>>6374368
Once ashore you find yourself in a busy port town, its streets lined by wooden buildings with windowed facades and tiled rooftops. Many have wooden signs hanging out over the streets above their doors, some with little illustrations that tell you what the business probably is. You pick one and walk inside like you belong there.

Inside you find a long wooden table with a glossy top, with a line of cushy seats in front of it perched atop brass posts. Behind the table are bottles, the number of which is higher than you’ve ever had to count, all containing liquids of various tones and colors. You walk past this long table to find what you understand to be bathrooms down a short hallway. Stopping at the sink you remove your stained bandages, and look into the mirror...
>1d2

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>6374371
Finally, a good Naruto quest.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>6374371

>>6374373
Well, let's wait and see about that.
>writing

>>6374371
You see a familiar face staring back at you, green eyes and fair skin once framed by silvery-white hair. Underneath the bandages your forehead has already healed as though you hadn’t taken the skin off it in one big slice – a side effect of the bloodline expressed by some members of your clan, including its now-former leader, your cousin, and yourself. There’s still some dried blood there to take care of however.

Once you get yourself cleaned and dried, you head back out to find a middle aged-man you guess is the owner watching you from behind the long table with a look of confusion on his face.

It feels a little strange, but this is probably normal. If anything it’s your clan’s default state of gleeful bloodlust that’s probably strange.

“Are you… okay?”

You nod. “Yes, thank you.”

He seems unconvinced. “A bar is no place for a little lady all by herself.”

“This is a bar?”

“The sign outside says so.”

“I can’t read kanji.”

“I see,” he nods. “That would explain why you walked into the men’s room with such confidence.”

“That could have been awkward,” you muse. “Can I eat here?”

“Where are your parents?”

“Dead. I only arrived here a short time ago.”

You put a little bit of money on the table. “Is this enough for a snack and some water?”

“Water is free,” the man tells you, his expression troubled, thumbing through the coins before taking a few and handing you back the balance. “And we’re actually not open for another half hour.”

“Will that be a problem?”

He shakes his head, gesturing for you to sit at one of the smaller round tables in the back corner. “I can fix you something, kid. Don’t sweat it too much.”
>1/2

>>6374381
As the man sets about cooking… something or another… there’s a commotion from the front door. Three men come in, two in front dressed in black clothes with sleek lines and the third in tan, the latter of which sits at another round table elsewhere in the room while the two black-clothed men walk up to the long table.

“Hey old man,” one of the newcomers greets him loudly. “Whiskey, best stuff you’ve got.”

“And get a steak going for the boss,” the other adds.

Rude.

“Sorry, fellas,” the owner replies with a smile. “We’re not open just yet. But if you don’t mind waiting…”

“Waiting?” the first of the men in black demands loudly, slamming his hands on the table. “You got any idea who’s sitting here?”

“I do,” the owner answers, the facade slipping a little to reveal some nervousness. “But the cook’s not here and the kitchen’s not open.”

“Ain’tcha cookin’ now?”

“I suppose if you count making a sandwich as 'cooking', then yes?”

>Speak up. No matter who they are, waiting for a few minutes won’t kill them.
>Ask the bartender if he needs you to deal with these troublemakers for him.
>Show off a little. See if you can scare these jerks off without any more trouble.
>Other?

>>6374383
>Speak up. No matter who they are, waiting for a few minutes won’t kill them.

>>6374383
>Other?
Wait and observe them. If the owner can manage it, let them be. Act if it escalates.

>>6374383
>Speak up. No matter who they are, waiting for a few minutes won’t kill them.
Oftimes, the tongue is sharper than the sword.

>>6374383
>Stay silent. Let this play out.

>>6374383
>>6374388
This.

>>6374383
After all the trouble you’ve gone through the last thing you want to do is give away what clan you hail from, least of all over some loud weaklings like these two. So at first, you choose silence.

“Don’t be a smartass,” one of the men in black tells the bartender.

The bartender’s concern is momentarily overwhelmed by his growing annoyance. “Look, friend. I can pour a couple of glasses and make your boss a sandwich if you want…”

“You think the Boss wants one of your stinkin’ sandwiches!?” the other man in black shouts, leaning in over the glossy bar table.

Meanwhile, his boss sits in silence, a little smirk playing across his face.

“I mean I’m already making one,” the bartender answers, raising his own voice a little. “Won’t take but a minute or so longer to make two.”

Finally, one of the men in black seems to notice you. “Oh, so you’re gonna feed a brat first, is that it!?”

The bartender seems to realize his mistake even as the man in black starts stomping his way over to you. “Now you leave her out of this!”

You raise your hand to the bartender, silently insisting that this development won’t be a problem.

“I ordered first,” you tell the man in black calmly.

“That so, brat? And what’s that suppposedta mean?”

“Well, if I ordered first it’s fair that I eat first,” you clarify, looking past the man in black to glare at his boss. “Or you can say the strong should eat first, in which case I still eat first.”

The man in black reaches down to grab you by the collar, only to find your thumb digging into his wrist and his palm facing in a direction that the human wrist doesn’t usually allow. There’s a moment before the pain registers, before he’s on his knees next to your table. All the while, you never take your eyes off the boss.

The second man in black is focused on you now, but he’s hesitating. He spares the man in tan a glance, looking for orders. That man however is holding your gaze… not yet panicking, but clearly understanding that he’ll have to make a decision.

>Release the man in black. It shows you don’t want to fight… but that you’re confident you can win.
>Ask the man in tan who the heck he even is, but don’t release the man you’ve grabbed just yet.
>If the man in tan is that hungry he can have half your sandwich, if you can have half his steak later.
>Other?

>>6374413
>If the man in tan is that hungry he can have half your sandwich, if you can have half his steak later.

>>6374413
>>If the man in tan is that hungry he can have half your sandwich, if you can have half his steak later.

>>6374413
>If the man in tan is that hungry he can have half your sandwich, if you can have half his steak later.
Fair is fair.

>>6374413
>If the man in tan is that hungry he can have half your sandwich, if you can have half his steak later.

>>6374413
“If you’re that hungry,” you offer, giving your captive’s wrist an extra little twist to punish him for thinking he could wriggle free, “you could have some of my sandwich if I can have some of your steak later.”

There’s a pause, both of the black-clothed men looking frantically to their boss then back at you. But after that moment passes, the man in tan laughs and it feels like the tension immediately goes out of the room.

“That sounds like a good deal to me,” he replies, pushing at chair opposite his out from the table with the toe of his shoe. “Sorry about all that, Katoki-san, these guys are a little new.”

The bartender lets out a little sigh of relief. “You had me wondering for a minute there, Saitō-dono.”

“Go ahead and put it on two plates,” the man in tan insists as you cautiously release your grip on his subordinate’s wrist. The man takes a few quick steps to get away from you before trying to regain something like composure. It doesn’t quite work.

You walk over to the man who the bartender called ‘Saitō’ and warily take the seat he offered. “I’m a bit confused.”

“I’m Fujihara Saitō,” he introduces himself, gesturing for the second man in black to put a glass of amber liquid on the table in front of him. It smells like alcohol. “I run all the gambling in this town.”

“Ah,” you reply… it’s a little hard to feel all that surprised by something when you know you walked in knowing absolutely nothing. It would only have been surprising if it hadn’t been surprising. “I’m new around here.”

“I could tell,” Saitō nods. “Not too often you meet a kid with a body count.”

“Whaddya mean, boss?” the man whose wrist you nearly twisted half-off asks. “This kid?”

Saitō’s expression darkens a little. “Yeah, this kid. I may be rusty, but I was a chūnin once, remember?”

The bartender arrives a few moments later with two plates, setting one down in front of each of you. You gesture to yours, and Saitō nods, so you start eating. You don’t speak until you’re finished.

“Where am I?” you ask abruptly.

“Tonika town,” Saitō replies. “In the Land of Hot Springs in case you were wondering.”

“I was,” you admit.

“Well, that’s none of my business,” Saitō shrugs. “Kids like you just turn up in places, happens somewhere every day.”

>I’d like to work, if there’s anyplace that would have me.
>You were a shinobi? How is it that you aren’t anymore?
>I need a place to stay. I have a little bit more money.
>Other?

>>6374450
>I’d like to work, if there’s anyplace that would have me.
A gambling mogul won't take kindly to a pryer or beggar, but a worker? Getting a job could help us find our footing.

>>6374450
>You were a shinobi? How is it that you aren’t anymore?
I don't feel particularly eager of making her work for that guy. She needs to lay low.

>>6374450
>I’d like to work, if there’s anyplace that would have me.
>>6374452
My thoughts exactly.

>>6374450
>>I need a place to stay. I have a little bit more money.
Hot springs time?

>>6374450
“So you should already know,” you reply.

He thinks about that for a moment. “More or less.”

“I’d like to work, if I can,” you clarify. “Ideally out of public view.”

“I think I have something for you,” Saitō eventually tells you. “Above board of course. I need someone to throw bones for some high-rollers tonight.”

That wording has you a bit on edge.

“… throw bones?”

Katoki-san is quick to clarify. “He means dice. For people with a lot of money to waste.”

That makes more sense.

“Boss?” one of his black-clothed guys asks in confusion. “You think that’s a good idea?”

“No way a kid like this is gonna be a cheat,” Saitō answers, before turning back to you. “My last guy was throwing for a side job, got himself caught with loaded dice. Made a pretty big stink in town. Little bald girl nobody knows though?”

“I’m not usually bald.”

“Fine,” Saitō raises his hands, “fair point. But either way, nobody’s gonna have any reason to doubt you. One night throwing dice should be enough for a cheap hotel room until you find something better, and if it’s not you can throw again next week.”

Katoki-san places the long-awaited steak on your table – a little pink inside, with some vegetables on the side. Two plates.

“So, what do you say kid?”

>Deal.
>I’ll pass, thanks.
>Other?

>>6374484
>Deal.

It's something, enough to get us started and let us get our bearings.

>>6374484
>Deal.
That's fine by us. We can meet new people, earn some money to survive, and get a grasp of the surrounding area. Most importantly, we can adjust our instincts to kill everything through exposure to normal situations. Not to remove, but to build a subconscious on-off switch for it.

>>6374484
>>Deal

>>6374484
>Deal
If it's just throwing dice.

>>6374484
After weighing it in your mind for a moment longer, you cut into the steak in front of you and take a small bite. A moment later, you nod.

“Where and when do you need me to be?”

…

The game is to be held at ten that evening, upstairs from the bar Katoki-san owns – as it turns out, Saitō-san was only there so early because Katoki-san also owns the space upstairs and Saitō-san wanted to confirm the food service for what are apparently supposed to be some big names. You don’t recognize any of them as they file in, some with obvious entourages.

Three stand out.

A middle-aged man with profound eyebags and slicked brown hair turns up fairly early with a couple of young women clinging to his arms, looking ready to throw around some money to impress them. Then there’s an older woman in fancy tailored pink clothes, with pigtails and thick red lipstick. She’s accompanied by two well-built guys with tantō tucked into their waistbands, but the kindest thing you can call the woman they’re guarding is ‘well-fed’. The weirdest trio though is, by far, the last to show up and apparently a trio who everyone else in the building recognizes on site.

This trio is composed of a blonde woman dressed all in shades of green with a diamond marking on her forehead, her younger dark-haired attendant who seems a bit nervous with the whole situation, and of all things, a small pig wearing a collar.

“I see you changed your roller, Fujihara-san,” the well-fed woman muses in a voice a little too loud to be appropriate for the situation. “So the rumors were true?”

“Unfortunately,” Saitō confirms, motioning for you to sit – now dressed in striped yamabakama tied below your knees. A nice pattern of olive, grey, and blue, high enough quality that rich patrons won’t immediately think of you as a homeless child that quite literally wandered in off the street this morning. A black haori sits across your shoulders, apparently a part of the ‘uniform’ for a tough-looking dice-thrower. “This girl may not look like much, but I can guarantee that she has a clean history.”

That’s easy. When it comes to dice you have exactly zero history, clean or otherwise.

The dice are passed around so that each of the players, who total eight including the three who stood out on their arrival, can confirm that they all believe them to be fair. Then the smooth cubes of polished bone are passed into your hands, and you’re given a deep ceramic cup.
>1d100 please

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>6374516
Time to see if we've got a blood talent for gambling.

>>6374516
“Han!” you call out.

The blonde woman’s dark-haired companion and the pig are really starting to celebrate now, since their mistress is on one heck of a run of good luck. The well-fed woman stepped out a few minutes ago to try and stem the proverbial bleeding, and the man with the eyebags is now more concerned trying to keep his girls interested as he’s discovered that losing money is far less attractive than making it.

Far from being happy about how things have gone, the woman in green watches with a concerned frown. She’s even stopped drinking, which at first you got the impression she enjoys more than the gambling most nights.

“Ten thousand on han,” she declares, immediately putting up the money.

You glance at Saitō-san to confirm that the money is good, and he nods. Several of the other gamblers bow out gracelessly, but eyebags-san makes one last valiant effort to impress the girls and matches the bet.

So you toss the dice into the cup with a slight flourish, shake, and clap the cup down onto the table in front of you. Then you lift the cup.

“Han!” you call out.

Eyebags-san is obviously done for the night, and so with the agreement of the other gamblers Saitō-san calls an end to the engagement and thanks his guests. Most file out and down the stairs with their money-purses substantially lighter, before Saitō-san opens a small purse and spreads out some coins in front of you.

“Five thousand,” he informs you with a grin, “the going rate.”

Then he passes you some extra coin. “And here’s another two, I’ve never seen the ‘Legendary Sucker’ hit a hot streak like that!”

“I promise it was all luck,” you shrug.

“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” Saitō-san assures you. “But somethin’ was goin’ on there, whether it was just luck or the stars lining up or somethin’ I can’t say. But it was a damn good show, kid.”

..

Saitō-san is still chuckling to himself as he walks away down the street, while you head into the bar to get some water and maybe a light snack before heading for the hotel Saitō arranged for you to stay at tonight – paying for the first night out of pocket.

The green woman, her attendant, and her pig just so happen to be there. The dark-haired woman is drinking with a goofy grin on her face, and the pig seems to be napping contentedly, but the green woman locks eyes on you the second you step through the door.

She moves her finger in the universal gesture for ‘come here’.
>1/2

>>6374520
“Ma’am,” you nod, having dutifully taken a seat.

“Who are you, really?”

“I don’t follow.”

The woman sighs, setting aside her cup. Her dark-haired attendant’s surprise is obvious, though surprise at what is hard for you to guess, and even the pig has lifted its head.

“I don’t win at gambling,” she insists curtly. “I lose money hand over fist, every time. Every gambler in every town from the Land of Lightning to the Land of Wind knows that.”

You still don’t follow. “That… seems unlikely.”

“Is that so?”

“If it’s luck you have to win at some point,” you point out.

“You’d think that,” she answers, still frowning. “But I never do. Or at least, it’s very, VERY rare, and it never lasts long.”

“So it’s a special occasion, then,” you shrug. “Congratulations, ma’am. You won tonight, a lot.”

“I agree,” she tells you, folding her hands in front of her and resting her chin on them. “It’s always a special occasion… an omen of some sorts. Usually bad.”

“I’m… still lost,” you admit. “Are you happy or mad that you won?”

“I’m not sure yet,” she replies. “My name is Tsunade. I wander, I drink, and I gamble. Some days I still save people’s lives.”

Her attendant watches her, surprise now bordering on shock, as she works her way back to the initial question.

“A little girl with no hair shows up in a town with no family and no plan, doesn’t even tell anyone her name, and ends up throwing dice in a high-stakes gambling night,” she reviews. “A gambling night where I hit the first genuine hot streak I’ve hand in five years.”

“So I ask you again – who are you, really?”

>Give her your full name. She may know what it means.
>Give her your given name, explain that you’re a refugee.
>Just tell her you’re a refugee. She should understand.
>Other?

>>6374531
>Give her your given name, explain that you’re a refugee.
Let's not put all our cards on the table this early into the game.

>>6374531

>Give her your full name. She may know what it means.
It's Tsunade, she's incompetent but we'll intentioned. No reason to doubt of her intentions.

>>6374531
>Give her your given name, explain that you’re a refugee.
>>6374548
We don't know that in character.

>>6374556
She's like that in the manga. I'm scared of Orochimaru, better to get her good side than getting caught by him.

>>6374531
>Give her your given name, explain that you’re a refugee
>"Today was your lucky day, and so was mine. Sometimes is best to not delve in simple things like that"

>>6374561
Like the other anon said, we don't know that "in character"

>>6374565
I don't understand why someone would add a canonical character on a quest and not making them act on character, but whatever.

>>6374531
“My name is Ryōko,” you reply. “I’m a refugee.”

She watches you carefully for a few seconds, before she sighs. “I have suspicions of course, but for now I’ll neither pry nor share my thoughts with anyone not at this table.”

… if word has spread about the destruction of your clan, it’s possible that she may have already put two and two together (four) and guessed that a refugee showing up here around the time you did may well have fled from the Land of Water. Or maybe she guessed based on the fact that you made it a point to cut away the distinctive haircut every single member of your clan wore for generations. Maybe she actually has no idea.

But you also get the impression that she’s not lying about keeping your secret, at least for the time being, secret. She has after all been nothing if not blunt about her own gambling and drinking habits, and what she claims to be her usual bad luck.

You nod. “I appreciate that.”

“That having been said,” Tsunade continues, sipping from her cup, “you’ll need to be honest with the people around you sooner or later. It’s hard to train properly if you’re more concerned with keeping secrets.”

“Anyway, we’ll be heading out early tomorrow morning.”

The dark-haired woman finally breaks her silence. “Tsunade-sama, you can’t mean…”

Tsunade responds with a curt little sound, almost like a laugh. “I’m not taking a student, Shizune. Just… taking an interest.”

“… heading out?” you repeat.

“If you’re game, I’d like to take you to Yugakure,” Tsunade replies. “It’s safe, the quality of life is good. And knowing where you’ll be makes it easier to come back from time to time. I’ll even vouch for you to get into their academy.”

“It’s the least I can do to spread some of that good fortune I’ve been hogging all night.”

>Thank you.
>No thank you.
>Other?

>that's it for tonight
>will try to pick up where I left off at a similar time tomorrow, but it may be a few hours later

>>6374574
>Thank you.
I see a Konoha chungus, I follow.

>>6374578
Great, thanks for running, OP.

>>6374574
>>Thank you.

>>6374571
wut

I'm not saying that Tsunade wouldn't act according to her character. I'm saying us knowing that in real life and acting on that meta knowledge probably doesn't make sense for our own character, given that she doesn't know what we know about Tsunade and would rightfully be cautious about giving out her full name. Y'know, because of the whole 'our clan has a strong bloodline technique and is crazy, and attacked a great power for the lulz, and thus are bound for extermination' thing. There's likely to be a bounty on the head of any survivors.
>>6374574
>Thank you.

Moving up in the world and getting away from danger and poverty. While being a criminal would be interesting, we wouldn't last long without proper training.
>>6374578
Thanks for running.

>>6374574
>Thank you.


>>6374571
They don't mean she might act different than in canon, they mean that our character doesn't know anything about Tsunade

>>6374607
Yes, I know. I confused the "we as players" with the "we as the little girl". I don't self insert so she's "she" for me.
Still, OP gave us that option so I thought he might also give us a justification for her taking that choice.
But I understand your logic.

>>6374574
>Thank you.

>>6374574
“Thank you, Tsunade-san,” you reply, and after taking a moment to remember to do so, you bow politely.

…

The next morning comes early, but it’s not like you have anything to really pack so that’s not a problem. You hand your keys over at the front desk to find Tsunade-san, Shizune-san, and the pig waiting for your outside. The mist hasn’t quite burned off yet.

“It’s a bit of a walk to get to Yugakure,” Shizune-san informs you as you set out. “Did you bring any supplies?”

You nod. “I also have money.”

“That’s good, then we’ll stop for lunch,” Tsunade-san decides, before she settles into a brisk pace.

…

“I’m going to assume you already know what chakra is,” she tells you as you follow close behind, now heading out of the town on a well-kept gravel road under a thin canopy of leaves. “And I’ll also assume you can gather it, at least a little.”

“I can,” you confirm.

“Good. But that’s only a starting point – as a shinobi, the degree to which you can gather and control your chakra determines what techniques you can learn, and how well you can use them. Do you know any ninjutsu right now?”

You shake your head, before remembering that she’s not looking back at you right now. “No, ma’am.”

“Not surprising,” she replies. “Especially for smaller clans and villages taijutsu is a more efficient place to start. Hone students’ general skills before making them into specialists.”

Now she glances over her shoulder. “Sending you to academy to learn such things would be a waste.”

Eventually you find yourselves deep in the forest, surrounded by mossy trees and ferns which choke out much of the sky. The trail which you have been following along the side of a river now passes through a narrow valley where water and mist cascade down a rock face, and the trail itself becomes a wooden footbridge held above the rushing river by piers sunk into its bed. In some places only one person may walk each way, and the boards running along the side are sealed in some sort of bright reddish-orange coating against the water.
>1/2

>>6374765
At a fork in the bridge-way, there stands a tall tree rooted among a pile of boulders and sediments in the middle of the river.

“Instead of wasting your time,” Tsunade-san muses, pointing over her shoulder at the tree behind her, “I’m going to start you on a more practical lesson. Use your chakra to climb this tree without using your hands. When I’m satisfied with your progress, you can break for lunch.”

You regard the tree with caution. “The academy would teach this?”

“No academy can teach everything,” Tsunade-san explains while Shizune-san dutifully unpacks two boxed lunches from the bag she’s been carrying all morning. “Sometimes a shinobi has to train on their own. If you learn the basics now, you can choose to work on anything you think you have to later, even when I’m not around.”

“This is how Tsunade-sama taught me too,” Shizune-san explains. “If you teach someone to fish, then they can feed themselves. If you teach someone to control their chakra, they can teach themselves.”

“Well then,” you reply, “I guess I should get busy.”
>1d20
>best of three

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>6374775

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>6374775

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>6374775

>>6374775
The first time you try it you take a running start, and only succeed in sliding off the tree-trunk and hitting your head against the railing on the way back down. When you get your bearings again, you see Shizune-san looking down at you with a concerned look.

“Are you alright?”

You get up without help, and stare back at the tree. “I’m fine.”

“That sort of fall would at least slow most kids your age down,” Shizune explains, accounting for her apparent concern for you. “How old are you, exactly?”

“Not sure,” you admit. “In my home village it could be hard to tell when seasons changed.”

“Well, I suppose when we get to Yugakure we’ll just have to give them our best guess,” she muses. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I have a hard head.”

This time you don’t start by running, because you’ve already learned that climbing a tree this way isn’t as instinctive as using your clan’s specialty technique. You can’t just make this up as you go. But the second time isn’t much better, even though you’re taking it slower.

“Try this,” Shizune-san offers.

You tilt your chin so that you can watch from your back, as an upside-down Shizune-san holds her hands together in front of her in a specific way. “How much do you know about hand signs?”

“Very little,” you admit.

“They help a shinobi concentrate their chakra,” Shizune-san explains. “Just try holding your hands this way while you focus on how your chakra’s moving inside your body.”

Tsunade-san takes a sip of sake from a small cup as she watches you imitate Shizune-san’s gesture, then put your feet against the lowest plank of the wooden guard rail. You close your eyes and focus… a similar sensation to what you feel when you activate your clan’s technique filling your legs and concentrating at your feet. Then you take a ‘step’, and a second, and a third.

You rise up off the pathway… before falling flat on your back.

“You had it there for a moment!” Shizune-san cheers you on.

…

After about an hour, and falls beyond your ability to count, Tsunade-san hands you a rice ball from your own small pack – umeboshi. “Believe it or not, you did well. Remember when you’re training on your own that it’s important to take breaks, and feed yourself. Chakra takes both mental and physical energy, so if you’re exhausted in either sense it shows in terms of your performance.”
>1/2

>>6374789
“Sleep well, eat well, understood,” you answer, before making quick work of your lunch.

The Land of Hot Water seems to mostly be forested, and humid at that. In some places the pathway is tangled by old roots, in others it’s forced to cross old bridges that look like they haven’t been kept up in years. For a while it even merges with a larger road that consists entirely of uneven wooden planks were it has to cross a muddy swamp. Foot and cart traffic on the main road is actually pretty busy considering how far out from the last town you are… maybe there are more settlements scattered all through the forest?

“Coming up soon, you should see something interesting,” Tsunade-san informs you.

Sure enough, when the road (now a more modest pathway suitable for two or three small carts to pass each other) takes another turn you see a small village up ahead. Two rows of buildings face onto a river that flows through a stone channel, with walkways on either side and bridges that arc across it. The walkways are lined with weeping willow-trees and bright flowers.

“This is Yuzusaki village,” Tsunade-san tells you. “It’s a pretty popular onsen town.”

“The entire town?” you wonder aloud.

“It’s a resort,” Shizune-san clarifies, and the pig makes a sound that over the course of the last couple of days you understand to be agreement. “People come to the Land of Hot Water from as far as the Land of Earth for the onsen.”

“We only had one hot spring near our village,” you recall. “And we had to fight over it some days.”

Tsunade chuckles. “Well, I guess the closest you get here is the reservation list some times of the year. In Yuzusaki they add yuzu fruits to some of the baths during the harvest season, which is when it gets busy.”

…

The town isn’t busy at the moment, but it does feel lively. The people living here all seem at ease, though of course there’s no illusion that they don’t each have their own personal challenges to face. They just don’t face those challenges by stabbing them with knives made from their own arms.

“Do you mind indulging me for a moment?” Tsunade-san asks, having stopped at the front gate to what must logically be an onsen building. “This is a good opportunity for me and for Shizune.”

Shizune-san seems as perplexed as you are, but doesn’t seem ready for a debate.

>I don’t have anywhere else to be, so I may as well enjoy being where I am.
>Do you mind if I practice for myself for a little while to keep busy?
>What kind of opportunity? I still know very little about either of you.
>Other?

>>6374798
>I don’t have anywhere else to be, so I may as well enjoy being where I am.
She's too stuck up, relaxing might be the correct choice.

>>6374798
>I don’t have anywhere else to be, so I may as well enjoy being where I am.

>>6374798
>I don’t have anywhere else to be, so I may as well enjoy being where I am.
We're off to a good start so far. Our situation could be far worse than it has been.

>>6374798
>I don’t have anywhere else to be, so I may as well enjoy being where I am.

>>6374798
>I don’t have anywhere else to be, so I may as well enjoy being where I am

Yo new quest from you! Nice!

>>6374798
>What kind of opportunity? I still know very little about either of you.

>>6374798
“I don’t have anywhere else to be,” you admit, “so I may as well try to enjoy being where I am, I guess.”

Tsunade laughs at that. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right about that!”

…

Inside you part ways with Tsunade-san, Shizune-san, and their pig for a short while. You pay the lady at the front counter a hundred and fifty ryō, then with a little direction from her you find your way into the women’s locker room where you leave everything you can’t take with you in a basket before washing.

The bathing area is remarkable – a room with smooth, dark wooden floors and walls lit by lanterns that glitter through the steam, a large rectangular pool laid out at your feet with several women of various ages already relaxing. The water is pale and cloudy, and at the far end of the room the walls give way to an open-air section screened off by bamboo walls. Water-worn boulders mark the edges of the bath here, and many colorful flowers grow under the shade of a leafy tree.

Contact with the water seems to melt away stress and aches you didn’t even realize you were carrying. You see a young woman cup her hands under a bamboo spigot in the open-air area and take a drink of the water flowing from it, and so you eventually do the same… waiting just long enough not to seem like you’re copying her.

The taste reminds you a little of a citrus you were tricked into eating, years ago.

“Excuse me,” Shizune-san speaks up, snapping you out of the memory. You step aside and let her capture some of the falling water in a small glass container, which she then caps.

You don’t quite understand what she’s doing, and so you ask.

“Getting a water sample,” she answers. “To make it simple, lots of onsen are supposed to have therapeutic value.”

“Meaning…”

“Meaning the water helps treat people,” Shizune-san explains. “You felt it when you stepped in, right? The hot water helps your blood vessels to expand and your muscles to relax… the acidity, what gives it that sour taste, can also help certain ailments. Same thing with the dissolved minerals that make it cloudy.”

You have to concede that feeling the effects of the water firsthand gives you a pretty good idea of what Shizune-san is trying to accomplish here, even though the details go well beyond what you can understand right now. But instead of getting any deeper into that subject, you go back to getting as much out of this experience as possible.
>1/2

>>6374946
>got called back to work for a bit there, back to it then

>>6374946
After a while of course you’re back on the road heading out of Yuzusaki village and into the forest. At one point in the afternoon Shizune-san hands you an umbrella, since it had already started raining and you could hear distant thunder. But the worst of it holds off until after nightfall, and by then you’ve reached the next town. There are little souvenir shops along the main street, which you have to walk past to get to your hotel. In one shop window you see a number of necklaces, each with a pendant at the end of shaped bone.

Tsunade-san catches you looking in the window. “The river near here is famous as a fishing spot. Those are designed to look like ancient fishing hooks, which used to be made of bone… plenty of genuinely ancient ones have been found along the banks.”

“Dice… and fishhooks…” you muse.

“People have been using bones for tools for thousands of years,” Shizune-san adds as you continue to walk.

…

The hotel you check in at also has an onsen, but evidently Shizune-san doesn’t feel a need to collect a sample. “Calcium at this one,” she tells you.

“What is that good for?” you ask curiously.

“A number of things,” Tsunade-san answers. “Mostly, it’s found in the hydroxylapatite that gives your bones and teeth their strength.”

“High epoxy appetite?” you repeat.

“It’s a crystal. Calcium is one of the things that forms it.”

>You’re trying to get me to say it, aren’t you?
>Can you teach me more about bones?
>So… are you a shinobi of some sort?
>Other?

>>6375032
>Can you teach me more about bones?

>>6375032
>You’re trying to get me to say it, aren’t you?
Little Kaguya knows that Tsunade and co. are good people, better to get this out of the way.

>>6375032
>You’re trying to get me to say it, aren’t you?
>So… are you a shinobi of some sort?

At this point we would be a bit on guard because of clearly leading questions.

>>6375032
>You’re trying to get me to say it, aren’t you?

>>6375032
>You’re trying to get me to say it, aren’t you?

>>6375032
>You’re trying to get me to say it, aren’t you?

>>6375032
“You’re still trying to get me to say it, aren’t you?” you observe.

Even if it’s a mild one it’s still an accusation, but Tsunade-san seems unbothered. “I’m giving you opportunities, but I guess I’ll go first. Come up to my room later and I’ll lay my cards on the table, in private. Then you can decide if you want to do the same.”

…

After you settle in, you head up to the second floor and knock at the room where the others are staying. Shizune-san answers, and she quietly ushers you in where you find Tsunade-san seated on the tatami looking very much like you’d imagine a mob boss waiting on an underling might. She even has a rather large glass bottle of sake to her side, sitting on a wooden coaster.

“Ryōko-kun,” she greets you, gesturing for you to sit. Once you do, she continues. “I am Tsunade, last of the Senju clan, granddaughter of the First Hokage.”

“I know some of those names,” you admit. “In my village we didn’t respect our enemies’ names.”

“That… tracks,” she muses. “Nevertheless, I figured I might have you at a disadvantage there. May I ask your name? Your full name?”

After a moment’s hesitation, you reply. “Ryōko, of the Kaguya clan.”

Shizune-san’s head whips towards her elder. “Tsunade-sama, you knew this girl was one of that clan?”

Tsunade-san nods once, her expression stern. “The rumors weren’t entirely accurate then… neither of the clan’s complete destruction nor of what they were like before then.”

“Still,” you offer, “they were mostly true.”

“… may I see it?”

So she does know about it… the shikotsumyaku. This is – was – your clan’s major claim to fame next to their ferocity, the ability to shape and harden your own bones to fight. You really weren’t hiding anything from this woman from the start. Just how perceptive is she?

You raise your arm, and concentrate chakra between your wrist and your elbow. When it starts you can feel it, the flesh parting to allow bone to slide through past your little finger, a turn of your wrist placing your fingers around the emerging weapon as it takes shape. When it’s done you’re holding something about the size of a small tantō, sharp on two edges until it reaches a wider spot that functions as a hilt.
>1/2

>>6375284
“Shikotsumyaku, first dance – Tsubaki-no-mai,” you explain, noting that Shizune-san has risen up onto one knee in alarm at seeing it for the first time. You pass the bone blade into your left hand, letting it lie across your fingers as you pass it to her. After a moment, Shizune-san takes it from you carefully and hands it to Tsunade-san.

Tsunade-san accepts the blade with equal caution and formality. She subtly tests its weight and calculates its balance, and she flicks her fingernail against the side of the blade and listens as it rings faintly like steel. You figure that’s to test its hardness. Then, with a swift and smooth movement, she swipes it at the sake bottle.

A moment later, the cork slides cleanly away along with the top of the bottle itself.

Finally she passes the blade back to Shizune-san, who passes it back to you. “You weren’t carrying one when we first met.”

You shake your head before tapping one finger to the hilt, flesh rolled back to expose bone. “It’s not exactly subtle.”

The bone begins to dissolve away under the influence of your chakra, until nothing is left.

Tsunade-san is silent for a few moments before she speaks again. “When you do that, does it hurt?”

“It pinches a bit.”

“And the skin closes on its own?”

“Yes.”

“No scarring?”

“My clan doesn’t scar.”

“Other wounds heal that fast?”

“Usually.”

The question she doesn’t ask is the one to which she probably already has an answer. Of course someone with the shikotsumyaku can still die from a long list of things – internal wounds, poisoning, strangulation, drowning, sickness. That much was proven just a few days ago.

Tsunade-san goes back to thinking for quite a while, and so you, Shizune-san, and the pig all sit in silence.

“Why do you believe your clan lost?” Tsunade-san eventually asks you.

>Because they were outnumbered, with no plan to make up for it.
>They could never imagine themselves losing. Only I could.
>They didn’t want to ‘win’, they wanted to kill until they all died.
>Other?

>>6375285
>They could never imagine themselves losing. Only I could.
>They didn’t want to ‘win’, they wanted to kill until they all died.

Mix of these two. They couldn't imagine that they would ever lose and in that bloodlust any losses they took were disregarded as weaklings getting weeded out.

>>6375285
>They could never imagine themselves losing. Only I could.

>>6375285
>>They could never imagine themselves losing. Only I could.

>>6375285
You consider your answer for a moment. “For all the killing they – we – did, they couldn’t imagine dying.”

Tsunade-san seems somewhat taken aback by your answer. “I would have accepted a lot of answers, but that one was blunter than I expected.”

“Just instructing you in my own skills would be a waste,” she decides. “Your kekkei genkai already gives you a pathway to offensive power and survivability, and it’s one where all I can offer are a few pointers. But it also raises one more question, which I hope you can answer.”

“Another question?” you ask. “I thought you’d covered the essentials well.”

“I promise this is the last one,” she assures you, “and with what I know and what I’ve seen, I think it’s the most important to you.”

You nod quietly.

“When you were still with your clan, did anyone else who used your kekkei genkai ever seem… older than they should be?”

>1d20 please, best of three

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>6375322

Go high!

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>6375322

Rolled 3 (1d20)

>>6375322

>>6375322
“… do you mean, wrinkly?” you ask. “Thinning hair, getting sick easily, getting weaker?”

“Or anything that might be unique to your clan,” Tsunade-san adds. “Perhaps their bones began to break more easily than they should?”

You try to recall anything like what Tsunade-san is talking about. “Maybe half of us had it, and of those most never got past the basics.”

“They would still be wounded while fighting,” Tsunade-san presses.

“Often,” you confirm. “I can’t think of any of them looking different from anyone about their age without shikotsumyaku.”

There’s another brief silence as Tsunade-san contemplates what you’ve told her.

“Tsunade-sama,” Shizune-san eventually breaks that silence. “Could that mean…”

Tsunade-san shakes her head. “Mean what?”

“Mitotic immortality!” Shizune-san continues, her voice lowered but the urgency in it raised.

“Even if that’s the case,” Tsunade-san answers, “her body is different than other people’s, by definition. So even then, what would that mean?”

Then she looks back to you, ready to explain as best she can. “Think of your body as being like your clothes – the threads woven together are like the cells in your body. They’re the tiny units that fit together to make a bone, or your muscles or skin. If you want to lengthen your hakama you need to add fabric, made from threads. When you want to grow your bones or close your wounds, your cells divide. It’s not a perfect comparison, but that’s basically how you can think of it.”

“Are you still following?”

“These ‘cells’ make up the fabric of my body,” you answer. “So far.”

“Every time your cells divide, the end result isn’t perfect. Basically it wears your body out, just a little at a time, like the weave of the fabric getting thinner or the thread getting more fragile. So what do you think happens if you have to heal your own body too many times over too short a span?”

“Your body would get more fragile?” you guess, before you get her point. “You’d visibly age at some point.”

“That’s right,” Tsunade-san confirms. “And eventually, your body can’t heal anymore. Things that should still be working start failing, and after that you die. I’ve had to heal myself a lot over the years… so I know that risk better than anyone.”

“Are you…” you frown, “telling me that my kekkei genkai could kill me?”
>1/2

>>6375342
“There’s precedent for kekkei genkai being double-edged swords,” Tsunade-san admits, “though sometimes the body of its possessor is adapted to counteract the logical drawbacks. And cells having an infinite ability to divide themselves isn’t unheard-of. Cancer cells and undifferentiated cells have that property, it’s normally just our healthy body cells that have a limit.”

Some of that makes sense. “I wish there’d been more old people in my clan for me to remember. But if our enemies and rivals didn’t make that a rarity, the infighting definitely would.”

“It sounds like you had a rough childhood,” Shizune-san offers, her tone somewhat awkward.

“It probably was,” you agree. “I have nothing to compare it to though.”

“To tell you for certain I would need specialized equipment,” Tsunade-san declares, pouring herself a drink from the clean-cut bottle. “And to get that equipment under the current circumstances I’d need to make it myself. But there’s another option.”

…

The next morning you set out early again, Tsunade-san having given you your assignment not just for today but for the rest of the trip. She had you remove another piece of bone from your arm, this time shaping it to mimic the souvenir fishhook she bought you before leaving town on a somewhat rougher road. It has a sort of a stem where you understand the line would normally be wrapped, a curved hook, and interestingly a point at the bottom of that hook that Shizune-san explains to you helps keep the hook oriented the right way in a current.

Tsunade-san’s first instruction was to harden it the same way you would with a sword, which you do. She carefully tests its strength and, when satisfied, instructs you to spend all day lengthening and shortening it without pause and without adding any additional material to it from your own bones.

After thinking about it for some time, you feel like you see the reasoning – if shaping it like this requires you to cause the ‘cells’ that make up the bone to divide over and over again, and it’s separated from your body so that you can’t infuse fresh cells into it, the bone should eventually become brittle. Or at least, if your bones had the same limits as ordinary humans it would. But if your bones did not have those limits, it would never lose its strength.

“I would never have thought of this,” you admit during your lunch break. “Tsunade-san, you must be incredibly smart.”

“She’s a genius,” Shizune-san insists immediately, but Tsunade-san laughs a little.

“And sometimes, I even act like I am. But not all the time.”
>1d100, best of three

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>6375349

Rolled 49 (1d100)

>>6375349

High, no average!

Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>6375349

>>6375349
At the end of the first day of repeating this process, you’ve completely lost track of how many times you’ve lengthened the hook to the size of a small blade and retracted it again – it’s a slower process and requires more concentration to change the size of something once it’s separated from your body, and you have to pay attention to where you’re walking too. On more than one occasion, only your newly-acquired ability to cling to surfaces using your chakra keeps you from falling into a ditch, or slipping off an awkwardly-placed boulder in your way.

“How many, Shizune?” Tsunade-san asks.

“Seventy-eight,” she replies.

“Seventy-eight,” Tsunade-san muses. “It would be like healing the same wound to the same tissues seventy-eight times. There should certainly be some loss of strength from that.”

You hand Tsunade-san the hook, which is currently in the ‘long’ phase of the repeated cycle you’ve subjected it to, and she tests it in her hands. She raps a knuckle against it, and it makes a similar enough ringing sound to what it ‘should’ make that you can’t tell whether there’s any difference. Then she uses it to slice the trunk of a nearby tree whose branches overhang the path, and the tree falls away to the side.

Then she hands it back to you. “Do it again tomorrow.”

…

By noon you’ve reached an overlook, from which you can see another town – larger than either of the previous stops, situated on either side of a steep-sided ravine into which a river flows via waterfall. The forest thins around this settlement, at least on the side nearest you, where there are worked fields for growing some sort of vegetables. Behind the village, from your perspective, there is more forest. Everywhere there’s a scent of flowers carried on a steam-laden breeze.

“That is Yugakure,” Tsunade-san tells you. “The village hidden in hot water. May I see your fishhook?”

You hand the tool to her, again in its long form, and she tests it a second time. “How many, Shizune?”

“Fifty-two.”

“You’ve gotten a bit faster,” Tsunade-san muses. “One hundred and thirty times, when the normal limit before I’d expect to see side effects is around sixty. I can’t tell you the mechanism, but it seems like your body won’t experience the usual consequences of what your kekkei genkai does.”

“Thank you,” you bow politely. “You’ve eased a concern I didn’t even realize I should have had.”

“Well, it balances out anyway,” Tsunade-san shrugs. “Hang on to that fishhook for a little while longer.”
>1/2

>>6375364
The entrance to the village is past a large, ornate gate standing in the middle of a wide street. In its details you feel like Yugakure village is a lot like Yuzusaki village was, except here and there you see people in uniforms wearing headbands, all with the same symbol of three parallel lines, at a slight angle off vertical.

Your group is stopped by two of these near the gate, each armed with a short wooden staff that when they rest one the ground it comes up to about the height of their chest.

“Hold on for a moment,” one of the ninja frowns. “Tsuande of the Sannin?”

“That’s right,” Tsunade-san answers curtly. “I’d like to speak to someone on your jōnin council, if anyone’s available.”

“Well… yeah, of course, ma’am,” the man replies nervously. “Like… you mean, right now?”

“Now works,” Tsunade-san agrees.

… what kind of high-roller have you fallen in with exactly?

…

In the village of Yugakure there is a building, near the center of town. It stands three stories, and has clear lines of sight in almost every direction. The rooftop is flat, with railings as though it’s often used as an open-air meeting place. On the top floor however is an office, and in that office there is a man with a protective armored jacket and a Yugakure-marked headband. He seems surprised when your group is led into his office, and not entirely in a pleased sort of sense.

“Please,” he offers to Tsunade-san, “sit.”

Tsunade-san however puts a hand on your shoulder, and nudges you towards the only chair in the room not currently occupied. The pig, whose name you’ve now heard to be Tonton, makes an indignant noise.

“I’d like to talk to you about enrolling this girl in your village’s academy,” Tsunade-san gets straight to the point, “and placing her with a local family.”

“That’s… highly irregular,” the man replies nervously. “I mean, I don’t even know who this girl is.”

>Give him your name. That and Tsunade-san’s backing will probably be enough.
>If he doubts your loyalty, he should know that you have nowhere to go back to.
>Place the bladed ‘fishhook’ on his desk and tell him you grew it from your arm.
>Other?

>>6375373
>Give him your name. That and Tsunade-san’s backing will probably be enough.

>>6375373
>>Give him your name. That and Tsunade-san’s backing will probably be enough.

>>6375373
>Give him your name. That and Tsunade-san’s backing will probably be enough.

>>6375373
>Give him your name. That and Tsunade-san’s backing will probably be enough.

And if that is not enough, you aren't going to disappoint the jonin with poor grades. You are going to work your butt off.

>>6375373
>Give him your name. That and Tsunade-san’s backing will probably be enough.

>>6375373
“My name is Kaguya Ryōko,” you inform the man. The name gives him a moment’s pause.

“And I can guarantee at this point she’ll make a fine shinobi,” Tsunade-san adds. “Though she’ll need some remedials on reading, writing, and math to get there.”

… whose side is she on?

After a moment, the jōnin opens a drawer in his desk and takes out a few pieces of paper with a pen. “I’ll see what I can do, then. But just so you know, the whole council may not like this.”

…

Several hours later you’re sitting in seiza across from a man and a woman who look… remarkably ordinary. They are Eiso Fujio and his wife Hiyori, and from the brief introduction before you were sent to their home on the edge of town you know that they’re potato farmers. Fujio-san’s hands are calloused and slightly crooked from years of hard work, which you noticed when he handed you your tea and a little snack, while Hiyori-san’s movements in making said tea and preparing said snack were quick, clever, and precise.

“We… learned a while ago that we can’t have a child,” Hiyori-san informs you. “But to take care of a child who has no home of her own… that would be a joy, I think.”

“It may not be an interesting home,” Fujio-san admits, correctly, “but I can promise you all it will always be a welcoming one.”

It’s a reasonably large home with a good amount of land that goes with it, thus its position at the edge of town, and inside it’s reasonably if plainly decorated. The cushions are comfortable, the tatami are well cared-for, and despite their humble occupations the couple are well-dressed and impeccably clean. These are people who make a good impression not because they’re trying to, but because they conduct themselves in a way that speaks for them before they open their mouths.

You only recognize this because you grew up with its opposite.

Glancing at Tsunade-san, you offer her a slight nod. Then you speak your mind.

“Fujio-san, Hiyori-san,” you greet the couple, bowing politely. “I’ll… be in your care?”

You nearly fumbled it at the end there, but they seem to take your meaning.

…

After a short time, the day finally arrives when Tsunade-san, Shizune-san, and Tonton-kun feel confident enough in your situation to depart. And that’s okay. People always go their separate ways, at least for a time, but often they come back too. That’s precisely what Tsunade-san has promised you, though she admits she can make no promises about how often.
>1/2

>>6375385
“I’ll leave you with this, for now,” Tsunade-san tells you, before handing you a book. You flip it open, and inside you find something that you quickly recognize – detailed drawings of the human body, and not just the skeleton but the muscles and organs, laid out systematically. Ranges of motion, critical functions, and even very small features all labeled in both formal kanji and informal kana. “Read through it in addition to your other studies, familiarize yourself with its contents.”

You close the book, silently noting that every page was drawn and written by hand. “Thank you. I’ll prepare thoroughly.”

…

As it turns out, potato farming is actually a kind of training itself. It’s hard work, but it keeps the Eiso family putting food on its table and so you lend yourself to that hard work. And even after just a few weeks, you can feel it building up your muscles and your endurance, at least a little bit.

“Thank you,” you tell Hiyori-san as she hands you your lunch. “I’m going out.”

“Eat well, study well,” she replies with a smile. “And stay safe!”

“I will.”

The walk to the academy building takes some time, but it’s not exactly difficult. The road is well-paved and the surroundings are comfortable, following a shallow canal with river water flowing through it down to the fields. The school building is in town, close to the same building where the jōnin council meets, and today is your first official day of classes – the school has been on break until this morning.

Inside you find your classroom, and sit down. An instructor walks in not too long afterwards.

“Good morning everyone,” he greets the class. “Today we have a new student who just moved here, her name is Kaguya Ryōko. Please treat her kindly.”

Then he continues on immediately to his lesson. “Today will be our first official day working with ninjutsu, starting with the clone technique and the transformation.”

“Why?” one of the boys in the class asks loudly, a question many seem to share. “Wouldn’t it be more useful to teach us how to shoot fireballs or electrocute people?”

>Say nothing. Just listen for now, see how your teacher handles it.
>Challenge him. If it’s so beneath him, let’s see him use either one.
>Those techniques train chakra control, which he’ll need for fireballs.
>Other?

>>6375434
>Say nothing. Just listen for now, see how your teacher handles it.

New student shouldn't make a scene or anything, just stay put and see where things are going. We can assert dominance later when the time calls it.

>>6375434
>Say nothing. Just listen for now, see how your teacher handles it.

>>6375434
You decide to just let this situation play out, since you’re what Shizune-san warned you about – the ‘new kid’.

“It is true, to be promoted to jōnin a shinobi must either be able to use a nature transformation and genjutsu, or else two nature transformations,” the instructor – whose name is Yara-san, you were told yesterday – replies. “But I was also made a chūnin instructor without using any nature transformations at all. Do you know why?”

“Because you’re smart?” the boy answers.

Yara-san shakes his head, which much like yours was a few weeks ago is shaved. “Observe.”

He then proceeds to form two hand seals, which you identify as boar followed by ram, before sinking into the floor. “This is the shinobi art known as Mengakure-no-jutsu.”

His voice seems to come from somewhere nearby, though it’s impossible to tell from exactly where. And so he’s entirely invisible until he re-emerges from the floor to press the two fingertips on his right hand against the back of the boy’s head.

“The first thing a shinobi needs to understand is how to conceal themselves,” Yara-san tells the class as he walks back to the front of the room. “How to gather information, which if you were wondering does involve the ability to read and comprehend. The ability to evade detection and to detect those who may be evading you. Those skills with a little taijutsu will complete far more missions than the ability to breathe fire will.”

“Now if you’re finished asking silly questions, Tenson-kun, let’s open our text books to chapter two, lesson seventeen. The topic today will be the clone technique.”

>1d20, best of three

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>6375470

Go high!

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>6375470
Higher still!

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>6375470
I mean the other anons rolled pretty high so I don't mind an average roll desu

>>6375470
You read through the textbook… and the mechanics honestly feel pretty simple to you. There’s an element of chakra control, a series of hand seals to weave, a mental image, and so on. The textbook mentions that the ‘clone’ technique creates nothing more than an illusion, the moving image that copies you to deceive an enemy, but also mentions that there are common variations that add various nature transformations like water or earth. There’s also a version created in Konohagakure during the warring states era that creates a clone that can actually make attacks, which the basic version cannot.

In other words, the clone technique is a basic building block that teaches skills necessary for a shinobi to succeed – skills which your clan once shunned as unnecessary.

The thought occurs to you that if you were really good at this, you could probably even create a clone made from your own bones at some point in the future. But first you’d have to get good at this. Baby steps, Ryōko. Baby steps.

After reading the book and having Yara-sensei lecture at you with chalk drawings, you and the other students get up near the end of the day and try your hand at the technique.

“Bunshin-no-jutsu!” Tenson-kun shouts, easily louder than the rest, only to produce a ‘clone’ that collapses in a clearly non-functional heap.

As disappointed as he seems, at least he got the technique to do something – which puts him easily ahead of most of your peers.

You form the hand seals yourself. “Ram… snake… tiger…”

And just like that, a near-perfect image of yourself splits away from your real body. Some of the details just don’t quite feel ‘real’ enough to pass against a skilled opponent.

Yara-sensei looks at you, clearly impressed. “Very well done, Kaguya-kun. And Tenson-kun… for someone who seemed so disappointed not to be learning the fireball technique, you did well for your first time too.”

“Please, keep practicing on your own while I help some of the other students.”

On your second attempt you’re satisfied with the duplicate, and on your third you produce two clones. Meanwhile, Tenson-kun improves… but doesn’t quite get results that satisfy him. Eventually he comes over to watch your fourth attempt, where you try to speed the process up a little.

After a moment, you dispel your own technique. “Yes?”

“Can you watch me try next?” he asks with a frown. “I can’t get it right still.”

You nod, and he performs the technique in front of you one more time. The result isn’t quite as good as your first attempt, but it’s actually a significant improvement.
>1/2

>>6375493
“You’re close,” you offer, before showing him how you form your tiger hand seal. “But your hand seals are a bit sloppy.”

“Sloppy how?” he asks.

You call his attention to your palms, separating them slightly below your little fingers. “This is what you’re doing. I was doing it too at first.”

“Try it again.”

This time, he manages to create one proper clone, one that if he got clever with the setup and the timing might even fool you as you are now.

“You improved quickly,” you muse, before returning momentarily to your desk to pull out the medical textbook. “In a way, it’s as impressive as getting it right the first time. Just for different reasons.”

“You really think so?”

“I really think so.”

A moment later, you look up to see he’s offered a handshake. “I’m Akiji.”

You return the gesture. “Ryōko.”

“What are you reading, Ryō-kun?” he asks, peering at your book.

The use of that nickname makes you frown. “Please do not call me that. Ryōko-kun.”

“Sorry,” he apologizes. “Ryōko-kun.”

“You couldn’t have known,” you assure him, before showing the book’s contents.

“Bones?” he asks curiously.

“A gift,” you answer simply. “Maybe some day we’ll know each other well enough that I’ll explain it to you.”

The final bell is coming up, when Yara-sensei asks if there are any questions.

>Ask him how you can learn about nature affinities - Akiji's enthusiasm has you curious.
>Ask about the other basic techniques you’ll be learning.
>Ask about information gathering – the ninjutsu book barely mentions it.
>Other?

>>6375512
>Ask about the other basic techniques you’ll be learning.
>Ask about taijutsu lessons. When do they start?

Being an outsider and knowing taijutsu seems like a believable combination, especially with our family background being sketchy.

>>6375512
>>Ask about taijutsu lessons. When do they start?

>>6375512
>Ask about the other basic techniques you’ll be learning.

>>6375512
“When do we learn taijutsu, sensei?”

“Ah,” Yara-sensei muses. “The class has been learning the basics of taijutsu all year, mostly emphasizing conditioning which is useful for everyone. The degree to which you wish to engage with the forms we teach here is up to you, but my understanding is that you would find most of them boring until at least next year.”

“Which should,” he continues, “let you focus on your literacy remedials.”

… oh. Yeah, that.

“And, the other ninjutsu we need to learn?”

“I almost forgot that you do not know the curriculum,” Yara-sensei realizes. “My apologies. This year we will be working on the only three techniques required for graduation – the clone technique, the substitution technique, and the transformation technique. We will also have you start working towards water-walking, since this is a skill required for many genin missions in the Land of Hot Water.”

“Many students will need to work on those skills next year as well alongside intelligence gathering, however students who master them early enough will have the option to pursue other basic skills under instructor supervision. Typically I recommend basic genjutsu for those with the talent, or otherwise some manner of camouflaging ninjutsu.”

“How do you recommend what we should be working on?” Akiji-kun asks, just before the final bell rings. “I mean, assuming we get there?”

Yara-sensei looks at him for a moment, then turns his gaze to you for a moment. He also seems to notice that despite the bell having rung, the class hasn’t moved to leave yet – the same interest is on everyone’s minds. So with a resigned sigh he produces two pieces of paper from a drawer under his desk. “I had not planned on this, but perhaps this will make for a good bonus lesson.”

“Take this,” he instructs, handing one little square to you and then to Akiji-kun, “and let a little bit of your chakra flow into it. I will explain the results.”
>1d5 please, I will take the first result for you and the second for Akiji

Rolled 5 (1d5)

>>6375551

Rolled 3 (1d5)

>>6375551

>>6375551
You follow his instructions, and after a moment you watch as the little piece of paper splits cleanly down the middle. Yara-sensei nods approvingly.

“Kaguya-kun, your chakra nature is wind,” he announces. “Which means that of the five elemental natures that in theory anyone can use – fire, water, earth, lightning, and wind – you are predisposed towards skill with wind.”

After a few more moments, the paper slip in Akiji-kun’s hand starts to crumble, eventually falling to the floor like sand.

“And your nature, Tenson-kun, is earth,” he explains.

Akiji-kun seems slightly disappointed. “Earth? You mean, not fire?”

“This does not mean that neither of you can learn to utilize fire release,” he explains carefully, “only that you have no natural advantage in doing so. While elements do have certain advantages and disadvantages against each other, none are inherently better or worse. Earth-based techniques can be quite effective in a variety of situations.”

“That is, if you have the chakra to make use of it. That is the danger for genin in trying to learn elemental ninjutsu… running out of chakra can cause your body harm. It can even kill you. So remember that, and be cautious in your own training.”
>That’s it for now
>I need to grab some sleep, may be able to update again late tomorrow evening

>>6375574
Wind is an interesting nature but I don’t think it’s super notable outside of guiding bone kunai and making blades sharper, there’s that huge aoe wind blast suna likes to use but I don’t remember the name.

>>6375574
Wind will boost our speed and with natural taijustu talent we are gonna be a nightmare to deal with. Who knows what kind of abomination we can become with sufficient understanding of medical ninjutsu which given Tsunade has taken a personal interest in us, is only a matter of time before she picks us up after we finish 'basic' and learn enough to understand her teachings. Our only real weakness is gonna be genjutsu, which is gonna buttfuck us.

>>6375612
Speed and agility. Bones give us innate armor and weaponry to fortify taijutsu. Most of our chi reserves are gonna get spent on that and our medical ninjutsu. Our fatal weakness will be genjutsu.

>>6375612
You have to get creative with it, just like Naruto turning wind into a Kienzan.
I can see Ryoko shooting high pressurized wind chakra through bone cannons. Maybe she can give it a musical theme to make it funnier.
Sound, wind and bones are quite related.

>>6375699
> Don't forget the basic sharp air slash from a (bone) sword either

>>6375574
“How was your first day of classes?” Fujio-san asked you.

“I worked on kanji,” you muse. “And learned my chakra nature.”

“Is that so?”

You continue working on the potato noodles that Hiyori-san has been teaching you to make. “Wind. I also managed a clone technique on my first try.”

Fujio-san is dicing vegetables, also at Hiyori-san’s direction. “I don’t know much about shinobi, but I think that’s pretty uncommon.”

“So I’m told.”

“It sounds like you have a natural talent for this.”

You see that he has a point, however you don’t feel like that’s all there is to it. “There’s a lot for me to work on.”

“Well,” Fujio-san muses, tipping the vegetables into a pot. “No need to rush, Ryōko-kun… I don’t know what your life was like before, but Yugakure can be a chance for you to be a kid, you know?”

That sounds… nice.

…

After dinner you find yourself sitting on the wooden patio, looking out at the fireflies flickering out over the fields with a bone knife in one hand and a copy of one of your finger bones in the other. Tiny movements leave fine traces on the hollowed finger, which you’re told is called a phalanx, one little etching at a time.

You’re not sure how long Hiyori-san was watching you. “What are you doing, Ryōko-kun?”

“Here,” you reply, leaving the blade to stand and hand her the bone. “I’d like to wear these in my bangs when I have hair again.”

She examines the pattern carefully, turning the ornament in her hand. “These patterns… did they mean something where you come from?”

Then she looks a little closer. “No, wait…”

“They’re hanayu,” you confirm. “I had to find pictures in a text book since I’ve never seen them myself, but they’re something I associate with this place.”

“You grow them out back too, right?”

She’s quiet for a moment. “I think it’s lovely. Would you be able to make one for me some time?”
>1/2

>>6375892
You nod quietly. “Since you wear your hair in a ponytail I would need to use a cross-section of my humerus, but it would be no trouble.”

“Does that hurt?”

You shake your head. “It pinches a little, but that’s all. You would wear jewelry made from my bones?”

“Well,” she muses, “it certainly would be… unconventional. But you’re making pretty things, and they remind you of our home. So yes, I would wear one if you made one for me.”

It’s strange. Your face feels… different, somehow. “Then I’d be happy to make one for you too.”

…

And she does wear it.

A few weeks pass, harvest season activities ramping up at the Eiso household with a few young genin taking it in turns to help with the harvest itself. Your hair has come back in enough to cover your head and you’ve carefully shaped your eyebrows the way you usually like.

You’ve begun water-walking training too, taking it in turns with training to further refine your shikotsumyaku. In particular, you’ve been trying to create a blade grown out of your ulna in a shape something like the ancient bone fishhooks, except elongated in a way that creates a blade which would extend past your closed fist about the same length as your fist to your elbow. The open space of the ‘hook’ allows you, when you do it right, to weave hand seals while still maintaining a guarded stance with a weapon on your strong side.

This technique, which you simply think of as ‘Tsuribari’, fits neatly into the existing techniques for your kekkei genkai alongside the ‘Teshi Sendan’. The latter uses your distal phalanges as high-speed bullets.

On one of your free-study days, Akiji-kun approaches you along with another boy from your classes, Hiroshi-kun. Akiji-kun has apparently just has his hair cut into a close brown crop, and he has an excited look in his eye. Hiroshi-kun’s black hair, as smooth and straight as ever, frames a nervous expression.

“So Hiroshi-kun here’s done his chakra nature test too,” Akiji-kun tells you. “Water.”

“Good afternoon, Ryōko-kun,” Hiroshi-kun greets you awkwardly.

“Good afternoon, Hiroshi-kun, Akiji-kun,” you reply. “And… so… what?”

“Sensei let you read a textbook on nature transformation yesterday, didn’t he?” Akiji-kun asks. Ah. So that’s what this is about.

>I’m not going to help you try anything silly, Akiji-kun.
>Okay, I see where this is going. There’s a BASIC exercise the book suggested. VERY basic.
>If you want to study something, we have a library in town.
>Other?

>>6375897
>Okay, I see where this is going. There’s a BASIC exercise the book suggested. VERY basic.

Stay simple, don't try and jump ahead of the requisite basics. Don't be a downer either though.

>>6375897
>Okay, I see where this is going. There’s a BASIC exercise the book suggested. VERY basic.
The best way to learn is by teaching.

>>6375897
>Okay, I see where this is going. There’s a BASIC exercise the book suggested. VERY basic.
Don't be mean with your bros

>>6375897
>Okay, I see where this is going. There’s a BASIC exercise the book suggested. VERY basic.

Yeah don't muck around.

>>6375897
>Okay, I see where this is going. There’s a BASIC exercise the book suggested. VERY basic.

>>6375897
>Okay, I see where this is going. There’s a BASIC exercise the book suggested. VERY basic.

Isn't the skull supposed the hardest part of the human body? If so I imagine it could make for a decent buckler

>>6375897
>>Okay, I see where this is going. There’s a BASIC exercise the book suggested. VERY basic.
Remember what sensei said. Still, who are we to deny him this lesson?