Chapter 13: Wilderness Public Toilet Pt.2
By the grace of a higher power. Their esteemed team leader was able to keep his mouth shut for the rest of the trip. Allowing a bout of silence that only deepened once they came across the outpost.
Kobaru was on edge for most of the journey. The words of his father ringing through his head. There was only a thirty-three percent chance of him making it back to the village alive and only twelve percent saw them returning uninjured. So, he looked to the checkpoint to provide the needed calm in the current storm.
The outpost only made it worse.
It was the most raggedy, run down settlement he ever came across. The place looked more like the remains of an outpost than a bunker for living human beings. Like it was the location of the last battle in the war that no one could bring themselves to repair.
There wasn't much information one could gather about Konoha's outposts. But what he did know, was that it was a nightmare for anyone there. Prior to his visit. He found it hard to grasp the village wide assumption that the outposts were hellholes. Upon seeing the camp though, the reason for its negative publicity presented itself.
The outpost was disappointing to say the least. Other than a storage shed and a checkpoint booth. The area was bare of other infrastructure. Sure, there were tents scattered around the camp and a few hammocks hung in the branches. But anyone could tell that shelter wasn't a top priority. To add to the lack of comfort. The Naka River appeared to be the nearest source of water. And that was about twenty-three miles southwest. So, gaining resources was already a mission in itself.
All of these managed to make the place look less relaxing than the washroom from their first D-rank.
The populous on camp did little to lift their spirits. Most of them -all the chunin there- were understandably dreary. They held their frames with a tired slouch. They put little effort into keeping their clothes clean. Everyone appeared to forego haircuts and even with area's for resting. It was evident that no one got any. If the infrastructure didn't make you feel uneasy. Then the dead atmosphere would. And if you were somehow capable of resisting that, then the scent would send you running.
With a lack of flowing water. Came a reliance on the little refreshment they had. Meaning that the showers or baths were incredibly infrequent. This was something that the other genin could relate to. As, according to Chusei, the genin barrack was one broken pipeline away from never seeing water again.
Apparently that utility bill was always the highest no matter how little the residents used. They went on to claim that even with the funds to cover liberal usage. Their access to water in the apartment building depended on the use in the civilian district. So, they were only afforded one when everyone else was asleep. Which was still a shot in the dark because every genin would be waiting for the window to take their showers.
Another reason to love having a family.
Morale wise a small fraction of the experienced genin were still showing signs of life. But they weren't too far from their higher ranked counterparts. One bad weekend, or one conversation with Chusei, could drive them over the edge.
Overall, Kobaru wanted nothing to do with the place. He would quietly spend the night there. Then leave first thing at sunrise.
Chusei gave him the order to set up dinner, but that would mean he'd be standing around a group of dreary shinobi for thirty minutes or more. Not a very productive activity. So, he summoned a clone with the purpose of cooking. Then left to spar.
Nagisa would join him to brush up her taijutsu. It was the only thing that made her happy. She would give up anything just to kick the crap out of him for half an hour and he always proved to be an interesting punching bag. His experience in that field was extensive.
Just like with his Uchiha project. Two weeks of getting kicked inside out sharpened his skills. Before this Nagisa could attack him and he wouldn't know what was going on until she hit him. Now he could tell when an attack was coming. He still received it full force, but he was making strides in the right direction.
Once she was finished setting up their sleeping area as requested by the groups loudmouth. The two set out to a clearing not too far from the camp. Where Kobaru's screams of pain could die in peace.
Nagisa was as confident in her taijutsu, as she was confident in breathing. Its style would work no matter how absurd her situation was. For every defensive stance she had a dismantling attack. And for every offensive stance she had an efficient counter. Her martial arts were a pain to come across. If Kobaru was to ever get a hit on her again. He would have to come up with the most elaborate surprise attack in the history of their field. Until then she was poised for anything that didn't break the laws of physics.
Which meant that he needed to learn other hand techniques, or she'd continue to beat him to mush.
They always started their spar by gauging each other. Testing their base reaction before the adrenaline took effect. That's where things went from friends helping each other improve to kill or be killed. They were both competitive on a religious level, but Kobaru would wind up begging for a truce after thirty minutes. It was how all their spars went.
He would dodge and deflect a relentless slew of attacks. Become fatigued by the ever-increasing barrage. Make a foolish mistake and collect a solid jab to the abdomen. Finally, he would fall to the ground and hope that his body would bounce back onto his feet. His hope appeared to be wasted, but he could glide on water, defying the laws of gravity wasn't inconceivable.
Midway through the routine bout, the sound of leaves rustling brought them to a pause. It was a deliberate sound to signify that their audience wasn't a threat, but outside of the village walls everything was to be considered a threat. He knew immediately that it wasn't Chusei, as the older boy would walk noisily until he was close enough. Then he'd attempt to keep quiet and partially hide himself behind a tree.
They turned around and looked into the trees. Perched on a low hanging branch was an old shinobi. A really old shinobi. He held himself down in a crouch focused on the two fresh genin. His skin was wrinkled and weathered in age, leaving a brown leathery mask for a face. Just as every other experienced shinobi. The old man radiated a calm that was developed through violent trauma but hid his well enough under a practiced gaze. Familiarity always felt forced from shinobi. Like they smiled and communed solely to convince themselves that they were still human.
Once he got passed the barely expressed staring. Kobaru's attention was once again attracted by the numbers that were written over the soldier before him. Up to this point the oldest Konoha-nin he knew alive, was The Third Hokage. He was quite pleased to know that a shinobi could exist in their environment to see such old age. This was who he aspired to be. It should have been impossible for him to do something like that.
Then he realized that the individual was lacking something that could be the difference between being lauded as a hero. Or treated like a common farmhand. The oldest looking shinobi in Konoha's forces also happened to, hopefully be, the oldest genin Kobaru had ever came across.
The nine-year-old was a genin for just over a month, but there was no way he could imagine herself in the rank for another nine months. Becoming chunin was relatively easier than attaining any of the other ranks. Once you met the base requirements of accepting forty D-ranks and twenty C-ranks. You could apply for the promotional exams. The applicant didn't have to complete the mission.
There was a chance of local promotion once every four months. Unless Konoha was due to host the next chunin exam within a year. Then the internal exam would be postponed ensuring they had a sizable showing. After all, intimidation was the name of the game during the exams. Generally, the more shinobi that entered the higher their chances of getting promoted.
The Land of Fire did not see to the hosting in a about fifteen years. Prior to the third war. The event was handed off to the satellite nations that needed the revenue. For the last two years. It was being bounced between The Land of Wind, Plains and Rain. Places where the war actually breached their borders. By the looks of things Konoha wouldn't be due to host for another two years. Not that it mattered. This just made it easier for Kobaru to secure promotion. Just ten more D-ranks and nineteen more C-ranks.
The old shinobi seeing that the duo stopped to stare at him, decided to close the distance. He dropped onto the ground and began moving towards them with slow labored strides. Kobaru made a quick glance at his legs for the source of his limp. Then silently berated his awareness when he saw an entire leg missing. The old shinobi balancing his left side on a wooden pole. A cared for but aged pole. A sign that this man was a cripple for quite some time.
If that was the case, there was no way he recently became a shinobi. Konoha would be hard pressed to hire a senior citizen. Much less one missing an important body part.
Kobaru allowed himself another scan of their visitor and the more he saw the less he wanted to see. Every new detail about this man was more confusing that the last.
Blind in one eye. Has less teeth than fingers. Is that a skillet on his back? Kobaru felt his jaw drop loose, Is Konoha this desperate for extra hands?
He came to a stop ten yards away from them but settled on silent observation as opposed to introducing himself. He studied them with his lone eye. Scanning head to toe then up to their heads again. Looking for something that he quietly kept to himself. Kobaru locked eyes with the man who responded with a series of slow nods.
"Shinobi 012085," Nagisa greeted with a bow. Her voice level and calm as though she wasn't trying to gut him with her bare hands a while ago.
Kobaru did the same although with more panting, "Shinobi 012114."
"Maruboshi," the old man smirked at the two, then turned to Nagisa, "your style of combat is quite... exotic."
"Yes."
He labored a sigh through his nostrils then asked, "Southwest?"
"Southeast," Nagisa responded keeping her voice leveled. She always leveled herself with bland responses. It didn't matter who she was talking to or what she was doing.
"Mist intervention?" He said his tone being the only sign that it was a question. Nagisa nodded. "You fight well already."
The old genin then looked back to Kobaru who immediately tensed at the sudden scrutiny. The boy glanced down at his hand to see his fingers wrapped around a kunai. It was the second time that day he reached for a weapon on instinct. He would be proud of himself if it wasn't backed by fear, but it was. Tensed that at any moment the enemy would jump out of the bushes and stage an attack.
The man old enough to be his great grandfather smirked at the sight, "your style is quite rigid. Like it doesn't belong to you at all. Civilian?"
"Yes sir," Kobaru nodded with unnecessary enthusiasm. His grip tightening on his kunai, "the academy techniques were inefficient, so I sought to copy the style of one of my clas-"
"The intercepting fist only works if you have the tools to complement it. Otherwise, you've acquired a skill that yields mediocre advantage. It makes no sense having a sword that hurts it's master."
"Excuse me," Nagisa cut in folding her arms, "I must ask. Who are you and do you not have anything better to do right now?"
Kobaru turned to his senior teammate angling himself so she could observe his surprised expression. He needed to ensure that she had full view of how much she was embarrassing him.
She caught sight of Kobaru's staring. Glared at him as though he was the one embarrassing her. Then turned her attention back to the older genin who provided critique without permission.
Nagisa was known for a few things. A submissive nature was not one of those things. Sure, she would keep to herself if not addressed. As long as you didn't do or say anything that irritated her everything would proceed smoothly. Interrupting her spar was apparently something that irritated her.
Kobaru signed off mentally hoping that she didn't say something that got them written up. A few more reports on their rap sheet and Chunin would be the highest rank they ever get to.
The old man allowed a quick chuckle, "I am a genin just like you. And no, I do not have anything better to do as I am on a break. Not much to do in the wilderness anyway."
Kobaru scanned his surroundings to ensure nothing exciting happened since he shifted his focus, then agreed with the shinobi grandpa.
"If it's okay with you I have a bit of advice for both of you," the old man paused to allow a response, Nagisa grunted in annoyance, which was apparently judged as a sign of approval, "012085. You have a very practiced style. From what I've seen, it's already ingrained into your mind and is now reflex for you. Your great at reading patterns and adjust well to the situation. Your quite confident... a bit too confident actually. This may affect your judgement."
"I am well aware of my limits. So, I'm confident that it will not be of any significance."
Kobaru shifted uncomfortably at that. Nagisa was mostly monotonous, but her statement was potent with annoyance. The old man seemed to notice the venom in her tone and abandoned continued criticism of her competence. He responded he responded to it with another smirk and a series of short nods.
"Your technique..." he began gracing Kobaru with one kind eye, "your defense is shallow. You opt to deflect as your combat is not fast enough to dodge. Then what you can't redirect you try using it for an immediate counter," he looked down at the kunai in the boy's hand and provided a chuckle, "you've been fighting with a controlled sense. What you've learned is to look great during a spar and not severely injure your opponent. What you need to incorporate... is a weapon. You have an even more exceptional read on attack patterns. What if you didn't just deflect what if you hurt them as well?"
"So, you're saying I should pull my kunai out and start stabbing people?" Kobaru asked to see if his assumption was correct.
"Precisely," the man clasped his hands with a loud clap, "especially with your sparring buddy here. The Art of Eight Limbs was invented to disarm opponents after all. I'm sure shinobi 012085 will not mind, right?" he looked over at Nagisa who appeared to be, in her own way, very annoyed, "I had the displeasure of fighting practitioners before the treaty. Lost my entire squad to about two of 'em. Great hand to hand combat. It would be great for your development."
He chuckled to himself as he'd done before and started off back to the tree he was initially perched in, "well three's a crowd and a four is either a successful meeting or a shitstorm. The individual in the bushes seems to be a bearer of the latter."
With that he disappeared in a blur of speed.
Nagisa allowed another ten seconds of nothing before looking back at a copse of bushes that gathered at the base of a tree.
"You have the stealth of a cow," she said glaring at the bush.
"I'm getting closer and that's all that matters," Chusei popped his orange head out moved towards to the two. Kobaru had to agree with the statement, he wasn't even aware that someone else was nearby. Even with the old man hinting at it, the bushes went unnoticed.
"I heard you fall out off a tree about fifty meters that way," Nagisa pointed of to their left.
Chusei's hand moved to the side of his head, massaging just above his ear, "It's getting late. In case you haven't realized, unlike Kobaru here I can't see in the dark. Now if you don't mind, I need you guys back at the campsite."
Nagisa grunted but began walking back to the site. She was more than likely in opposition, but Chusei technically had the power to write her up for insubordination. So, there was no verbal disagreement.
"By the way you guys saw the old man too, right?" Chusei asked wrapping an arm around Kobaru's shoulder and dragging him along.
"Yes, did you not hear us having a conversation with him?"
"Wow."
"Chusei you alright?" Kobaru asked concerned by the sound of shock.
"No, I'm good," he replied with the same surprised tone, "I just didn't realize that genin could be that experienced."
Weekly Power Status
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