Because I'm a useless piece of garbage who can't plan stuff, I have to adjust something.
Basically, this story is set just after the Third Great Shinobi War now. That means one very important fact: Zabuza has already massacred an entire graduating class. However, chapter 7 still exists, obviously, so something has to change there. I've decided that something is that Kiri, the fucked up place that it is, continued the tradition despite losing at minimum 50% of the graduating class each year for no reason.
It was either that or increase the time-gap...is what I would say but I just realised that the timeline I'm using lists Zabuza becoming a genin 5 year before Naruto is born, which I thought was his massacre, but says 2 years after Naruto was born was when he massacred a graduating class. So I don't know nor do I care, this story is a year before Naruto is born, so Sora will be 13 when he's born, and 25 when he's 12.
Yes that is an almost identical age to Akari, but I can't be fucked to change shit again.
Chapter 10
As soon as her daily tests were done and she was given a basic rundown of how she had progressed as well as what she had been deficient in, Sora hurried straight to her room.
The reason was that on that day she had hit level 30, and a pop-up had appeared, which she wanted to check. However, she didn't want to do it while training or being tested in case hitting level 30 gave her a buff and changed something about her which would draw very unwanted attention. Slipping inside, she moved to sit down on her bed, then brought up her menu and selected the pop-up.
Level 30 reached, Additional Perks available, single-time perk changes allowed, one additional perk slot unlocked
Sora smirked, quite amused at how brazen the Game was being.
Of course, she knew from the start that the Game wasn't just a non-reactive system, it had some intelligence controlling it which adapted the system based on her situation and her actions. So when she started thinking about perks and all that, it had taken that into account, found a good place to insert the event, then done so without much hassle. It even went so far as to give her the option to change her perks.
Maybe they thought she had been cheated a bit much since she was asked to pick perks with literally zero knowledge of what some of them even did. Now she knew that some were vastly more powerful than others, and that she could get far more value out of other perks. On top of that, more perks had been added, including fleshing out the weapons. There was even a Gunslinger perk that increased her firearms proficiency which she was honestly heavily tempted by.
However, there was one that stood out vastly from the rest.
Seeker - You've always had a sharp eye, this just takes that to the next level. Gives user the ability to Observe opponents and assess information about them. Observe also allows user to track any observed targets within an upgradable range.
That...was quite frankly huge.
Depending on how far this 'upgradable range' could go, she would be able to track people across massive distances. Being able to gauge power levels would also be utterly invaluable to her in picking her targets. Though she wasn't sure if it would work on pictures and intelligence reports about targets, but if it was, she would always be able to see the strength of her targets and come up with countermeasures, as well as targetting their weaknesses. For example, an opponent with low vitality would be a great target for poisoning.
Without hesitation she selected Seeker as her fourth perk, and then stared at her other perks. Her polearm perk was the only one she didn't feel confident in removing since she had been known to be far more adept with a polearm than anything else, so if she suddenly wasn't as good at learning with them, it would bring unnecessary suspicion upon her. As for her medic and stealth perks, they were both ones she felt she could remove without much issue since while she was known to be a tiny bit sneaky and good at medical techniques she never outright claimed to be prodigious at them, so she did so.
With two perks available, she carefully read through every single perk she had available. The Summoner sounded interesting to her as she would gain an ally in at least one form, but was that the best choice? Now that she knew what Fuinjutsu was she knew that it was pretty useful, but she sucked at writing normally, let alone doing all the intricate details of making seals, she would likely end up blowing herself to pieces before she made a working seal. After gnawing at her lip for a while trying to decide what to take, she hesitantly selected Speed-demon, since it would synergise with her Taijutsu very well.
Then, she picked her final perk, a new addition.
Endurance - Being able to endure is the simplest and strongest strength a person can have. Passively increases health and chakra regeneration by 25%. When active, health and chakra regeneration will remain locked active at 25% efficiency, even while channelling techniques. All wounds have a 10% chance to cause double damage, 1% chance to cause permanent scarring.
While there were definitely drawbacks to taking the perk, the benefits were amazing.
When she had her Endurance active, she would be able to permanently maintain chakra techniques like her henge, which would be invaluable in future. It neatly solved her low chakra quantity issue as she would now have seemingly heightened regeneration capabilities. To counterbalance that, having a 10% chance to receive double damage from each hit was an acceptable risk.
She was a tiny bit worried about the 1% chance of permanent scarring though. Not because she cared, but because what would happen is she was slashed across the eye and that got the 1% chance to scar. Would it blind her permanently in that eye? Sora already knew that even if she was stabbed in the eye, it would take the regular damage and apply critical damage to it, which was just double damage.
It was why she wasn't super-afraid of sneak attacks, because even if she was stabbed through the heart, she would survive it, unless they did enough damage to kill her outright, but in that case she was dead either way. But if she got scarred across the eye, would that eye then be regarded as permanently scarred and thus permanently blinded? Sora obviously wasn't going to test it, so all she could do would be to hope that nobody ever sliced at her eyes.
Looking over her four perks, Sora nodded to herself, then fished out one of the fish in her tank and got to work practising her technique to half the benefits as before.
"I want to learn the Shunshin."
Sora stated her intentions bluntly to Karatachi when she entered the room and after bowing, not wanting to beat around the bush about it. "The Shunshin huh? Hmm, it's early for you to be learning that, normally you'd only learn that in the third month, but I guess nothing about your training can be considered ordinary. Alright, the Commander gave me free reign to teach you anything below B-rank anyway, so why the hell not?"
Sora watched as Karatachi formed the Tiger hand seal, then in the blink of an eye she simultaneously released smoke from her body and appeared beside the wall at the rear of the room. In the next moment, she formed the seal again then moved back into the space she had just vacated, another smoke cloud obscuring where she had just been standing. "Want me to demonstrate again?"
Putting a hand up to her chin, Sora hummed noncommittally. "So the technique is just using the Tiger seal, that makes it easier." Sora formed the hand seal, and then attempted to move, only to frown when nothing happened. She released her seal and shook one of her legs, then formed it again, trying to figure out whether she was missing something. After a few attempts, she gave up and looked towards Karatachi for guidance.
"Visualise where you want to go, then picture yourself moving there in the blink of an eye." Sora blinked, then grumbled quietly before she focused herself on the space just in front of the wall on the other side of the room from her. She imagined herself not running there, instead, she pictured it as if she had just appeared there one moment with unfathomable haste, then when she felt totally ready, she formed the hand seal.
The very next thing she knew she had instantly lost over a hundred hit points, her nose was pouring with blood, and she was staring at the flat stone ceiling hearing Karatachi laughing her ass off. Sora narrowed her eyes, immediately realising that Karatachi had deliberately omitted something, very likely that she also had to visualise stopping properly, or else she would just keep on going and thus slam facefirst into the fucking wall.
Rolling, she got up, narrowing her eyes at Karatachi, who was still laughing. Taking a deep breath, she grasped her nose and made sure it hadn't broken, then formed hand seals and healed herself up, halting the bleeding. After wiping the excess off, she focused on Karatachi, who was just now recovering from laughing so hard, and she had an idea. It was silly and stupid, but still oh so worth it to try.
She repeated her actions, focusing on the space right next to Karatachi. She very carefully did not picture herself actually stopping, and instead almost thought about what was going to come after. Then, she snapped her hands up into the Tiger seal. In an instant, she felt herself smack into something solid, and along with that, there was a surprised squawk as she felt as well as saw Karatachi flying with the sudden impact.
Sora watched her with her Byakugan, ignoring the mild pain from hitting her as the woman brought herself to a stop, her head fixated on Sora. Grinning behind her mask, she quickly repeated her actions, except this time she moved to her side and fixated her mind upon stopping there. When she formed the hand seal, she moved there, and at the same time she saw Karatachi form her own hand seal and appear in the spot that she had just vacated.
However, before she could move again, Karatachi had already formed another Tiger seal and slammed into her side, sending her rolling across the room. "You are about ten years too early to be trying to challenge me in using the Shunshin, Sora." Blinking, Sora smiled behind her mask as she realised that Karatachi had slipped up and used her real name instead of her recruit number.
Sora hummed. "Maybe." Then she did something she doubted that Karatachi expected from her. Focusing on the area above the woman, she formed the Tiger seal and appeared above her, only for her to move out of the way leisurely and grab her by the collar as she fell, holding her up mask to mask with literally no effort at all. After a moment of staring, Sora tilted her head, deciding to take advantage of the situation to ask a question she was curious about. "Is Karatachi your real name?"
The woman snorted behind her mask, letting go of her collar and allowing her to land on the floor. "Is Karatachi my name? Seriously? Do you not remember how I was introduced to you? It was in front of a bunch of snot-nosed academy students. Do you really think I'd use my real name there, whilst anonymous behind my mask?" Sora hummed, thinking about it for a moment before grinning.
"Yep." She could tell from the fact that Karatachi didn't say anything that she'd surprised her, or maybe she just wanted to know what Sora was thinking, it could have been either really. "Okay, maybe not your real name, but it's obvious you identify with Karatachi to an insane degree, so you might as well be called Karatachi. And...thanks. I never told you but I wanted to join the Hunter-nin and it was you who gave me the chance. So hey, in the future if I ever get the chance you're going to let me drag you to a bar for a proper thank you. Or a brothel if you'd rather swing that way."
Sora very quickly found herself being smacked away, grinning as it happened. "Brat." Karatachi said with a shake of her head, though her tone of voice was warm. And Sora really did mean it, she honestly appreciated Karatachi for being the one to open up this path for her. Sure, the Game was partially responsible but Karatachi was the crux of it all. So paying her back was something she would hold onto until the day she died.
Well, at least until she found a good way to actually pay her back.
"When life gives you lemons, you don't make lemonade, you use 'em to make girls cry."
Sora sang quietly while she practised on her fish, slicing each open with a scalpel that the med-nin had given her after much wheedling and pointing out that she literally never encountered other Hunter-nin so couldn't possibly have a grievance. Even if she did, using a scalpel would instantly point the blame at her and she'd be fucked. Besides, if she wanted to murder another recruit she had techniques for it. Aside from just that, she was also in a really good mood because her relationship with Karatachi had risen right up to bonded, which put her in a singing mood. "You take those lemons, no sugar at all, and you-"
"Nice song." Sora immediately stopped singing as she focused on her door, raising an eyebrow. "So, the mysterious special recruit is a singer huh?" Sora remained quiet, putting her mask on in case whoever was outside of her room opened her door. "Whatever. Was specifically told to tell you that all recruits have to assemble in the training hall at 1300 hours, so be there."
She then heard footsteps as the person outside left. From their voice and how they addressed her, they were definitely another recruit. But the fact that she was now known as the 'mysterious special recruit' was a bit irritating, since it'd bring more attention to her among the other recruits. Then again, she was getting more attention than them so it made sense that they'd be annoyed that she was getting more than they were, it was just human nature to want equal or more than someone else.
Tossing the freshly-healed fish back into the tank, Sora wiped her hands on the stone then pushed her door open and leaned out, catching sight of the retreating back of the recruit who had brought her that information. Not wasting the opportunity, she observed him. Since he was masked and anonymous it just told her that he was a Hunter-nin Recruit, he was level 18 with 55 strength, 30 vitality, 20 agility and 15 each into intelligence, wisdom and luck. So from that she knew he was a brawler and a tank, he wasn't someone who used techniques or speed really, not with only 20 agility.
Quickly checking herself to make sure she was presentable and not covered in fish blood, Sora vacated her room and began to walk towards the training hall, using her Seeker perk to keep a track on the other recruit. Being entirely frank, she didn't trust him to not suddenly run and disappear to tell others who could ambush her for being 'better' than them and getting better treatment.
However, to his credit, he didn't move in any way other than straight towards the training hall, and so the pair of them arrived quickly enough. As she got close enough her Seeker perk revealed that Karatachi was also inside, though not the med-nin, who were the only people she had seen and thus been able to observe as well as track. Pushing open the door, Sora moved to line up with the other assembled recruits, immediately taking the opportunity she'd been given to observe everybody in the room, though the only noteworthy people in the room were the Commander and the prick who had broken her arm on her first day.
Observing them revealed quite terrifyingly that the Commander was so far out of her league as to be completely untouchable.
Hunter-nin Commander
Level - 263
Health Points: 35,100
Chakra Points: 62,600
Strength: 175
Vitality: 200
Agility: 300
Wisdom: 250
Intelligence: 250
Luck: 200
Currently, just relying on her own physical abilities, the maximum damage she could inflict was only at about 30.
If she had her Naginata that'd rise to about 65, but the point was that right now, she seriously could not do anything to him, while he in turn could probably one-shot her quite easily if he so chose. Then again, if he had managed to become the Commander of the Hunter-nin, a group specifically designed for hunting down Missing-nin, he had to be really fucking strong. She absolutely needed to observe the Mizukage when she next got the chance so she could see how powerful that man was.
Sora suppressed a shiver of discomfort as she realized how utterly pitiful she still was, making her mind up to start seriously trying to improve her crafting and get access to some of those exceptional weapons that could even the odds. Right now she was stuck with generic and trashy weaponry that did little damage. If she wanted better, she either had to complete her mission to get revenge on the arm-breaker or get her crafting up higher. Since the weapon from the mission would eventually become too weak to use in future, levelling her crafting proficiency was the best choice.
In her current situation that was impossible though, so she'd just have to put that on hold. Standing at attention with the others, she listened as the Commander began to speak. "You all have passed the Kiri Graduation Test, so you have all proved to us that you are able and willing to kill on command. You all have displayed aptitude for at least a handful of skills that are essential to being a Hunter-nin. As such, you all will be put to the test. If you can survive, you will be able to call yourself Hunter-nin Operators. If you thrive, you might earn the rank of Lieutenant."
He then took a step back, to which the guy who broke her arm stepped forwards. "Each of you will be given a target to assassinate and a time limit in which to do so. If you fail, you will no longer be a Hunter-nin. If you succeed, you will be retrieved by other operators. You may use any method to eliminate your target, but I remind you that we will be watching, and wanton destruction is not remotely appropriate for a Hunter-nin." When he spoke, Sora realised that it was actually someone different, at least from how their voice sounded.
"Do not however assume that this is the end of your training, this is simply an in-field assessment of your abilities. If you pass you will continue to be trained but will be being trained in our tactics and methodology, not simply in physical ability and Jutsus as you have been being trained. Your targets similarily are not ones who would require specific methods of elimination, or else the assessment would be useless." Sora realised after a few moments that she was feeling sleepy, and quickly realised that the others were all exhibiting the same signs, making the assumption that they were going to be distributed across Kiri to find their targets. The Commander spoke just as she fell down to one knee and lost her fight against whatever sleeping agent had been deployed.
"Good luck."
A bit short, I know, but I realised that where I had taken it was the perfect place to end this chapter.
Also, as an FYI, fingers crossed by Thursday the next chapter of Closed Compartments will be ready. I make no promises, I just hope to have it done by then. To be fair, there's a lot of chapters I have which are half-finished and should really be completed, like the third chapter of Trials of the Wylfen Corsair, that has been at 12.9k for months now.
But whatevs, reviews are delicious so please let me chow down upon them ^.^
Name: Sora Metami
Level: 34
Age: 12
Experience: 423/34,000
To Next Level: 33,577
Title: Hunter-nin Recruit - +50% increased damage to Missing-nin, +50% increased experience gain within Hunter-nin locations
Health Points: 2,100 (100 Base HP + (Vitality x Strength)
Regeneration Rate: 70/minute (Health ÷ 30) (Severe or noticed injuries can be chosen to retain scars)
Chakra Points: 1,900 (100 Base CP + (Wisdom x Intelligence)
Regeneration Rate: 63.3*/minute (Chakra ÷ 30)
Strength: 40 (Each point increases melee damage by 1%, adds 1 slot to inventory)
Vitality: 50 (Each point raises poison resistance by 0.1%, reduces need for sleep by 0.1%)
Agility: 50 (Each point increases top speed by 0.1m/s, increases weapon proficiency gain by 1%)
Wisdom: 30 (Each point decreases chakra cost for techniques by 0.1%)
Intelligence: 60 (Each point increases experience gain by 1%)
Luck: 10 (Each point increases the chance of something lucky happening by 0.01%, decreases the chance of something unlucky happening by 0.01%)
