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Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_121
🕑 Added 2023-05-18 19:15:22 +0000 UTCIt wasn’t long ago, Kano remembered. The day Yakumi had dumped Takuma on her because he couldn’t be bothered with the new outsider, who was the representation of a broken status quo brought upon the new developments in the political battleground between their clan and the Hokage’s administration.
His situation wasn’t unique, per se. There were others in the same position as him; it was just that he was the one sent to the Department of Organized Crime, while others were not. Perhaps it was her bias speaking, but Kano considered her department was different— stricter. The people had pride in their station as most had earned their way to it.
Her first impression of Takuma had been simple. The boy felt like one of those people who only had the job on their radar without a hint of interest in office politics, chatting with colleagues, after-hours get-togethers, in-office bets and games— in short, one of those really dull guys. At the same time, there was this veil over Takuma; she didn’t think anyone knew of his life outside work. He got to work on time and left the moment his work was done. Kano was thankful Takuma at least informed her before he left for home every day in case she had additional work for him.
So, she didn’t think Takuma would do what he had done yesterday, giving completion to his plans which, according to the boy, had been in the works for a good while. At least, now she knew what he did after work… more work.
And now she sat in her boss’ office. Yakumi was behind his desk, looking as stoic as ever with a hint of displeasure between his brows as he stared down Takuma, who was sitting beside her. To the side, Setsuna sat comfortably on a double-seater couch with a steaming cup of tea on the table next to him.
“Let’s hear about this gang war you claim you prevented, Genin Takuma,” said Yakumi sharply.
Takuma was one to follow the proper dress code on a daily basis, but today he looked like he had spent an hour getting dressed up.
“The anonymous report that began it all wrote that one of the state pharmacies was supplying illegal medical drugs to the Maiko Triad,” started Takuma. “At first, I didn’t put much thought into the motive behind the procurement. My focus was towards the ‘how,’ ‘what,’ and ‘who’ of the situation. All the energy and efforts went into uncovering and outlining the supply chain of this operation.
However, as I began uncovering the details, I came across a string of unsolved cases regarding stolen raw medical-grade material from various refineries and producers. They were restricted materials used to make shinobi-grade medicines and combat enhancers. The medicines and drugs we seized yesterday had many of those stolen materials as part of their ingredient list.”
Yakumi looked at Kano. She nodded. Haven read Takuma’s references to those unsolved robberies in his report and the seized property. When those two things were put in front of her, it was clear, even without her iryo-nin background, that they were connected.
Takuma continued, “Of course, that wasn’t my first chain of thought. I was of the mind that if someone had stolen something like restricted material, they would try to sell it for a profit. So, I approached our black-market contacts, but to my surprise, no one had even heard a whisper of those materials listed anywhere. They aren't even selling the finished drugs. That is strange, sir. I understand concealment is the law in illegal circles, but not even having a rumor in the mill is unnatural.
My conclusion: the robbers had stolen the materials for self-use.”
Kano caught Yakumi glance at Setsuna, who hid his quirked-up lips behind his teacup.
What was that about?
“The question then was of ‘why’,” Takuma took out three spiral-bound files and handed one to each chunin.
Kano was flabbergasted. When did he have time to prepare those? He had been in her eyesight from the moment she had gotten into the office late last night.
“What you have are the recorded cases of conflicts between gangs. On the first page, there’s a graph of the rise in cases in the past year or so where known or suspected members of Maiko Triad are involved.”
Kano didn’t intend to give voice to her thoughts, but they unintentionally leaked out.
“Smart.”
Kano expected Yakumi to fix her with a glare but found her commanding officer occupied with the file in his hand.
When she said ‘smart,’ Kano meant it.
The Hidden Leaf village was a military state, and while the majority were civilians, the shinobi minority held the most power. A military state which ran on shinobi couldn’t maintain control when those same shinobi didn’t want to be under control. There were several groups and organizations which had nothing to do with official shinobi work and were simply people seeking to fulfill their own goals, desires, and greed. The administration ideally wouldn’t want those groups. They had tried to quash them and had failed on their quest. The Hidden Leaf village was where the best shinobi gathered; the administration couldn’t threaten to replace them with others if they refused absolute obedience.
There were case categories pertaining to gang-related crimes, but many of them were practically useless since combat and conflict were a regular part of the shinobi life. When two gangs fought, the people involved would claim they were training— and even if the injuries were over-the-top for ‘training,’ when chakra was involved, anything was possible.
So, as long as no physical property was egregiously damaged, gang-related charges didn’t stick. The Police Force had tried to push for changes in law, but they never got anywhere due to the gangs having collectively gotten influential enough to stop any attempt changes that would jeopardize them.
So, how did Takuma get the rising statistics? Even though officers couldn’t record when they encountered a charge they couldn’t stick, there were still ‘records.’ Not on the people involved but on the officer’s side who was involved. Takuma had pulled the statistic of how many times officers had failed to stick the charges.
And those numbers had risen.
“Why would they need these drugs?” Takuma asked the question. “It won’t be for missions. No gang is buying wholesale for their members so they could get it for cheap. That’s not the relationship. No, I think the Maiko Triad is preparing for a territorial war to strengthen their position.”
“Do you have proof supporting this?” Yakumi asked.
“No, sir. I do not. This is speculation on my part. Though, I wasn’t able to come up with an alternate reason they would be hoarding supplies,” said Takuma. “Well, now we can get the truth out of the men in custody.”
In the end, Yakumi didn’t say anything other than suspending Takuma for a week with pay.
Kano expected Takuma to be relieved and satisfied with what he had gotten. It was essentially a vacation after a hard case. But when they got out of the room, Takuma had a tight crease between his brows.
“What?” she asked.
“Those fuckers are going to divvy up the cases while I’m gone,” he spat.
According to Takuma, this was the first time to be suspended. Not only was he missing the interrogation part of the process, but he was also sure that people like Yoshiaki would steal the good cases connected to these raids. By the time he returned, all he could get were leftover scraps.
Kano sighed. She wasn’t happy with how Takuma had handled the situation, but she could see his point.
“I’ll hold something good for you,” she said.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Takuma looked relieved.
“But do something like this next time; you’ll be out of my team.” Kano couldn’t take insubordination from her team, even if it resulted in outcomes like this time.
Good for Takuma for grabbing an opportunity, but if he was going to do it again, then he could do it under another chunin.
———
.
Takuma groggily packed up his belongings at his desk that he wanted to take home for a week. He hadn’t slept in more than 48 hours and wanted nothing more than the softness of his bed. All the reserves he had been pulling during the last day were running low, and his body had stopped his access to whatever was left on the bottom.
But as he was about to leave, someone called Takuma and felt the irritation from being sleep-deprived bubble up.
“Genin Takuma,” Setsuna stood a few steps from his desk. “Let me see you out.”
Takuma hadn’t seen Setsuna in a bit. They had been in frequent contact during his training, but ever since he had started duty, their interactions had dwindled to run-ins which then turned into a couple of lunches when both of them were free.
“I must say, I wasn’t expecting any of this when I came in today,” Setsuna smiled.
“Did they call you personally?” Takuma questioned. As far as he knew, Setsuna was in charge of recruitment and training; his responsibilities didn’t extend beyond to when the recruits were on active duty.
Setsuna shook his head. “I was merely interested when I heard my secretary gossip. I had to see what you had done.”
“And, what do you think?”
“Impressed,” said Setsuna.
Takuma eyed Setsuna. What was the agenda here?
“I wasn’t expecting you, or anyone of your peers, to make a move this big so soon. I don’t know all the details, but I know Yakumi; he might have been displeased, for which he has cause— but I could see the gears in that man’s mind turning; he was most definitely thinking if he could use what you gave him to eradicate a gang from the face of the village.”
‘He better does it, or none of this would be worth it,’ thought Takuma. From today onward, whatever success originated from his operation would be in some way connected to him. The more they achieved, the more he was to benefit.
“Now, I don’t disagree with Yakumi’s punishment for you, but I do believe a reward is in order. What do you desire, Takuma? I will try to compensate you within the reach of my ability,” said Setsuna.
Takuma took in a deep breath, feeling the tiredness settle in his bones.
‘A reward, huh,’ Takuma mused.
There were a hundred things he wanted, varying from impossible wishes of returning home to material wishes of a pay raise. But what could Chunin Uchiha Setsuna give him? What did he want from the man?
Takuma would’ve preferred to sleep on the offer and take some time to weigh the pros and cons of his wishes before giving an answer, but perhaps it was the fatigue and exhaustion that made him speak out the thing that stayed atop his mind.
“A teacher,” he said.
“Pardon, I missed that.”
“Get me a teacher… a genjutsu teacher.”
———
.
AN: We are going to move into a genjutsu theory soon. I have a rough idea in my mind on how I want my system of genjutsu to work— in fact, we even discussed in ARC-02 in the chapter with Ebisu.
If you guys have any ideas or theories you have regarding how genjutsu works, interesting concepts you might have seen in other works, drop them down in the comments— and I will try to work them into how I'm envisioning it.
Comments
Banana19
Well done author! I always wondered how MC will get someone to train him in Genjutsu but you’ve connected well.
VidDav FerDeL
They clearly have radio and earpiece that they can communicate with their teamates so its not too much of a stretch
VidDav FerDeL
Can we get our mc to utilize the current technology more efficiently like wiretapping someone to get solid evidence
Coalman95
Some Genjustu ideas I figured I would post some of the stuff I thought of while reading this story. You can use anything or nothing just figured I would help spark some ideas(also I have alot of ideas some only half thought out so sorry if I start to rant). To start I would like to say Naruto seriously underrepresented Genjustu. Almost every Genjustu shown had some kinda visual aspects witch makes some sense as it was a show, if we can't see it then what's the point. This on the other hand is a written story. Genjustu don't have to have visual aspects here. Its a problem with a lot of genjustu used in other stories, everyone want them to have some grand effects and layers or something. One thing to say to that KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID. Genjustu let's one manipulate the senses and the mind. Visual is the simplest, easiest and a good places to start and has its uses but you could do so much more with hearing, touch or a combination of all 5 sense and why stop at the 5 major senses why not ones sense of balance just as they try to kick or sense of direction as they attempt to doge. Thinking out side to box is where Genjustu shines. You also can't see though a non visual Genjustu meaning it could also work on some dojustu users. Application. The big fault of Genjustu is being able to applie it quickly, subtlety and then keeping your enemies insnared. You can use hand seals, vision and sound so far. Why not taste and touch as well? Another idea why not a poisons? I could see Takuma diving into Botney with a specialization in hallucinogenic poisons or drugs to use with his genjustu or when senthzied with his charka could be used as an anchor for genjustu that are much more difficult to be broken tell the poison is neutralize. Add in a pain suppressor, no escape. Also the hidden mist justu has been shown to be capable of carrying and traping people in a semi-permanent Genjustu. Again outside the box thinking is key. Sense deprivation. Great mid level Is technique. chunin and low level jonin relying on well hone senses to keep them alive only to become over reliant on them a fumble around when they cant see or hear. Not as useful against high level ninja many of witch have trained to fight without a given sense or two but still useful. In higher level battles instinct exploitation would be cool to see. When training and fighting for decades super powered combat that moves fast that most can think one develops hard wired instinct and experience to stay alive. Example. The subtle shift in the dirt below ones feet tells of an earth justu or the sound of a kuni cutting though the air for the back of your neck. The smell of leave and trees coming from behind you but the enemy is in front. Blury ness around your opponent tell they aren't real. Little thing like that built from a life time of battle experience and training. EXPLOIT IT. Make them unable to trust there own gut instincts. Every sense they have all there hard fought battle experience is telling them the attack is coming from the left only for it to come from behind or the front or maybe if does come from the left or not at all but next time it will or it won't who knows...Takuma does and only Takuma( just don't fall into patterns randomness would be the name of the game here). Well just some ideas most of witch would be more long term goals. Again sorry for the rant let me know if you have any questions. Ja ne
