Chapitre 61: CH_3.2 (061): C-rank Jutsu!

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———

Takuma gazed at the sign of the multi-storied building situated in the industrial district. It was his first time in this part of the Leaf, and it had taken a bit before he found the address. Panka Couriers— said the blue and white sign over the entrance. He looked down at the mission slip in his hand that he had received from the Mission Desk Central with the mission specifics. On it, Panka Couriers was written under the patron's name. He had arrived at the right place.

His first mission. He felt jittery like a child about to go on their first errand. He knew D-rank missions were busy work and odd jobs, but he still felt nervous and wanted his first mission to go as smoothly as possible without any problems.

Even from the outside, Takuma could tell that the building was a large warehouse. Long and tall shelving racks covered the floor. In the back, Takuma could see people packing items in boxes and packages. He talked to the first person he saw, who walked him to the owner's office.

"Boss, a shinobi is here for the job."

Inside the office, a pot-bellied man in a white cotton shirt that hugged his torso was sitting behind a desk with a towel hanging from his shoulder. The man raised his top-bald head from the papers on his desk and looked at Takuma.

"Shinobi… you're here for the job?" asked the owner.

Takuma nodded and showed him the mission slip. The owner studied it for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, this is the one," he said and asked Takuma to sit down.

The mission, if Takuma could use that word for this job, was to work as a delivery man for Panka Couriers. According to the contract, he was to work for an entire week with a minimum quota of deliveries in a day. A certain number of package deliveries counted as 1 D-rank mission, and as long as the patron had enough work for him, he could do as many deliveries as he could, and at the end of the mission, he would be paid for the amount of D-rank missions he had completed. There were a couple more stipulations in the contract, which ensured that neither side could exploit the other.

All in all, it sounded like a simple enough job.

"It's good that you're here, one of the boys left suddenly without warning, and I couldn't find anyone to replace him," said the man. He stood up and asked Takuma to follow him. They walked deeper into the warehouse, where the owner was introduced to one of the employees.

"This is Ran; he will be giving you work," said the owner before leaving Takuma with Ran.

"Have you done this before?" asked Ran. He was a tall and well-built man dressed in a sleeveless vest, blue pants, and a yellow hard hat on his head.

Takuma shook his head.

"Alright, listen well then," Ran pointed at the map behind him on the wall. It was the map of the Hidden Leaf village, but it was marked differently than the maps Takuma had seen before. "We have divided the village into areas, and we divide the packages according to the areas, so when you go out to deliver, you will only serve one of those areas. You go straight to the area and then move around to deliver the packages. You will either get your load from here, or we will tell you to go to a client, and you will pick the load from there and then deliver it."

Ran then showed him the 'equipment'— a bag so large that when Takuma hung it on his back, it towered over his head. It was to store small and medium-sized packages. For large packages that couldn't be carried on the back, carts were used to transport them around the village.

"Donkey or horse pulls them, but shinobi usually pull the carts on their own."

Takuma nodded. Shinobi didn't use horses for travel. Traveling by foot when you could jump from tree to tree and cut through a forest or outlast a prancing horse which would tire down long before a chakra-enabled shinobi who could run for hours. Even when cargo was involved, shinobi would use storage seals to put away the weight and travel by foot.

Like most shinobi, Takuma didn't know how to ride a horse or control a cart-pulling animal. As for storage seals, he had only learned how to imitate the fuinjutsu script and chakra application to make the most basic storage seal that could only hold a few kilograms. Maruboshi, pushed for time, had chosen not to explain any theory behind the scrolls and only taught Takuma to make a monkey copy so that he could make a scroll without understanding what he was doing.

After a final explanation of how to approach delivery orders to take the least time and the rules, do's, and don'ts while delivering the packages, Takuma was off with the most oversized bag the warehouse had filled to the brim.

The bag was heavier than anything an average person could lug around, but for Takuma, it was simply a heavy bag. Other than the fact that it hindered his mobility due to its size, Takuma felt he could do deliveries all day long and get employer of the week by a long shot.

———

Enthusiasm could take humanity to the stars. For Takuma, it took him to overperforming to the point that on Day-5, the owner sent him home earlier because they didn't have anything left for him to deliver when he returned in the middle of the work day to get another load. By the last day, Takuma had done everything from solo small-package deliveries to cart deliveries to pick-and-drop deliveries.

He had even accompanied another employee for a delivery run who had told him that his route order was terrible. The only reason he could do so much was that he could brute rush through the order deliveries faster than people who knew how to order their delivery route properly.

That was fine for Takuma. He was only in the delivery business for a week. By the end of the week, he had completed eight D-rank missions in his first week, which got him a commendation from the owner that turned out to be a plus point for Takuma as it went on his record.

But, at the same time, eight D-rank missions were all he did during the week. He didn't train, meet with friends, relax at home, hike on a nearby nature trail, learn other skills, or do anything. Every moment of his 'work' time went into fulfilling deliveries.

Before the contract, he had visited the jutsu archive every day to look at jutsu, but in the week, he had only visited once. He decided it wasn't worth it to dedicate that much time to missions. He needed time to train and do other activities. As long as he did two to three missions a week, he would make the monthly minimum, and he could supplement more to ensure he wasn't seen doing the bare minimum.

After he submitted his signed and stamped mission slips back to the mission desk, he was told that he could take a week off before returning to take missions which he complied with and spent the hours every day for the rest of the week in the jutsu archive, looking at C-rank jutsu, trying to figure out what he should choose. He looked at Doton (Earth Release) jutsu, he looked at Raiton (Lightning Release), and he looked at Raiton jutsu at the D-rank library— as Doton was supposed to be weaker against Raiton and he needed to know which Doton jutsu could be completely screwed over with a weaker Raiton jutsu and avoid those jutsu.

'Fuck me, choosing Raiton as my first jutsu,' Takuma felt he couldn't blame anyone but himself for choosing the one affinity opposite his primary affinity.

The chakra induction paper only showed the primary(highest) affinity, and while it could be possible that Takuma wasn't weakest at Raiton as just having Doton didn't mean he was automatically weakest with Raiton, but from his proficiency with Raiton: Shokku (Lightning Release: Shock) it was very well possible that he was dog shit with Raiton jutsu.

Takuma had entered his free week intending to choose his C-rank jutsu. By the end of the week, he had achieved his goal.

His choice—

Doton: Tsuchi Domu (Earth Release: Earth Dome)

His first jutsu, Raiton: Shokku was an offensive jutsu, something he chose to increase his firepower; even if it didn't go entirely as he wished, the jutsu did provide him a boost in offensive power. His second jutsu was Suiton: Kirigakure Jutsu (Water Release: Hidden Mist Jutsu), a supportive class of jutsu, something he had chosen to hinder his opponent while allowing him to put his existing options and weapons to better use. Other than his two D-rank jutsu, he had Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Jutsu), which Takuma had plans to incorporate into his fighting style under certain circumstances.

Takuma's fights while competing in the basic training final tournament were one of the most valuable experiences he had gained regarding combat. The second day had especially told him, through his beaten body, that he lacked a defense option. The long recovery period and his weakened state in his fight against Nenro clearly indicated that he needed to protect himself.

Moreover, he had also noticed how, similar to him, none of his opponents had a defense option. Nenro had shown Raiton: Shokku, a genjutsu, and a Katon (Fire Release) jutsu— all three fell under the offense classification. Yuhi Kame was a genjutsu user, and while that fight hadn't lasted very long, she hadn't shown any sign of using a pure-defensive jutsu. And finally, Fuma Arisu utilized her fuma shuriken from a distance to target him and had a modification in melee— she had only used bukijutsu against him and, yet again hadn't pulled a pure-defensive jutsu against him.

While all of them were still early in their growth as shinobi, and they could pick a pure-defensive jutsu in the future— his fights did tell him that if he could outlast his opponent by taking comparatively less damage, the chances of victory skyrocketed in his favor.

And with the offensive capabilities, everyone had shown him, it was only wise for him to choose a defensive jutsu.

Fortunately for him, Earth was the most associated with protection, and Doton had good options for Takuma.

His first choice was Doton: Koka Jutsu (Earth Release: Hardening Jutsu). By utilizing earth-natured chakra, a shinobi encased their body in surrounding rock, creating an armor. This casing could also create extendible weapons to strike a target with.

Takuma liked the jutsu as not only did it provide him with a great defense, but it also provided him with an option for boosted melee offense by extending the casing armor to form bludgeoning weapons to strike the opponent with. For the first three days, his heart stuck to the jutsu, but a single point shattered his favorability towards Doton: Koka Jutsu.

The armor that caused the user added weight to the body. Takuma was a poor match against faster and more agile opponents, with his taijutsu capabilities unable to keep up. His recent opponents had been a genjutsu user with weak taijutsu capabilities, a bukijutsu user who hurled around a heavy chunk of pure metal as her weapon, and a half-beaten shinobi who leaned towards strategic use of genjutsu to hinder opponents and use ninjutsu to deal severe damage from the distance.

But he knew the reality against the nimbler opponents. Further reducing his speed wouldn't do him any good.

So, he turned his eye to another jutsu and stumbled upon Doton: Tsuchi Domu, which according to its description, was a simplified version of B-rank jutsu Doton: Iwa-He (Earth Release: Rock Shelter)— he didn't know what made it a simplified version as it wasn't mentioned, but both jutsu created domes around the user.

It was a simple jutsu, which Takuma liked as it meant that it could be utilized in various situations without any circumstantial limitations.

The second alternative that Takuma considered was a Doton: Doro Gaeshi (Earth Release: Mud Overturn). Another defensive jutsu that brought a mud wall up for protection. Due to its composition, the jutsu was highly effective against Katon jutsu, but for the same reason, it was weak against Raiton jutsu— and for a Doton jutsu which was already vulnerable to Raiton to be weaker didn't seem like a positive outlook. The reason he had considered the jutsu in the first place was that the primary affinity for a great majority of people in the Land of Fire was Katon— and having a jutsu strong against Katon seemed like a legitimate option.

However, in the end, Takuma decided to walk toward the side of neutrality and confirmed his choice to be Doton: Tsuchi Domo.

Takuma turned to the shinobi with him in the room. "I have decided," he said.

The shinobi stepped closer, asked Takuma's choice, and walked out with Takuma's shinobi registration— and when he returned, he had a jutsu scroll with him.

Takuma looked at the scroll on the table in front of him, and with nervous hands, he rolled it open.

It was time to start learning.

———

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Chapitre 62: CH_3.3 (062)

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———

"This isn't what I thought I would be doing as a shinobi," said Ai, grumbling as she pulled out weeds in an old lady's garden.

This was precisely what Takuma thought he would be doing when he became a shinobi. And with hundreds of thousands of people capable of supernatural doing the same things across the lands, he didn't mind doing menial jobs.

"I want to drink something cold. Let's get a milkshake when we are done with this," said Takuma, working his hands to de-weed the garden. D-rank missions weren't always solo endeavors. Random genin would be teamed together as per the requirement of the task, such as the patron wanting to get the job done faster, which would need extra labor.

In the months he had been a genin, he had worked a mission with Masaaki and the current one being his first with Ai. With multiple years of genin doing D-rank missions, it was already a surprise that he was teamed up with two out of four teammates. Even today, he and Ai were accompanied by a third genin (an older one) that they didn't know.

"How's shinobi life suiting you?" asked Takuma.

"Hmm? Unexpectedly not difficult at all. When compared to basic training, I don't even notice doing the missions, you know. The pay is a little shit though."

The compensation for D-rank missions was shit, especially when the mission was a multiple-day affair or when there were multiple genin on the same mission as the pay was split between them. Moreover, the state took a commission for themselves before handing them what remained. If not for the permanent base pay they got outside of missions, working D-rank missions wouldn't have been worth it. And they never knew when they would be getting a good quality mission or they would be forced to work a mission with shit pay. The latter happened more than the former.

Takuma looked at Ai, "You shouldn't stop training. Who knows when we will get a C-rank mission," in which there was a chance to encounter bandits or highwaymen— it was better to be prepared than dead in a ditch, "and you can't be a chunin if you aren't stronger, we can't stop training."

"Isn't it still too early to think about that? We still have two and a half years before we can even apply, and then we will need recommendations for it," said Ai.

Two and a half years seemed enough to get some recommendations, thought Takuma. But at the same time, he hadn't been in contact with any chunin yet. His interactions had been with his fellow genin and the receptionist at the mission desk, who were also genin. He needed some way to get in touch with some chunin and work with them.

———

That same week, he got to talk to a chunin.

Just that it wasn't the chunin who he thought he would be talking to.

"Takuma, fancy meeting you here."

Takuma, who was walking down his usual route back home, stopped beside the café. Sitting on one of the outdoor tables was Shady Guy with tea and daifuku. If not for his shinobi uniform, he would've looked strange in his small blackout shades and the headcover bandanna. Maybe he still looked weird, but after seeing him for two months, Takuma had gotten used to that style aesthetic.

Shady Guy waved at Takuma as he said, "It's been a while, how about you join me for some tea. Come on here, let's catch up."

Takuma was baffled for a moment about how to respond. He and Shady Guy didn't know each other very well— shown by the fact that Takuma didn't know the man's name and addressed him as Shady Guy. However, Shady Guy did close his bleeding wounds and heal his broken bones on multiple occasions— which did warrant some form of familiarity and intimacy.

So, he decided, what the heck, why not, and went down to sit down with Shady Guy.

"How's genin life treating you?" asked the Shady Guy.

"… Fine, I guess," Takuma provided an uninspiring answer. "I mean, it's one job to another. It almost feels like a very short-term temp worker. I guess it does give you exposure to many jobs, which is good because it helps when you do them later. But you know, is this the kind of thing I want to gain exposure to? Like, I know I gotta pay my dues before I can do some real stuff, but right now, it feels like I'm wasting my time."

Before Takuma knew it had gone spoke a little too much of things he didn't want to speak about during a small talk. Much like answering 'how are you' with anything other than 'I'm fine, how about you?'

"Sorry about that," said Takuma, raising his teacup to hide the red on his cheeks.

"It's totally alright; I know how it feels. D-rank missions aren't fun for anyone," Shady Guy smiled. "I mean, making shinobi do trivial chores when we are trained to do so much more is almost disrespectful. Do you know before the formation of villages, shinobi clans used to be locked in battle with each other, waging wars for survival and dominance. In those days, the civilians served the shinobi, and in return, they would get protection from getting pillaged, killed, and having their women raped by other clans… Now, civilians are patrons, and we do odd jobs for money.

"But I suppose some things have to be a certain way whether we like it or not."

Takuma didn't say anything in response to that. It was true; he knew the history from the history books. But the way Shady Guy had put it had some clear connotations to it. He didn't want to comment on anything that would give Shady Guy any ideas.

Shady took a sip of his tea before continuing, "Still, don't you think it's nonsensical that after years of shinobi academy and the grueling months of basic training you're made to do menial jobs. Look at the statistics— on average, it takes a year to year and a half before a Genin Corp genin to do a C-rank mission. It makes no sense to train people and not have them do what they were trained to do."

Takuma didn't know that statistic. A year and a half of just D-rank missions?! That was a ridiculously long time! He didn't want to do a C-rank mission immediately and still wanted to get his skill up at Doton: Tsuchi Domu (Earth Release: Earth Dome) before he ventured onto an assignment with the possibility of meeting bandits. Even with his track record, he didn't think it would take him an entire year to learn a C-rank jutsu to a practically usable level. He could already perform it and believed it would only take a bit more time before he could reliably use it in the heat of battle.

"I see you agree with me. I always liked you, Takuma. You worked hard in the basic training, always giving it your best every day, and in the end, showing it to the clan kids, nay everybody, that you are the best of the bunch," said the Shady Guy. "Which is why I will share a little secret with you."

He uncrossed his legs and leaned his lanky frame forward. "What if I told you there was a way to utilize your skills? Doing something more up the shinobi alley and gaining much more value than what you would doing the pathetic D-rank missions."

Takuma would lie if he said he wasn't interested in what Shady Guy had to say. But he also felt caution about what it could be about. When he thought about shinobi skills, it could be anything from robbery to murder to overthrow the government. On the top of his head, he could think of ten bad things for one good thing Shady Guy could propose to him.

"… And what might that be?" he asked, prompted by his curiosity. He guessed listening to it won't do him any harm.

"I will tell you, but you must not tell anyone about it. Believe me, if you do, I will know about it," said Shady Guy, his smile deepening, but it held no humor.

Takuma silently swallowed before nodding.

"You see, many shinobi felt unsatisfied with the dull routine of D-rank tasks and wanted something more dignified of their station, something more exciting, an opportunity that allowed them to make use of their skills. And what skills suit a shinobi more than the art of combat?"

Hearing that from an Iryo-nin felt wrong in many ways.

Shady Guy's smile turned pleasant, "So many years ago, we don't know who started it, but a group of shinobi began fighting each other to make them feel more like something different than daily wage workers… to feel like what they actually were. Other shinobi caught the wind of these shinobi and, feeling attracted, joined this group… and soon, something of a ring was formed. And that ring has continued on till date with shinobi from every generation, every batch participating in it…

"I think you were brilliant in the final tournament. You were not the favorite. You were not the underdog. You were not the dark horse. People didn't even consider you an option. Every round, they thought it would be your last. Every win, they thought it was luck. Till the very end, the odds remained high against you because they kept betting for your loss— and yet… and yet, in the end, you won it all.

"So, I'm offering you an invitation to join the Ring."

Out of all the things that Takuma thought Shady Guy would say, he didn't think it would be this one. From the sound of it, what Shady Guy described was an underground fighting scene with shinobi-grade fighters beating up each other… to feel more like shinobi?

He didn't think that last part stood true at all.

There was something that Shady Guy mentioned which told Takuma that there was something more.

"And how does this provide me more value?" asked Takuma.

"Excellent question," Shady Guy smiled. "The Ring has existed for a very long time, Takuma. Many of our members have risen through the shinobi ranks and understood how the ring contributed, and have since become very generous sponsors. If you participate, the ring will compensate you with money—"

So, it was a gladiator's ring, thought Takuma. He was sure the fights would have an audience who would be betting on the fights. There was money to be made for everyone, but as it happened for every gambling den, the house always won— the sponsors who invested would make more than they put in.

"— and with mission points."

All of Takuma's thoughts came to a halt. The incentive of participating in what seemed to become more and more like a modern combat sport league just jumped various levels.

And Shady Guy seemed to sense that as his smile turned into a grin.

"You know what the D-rank missions pay. There's something that offsets the shit ryo compensation, but there's nothing there to do the same with the mission point compensation."

If his time as a mission-completing genin had taught anything, it was that the D-rank mission's mission point compensation was miserably frustrating. They paid in a fraction of mission points! He had one mission in the five months of missions that had paid a full single mission point.

Only recently, he had collected enough to afford a D-rank jutsu. From what he had gathered from others, it took four months of hard work in terms of hours to gather enough for a D-rank jutsu. And the difference between D-rank and C-rank jutsu costs was staggering. It would take him a year and a quarter of hard work and savings to afford a C-rank jutsu.

It had him realize how generous the basic training had been with mission point rewards.

"We can pay you more," Shady Guy leaned back into his chair as he said,

"So… what do you say?"

———

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