The mood of the gathering had long since settled down; some people had left, and the conversations had turned softer; some had even laid down on t...
Narut(o): The Outsider's Resolve: CH_295
"Do you like your life now or when you were back at the academy?"Izumi considered the question from the boy sitting beside her. Even though she had sat beside him five minutes ago, they had only been part of the same conversation instead of actually talking with each other. She was just abou...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_294
The gathering continued, and Takuma changed tables in an attempt to preserve his social battery and found Taro on the least occupied table."Thank you for before. Things would've gotten awkward if you didn't speak up," said Takuma, grateful that Taro was the first to order when he off...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_293
"Kameko was talking about the gold mine operation your base ran, and I asked a question about keeping track of your surroundings when there's such a sheer quantity of enemies and allies around you," asked Momoe.It had been almost two years since she had seen Takuma after their impromptu ...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_292
The vibe of the class gathering had turned awkward when Takuma left the building soon after coming in to talk with Kameko outside. Taro, who had arrived alongside him, sat down and ordered a large oolong tea.He had caught the tail end of the conversation before it was shut down. Takuma hadn't me...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_291
As the week drew to a close, the weekend arrived. On an early Saturday evening, Kameko found herself standing outside an izakayanestled deep within the Entertainment District, away from the bustling main streets. The front door had a notice taped to it that said the place was reserved for the day fo...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_290
Beautiful.That was what Maruboshi thought when he saw his student getting beat up. The skill shown by Uchiha Mikoto was exquisite; every move looked elegant and effortless, but all of it was planned down to the very minute details. He expected it from a jonin, especially a Uchiha, to possess such sk...
Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_289
Takuma didn't rush in, nor did he pause to relax. Almost getting a hit in was nothing special when Mikoto was playing around with one hand on top of restraining her to his level. Unlike spars with Maruboshi, which were essentially "simulations" where he allowed Takuma to test out moves a...
