Time flies by faster than you realize at times. Before I realized it I was in my 6th and final year at the Shinobi Institute. Ever since I got Temari as a friend my routine at the Institute has basically been the same. Sadly, I haven't been able to make any more friends. There are many friendly acquaintances, but the other students seemed frightened of the Power Team of the Kazekage's daughter and the continuous First Inductee of the Year. Seems kind of stupid to me since we're all going to be comrades once we leave the Shinobi Institute and being top in the Institute really doesn't mean much.
I mean, I've estimated that I'm about 10 to 15 levels higher than everyone in the field a student specializes in and effectively a few more levels higher overall. This is based on what I've observed in my spars by comparing health drops with the basic attack and damage equations I've found in the help menu. I can at least see how much percentage of health my opponent has left and how much damage I can do when I fight. As for enemy chakra or stamina levels well, that I have to guess from physical clues.
My math could be off on how high my level is in comparison since the damage location modifier is very important in these equations and it's dependent on where an opponent is hit on their body. Trying to remember where I landed every hit and the damage I took off in a spar is almost impossible. Wish I had something like a screen capture ability or that I could put in overlay of a person's damage location modifier on their bodies. Those fall under dojutsus which I don't have. At least the damage location modifier from the diagram I saw in the help section matches up with vital parts of the body.
The fact that I am trying to figure out my fellow inductees stats based off an equation with missing information doesn't change one very important fact. At the end of the day I am just an inductee which means that even an average genin with a few months experience can probably kick my ass. As for chunin and jonin; well, the only question they'd have in a fight is whether or not it's worth adding my corpse to their kill count numbers. Its rather annoying to me that none of the other inductees besides Temari seems to realize that what happens in the Shinobi Institute outside of our lessons isn't going to matter at all once we get our hitai-ate fully joining the Shinobi Corps.
There has been only one major disruption in the Shinobi Institute during my entire time here. That disruption happened 3 years ago when they tried to bring Gaara in to learn how to be a shinobi. For 2 days we all lived in fear because of that homicidal psychopath before he went on a murder spree. 15 inductees were killed, 32 were permanently crippled, and almost 200 dropped out after a literally bloody reign of terror. We've been exposed to killing intent in class to get us use to dealing with in on the battlefield and I can tell you with complete certainty that the killing intent I felt at that time came from Gaara and not the Ichibi. Temari told me that her father had come within a hairsbreadth of having Gaara executed over that stunt. Last anyone heard Gaara was taken under the apprenticeship of three powerful jonins in order to 'salvage his utility to the Shinobi Corps'.
Metagaming thanks to a deity, I know that the Ichibi is vital to the fragile balance of power that keeps our world at peace for the moment. Lord Reto was pretty slick asking for just the supposedly weakest biju in order to get more concessions elsewhere at the First Kage Summit since the Ichibi's power is suited for the climate of the Land of Wind. That does not change the fact that Gaara is a complete liability because someone fucked up his seal. Thanks to my Iryojutsu training, I can recall that Gaara was suffering badly from all of the effects of lack of sleep. He honestly should be dead and is probably only alive thanks to the Ichibi which is the cause of his problems in the first place.
Naruto fans from my first life would probably hate me for this idea and I know that I'd be brought before the Kazekage for questioning over knowing things I have no right to know if I voiced this out loud. Power of friendship and bonds story line be damned. Gaara should be put down like the unstable serial murderer that he is and the Ichibi sealed away in that tea kettle until an acceptable seal can be created for the next jinchuriki. No life is hard enough to justify killing your comrades for any reason. Offer Jiraiya or some other seal master an S Rank mission's pay if necessary for such a seal. Hell, I'll design one for free once I get good enough in Fuunjutsu if we still haven't got an acceptable seal by the time I'm at that skill level. A biju isn't a real military asset unless its jinchuriki can both use its power and be a functioning member of the Shinobi Corps.
This world is a lot darker than the manga writer tried to show from what I remember of the Naruto series. It also has its good points that are to be enjoyed. Autumn is a wonderful time in Suna when the wind changes direction and we get the scent of all the different spices in the wind. Crime inside the village is kept down far below what I can recall the cities of my first life having. Everyone has access to powers that would belong in a superhero comic book if they choose to work for it. Artistic expression is truly wonderful when a person can cast a weak genjutsu to show you what they truly see in their inspiration.
It was during a survival training exercise that things took an interesting turn for me in my 6th year at the Shinobi Institute. We left the Shinobi Institute and Suna proper for the exercise and headed into the open desert of the Eastern Wastelands. It a good thing that I have taken to wearing a Zas-marish to cover my spiky bluish-black hair. The shade that hat provides is a blessing out in the open desert.
Perhaps I should pause for a second to describe my outfit? It has just occurred to me that I have not once related what I look like to anyone who would read this chronicle. Let's start with my physical looks. I am very tall for my age with a wiry frame and a slightly lighter than typical olive skin tone compared to most people in Suna. My face is angular with yellow colored eyes while my hair is bluish-black and naturally spiky. The fantastic eye and hair colors of anime are real in this world.
As stated earlier, I have taken to wearing a brown Zas-marish on my head. It's a hat that's native to Suna that's like a cross between a sombrero and a cowboy hat from Earth. I wear a loose long sleeve light blue shirt and long brown pants that partially cover my darker brown boots. Over my shirt I wear two bandoliers that crisscross my chest loaded with shuriken and throwing knives. It should be noted here that kunai and "ninja star"- style shuriken are the weapon of choice in the Land of Fire, but are not universally used weapons. Suna uses throwing knives in place of kunai and our shuriken are designed more like darts rather than spinning disks. The bandoliers and most of my shirt are hidden under a brown poncho.
Returning to the survival exercise, I was standing next to Temari and both of us were standing in the first row in the center of the instructor's line of sight. Every inductee was in their full 'shinobi outfit' for the exercise. There were about 2 dozen inductees carrying puppets, 15 other inductees who had battle fans, and around 30 inductees who had scimitars. Everyone else among the inductees, including myself, had chosen supplemental disciplines that didn't require an obvious tool. My primary supplemental discipline is Fuunjutsu and I have a secondary discipline in Iryojutsu. The instructor looked over all of us as if checking to make sure we were all appropriately attired.
Once the inspection was completed, the instructor started to speak. "As you all are aware there is not much time left before you all leave the Shinobi Institute as genin. One of the vital skills you will need as a ninja is the ability to survive in the wilderness. We have been teaching you all the necessary survival skills over the past several years and now it has come time to test your ability to make use of those skills. Here in Training Ground S-3, or the Rock Garden as it's lovingly called, you all will demonstrate these skills on a 4 day survival course."
The instructor chucked at our shocked looks and then said, "I am well aware that we are in the middle of the Shinigami's Sands. However, Training Ground S-3 has been prepped to simulate the more hospitable parts of the Eastern Wastelands. Hidden across the surrounding 30 Li that make up Training Ground S-3 are shrubs, some small water catches, and even some feral animals for you to hunt. You all will be monitored by me and my fellow instructors, but we will only pull someone out of this exercise if they are in danger of dying. Otherwise, you all will be on your own. We all are here to test how much you all have been paying attention in class; we're not here to hold your hand through this exercise."
There was a pause for a second and then the instructor said, "Front and center Inductee Domon of Clan Kamiya." I quickly stepped forward and faced the instructor while wondering why I was called out like this. The instructor looked at me and then said, "Turn to face your fellow inductees."
I immediately turned on my heels and stood at attention looking at my classmates. The instructor placed his hand on my shoulder and spoke out, "As shinobi you will almost always be working in teams of some sort and all teams have leaders. At the start your team leaders will be the jonin assigned to continue your education. Later on as genin your team leader will be either a chunin, the most senior ninja on a team, or the one most knowledgeable about a target. Inductee Domon here has consistently gotten the highest rank in survival studies so he is being placed in charge of you all for this exercise. His words concerning this exercise will carry the same weight as if he was an instructor teaching you."
Some people who are only familiar with this world through the eyes of the Naruto franchise might be wondering why a chunin would command a team of genin. From what I remember, the series almost always had genin under the command of jonin. The fact is that the ranks shown in the Naruto series are not actually ranks and are actually groupings of different ranks that do similar tasks. We all informally, especially around non-shinobi, refer to a person's rank by the grouping class. Genin covers ranks G1 through G6 and are roughly equivalent to an enlisted person back on Earth. G1 through G3 genin are placed under a jonin to mentor them while G4-6 are experienced enough to handle being on a team under a chunin. Our noncommissioned officer role in the shinobi forces is handled by the C1 through C6 ranks as chunins. Unlike Earth militaries, all officers in the shinobi forces come up from the lower ranks. Jonin are our commissioned officers comprising ranks J1 through J10. J1 to J4s are typically referred to as Tokubetsu Jonin while the J10 rank is reserved for a village's Kage for the major villages or Oyabun Jonin for the smaller villages.
I noticed that a couple of my fellow inductees had some annoyance on their faces over me being given this position. There are several people who want to dethrone me from my place as the First Inductee of the Year. Personally, I don't care one way or another about the title since I'm here to learn how to be the best shinobi I can be. The title means absolutely nothing once we graduate.
The instructor also seemed to have picked up on the annoyance of my fellow inductees. He then said, "Inductee Domon also has an additional challenge because of his position. Team leaders are responsible for their subordinates. 40 percent of Inductee's Domon's grade on this exercise will be determined by how many of you pass and what your condition is when the exercise is over."
That caused all of the annoyance my peers felt to disappear while I started to get nervous. No one informed me prior to this that I was going to be team leader or that my grade in this exercise was dependent on my companions' success! I know my luck is only in the mid 50s while all my other stats are mid 90s, but I didn't think it was that bad to have my luck that far below the others. My stats might sound ridiculously high for a person let alone a 12 year old. However, the game system I live by has no ceiling on stats or levels and I'm a level 50 character. Any decent genin level ninja has got to have a level in the triple digits while heavy hitters S class ninjas are probably level 1000 plus.
Without any further instructions, the instructor vanished in a swirl of sand leaving us all alone. I could see shock in my companions' eyes at our sudden abandonment and I knew I had to do something before everyone started to panic. I kept my face as calm as I could and pulled out my watch to check the time before looking at everyone. "Okay everyone," there was a slight pause while I waited for everyone to focus on me. Their eyes just made me more nervous, but I focused on acting like I had a plan. "This exercise was a bit sudden for all of us and I'm including myself in the group for finding out about the exercise. However, we've been told time and time again that dealing with the unexpected is part of being a shinobi."
"It's 10:45am on Monday and the instructor said that this is a 4 day exercise. He did not specify whether those 4 days were calendar days or a 96 hour period. We're going to treat this like he meant a 96 hour period so we will plan for staying here until 11:00am on Friday. As long as none of us goof off we'll have this exercise in the bag. After all, the instructors were able to make Daisuke get a passing grade in our survival skills class so all of us together will lick this exercise."
There was a loud shout of indignation from the year's class clown that caused several people to laugh at my shot at Daisuke. Good, I've gotten them somewhat calmed down and not on the verge of panicking. I waited a moment for the laughter to die down using the precious seconds to think of a plan. My wisdom is my highest stat at the moment while my intelligence is my 3rd highest stat and not that many points behind my wisdom stat. That helped me come up with a basic outline of a plan. I called out, "Who here has a map of the local area?"
In all honesty, I don't need the map for myself since I've got an Atlas of the Eastern Wastelands stored in my inventory. Fuunjutsu is my primary supplemental discipline because I wanted access to my inventory screen and it has really paid off for me. My inventory screen actually turns out to be a special seal that lets me rapidly store and remove many things from the same seal array. It isn't a popular seal for ninjas to use since the seal has to be made by the user and the weight of the items in the seal normally isn't removed like it is for other storage seals. The weight is uniformly distributed across my body making for a free weight training set and I can seal the weight away by locking the inventory seal. However, if I lock the inventory seal I have to spend several minutes unlocking it so I can access my supplies again. My inventory seal is built into my belt buckle and I quickly used it to pull out my atlas.
Several other inductee produced maps of their own as I took my atlas out from behind my poncho and into view. I looked at everyone and said, "Form a circle with everyone who has a map spread out so that we all can look at the training ground." This was done soon enough and everyone was looking at a map of Training Ground S-3. There wasn't much in the training ground for reference points aside from some hills according to the map.
"Okay everyone," I said after we all had a chance to look at the map. "These three hills grouped together in southwest sector of the northeast quadrant are where we'll scope things out first to make a basecamp. It's one of best elevated areas so we can keep a good watch while still having good access to the rest of the training ground. But, before we do that we need to figure out where on the training ground the instructors dumped off at. I am going to need 8 volunteers to help us discover our current location."
This acting like I've got a plan as I come up with said plan while flying by the seat of my pants seems to work because I quickly got my volunteers. Or maybe they thought things were going to turn into a disaster soon and wanted to put some distance between themselves and the mess I was going to bring. Hopefully it's the former instead of the later. I had the volunteers leave their camping supplies so that we could take inventory of them. I then had to spend the next half hour writing down everyone's supplies so that we all knew what we had to work with.
Between everyone the group had a great selection of supplies. There were plenty of tents. We had enough food reserves to last for 3 days. Water wouldn't be an issue, but it would be preferable to find fresh water instead of resorting to purification seals to reclaim urine. The most important set of supplies were the medical supplies since those could not be replaced by what we can find in the training ground. Many of our medicines are derived from plants either native to the area or that we've accidentally introduced into local ecosystem. However, to my knowledge none of my fellow initiates knows how to or has the tools to process those plants into a proper medicine.
I finished checking over the inventory of supplies just as the last volunteer returned from their scouting mission. We were able to quickly triangulate our exact location in the southeast sector of the southeast quadrant of the training ground. I then led the group in a quick march to the proposed campsite. There was a quick check to make sure that the area was safe like we thought and then we started to set up camp.
Teams were assigned to different tasks in order to set up camp. Most teams were instructed to set up the tents. However, 4 teams had different tasks. 2 of teams with the best trackers were sent off to try and find some game for our dinner and to collect fresh water. The other two teams were composed of some of the best fighters among the inductees and they were assigned to sentry duty. I don't think that we'll have any threats on this exercise, but cautiousness never hurts in a shinobi's line of work. Our numbers left 1 person either by themselves or having to join an already full team so I put myself in that spot. I also took up the task of setting up the latrines. Someone has to do it and I think that some of my more stubborn classmates will be more willing to listen to me if they see that I won't shirk from unpleasant tasks.
Once I was done with the latrines I headed into the tent area of camp and came to my tent that had been set up for me. I knew it was mine because I had embroidered my name with a clay red thread on the inside flap of the tent. I sat down and started to plan out what I was going to have the group do for the survival exercise. There were half a dozen different ideas that were cooking in my mind and now I needed to come up with a definitive plan to see the group through the next 4 days. Part of me wished then that I had someone to talk with and bounce ideas off of to get the full picture.
However, the only person I'm close enough to consider as a 2nd in command is Temari and she's currently needed on sentry duty. There's also the problem that I don't have a way to pull Temari off the side to ask for advice without it looking like I'm asking for advice. That is something that I cannot do under any circumstances. One of the core assumptions in any form of military is that the leader knows. They know what they are doing, they have a plan to see the objective accomplished, and they have a backup plan just waiting for any situation to occur. It is a proverbial lifeline for the underlings to know everything is going to pay off in the end even if they can't see it because their leader has the full picture. If the soldiers are forced to question that belief then moral shatters and any operation is almost assuredly doomed to failure.
I have crafted the illusion that I was given a slight heads up by the instructors before this exercise began and so I already had a plan to put in place. Everyone seems to have bought that illusion so far. If they haven't, they are keeping quiet to not cause a panic. Working on the latrines alone had bought me additional time to think and I was grateful for that. However, now it was crunch time and I think I've got a solid plan. This is supposed to be a survival exercise so I'll cycle everyone through different tasks such as hunting, water gathering, sentry duty, etc. Tonight I'll ask the teams which tasks they want to do first so I can create a list of who does what.
My planning was cut short when I heard the blast of a ram's horn echoing through the camp. I immediately jumped to my feet and headed towards the east end of camp along with almost everyone else. Suna and the military forces in general throughout the Land of Wind use ram's horns like militaries back on Earth used to use bugles. The alert blast from the horn was followed by a call that caused my blood to freeze in fear: sandstorm incoming.
Sandstorms are nothing to joke about; especially if they are happening here in the Shinigami Sands. The Ichibi spent many decades roaming these parts of the Eastern Wastelands and there are many pockets of sand still laced with its dangerous chakra. These pockets can be unearthed by a sandstorm and made part of the storm. If that happens, the potential lethality of a sandstorm shoots up astronomically. Biju chakra is very dangerous to people if it's unfiltered by coming from an unsealed biju. Best way I can describe its effects to someone from Earth is that it's like radiation poisoning in what it does to the body. Unlike radiation sickness, biju chakra poisoning is both treatable and reversible if you can get a person away from the biju chakra. Our own chakra naturally acts like a shield against biju chakra. However, biju chakra rapidly wears down human chakra so you need phenomenal chakra reserves to do anything around an unsealed biju without getting chakra poisoning.
I forced myself to head towards the sound of the horn even though I was scared out of my mind. Part of me was puzzled when I reached the sentry line and found a puzzled group of sentries without a sign of a cloud on the horizon. The horn call was heard again only slightly louder this time. I quickly unsealed my handheld telescope and started to scan the horizon trying to find the hunting team who had blown the horn. If someone messed up the horn call I will be annoyed. If someone is trying to play a game, there will be hell to pay. One of the sentries was also searching with a similar telescope and she called out to get everyone's attention while pointing at a spot. I rapidly moved my telescope to the spot she indicated.
Through my telescope I saw one of the hunting teams running like Gaara was on their ass wanting to kill them. One of them was holding a horn and blew the warning yet again. This caused me to make a decision as I know they wouldn't run like that for a prank. I turned to one of the sentries and said, "Pull Sora from Team Roadrunner and have him grab an emergency pack from storage. Tell him to run as fast as he can to Team Horned Toad and to get them into shelter if I have the Take Cover call sounded." The sentry nodded his head and ran to find Sora. Part of me was worried about risking Sora, but I had four other subordinates out there in Team Horned Toad. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if they got caught out in the open in a sandstorm because they weren't warned.
Team Coyote soon was able to be seen without the aid of a telescope and I started to jog out to meet them. The team's leader Riku ran over to me and called out, "There's a massive sandstorm coming in from the west. I estimate 20 to 25 minutes before it hits camp."
I nodded my head and replied, "Understood." The next thing I did was to seal my telescope away and unseal my ram's horn. Within a second the horn was at my lips and I blew out the Take Cover call. I then bellowed out, "Pull back now! I want everyone to grab a supply pack, double check their tent's setup, and batten down for the storm. Past the word as you go." We all might have been 12 and the occasional 13 year olds, but we were all trained on what to do in these situations. That training and the fact that I was issuing sound orders kept camp from falling into pandemonium. For the next 15 minutes I was patrolling the camp making sure that everyone else was in their tents with some supplies in case the storm lasted a while. Sandstorms can last from a few minutes to several hours and we don't have things like weather satellites to help predict how long they'll last.
The sandstorm could be seen on the horizon by the time I was sure everyone else was safe in their tents. I grabbed some supplies from storage and fastened the tarp over the remaining supplies to protect them. I darted to my tent as soon as the supplies were protected and closed it shut. At this point I closed my eyes and started to pray for Sora and Team Horned Toad's safety. There was nothing else that I could do at this point.
All too soon, I heard what sound almost like a very heavy rain hitting my tent. The sandstorm had reached the camp. I closed my eyes at this point and tried to relax. Now wasn't the time to focus on the sandstorm. As the group's leader I should be using this time to figure out what is going to happen after the sandstorm ends. First thing I needed to do was consider what options I had for when the storm was going to end. It could last for a few minutes, it could last for an hour, or the storm could go on all night. Each situation had to be planed for.
Without any warning, I saw my chakra gauge appear in my mind's eye and it started to drop. This didn't make any sense to me since I wasn't using any jutsu. I hadn't eaten anything recently or cut myself on anything so poison was extremely unlikely. Chakra reserves don't just start depleting themselves on their own!
My eyes widened in horror as a dreadful thought came to me. The chakra drop started when the sandstorm hit. A sandstorm in the Shinigami Sands causing chakra reserves to be used up could only mean one thing: the Ichibi's unfiltered chakra was in the sand. I immediately sent up a prayer that only a small portion of the sand in this sandstorm had that chakra. The chakra had to be at least somewhat diluted or my reserves would be dropping way faster than they currently were.
Honestly, this was the first time in my life that I wished I didn't live my life like it was a video game. There is something supremely terrifying to be able to see one's chakra decrease at a relentless pace and being able to say precisely when my health was going to be hit. You can't bullshit yourself saying that you're coping with the situation or that you're dealing with it better now. It's just cold hard numbers that won't lie and can't be reasoned with.
Just as I was about to completely lose my cool I saw a notification appear. Desperately, I read it hoping it stated I was caught in a genjutsu or something. Hell, even a resist biju chakra skill notification would be nice right about now. The notification was just 4 simple words: Dormant Kekkei Genkai activated.