Chapitre 50: CH_2.19 (050)
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The link is also in the synopsis
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Author's Note:
CHAPTER 50!
Let's fucking go!!!
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"I disagree!"
Takuma didn't have the time to rejoice or even completely take in the announcement. He turned his head toward Kameko, who had dared to raise an objection. While it did surprise him that the objection came, it coming from Kameko didn't surprise him one bit.
The group didn't make a single peep. Even Ai, who Takuma was expecting to break into a celebratory dance, stood unmoving. Everyone waited for their instructor... to react.
The hulking Yoshio arrived in front of Kameko with silent steps. The difference in stature couldn't be more pronounced as they faced each other. One looking down, the other frowning up.
"Insubordination will cost you among shinobi, Taketori," said Yoshio, his thick voice heavier than usual. Takuma hid a wince— Yoshio's use of the family name was sparse, but everyone knew why and when he chose it, and that's what made it more impactful. Yoshio continued, "This is my group. I'm your instructor. My word is the divine law. You don't get to disagree with my decisions, genin."
The taciturn Kameko seemingly found her voice as he talked back at Yoshio. "I'm by far the strongest in this group. I deserve to be in the final tournament. I can understand why Ando and Seno were chosen— but I can't see any merit in Oishi participating in the tournament... sir."
Ando Masaaki and Seno Nenro wrinkled their brows but schooled their expressions for the most part. Oishi Taro, though, pulled a fed-up face with no attempt to hide the emotion he was feeling.
"You speak less, so I didn't notice it. You don't use the word, sir, enough in your vocabulary."
Takuma stood on the opposite end of the grid to Kameko, but he could very clearly feel a pressure seeping out of Yoshio that made his already looming frame look more menacing than ever. Takuma felt as if the atmosphere was bearing down on him, compressing his chest and shoulders. It wasn't just him; everyone else in the group looked a varying level of very uncomfortable.
Was it chakra? It had to be chakra, Takuma thought as he glanced at Yoshio from the corner of his eye. He was scared that the feeling would enhance if Yoshio turned his attention to him.
"Did you not understand when I said that the team on the top would represent me in the final tournament? I'm feeling frustrated right now. How can someone not understand words as simple as that?" Yoshio's words drummed in their ears.
"I'm strong—"
"I don't give a rat's ass if you're stronger, genin. It's my choice, and I will make it any way I want to!" said Yoshio, thundering. Takuma held back a flinch even though he was steps away from them.
Yoshio raised his hand and pointed in the distance toward Shady Guy's medical tent. "I can break his bones a hundred different ways, and he would fail to stop me ninety-nine times if given a chance. I could give him the key to my home for assassination when I'm at my most vulnerable— and I'll still survive even if he jumped me in my bed while I sleep." Shady Guy, noticing they were looking at him, looked up from his book and gave them a wave. "And yet, because he practices the rare iryojutsu(medical jutsu), he's considered more valuable than me in most situations. Strength is not everything, get that through your head."
Takuma stared at the Shady Guy. Princess Tsunade, one of the Three Legendary Sannin, the to-be Fifth Hokage, had pushed for any mission team to have an Iryo-nin, a healer, on the squad. The practice was accepted as having an Iryo-nin shot up the team's survival rate to the moon. It was a great enough difference that every single shinobi village adopted the practice. She was lauded for her contribution to the shinobi organization.
And yet, most teams didn't have an Iryo-nin on them. Iryojutsu was a complex field of ninjutsu and required time and effort from a qualified shinobi to be effective. Most shinobi didn't even have the prerequisite of fine chakra control to step into the field. As such, there just weren't enough Iryo-nin to go around, which made them a sought-after commodity.
It was no wonder Shady Guy could spend a good part of the day idling under a tent doing seemingly nothing important. He could do it because he had the leeway to do so.
Takuma had to give it to Kameko for her persistence because she didn't back down. "But it's a combat tournament. I am more valuable," she said.
The pressure bearing down on the group disappeared with Yoshio's sigh. He spoke, "You're very... very lucky that I don't want to get into annoying trouble with your clan," Kameko's eyes sharpened. "Let me put this straight. It's a fighting tournament of genin who haven't even completed a single mission, not seen the real threat of a blade thirsty for their life— none of you are real shinobi. To me, it's a fun little bet with my co-workers, so," his volume suddenly shot up, "I don't care if you're more valuable! It might be a big thing for you, but for me, it's about the same as cockfighting! Get it straight in your head if you think that you somehow hold some importance in my eyes, because you don't!"
Takuma felt offended. He graduated from the academy, he wore the forehead protector of the Leaf, no one couldn't deny he was a shinobi. Did he express his displeasure? No. He wasn't very very lucky like Kameko, and there wasn't anything holding Yoshio from skinning him alive.
Somehow, he no longer felt the joy of getting to the final tournament. Yoshio didn't care if he was sending the strongest within his group— it was, as the man had put it, a fun bet with his co-workers. For Takuma, however, obtaining a C-rank jutsu was a key mark even in his life.
He felt small.
The difference between someone like him and Yoshio was too great... and Yoshio was only a chunin. Takuma couldn't even imagine what he would look like in the eyes of a jonin. What was he worth in the eyes of the top brass— was he just a dispensable pawn? He didn't think he wanted to know that answer.
The thought alone made his stomach sink.
———
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"Cheers!"
Celebrating the win did bring Takuma's feeling of joy back.
He took a sip of his honey banana shake and looked around the restaurant. Taro didn't eat out much, so he didn't have a recommendation; the trio was from outside, so they had no idea either. The responsibility fell on Takuma, who was equally as clueless— but he ended up recommending the same restaurant that Maruboshi had taken him to. And here they were. He did tell them it was a little on the expensive side, but they didn't seem to mind.
It was his first time eating out after Maruboshi had taken him out on convocation day and the second time overall since he had found himself in the world. The first time around, the celebration had turned from happy to sad real quick when he heard of his assignment to Genin Corps. Takuma looked at his team, and he had to say... Genin Corps wasn't that bad.
"Yoshio sure dug into Kameko," said Masaaki. "I felt bad for her."
"I didn't," Ai said as she flipped through the menu.
Nenro asked, "Did you all feel the pressure coming from Yoshio when he was talking to her?"
Takuma nodded. "It was really heavy. It felt like I had a weighted vest on me. Some kind of chakra manipulation, for sure," he looked at Taro.
"Why are you looking at me? I don't know," Taro said with a half-confused half-frustrated face. "Why do you guys, you in particular," he pointed at Takuma, "think I know the answer to everything? I don't know!"
Takuma did think Taro would know.
"Maybe he was exerting his chakra outwards," said Nenro with an inquisitive look on his face.
Takuma shook his head. "It has to be more than that. I exert chakra outwards when I walk up a wall, but it doesn't happen then. And if he is exerting his chakra outwards— is he pushing it out of all the tenketsu all at once? Isn't that like really difficult? Also, how does it flow out so evenly," he didn't remember seeing anything like that when he read the manga.
"Order first," Ai pushed the menu into Nenro's face as he tried to reply, "then you can talk all you want." She looked at Takuma and then pointed at the menu on the table.
The food was great. Last time around, he was stressed about the Genin Corps, so the experience didn't stick.
"How are you feeling about the tournament tomorrow?" Masaaki asked with a broad grin on his face. "I'm feeling excited. Who would we get to fight against? Hey, do you know?" he addressed the last part to Taro.
"Again, why are you asking me? I was with you the entire time," replied Taro, sighing.
The ninety-seven genins in their batch were divided into four groups. Three groups of twenty-five and one with twenty-two people. The groups trained in the same zone were allocated to the basic genin training, but they didn't share the same training field.
Takuma didn't know about the others in his group, but he didn't meet the genin from other groups other than sometime in passing. If they met eyes, he would nod to them, but other than that, he didn't have much interaction outside his group.
"Twenty people," he said. "Four groups, five people each. If it's single elimination... it'll be four or five rounds, depending on if we get a first-round bye."
"Or we could get eliminated in the first round."
Everyone looked at Taro, who shrugged. Takuma could see Taro tapping out in the first round if the fight got tough. Takuma... didn't want to see that happen. Taro was an easier opponent to fight than most other people. If Taro went far and somehow met him in battle, it would be easier for him to win a fight.
"I won't go easy on anyone if you fight me," Masaaki announced with his arms crossed.
"Neither would I," said Nenro.
"Try me," Ai smiled.
They naturally looked at Takuma, so he thought for a moment before saying, "I'm going to do whatever it takes to get that C-rank jutsu, even if it means beating all of you and whoever fights me into a bloody pulp."
He had a faint smile on his face, but he was serious in what he said. He had invested too much to convert the chance of obtaining the C-rank jutsu. For the next two days, Team-5 would no longer be a team. Every man for themselves, no holds barred.
"Ah," uttered Ai before looking sullen. When Nenro asked, she answered. "Team-5 is over, isn't it... The teams were only supposed to hold until the end of basic training."
'Ah,' Takuma had forgotten about that for a moment.
For Genin Corps, missions were assigned by the Leaf Genin Resource Command— everything from mission objectives to the teammates was pre-described for them.
Today indeed, was the last day for Team-5.
There was a silence between the group for a moment. For the last two months, they had fought each other, they had laughed with each other, they had eaten together, they had trained together. They had spent a majority portion of the waking day with each other.
It was a short time, but they had become a team…
"Doesn't matter. We will still be a team, even if it's not official, and we will still be friends," Nenro raised his glass of water and said, "To Team-5."
" "To Team-5." "
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———
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The link is in the synopsis!
Chapitre 51: CH_2.20 (051)
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón @
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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Takuma furrowed his brow as he twirled the shuriken in his hand as he tried to locate the target. The thick white mist obstructed his vision, hiding the painted wooden stump from him. It was so thick he wouldn't walk outside with the visibility he was left with in the fear that a car would run him over.
The quiet of the morning helped him focus as he tried to recall the position of the stump. But his mind had other plans as it let the thoughts of the tournament creep in. Less than two hours remained before he had to head to the training field for the tournament and fight like a prize fighter for the C-rank jutsu that was on the line. He was going to fight people who he had never seen fight before— even his academy classmates in other groups were an unknown as he had only ever seen them use taijutsu, rest of their combat style was a mystery to him.
He needed to face five(or four if he was lucky) people and win. He was worried… he had never won four fights in a row. His record was dotted with losses. Now he was going to face the best from each group and the chances of him winning five straight against the elevated opposition didn't look great.
But, he had to win.
Takuma threw the shuriken into the white mist and a moment later the sound brought back the thud of the shuriken hitting the wooden stump. He walked through the mist and reached the tall wooden stump with the red and white target that had no shuriken on it. He had missed the target by an inch. He sighed, the nerves were getting to him.
———
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"See, I told you there was money on this!" suddenly Takuma was not feeling the nerves from before.
The training field which was usually full with only the genin in basic training was host to a small crowd of shinobi who were definitely not in basic training. All of them shinobi and from the color of their flak jackets, all of them were chunin.
"They're not even trying to hide it!" Takuma could see someone going from person to person with a laminated paper, collecting money.
"Do you think we can participate?" said Taro, a look of calculation flashing in his eyes. "Because I think if we work together, we can make some serious change."
"Are you talking about match fixing?" asked Nenro.
"I didn't say that, but if you want to put it that way, sure."
Takuma glanced across the field at the team from another group with their chunin instructor. Some distance from them stood another team with their instructor. All the teams had their chunin instructors with them which prompted him to ask the question, "Where's Yoshio?"
Masaaki pointed to a group of chunin and among them stood Yoshio's towering figure laughing with them.
"I… I think it's the first time I have seen him laugh," Ai said with a weirded out face. It was indeed a strange sight to see Yoshio laugh.
Takuma caught Yoshio's eyes, who then walked towards them. "I hope all of you're ready to show your best today," he said. "All of these people are here to see you perform. It'd do you good to put a good impression, and who knows, they might look at you favorably in the future."
What did that mean? In Takuma's eyes it was obvious all of those people were here only for fun. He couldn't think more about it as a shinobi walked to the middle of the field that had been left empty— clearly to be used as the fighting stage.
"Don't disappoint me," Yoshio said to them before walking away to rejoin the people he was previously talking to.
"Welcome all to another iteration of the rookie genin tournament," the shinobi announced with a charming host smile on his face. "Today, we will see twenty of best rookies fight for the tantalizing prize of a C-rank jutsu. Until yesterday, they were teammates, but today, they're going to clash against each other to prove that they're the strongest! Are you excited to see who rises to the top and who gets crushed behind."
There hoots and cheers across the crowd.
'God, it's like a gladiator colosseum,' thought Takuma. It also told him that this tournament was in no way official.
The announcer continued, "As there are twenty contestants, we will have to weed some people out to make a proper bracket. That's why the first round will be a preliminary consisting of four matchups.
The announcer then named the people part of the preliminary round. Two people from each team were chosen. From Team-5, Ai and Taro were called up.
"People with the worst records?" noted Masaaki, bluntly.
"At least, you're not fighting each other," said Nenro, "meaning both of you have the chance to move to the next round."
Both lost their fights.
"I did say that it was a clear possibility," Taro shrugged, unbothered about his loss as he rolled his shoulder that had been cleanly dislocated in the fight.
Ai did look genuinely down as Nenro consoled her.
Betting money exchanged hands in the audience before the announcer took the stage again.
"The genins fought valiantly and while some lost, they're winners are heart," the announcers said some nice words and then got boo-ed at from the crowd. He ignored the crowd like a deaf person and continued, "Now that we have a proper bracket in hand, we can get started at the real fun," he said and money once again begin to exchange hands.
"Let's begin with the round of sixteen," the announcer read from the slip in his hand. "The first game matchup is going to be Yoshio against Chinatsu, represented by Takuma and Ohta."
Takuma got slapped on his back by Masaaki as he stepped out, as did the Ohta from Chinatsu's team. There were hoots and cheers as they took the stage. Ohta was taller than Takuma, almost as tall as Masaaki, but was wider than him— Takuma could see Ohta growing into Yoshio's build if he hit the gym twice a day.
They faced each other as the announcer addressed them. "You know the rules," he said. "Don't kill each other or lop something off that can't be fixed. Stop the fight the moment I say so. As long as you follow that, you're good. Do you both understand?"
Takuma nodded while Ohta replied with a 'yes'.
"Good, then take it away, young fellas. Make the fight as entertaining as possible."
The moment the announcer moved away, Ohta started to speak,
"I heard you're a big loser."
Takuma was surprised by the sudden trash talk, but he indulged after a moment's thought. "Oh, yeah? Do you know what I heard? I heard you choke big time, so this fight is going to be really easy for me," he said. Ohta's team had two of his academy classmates, so he knew who must've said that about him.
"Oh, who said that?"
"Your mom did," Takuma grinned, "when I visited her last night… and you know what, she was doing the same thing as you," he then mouthed: 'choke'.
Takuma hadn't heard that since he had come to this world. But boy did it work like a charm. At first, Ohta was surprised, but anger soon overtook him and he rushed like a raging bull. Takuma quick-stepped out of reach, avoiding a kunai slash to the face, and countered with a front kick to the gut. Ohta folded in half as he flung backward, but he was as strong as he looked as he regained his balance before he hit the floor and landed with his feet dragging tracks on the ground.
Ohta snarled and rushed forward without skipping a breath. Takuma threw himself backward and Ohta's swinging kick sliced air, a handspan from hitting.
Following up, Takuma closed the distance, and Ohta, having being enraged by Takuma's comment, attacked with unadulterated aggression. Takuma blocked every swing and hit, and though he was ratcheting up the pace, he did it slowly. If he was to take advantage of Ohta's rage, he was going to do it thoroughly. He used no true attacks but blocked and countered with precision, while pushing the pedal on the pace.
Ohta's heavier build matched his fighting style, he wasn't a nimble fighter, and his heavy swings showed that he was power hit. The fighting style suited Takuma because he could actually keep up and control the momentum. Which was why even though he lost regularly to Masaaki, he found Ai more challenging.
The needle on the pace had moved to a point where Takuma felt rushed, and he knew that Ohta was slower than him. The rage and free space to attack was the only reason why Ohta hadn't noticed how unfavorable pace had become.
Takuma made his move. Ohta swung his arm wide, Takuma ducked under it before taking advantage of the Ohta's bodies moving momentum to step in and stamp a fist into the face. Ohta's aggression suddenly came to a panicked halt. Takuma danced on his feet, bringing himself to the side. He kicked behind Ohta's knee.
Ohta, forced to kneel, hurriedly turned his torso back to bring his hands in a better position to block. He caught the late glimpse of a kunai coming down until and then it was the pain that told him there was a kunai embedded behind his shoulder. The screams ripped through the gallery's cheers as blood spluttered out in the air.
Takuma didn't let his feet rest for a moment. He glided from Ohta's left to right and slipped two senbon into the base of Ohta's neck, pushing them deep into the resisting flesh, avoiding anything vital as to not kill. He had spun a full circle around Ohta and for the 'finishing blow' he grabbed Ohta's head and made him kiss his rising knee, caving Ohta's face in.
Takuma grabbed another kunai out to continue but he saw Ohta dropped to the ground on his back, falling on the kunai left in his back, digging it deeper. Ohta passed out before he hit the ground.
"And, that's it!" the announcer called the fight.
Takuma let the breath go he didn't know he was holding and took a couple unsteady steps back. He could hear his heartbeat as he watched the two young Iryo-nin in charge of injuries rushed in to take Ohta away. Takuma stared at Ohta's broken face and he stared at the pool of blood he had left behind as the announcer grabbed his hand to raise it as the victor.
"You did great, Takuma!" Nenro greeted him with excited slaps on the shoulder.
"The knee to the face? A great touch," Masaaki nodded in appreciation.
"How're you feeling?" asked Ai.
Takuma stared at his friend's face. What was he supposed to say? That it didn't feel real. Everything had gone by so quickly and smoothly. That he was expecting his plan to fail or at least face some hiccups along the way. That he had seen the fight go an entirely different way in his mind.
"I'm feeling…"
He thought about the last two months. He had worked hard. He had contributed to the team that had won in the group. He had been the first to complete the tree-walking challenge. He had won some tough fights which he didn't think he would've been able to win two months back.
The stunned disbelief gave way to something else as he thought about it.
"… confident."
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———
Chat with me and the rest of the community on our DISCORD server.
The link is in the synopsis!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
200+ Classement
Power Stone 
109 Power
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