Wind rustled the leaves and branches of the titanic trees.
The moon shone above. Its light filtered down into a clearing, once pristine, but no longer. The grass had been reduced to ash, with the ground itself expanding outwards in a rippled pattern. Chunks of rock were visible, dislodged from the miniscule cataclysm that had occurred. Off to one side of the clearing was half the corpse of a bear. If it still lived, it would've stood nearly four stories tall. Instead, even in its glorious size, it was still dead and its blood decorated a swath of trees behind it.
A rabbit, normally dormant within its burrow, peeked its head. It may have escaped the devastation of its burrow, but its ears twitched for the slightest sound of whatever predator had sown such destruction.
The rabbit's ears heard nothing, but it bolted when four humans suddenly appeared in the clearing. Each of them wore a mask. The masks, made of clay, had been carefully shaped into depictions of animals: Rat, Raccoon, Snake, and Horse. The masks didn't move, but the people behind them were alert.
All of them could feel the disturbance in the air. It centered on the epicenter of destruction within the clearing.
With only a few flashed hand signs, Horse and Raccoon moved in. Their weapons were held loosely, but ready for immediate use. They might not be certain of what they were up against, but they were ANBU. Being a great shinobi might get one into ANBU, but it wouldn't help them survive long.
These two teams, long grown used to working together, had plenty of experience with the dividing line between great shinobi and the rarified nin who went beyond such descriptors.
The dispatch had been quick. An alert, in the middle of the night. Rousing some of them from sleep, others burning chakra to sober up after having a good night with friends. The danger unknown; even the most adept sensors in the village had been unable to name what had caught their attention. They couldn't even call it hostile. Merely that something had been done, or was being done, that had created a disruption to the world around it. They were far from the only teams dispatched, and this location wasn't the only one the sensors had noted. Merely the farthest away they thought they could reach before any of the other villages.
Their teams were rarely sent on missions with a chance for peaceful resolution.
Horse and Raccoon examined the form they found in the middle of the clearing. Hand signs flashed, alerting their team members to their observations.
Human. Male. Unconscious. Naked. Mid to late teens. No weapons visible. No wounds visible. No immediately identifiable markings.
Raccoon slid down into the crater. Careful probing revealed no reaction. Horse flashed more hand signs as Raccoon ascertained the health and responsiveness of the young man.
Healthy. Unresponsive, even to pain. Above average chakra quantity. No sign of Fuinjutsu on the body.
Snake flashed a few signs. Everyone in the clearing waited. The minutes passed in silence. Snake flashed more signs.
Raccoon pulled rope out of their vest, made of silk strands with Fuinjutsu stitched into it. It was used quickly and efficiently to bind the unconscious young man. A toss threw the young man into Horse's arms. His form ended up slung over Horse's shoulder.
Everyone in the clearing vanished.
Waking up, naked and tied to a chair, was not how Ryan expected his day to begin.
He didn't even realize he was tied up at first. His eyes felt blurry, like they didn't want to focus. Blinking them, Ryan tried to bring a hand up, to rub focus into his vision.
The plan was simple. Rub his eyes, fumble around for his glasses, and figure out why he'd fallen asleep sitting up.
Which was when Ryan discovered he was tied up. The rope felt unusually smooth, if it was rope at all, but he was very securely stuck in place. Not so careful testing revealed that his wrists, elbows, ankles, knees, chest, and waist all had rope securing them.
The realization sent a bolt of adrenaline through Ryan, vision clearing up as his eyes darted around the room. It was featureless. Concrete walls, concrete floor, concrete ceiling, with a single door. No mirror, nothing. Twisting and craning his head, Ryan saw more of the same. The light above was fluorescent, but rather dim.
"Wait." Ryan grunted, blinking. "I can see."
He'd never been blind, or even legally blind, but seeing anything further than six feet away with perfect resolution wasn't a thing. His glasses were a functional necessity for all aspects of his life beyond a very close bubble.
Yet the tiny screws in the door handle were perfectly visible. In the door more than ten feet away.
"I can see?" Ryan repeated, shaking his head. "What…"
"Well, you do have eyes." A dry voice said behind him.
Instinct drove Ryan to whip around. He couldn't turn far enough to actually see the speaker and let out a grunt of pain.
What the hell is happening? Last thing I remember, I was…driving home from work. Right?
I think so.
"Not ones that usually function well without glasses." Ryan responded. "Uh, don't suppose you could not stand where I can't see you?"
"I'll stay back here for now." The voice said.
Ryan tried to think, doing his best to push past his racing heart. Going from driving home from work to waking up naked and bound was not great. Oddly functional eyes or not.
Having an unknown speaker stationed behind him, a speaker he couldn't see, wasn't helping his nerves.
I'm not worth kidnapping. Like at all.
Hell, I don't even crack the poverty line.
"Can you at least tell me how I got here?" Ryan asked. "And if I'm being kidnapped, or ransomed or something? Because believe me, you don't have to try any harder if you're wanting to scare me into telling you something. I'm already pretty terrified."
"How do you think you got here?" The voice asked.
It wasn't quite like the speaker was using a voice modulator, but something about it sounded synthetic. Warped. The tone just wasn't natural.
Just…answer their questions. It's not like I know anything of value. I'd like to see my family again. Or, failing that, I guess to get out of here alive.
Hell, I might settle for a painless death. Torture does not sound appealing. No sirree.
"I dunno." Ryan said. "I was coming home from work, I work the overnight shift. Was contemplating stopping for a quick bite to eat, and then suddenly I was here. There's nothing in between. I don't even know where here is."
"And where were you coming home from work?" The voice asked.
"I work at-" A cough interrupted Ryan's words. "Uh, sorry, I work at-"
More coughing, much more vigorous. Ryan could feel a full body ache by the time it ended.
"What the hell?" Ryan grunted. "Look, I'm from-"
The coughing wracked him, almost toppling the chair Ryan's chair. By the time it was done, Ryan was hanging limply with the ropes supporting him more than his own muscles.
"What's happening?" Ryan asked weakly.
There was no response. He repeated the question a few times, then fell silent. No one spoke, the light didn't turn off, whoever was holding him simply left Ryan to the predations of his mind.
A bit of experimentation revealed what he could and couldn't say. Now that Ryan was looking for it, there was a tingle of warning right before he said anything about where he was from.
Name, Ryan Ansen, was fine. Parents' names, anything and everything about them, fine. People seemed to be fine, though trying to say where they were from didn't work either.
Locations seemed to be off limits. Generic ones, asking about the mall, the bathroom, a restaurant, all fine. Trying to talk about Mickey D's sent that warning tingle down the back of Ryan's throat.
The experimentation only lasted along as the pain and fear fueled adrenaline, sleep claiming Ryan quickly once he'd lost that neurochemical push.
When Ryan's eyes opened next, he found two people standing before him. His eyes focused on the closer one first.
He was a man with brown hair and had a frown on his face. His eyes were a pupil-less blue, icy and strange. They caught Ryan's attention in the immediate moment. Something told Ryan he was seeing far more with those eyes than anyone should be comfortable with.
Then the sharp implements on his vest came into focus. The vest itself had pockets and straps on it, with several very sharp knives and even what looked like the hilt of a sword sticking out from behind his lower back. He wasn't holding any of the weapons, but from the way the man stood, he clearly knew how to use them.
Shifting his focus to the second person, Ryan saw a woman standing with her arms crossed. She also wore a vest, equally kitted out with weapons of the poke and bleed variety. Her visible hand had a strange mix of brass knuckles and a knife on it.
Ryan knew it was a woman because of her figure, but she wore the mask of a cat. It looked like one of those masks he'd seen street performers wear, as a kid on vacation in other countries. The painting was muted, most of the mask a dark grey, but what was painted did an excellent job of portraying a feline with as few embellishments as possible.
While his rational mind bleated about the fact that she was holding a weapon and her posture suggested she could use it at any second, Ryan's curiosity focused on her hair.
Work in the hospitality industry for long enough, willingly or not, and one got used to seeing people of all walks of life. Ryan had seen hair styles of all kinds, including dyes and a number of other ways to have hair colors outside the natural spectrum.
As his eyes took in the dark purple hair, Ryan knew it wasn't dyed. He couldn't see all of it, not with the mask, but instinct told him that even if he looked at her roots, they'd be purple too.
Uh…what?
Where the fuck am I? Did I fail social studies that badly, that I missed purple hair being natural somewhere? Or am I just really fucking out of it?
"Hi?" Ryan said weakly. "Don't suppose I could get some water?"
"Shortly." The woman said.
The mask doesn't muffle her voice. Odd.
"You spoke of coming home from work." The woman said, her mask tilting ever so slightly. "Were you working with other children at that time?"
Just gonna keep answering the questions honestly.
Jeez. Hope these people aren't after a kid. That'd be terrible.
Still going to answer their questions though. Because they're going to get answers out of me one way or another. Jesus, those knives are huge.
"Other children?" Ryan scrunched his face. "I…the hotel I was working at was dealing with a bunch of kids in it, being brats. But…they all were being dealt with by the curfew going on. Their chaperones making sure they stayed in their rooms."
He'd been so relieved to go home for the day. Working at a hotel had its perks, but it also had its downsides. Hosting a convention where the majority of attendants were under seventeen was high up on the list of downsides.
"So you weren't around other children at the time you last recall?" The woman asked.
"No, I was by myself, in the middle of-" Ryan stopped, feeling the warning tingle.
So…not just locations. I can't tell them I was driving home?
"In the middle of?" The woman prompted.
"Uh…you guys know the coughing thing that happened to me earlier?" Ryan asked. "I got the sensation it was about to happen again, in the middle of my answer. I'll try again. I was- I was…seated in- huh. I was going home from work, dealing with a bunch of idiots on their morning commute to work. Didn't want to get wrecked by them, so I was going slow, and then I was just here. Sorry. This is strange for me."
"How so?" The man asked. "What sensation?"
"A tingle, in my throat, sort of trailing down into my chest." Ryan said. "I'm sure you were monitoring me in here somehow. That's why I was talking to myself earlier, trying to figure out what was going on. Best I can tell, I can't seem to talk about where I'm from. I can say generic things, but names seem to be a no go. And then just now, it didn't want me talking about my method of transportation home from work."
"You didn't walk?" The woman asked.
"Uh, no, I-" The tingle hit again. "No. Sorry. That seems to be all I can say. I have no idea why. I can't seem to talk about- Well, about it."
Is this some sort of crazy experiment? What the hell is happening?
The man looked back at the masked woman. There were no words, but after a moment the woman nodded.
"Let's continue then." The woman said. "You've identified yourself as Ryan Ansen. That's not a name that's at all familiar to us. Where are you from?"
"I grew up in- okay, well, I was born and raised in the middle of-, middle of- ah, middle of my country?" Ryan said. "I mean, I know the name of it and everything, I just can't say it. My country, or my- uh, the region of my country that I'm from. City was- nope, that doesn't work either."
"Is this some sort of crazy experiment?" Ryan asked, frowning. "I don't recall signing up for anything like that."
"Not an experiment." The woman said. "Not on our end, anyways. Keep going. We do appreciate your cooperation."
Yeah. Because you have to clean less blood off of those gigantic knives.
"We moved around a couple times as a family, from- okay, names of places just seem to be out, period. Moved around, I went through all the normal school, applied for- really? I can't talk about- fine. Tried for more school, got through it, found out that getting an education doesn't guarantee me a job, so now I'm working a low paying job just trying to pay off the debts my family has."
"Your family." The woman said. "Names?"
"Jerome Ansen is my father. Abigail Ansen is my mother. Larissa and Anika Ansen are my sisters." Ryan said. "Spot is our dog. Can I- can I communicate with them?"
"Perhaps, if we can figure out where you're from." The woman said.
Somehow, I almost want to believe her.
"Really?" Ryan asked. "I sort of figured you'd tell me no. Given that I'm tied up and confined."
"That's a security precaution." The woman said. "Being able to contact your family would actually make a lot of things clearer for us. Can you give us a description of where you live?"
Those attempts didn't go well at all. He could use the basic words to describe the house his family still lived in. Words flowed freely when he spoke about what the house looked like, the general landscape around. Even the population density.
Any sort of geographical feature these people might be able to work backwards from, however, brought back the tingle.
The woman asked me about his work, about what Ryan had studied, all sorts of things. He answered what the tingle allowed, and did his best to make it obvious when the tingle cut him off.
"Alright, we're going to leave you be for a bit." The woman said. "We have to talk about some things, but we do appreciate your cooperation."
The man and woman both disappeared.
"Now how the hell did they do that?" Ryan grumbled. "And I didn't get any water."
Sitting and standing around a conference table were fifteen people.
At the tentative head of the table was a woman wearing red and white robes. The character for three was emblazoned across her chest, almost as bright as her eyes. She looked as if she could be nearing a century old, but her eyes were sharp and her voice clear.
"What do we know?" She asked.
There was a small amount of shifting around the room. Most eyes, blatantly or discreetly, moved to the woman sitting opposite the head of the table. She was younger, glasses perched atop a thin nose. Her attire was that of a researcher, including the eponymous white coat that gave the Research Division their informal nickname.
"Hokage-sama, of the five we recovered, three are still alive." The woman said. "The two that died fought against whatever restrictions were holding them, and sever hemorrhaging in their brains killed them. None of our Medical Corps could keep them alive. Even the Healing Sage may not have been able to do anything. It was as if the chakra just slid by the damage."
The old woman pulled a pipe out of the voluminous sleeves she wore. "Continue, Taeko."
"Of the three that are alive, two have been cooperative and one has not." Taeko said. "All three are approximately sixteen years in age, as far as the Medical Corps can determine. They all are healthy, all with above average chakra reserves. The non-cooperative has the third biggest single chakra reserve I've ever encountered. One of the others likely rivals most Jonin while having bigger tenkestu than your own, Hokage-sama, and while the last might only match our more potent Genin, there's…something about their chakra network that's strange. Their circulation speed is faster than anything I've ever seen. All three of them also have chakra networks with slightly different tenketsu placement than the average kunoichi or shinobi in Konoha. They don't match the profiles of any of the other nations either sir. Wherever they were born, it was not anywhere near the Five Nations."
"To our knowledge, Hokage-sama, there is nothing in them physically that is a threat." Taeko concluded. "They did not resist while under medical genjutsu and we utilized ANBU and Root assistance to check in every conceivable location and system. We even took the opportunity to test out theories on potential biological effects of chakra network experimentation when we saw their own networks. Nothing sir."
"Root concurs with this assessment." Another woman said.
Equally wrinkled as the Hokage, she was covered in bandages. Only half her face was visible, and her speech was partially muffled by the bandages hindering her jaw. She leaned on a large cane, but the one eye was visible was every bit as sharp as the Hokage's.
The Hokage glanced over towards a woman wearing a Bull mask.
"ANBU concurs as well, Hokage-sama." Bull said. "If there is some sort of threat placed in them, it is beyond our comprehension."
For a long moment, the Hokage said nothing. She puffed on her pipe a few times, eyes hooded as she mulled things over.
"Psychological." The Hokage said, eyes turning to a man with brown hair. "Yamanaka."
Each of the three living people recovered would recognize the man. His ice blue, pupil-less eyes had been the first thing all three of them saw upon regaining cognitive function.
"Certainly." Yamanaka said. "The uncooperative has been designated Subject One. They gave a number of false names when asked. They also fought the restrictions all of them were operating against the most. Had we not learned from the previous deceased, They might well have perished. They seemed to believe they were in some sort of nightmare."
"The first cooperative, Subject Two, spoke freely." Yamanaka continued. "Whereas Subject One never spoke a truth, Subject Two spoke only truths. They seemed frightened. What I sensed of their mind was a deeply ingrained fear. They feared me, almost irrationally so."
"The second cooperative, Subject Three, was the calmest. Relatively." Yamanaka said. "Alone of the three survivors, they tested the boundaries of the restrictions placed upon them. They spoke of them to us. They seemed convinced that we were responsible for him being there, and that if nothing else, their honesty might buy him a quick death."
"Furthermore," Yamanaka's impassive face creased slightly, a hint of a frown threatening, "Subject Three was the only one who considered how the restrictions were placed upon them. They asked if it was an experiment. In part, I conclude, because they seem to have suffered from impaired vision in the past. Their eyes no longer needed glasses and they did not understand why. What they spoke of, and they certainly believed everything they were saying, shapes an interesting picture."
"A physiological block has been implanted in all of them, woven in with a psychological block unlike anything I have seen, heard of, or read about." Yamanaka said. "One that somehow cues off of their thoughts, one that warns them off of speaking of certain things. They seemed as surprised by it as we were. Walking in their minds, I found no evidence they had any idea of how the restrictions were placed, but Subject Three's mind at least gave us a hint that they are oddly arbitrary. In the multiple versions of the conversations we had with Subject Three, their own conclusions about what they could share – that I could access – spoke to the knowledge of where they were from, and perhaps technological advances. Methods of transportation, communication, and warfare, primarily. Whomever sent them, they did not want us having access to that kind of information."
"You're presuming we were meant to have access to them at all." The old man standing to the Hokage's right said. "Their insertion method, whatever jutsu they may have used, may have not gone according to plan. Are you assuming access upon capture?"
"I am uncertain, Homura-san." Yamanaka replied. "If that was the case, the psychological block in their mind should have been hostile to my walking. I tried to pierce it a number of times, in all of them. It felt unlike any mental protection jutsu I've ever come across. My attempts never even reached it. Much like the way Taeko-san described the Medical Corps being unable to touch the lethal injuries with their chakra, my own seemed to divert away, of its own will, whenever I attempted to breach."
"Perhaps it is so advanced your attempts do not count as threatening." Homura replied.
In a room full of civilians, none would've noticed the slight tightening in Yamanaka's face and posture. Every nin in the room took note of Yamanaka's umbrage.
"It is possible." Yamanaka said, his voice tight. "The Yamanaka Clan is amongst the foremost of mind walkers in the Five Nations, but this felt beyond anything I've seen from any other Clan. It was humbling. In my opinion, I will simply state that there was not even an air of indifference to the barrier. It simply was. I was a bare puff of breeze against our city's walls, in comparison, and the mental protection jutsu felt much like that. Not as if judging me inadequate or non-threatening, but simply ignoring any attempts to go past it."
"We need to ask a more important question." The woman who'd agreed for Root said. "How will we utilize them. Bull will agree with me, but I am certain that at the very least, the ones that Iwa and Kiri recovered will be weaponized, and likely pointed at us and our allies. Kumo and Suna may not be as aggressive, but they will use them."
"And how might they do that, Daki-san?" Yamanaka asked. "We saw what happened to those who tried to place seals on them, or latch onto their minds more aggressively. My wife is still recovering from that, and the Yamanaka Clan will mourn the loss of her brother for years to come."
"Indirect methods of control can be just as effective." Daki replied. "It may not be for some time, years perhaps, but if our three have the potential to become very dangerous kunoichi and shinobi, we must assume the other nations found equal prospects. We must use them."
"How?" Homura asked. "If they are such threats, would it not be better to eliminate them? We can pursue the recovered from the other nations as well. If you are as certain about this as you think, then no doubt both Iwa and Kiri will look to eliminate them too."
"Confident as I am, in our nin abroad and at home, the recovered in other nations will be protected." Daki said. "Look at where we have ours. Could someone break in and kill them? Yes. But there is only a miniscule chance that they do so. And in that case, we would know exactly who they were. Everyone in this room could recite the entirety of the list of kunoichi and shinobi powerful enough to actually accomplish that mission."
"And we'll simply keep them there?" Homura asked. "Weapons kept hidden away will rust and rot, Daki-san. And even if they don't if they're never used, we will never know how to truly wield them. If we want to utilize them effectively, we must make them vulnerable. Which will get them killed. So, again, I ask why not spare ourselves the problems, kill them, set up a false lure as bait, and then hunt down the other recovered?"
"A weapon can be molded and wielded effectively in secret." Daki hissed. "Such is the purpose of Root. Do not try to soil our name."
"Enough." The Hokage said.
The room fell silent, waiting for the smoking woman to speak again.
"Both your approaches have wisdom." The Hokage said. "So we shall try them both. One of them will be under the direct care of ANBU and Root, to be trained by them. One will be positioned as bait, to ensure the trap is sufficiently alluring."
"And the third…" The Hokage hummed thoughtfully. "Fox, how would you hide a dangerous weapon?"
All eyes turned to the woman leaning against the doorframe. Leisurely, she closed the small red book in her hand, tucking it into a pocket on her vest.
Several tattoos adorned her single, bare arm. One denoted her as ANBU, one as a captain, and the others hold no meaning to anyone else in the room. A shapely, if slim, figure was only partially disguised by the rest of her tactical outfit.
Her silver hair was up in a bun, the straps of her mask buried underneath. She reached up to unclip the mask, pulling it away from her face. As the Fox mask pulled away, nobody was surprised. ANBU wore masks to blend in amongst other ANBU operatives, but the kunoichi and shinobi of their own villages were much harder to fool. The Mistress of a Thousand Jutsus had been known on sight in Konoha for over a decade. Her hair wasn't unique, but well known, and most of her refined face being covered by a face mask reinforced her unique appearance. As did the occasionally more decorative face masks she chose to wear when not on duty.
Her singular visible eye, brown with only the faintest bit of her black pupil visible, crinkled as she tilted her head slightly.
"From a friend, in a place of trust." The ANBU replied. "From an enemy, right where a much more obviously dangerous weapon would overshadow it."
With that, the ANBU put her mask back on.
"Thank you, Fox-san." The Hokage said. "Now, let us decide how we wish to handle this."
Hours later, in the Hokage's office, five nin stood in front of her desk.
The Hokage exhaled forcefully. Holding up a hand, she grunted. Markings, previously invisible, flared to life along the walls, the doors, and the windows. Changing her hand sign, she grunted again. Another set of characters flared to life, floating in the middle of the room. They pulsed outwards briefly before returning to their center location.
"We will have to be delicate." The Hokage said, reaching for her pipe. "This will be a game within several games. Yamanaka-san, you are certain you do not mind the imposition?"
The brown haired shinobi shook his head. "Hokage-sama, this will be a relief, if anything. I already removed the memories from my wife, to save her. Excising my own might actually help as much, after what we'll need to do."
"Taeko-chan?" The Hokage asked.
"I will be able to reshape them, obaa-san." Taeko replied. "We have already done so once."
"Which means there will only be three of you." The Hokage looked at the remaining three nin. "You will need to have a soft touch. You are three of the best kunoichi this village has. Adapt as necessary. Yamanaka's assessments are good, but they are never perfect."
"Hai, Hokage-sama." The three kunoichi replied.
"Let us work quickly then." The Hokage said.
Ryan woke up with a groan.
Rolling over, he enjoyed the softness of the bed for about five seconds.
Then the realization that his apartment bed wasn't nearly so soft hit him.
Fragments of worry, concern, and terror swept through Ryan. He sat straight up, a scream stillborn in his throat.
The room around him looked fairly modern. Plaster walls, with a soft shade of blue paint, and a window with curtains obscuring half of it. A dresser stood next to the window, dark wood and looking rather heavy. A mirror sat on top the dresser. Wind blew the curtains, obscuring part of the mirror and carrying the sounds of kids laughing and shouting along with it.
"What the hell?" Rya groaned.
The last thing he could recall, he'd been sitting in my car. Work hadn't been great, but it hadn't been too terrible. Ryan had been fairly alert, so he was almost positive he hadn't somehow crashed. Nothing felt injured, though the realization that he was naked wasn't thrilling.
Ugh. The idea of someone undressing me without me knowing is weird.
Getting out of the bed, Ryan looked around. There wasn't anyone else in the room, which was a relief. Hanging loose was not how he wanted to meet people.
His body felt lighter, springier than he was expecting.
The dresser might have clothes in it.
The moment
It was him, which was a relief. Ryan Ansen, black hair, tannish skin, a scar on my jaw where he'd almost cut his face wide open while playing out in a field as a child.
The similarities weren't what arrested his attention.
The changes on his face were the most noticeable. Ryan's beard was gone, as were the beginnings of wrinkles near the corners of his eyes. Pulling at his face, Ryan guessed he had to be at least a decade younger. A glance at his shoulder showed the scar from a car accident in college, but the deformity was much smaller. The skin didn't pull as much as he was used to, especially when he rolled it to verify.
Then there was Ryan's body itself, in two parts. Immediately, he saw far more musculature. Shoulders, chest, legs; everything had definition, like Ryan had spent his entire life working out. He had a six pack, and the only time in his life the words six pack were associated with Ryan Ansen were the moments he'd bought some to bring to parties.
Third…third was what some – the more perverted – might argue was the most significant muscle on his body had gotten an upgrade. It wasn't too much; he'd been average, but looking now, at least flaccid, he was longer and thicker. Enough to be noticeable, at least to someone who saw it everyday when peeing.
What the fuck? My whole body got an upgrade, and I'm younger? What's happening?
Fuck. For now, I need clothes. And then to find someone to ask what's happening.
Opening the dresser, Ryan found clothes. They weren't exactly his style, but he'd certainly take them over being naked. One set of boxer-briefs, black socks, black pants and a red, long sleeve shirt with a strange, swirling graphic later, he felt ready to go looking for someone.
"You're not very observant, are you?"
Ryan nearly slipped, spinning around.
The woman behind him was simultaneously beautiful and frightening. The beauty came from her delicate features, dark eyes sparkling with mischief, and a generous amount of leg visible with the spandex shorts she was wearing.
The fright came from the pair of blades on her vest, shiny wire that somehow reminded me a garrote hanging in a loop on her belt, and…
Those are…shuriken? What the fuck?
He put in her in her mid twenties, her brown hair pulled back in a tight bun. Oddly enough, she was chewing on a toothpick of some kind. She had her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the wall near the bed.
"Uh…" Ryan looked over at the still closed doorway. "Hi?"
"You didn't scream, at least." The woman smirked. "We'll take that. They said you were fairly calm."
"I…don't know if calm is the right word." Ryan replied. "How about…shocked, maybe a bit subdued? I have no idea what's going on. I was-"
Ryan stopped. He didn't know what the tingle was, exactly, but he knew it was a bad idea to keep talking.
"Don't try." The woman said. "If you feel that tingle, just stop. It's some sort of psychological and physiological block on you. We've never seen a jutsu like it, so we have no idea how to counter it."
"Jutsu?" Ryan cocked his head.
Then he took in the scarf looking thing around her neck. It was tied off to the side, the ends of the knot brushing against the high collar of her vest. More importantly, there was a metal plate sewn into it. The design on it was a swirl with a point on one end.
It was the same design sewn into Ryan's shirt. While he hadn't recognized it at first, seeing it on that blue-black scarf and shiny metal was different.
Uh…what the fuck?
"You're a…are you cosplaying or something?" Ryan asked. "Because it's a very convincing costume, if so."
The woman smirked. "I promise you, kid, if someone was wearing a costume of a Konohagakure Jonin as realistic as mine, T&I would be asking some hard questions. I'm as real as they come."
"So…you're a…" Ryan faltered again, not wanting to believe what he was about to ask.
"Jonin of the Leaf, Shiranui Ginna, kunoichi of few words and many skills." The woman said.
Wha…
The fuck.
He didn't want to believe. But Ryan had just seen his own face. Seen the apparent rejuvenation, the regression to youth. Seen muscles he certainly hadn't worked out for, and something of a gift from who knows.
"Okay." Ryan said, frowning. "Okay. Just to clarify, here. You're a…kunoichi. Am I saying that right? Wait a minute, what language am I speaking?"
It sounded like English to Ryan, but something tickling his brain told him that wasn't the case.
"Nihongo." Ginna said. "Was that not what you were expecting to speak? Medical Division does amazing work, huh."
"No." Ryan said. "I am…beyond confused. How did I get here?"
"We're not entirely sure about that." Ginna said. "The ANBU teams that found you were sent out because our best sensors were nearly overwhelmed by your appearance. Your location had chakra disturbances miles wide."
Chakra…fuck.
This is…either this is happening, or I am in the most elaborate damn prank that I've ever seen.
"Huh." Ryan didn't have anything more eloquent.
"I suggest you sit on the bed." Ginna said. "We have some things to talk about."
Ryan sat down heavily.
"I know you have little idea what's going on." Ginna said, shifting to stand near the door. "That's intentional. Your mind is far more protected from mind walkers than most, but the fewer bits of information you have in your head, the less likely anyone will find anything interesting enough to really go exploring."
"For the moment however, you're Shiranui Ry." Ginna said. "My nephew, sent to Konoha to finish up his training at the Academy after his parents passed unexpectedly from an illness."
Ryan saw a flash of pain on Ginna's face.
"I'm sorry." Ryan said.
"From everything we know, you were ripped away from your entire life, without your knowledge or consent." Ginna said, pulling her toothpick out of her mouth. "But I appreciate the sentiment even in that."
Ryan grunted. What she'd said wasn't wrong. If…if he chose to believe what was happening, he'd never see his parents again. See his siblings again.
Ginna was sitting next to Ryan before he could comprehend it. She had her arms wrapped around him, squeezing. Ryan could feel his body trying to relax, even as his chest shuddered. Ryan's vision went blurry as he blinked rapidly.
"You'll be okay." Ginna said softly. "You'll be okay."
The tears dried up after a few minutes and Ginna shifted away.
"It'll hit you a couple of times." Ginna said as she got up. "That's why you're my nephew. The names of your parents were Shiranui Yohei and Tomoe. When you weep, if anyone asks, that's why. They died of some sort of wasting sickness."
"I…" Ryan blinked a few times, shaking his head. "Shit."
"Sounds about right." Ginna said. "Look, I can give you a day or two, but they will expect you at the academy soon."
Academy…wait.
Uh, shit.
"Academy of what?" Ryan asked.
"Konohagakure's Ninja Academy." Ginna said. "You'll finish your last two years there before taking the Genin qualifications."
"I…I've never trained to fight." Ryan said. "I don't think I could be a…shinobi. New muscles or not."
Ginna didn't respond verbally, but a moment later, Ryan found his hand in front of his face. He blinked in surprise. His hand was clenching a sharp, triangular knife by the hilt, the razor sharp point a bare inch from his eye.
Ryan dropped the knife in shock.
"Normally, I'd agree." Ginna said, leaning against the wall. "But, our Research Division has been experimenting on the transfer of muscle memory. Instinct is harder, near impossible, but even we couldn't let the traitorous Sennin's work go completely to waste. I know little about it, but while you may not have been trained in taijutsu and ninjutsu, your body knows more than might otherwise be expected. Shall I demonstrate again?"
"I-" Ryan's words cut off as he flipped backwards over the bed.
Ginna stood at the bed's edge, toothpick thrust outwards. Ryan's roll ended with him dropping to the ground, solid thunks of metal on plaster above. He glanced up with wide eyes, seeing three more of the sharp knives buried to the hilt in the wall.
Oh shit!
He rolled to the side, lashing out with his arm to deflect Ginna's stab. Her knife stuck into the hardwood and his attempt to kick her ankle was thwarted when she easily flipped through the air. She had a smile on her face, toothpick back in her mouth.
Springing to his feet, Ryan stared at her. "What the fuck?!"
"Demonstrating." Ginna said. "Your reactions aren't bad, honestly. Probably a bit better than most nin who don't come directly from the village."
Ryan froze. She'd definitely been making effort to kill him. He knew it was little effort, though the why of that knowledge escaped him, but the strikes had been intended to kill.
"You just tried to kill me." Ryan said slowly.
"Not really." Ginna shrugged. "I could've pulled those strikes."
"And the blades?" Ryan asked.
Ginna's toothpick flicked as she smirked. She gestured and despite his fear, Ryan turned to look. In the light of the window, there was a glint running from the buried blades to the bed. A moment later, he realized they were metallic threads.
"Oh." Ryan said.
"Like I said." Ginna said. "Not bad. You'll need to work on your conscious awareness, but you've got the instincts and reactions. All the students at the Academy will almost certainly put you in the dirt easily enough, but they won't suspect you have no training. Just no experience."
"I still…" Ryan shook his head. "I don't…I don't know if I can kill people. And I know that's what I'd need to do, as a shinobi. Like, putting aside literally everything else about the craziness going on, I don't think I'm capable."
"Tough luck." Ginna said with a shrug. "You have to understand, you're not the only one. There were at least thirty disturbances like yours. And from what our Medical Division discovered, all of you are likely to have unusual chakra networks with unusually large reserves. Believe me when I say the other villages will be looking for you. And it won't be to make friends. Less a matter of you wanting to than needing to be able to defend yourself. To be able to kill in your own defense."
Ryan found himself sitting on the bed again.
"They said you might pass out, but you're doing alright." Ginna said.
She came to crouch down slightly, her beautiful face unnervingly close to his. "Look Ry-kun, I know it's not comfortable, but you need to know the truth. You need to be aware. Your best defense is anonymity, blending in. The only way you can really blend in, while being able to take care of yourself, is to become a student at the Academy."
Intuition rang a bell. "Making myself a weapon for this village at the same time, right?"
"I won't deny that's a side effect." Ginna said. "But the Hokage was very clear that she wanted you to be safe. You don't remember it, but we spoke to you before this. Had conversations. You were calm, and willing to help. We'll be having more conversations, while we try to figure out as much information as we can. We want to keep you alive and this was the best method we have at our disposal."
Hokage. Right. Yeah, recognize that word.
She. So…Tsunade? Maybe?
"This is so much." Ryan groaned, hanging his head. "I was just a guy going home from an okay job. Now this."
"Now this." Ginna agreed. "But that's life. You'll need to adapt. Quickly. Both as a person, and as a shinobi. Besides, it could be worse."
Ryan looked up, frowning. "Do I want to know?"
Ginna shrugged a shoulder. "Nope. One last thing, then I'll leave you with your thoughts for a bit. You don't talk about this with anyone other than me. At all. Even if you see the Sandaime, you say nothing. She doesn't know your face. No one knows your face but me. Understood?"
Ryan nodded.
"And…just as a demonstration of what you need to be able to protect yourself from…" Ginna smirked. "I'll be in the kitchen when you're ready."
Then she was gone. The only indication of where she even might have gone was the extra breeze disturbing the curtains.
"Fuck." Ryan groaned, laying back down in the bed.
Eventually Ryan managed to push through his ennui. There was something inside, pushing him accept that he'd been dealt an entirely new hand. There were horrible parts of it – losing family, knowing no one, being expected to take part in brutal training, conditioning himself to complete even more brutal acts – but letting it stop him cold wouldn't help.
Of course, pushing through was only temporary. Ryan was expecting a number of dreams and alone time spent trying to console himself. He wasn't the most in touch with my emotions, but ryan knew this wasn't something to try and bottle up.
Ginna was indeed in the living room. She had a bottle of some kind in her hand, eyes closed as she reclined on a plush chair.
Ryan cocked his head. The chair seemed out of place. He couldn't remember seeing one, ever, in the series.
Then again, Ryan would be the first to admit he was not the most avid fan. Naruto and Shippuden were cool shows that he'd binge watched one summer of college break. He had an excellent memory, a point of personal pride, but it hadn't been a priority to memorize everything about the show. Major plot points were probably fine, and hopefully he'd be able to recall random tidbits that would be helpful. Helpful, of course, hinged on being inserted into the timeline anywhere near the actual relevant years of the show. If he was even in a world with the same people. They could be long dead, not born yet, or not exist at all.
Regardless, he did remember the aesthetic of the show fairly well. Overstuffed, plush chairs struck him as out of place. The bed less so, but he remembered the sleeping mat…thingies being predominant. There was a name for them, Ryan just didn't know it.
"Figured you for the resilient type." Ginna said without opening her eyes. "You good to chat more?"
"Uh, no." Ryan said. "I'm…treading water, right now, and feeling like I'm one moment of panic from sinking. More information right now would not help. Could I take a walk? Clear my head?"
"I'm your new aunt, not your babysitter." Ginna shrugged. "Be back by dark though, we do need to chat. And try to avoid any problematic areas. The IG keep things fairly clean, but every village needs a few release valves."
"Alright, auntie." Ryan replied. "I'll be a good boy."
Ginna smirked, not even opening her eyes as she pointed her toothpick at me. "Careful kid. You keep making me feel old and I might have to start calling you a brat."
"Oh no, auntie, you wouldn't dare." Ryan said dryly.
"Get out of here, brat." Ginna snorted. "Though if you're always this sarcastic, maybe there's hope for you as a Shiranui yet."
Ryan laughed at that.
The hallway outside reminded him of one of the apartments he'd lived in while going to college. Except more spacious, neater, and without the smell of weed drifting through the air at all times.
Maybe not so alike then.
Walking down the stairs, he got a decent view of the village. The apartment building wasn't the tallest building, but it was taller than most of the immediate surroundings. The village had an orderly feel to it, and the ambient noise was decidedly different than his expectations. Notably, the lack of the modern world's hum. No cars running, though there were plenty of power poles and power lines.
The dominant noise as Ryan descended the stairs was the same kids from earlier shouting. He found them on a large green space in front of the apartment building, kicking a ball around. Several of them looked over, and visually dismissed him just as quickly. Their clothes looked modern enough, like Ryan's, with quite a few bright colors on. He didn't understand the game they were playing, but then again, they were no older than eight. They might not know what game they were playing, just that they were having fun.
Other than that, there wasn't anything to grab his attention. People walked along, some moving with purpose, some without. The clothing was mostly expected, with a single kimono and a pair of robes that looked monk-esque as the outliers.
The street looked…almost normal. It was cobbled, rather than paved, and there was a distinct lack of cars. Just a normal, walking only street.
Though Ryan's eyes disputed that after a moment. The buildings had a decided flair to them, with a lot more wood buildings present than his previous normal. Additionally, the architecture had quite a few more shingles, steeply slanted roofs.
The signs also weren't in English. Ryan recognized the characters. He could read them, much to his surprise.
Cool.
Also, kind of freaky. Didn't Ginna say something about that? The Medical Division doing something to make me understand. If they re-wired my brain, do I still understand English?
What language am I even thinking in right now?
"No getting lost in potential existential quagmires, Ry." Ryan grumbled.
Huh. I think I just called myself my new name. Another thing they did?
That, at least, wouldn't take much getting used to. Ryan's parents had called him Ry for so long that it had become his default. Most of his coworkers and friends had done the same, it was just how he introduced himself.
Never going to see them again.
Fuck.
Pushing the thoughts away, again, Ryan randomly turned left. Nobody gave him a second glance.
The cacophony of people going about their daily lives was cathartic. They weren't suffering from a realization that their world had literally been ripped away from them, and that in all likelihood they'd never get it back. They were just living their lives.
Ryan's walk was interrupted when a little girl tripped and fell in front of him. He'd seen quite a few kids, most of them in the ten to twelve range, darting around the various streets. The girl had been sprinting along the sidewalk and missed a step near the curb.
Her tumble was impressive, an almost complete cartwheel into a back-flop right at his feet.
She had on an…interesting outfit. A grey helmet with a hole in it for her hair and a pair of green goggles over her eyes. They clashed wildly with her yellow shirt.
Given the dirt and grease stains on her shirt, Ryan imagined she didn't particularly care about the outfit getting dirty.
"Faster!" An angry voice shouted. "Don't lose the brat!"
The girl sat bolt upright.
Huh. She's in trouble, somehow.
Ahead in the street, an older man was pushing his way through the crowd. He had on something that looked similar to a uniform, though Ryan couldn't guess its nature. Behind him was a woman with an angry expression and splotches of her face and clothes covered by lurid green paint.
Well that answers that.
"I'd crawl over there if I were you." Ryan said, nodding his head toward the food stand on the right.
The man running it was doing booming business and it was doubtful he'd notice anyone hiding behind his crates of fruits.
The girl jumped, looked at Ryan, then scrabbled her way to her feet. She was short, maybe four feet tall, and given the crowd she had a fairly effective sight line blockers from her pursuit.
Huh. I'm pretty tall. If I'm the same height as I was, maybe the average height around here is shorter?
"Little kid in a bright yellow shirt?" Ryan asked as the guy in pursuit huffed and puffed. "She blew by me and hooked a left."
"T-thanks." The guy said, running on.
The woman came up after him, still haranguing him to go faster.
"They'll be angry with you for that." A woman to Ryan's right said.
"I notice you didn't say anything either." Ryan told her.
The middle age woman shook her head. "I recognize the girl, even if that merchant doesn't. I want no part of dealing with Clan politics."
Ryan looked over at the food stand. There was a small head peeking out, mostly the green goggles and the grey helmet. They twitched for a moment when she saw him, then she dropped back down out of sight. Turning back around, the woman who'd spoken with him was gone, swept up in the crowd.
"Right, good deed done for the day." Ryan muttered.
He took a look at the sun as the walk resumed. Ryan couldn't be entirely certain that the world went through the same twenty four hour cycle, but if it did, he had plenty of time to make it back to Ginna's. Ryan was confident in retracing his route, so further exploration wasn't going to get him lost.
And this is helping.
Moving had always helped. There was a reason he'd asked for a walk as the very first thing to help his state of mind. Thus he let his feet carry him as he pondered his new situation.
Okay. Put aside the fact that I just had my world literally ripped out from under my feet. My entire life, gone.
I need to concentrate on the present. Try to plan. Goals and plans always help.
Situation: I've found myself in a world with superpowers. Or, magic is probably the better way to think about it. I know it's called something different, but I'm not going to quibble. Chakra is magic juice, more or less, and every living being here technically has access to it.
And I have functional access to it. Access that I can learn how to be a…shinobi. Someone that uses all those incredibly cool things that made me geek out.
I want to do it. I want to learn how to use jutsu. Taijutsu, which seems to be martial arts if Ginna's words were anything to go by. Chakra enhanced martial arts is probably the correct term. Always wanted to learn martial arts. Then there's all the other stuff. Cloning and shooting elements, and moving at ridiculous speeds, and HOLY CRAP I CAN WALK ON WATER.
I just…have to come to terms with the fact that I'm going to be a target. Regardless, but learning how to do things will make me even more of a target. Which, I guess, I don't necessarily mind. I mean, it's terrifying, but it could be worse. At least I'm somewhere that's fairly safe and there's at least one person who isn't immediately out to kill me. Not planning on getting close to any of the main characters anyways, which would put me firmly in the crosshairs. If I'm in the timeline anywhere near them.
Just…have to be willing to kill the people who are after me, regardless of who I associate with.
Which will-
"Hey, watch where you're walking!" Ryan froze, glancing in the direction of the voice.
A pair of boys, one with pink hair and one with blonde hair, glared at him from across the street. Glancing to the left revealed nothing problematic. The right was the street, where the boys were. That left only what was directly in front of Ryan.
His musings had let his feet set their own path. Ryan was mostly sure of the right path back, but he'd found a dead end in the meantime. It wasn't a crowded street; other than the two boys and himself, there was no one. A dead end leading to a large, walled estate. The walls stretched for hundreds of feet on either side of the gate, though there was no one guarding it.
More important than the lack of guards were the symbols on either gate door. Red and white, reminding Ryan vaguely of an acorn. It took him a moment to comprehend the symbol, but Ryan's concern ratcheted way up the moment he did.
Oh shit Uchiha!
Firm in his resolution, Ryan immediately turned on a heel, walking across the street. Associating with the main character could be problematic, but from what he remembered of the Uchiha, they weren't exactly the most kind-hearted or empathetic. Not to mention they were gigantic targets. One of the quirks Ryan remembered about the show was people having a thing for plucking out Uchiha eyes.
He wanted none of that.
"Sorry, new in the village, was just wandering." Ryan said. "Is that the Uchiha Estate?"
"You're new?" The pink haired boy said. "So you're not another one of the villagers coming to try to woo Saneko-chan?"
Ryan blinked. "You give me credit for far more courage than I have."
Blonde boy started laughing. "I like you. I'm Yamanaka Ikuhito. This is Haruno Satoshi."
"Shiranui Ry." Ryan replied.
Wait a minute. Did I just use my surname first? That felt totally natural. How much did they-
Satoshi interrupted Ryan's budding spiral into existential dread. "Sorry. We've just been having to chase the village boys off. Our fellow shinobi classmates don't try anything so crude as to approach her outside of school, but the villagers seem to be eager."
"Chase them off?" Ryan asked, tilting his head.
Ikuhito shook his head, gesturing towards the Uchiha gate. "Every boy in the village knows Saneko-chan is the most beautiful, most intelligent, best girl in the village. Now that they're of courting age, all of them get in their head at one time or another to come try to woo her. We chase them off before they can make that mistake."
"Did she…ask you to do this?" Ryan asked slowly.
"She had no need to ask." Satoshi said proudly, pumping his fist in front of his chest twice. "We volunteered ourselves!"
That's…stalkerish. Majorly stalkerish.
"We're doing them a favor, honestly." Ikuhito shrugged. "Everyone knows Saneko-chan is only focused on being the strongest kunoichi in Konohagakure. Regular village boys can't help with that."
Uh-huh. Stalker vibes. Stalker and gatekeeper vibes.
Great.
Though at least that tells me she's not Sasuke's kid. I don't think he'd take kindly to people like this hanging about in an attempt to get his daughter's attention. Doesn't help much with the timeline.
As much as Ryan had already decided he didn't care for their approach to romance, something they'd said nagged at him.
"You're shinobi?" Ryan asked.
"In training." Ikuhito smiled. "We're students at the Konohagakure Ninja Academy. We'll be taking our Genin exams at the end of next school year."
"Huh." Ryan said. "Maybe we'll be classmates then."
Ikuhito's smile evaporated. "You're a shinobi too? You're not from our school."
"Sort of?" Ryan shrugged, choosing to ignore the sudden, poorly veiled hostility. "I lived with my parents, didn't really know anything about it. They contracted a wasting sickness, not recognizing how bad it was until it was too late. So I moved here, to live with my aunt. I'm not sure how I compare to students at an actual ninja village, but apparently I've got the chakra to at least attend the Academy."
"Oh." Ikuhito's hostility relaxed. "Well, you'll probably be a year or two behind us, then. Maybe you'll be in class with my sister. She's actually a year older than us, but she's having real trouble with the basic Bunshin jutsu."
Sound a little smug there, bud.
Also, what the hell is bunshinjutsu? Shouldn't my brain auto interpret that?
"Right." Ryan said. "Nice meeting you, Haruno-san, Yamanaka-san. I'm going to start heading back, but maybe I'll see you at school."
"See ya." Satoshi waved.
Glancing back over his shoulder a minute later, Ryan saw both of them leaning against a wall. They were talking with one another, Ikuhito tossing a small pebble up and down.
"Yeah, nope, let's avoid the two stalkers." Ryan said. "And maybe warn this Saneko girl. Though presumably she knows."
Women always seemed to know far more about the happenings of men than the other way around.
The trip back was something of a loop, mostly uneventful. Until Ryan tried to take a shortcut as the sun began to set. The shortcut wasn't wrong; he knew he was moving in the right general direction.
The problem came about two turns in, when the streets were no longer spacious, clean and well lit. Instead, they'd grown narrow, dirt rather than cobble, and the setting sun no longer felt like plenty of light. Having lived in a city for most of his adult life, Ryan knew those signs well.
Fifty feet down the street was the source of his instinctual wariness. A group of three loiterers had straightened from where they were leaning against the walls. Ryan didn't see any obvious weapons, but they were eyeing him with a bit too much interest.
Ryan stared right back at them, feeling a drop of heat in his stomach, his face cooling. It was a familiar sensation; Ryan might not have experience actually fighting, but he'd stared down his fair share of people who weren't afraid to disobey society's rules. He locked eyes with the one he guessed to be the leader. His target's eyes widened slightly.
Ryan knew there was an art to staring down people like that. The ones who were fine with casual violence, but not in an organized setting. Ryan was pretty sure it'd never work on a cop, or a soldier, or anyone with training and a purpose. It worked well enough on the petty and the bullies, because they were less willing to risk themselves against someone who'd go down swinging.
The three didn't say anything as Ryan continued to approach. He took that as a positive; luster and intimidation were a good method of hyping up potentially reluctant helpers.
"Hey! You aren't supposed to be here!" A woman's voice shouted. "This neighborhood is protected by the future greatest kunoichi to ever live and I told you what was gonna happen if you came back!"
Everyone's attention was yanked skyward. The woman stood on the lip of the building above the loiters. Ryan couldn't tell much about her, but her hair was a dark shade and her clothes were obscured by the dying rays of the setting sun.
"Shit. It's the demon bitch." One of Ryan's potential problems began backing away.
"Haaaa!" The girl leapt off the roof.
Ryan's eyes widened as one of the loiterers didn't move fast enough. She landed feet first on his chest, driving him to the ground. Her landing wasn't much smoother, tumbling off and smacking up against a wall. Ryan winced; he didn't want to know how much that hurt both of them, given it was nearly a thirty foot drop.
A moment later, she was twisting and jumping to her feet. "Come on! You want some more?"
If she was bleeding, Ryan couldn't tell. What he'd thought was her hair looked more like a bandanna out of the sun. Her clothes were bulky, and a strange mix of red and blue. It was almost garish, which I could only chalk up to the girl wanting an outfit that stood out while out playing vigilante.
The leader had already grabbed her first victim, hauling him to his feet. "Let's go. Stupid bitch! Hidei, split up so she can't chase all of us back this time. And go wreck that old bitch's ramen shop like we said!"
The three turned, one full out sprinting while the other two staggered along.
"That's not fair!" The girl shouted, giving chase. "You can't do that to obaa-san!"
Well…that was something.
Is that a normal occurrence in ninja villages?