Batch Sixty-Seven's second to last exam portion was upon them. Yoshiro was almost as ready for them to be done as his students were. It had been six years since he was last head proctor, and that felt like too short a break.
So much went into the preparation of this clusterfuck of an exam. There were a million moving parts, countless resources put into each portion, so many directions for him to be pulled in. All the security concerns, both domestically and internationally. And most frustratingly, all the egos that needed soothing behind the scenes, and all the machinations that Yoshiro either had to indulge in, stamp out or ignore.
Case and point; whatever was going on with his most troublesome student.
"You have been selected to execute an infiltration mission," he announced to the assembled students—a temporary team of four made up of Ishida Iwao, Watanabe Misao, Ban Rio and, of course, Imai Kasaiki. It wasn't a team that would normally be put together by mission control, as certain dynamics would make finding success uniquely challenging.
Of course, that was exactly the reason this formation had been chosen. If his students couldn't come together and put aside their personal differences to complete an official mission, then they certainly didn't deserve a jonin sensei.
"Your target will be a scroll containing details about troop advances in the Land of Fire," he announced. "The scroll is located in a secure facility, one that has not been created for the purpose of this exam. It is the true headquarters of one of Iwagakure's divisions, which they have graciously volunteered to be used as the stage for this portion of the exam."
He attempted to impart the severity of his next words through a stern frown.
"Which is why I must remind you—infiltration missions require the utmost discretion. If that wasn't the case, it would receive a different designation. You should never leave any trace of your presence, and any failure in this regard will result in a loss of points. However, if you go beyond that and actually damage the facilities, any important research or strategical documents, or kami-forbid seek out classified information, you will face consequences beyond this exam. Understood?"
His gaze flicked to one of the students, and he raised an eyebrow upon seeing the look on her face. Imai Kasaiki had gotten proficient at disguising her emotions, when she wanted to. It didn't seem like she could be bothered now; her lip was half-curled in disgust, and there was a furious light in her eyes.
But when she spoke, Yoshiro could hear the true danger in her tone.
"Of course, sensei," she said, a half-second after her temporary team had voiced their affirmations. "The last thing we'd want to do is damage the Explosion Corps headquarters."
…Mother fucker.
"You three, out," he said swiftly to her team. "I need to have a word."
As they quickly complied with nary a backwards glance, Yoshiro glared at his student. There was no way she could know where her exam would take place in advance—that was something they kept a tight lid on. Only the head proctors and some of the Explosion Corps members would have known before just now.
And then there was her announcement itself. If she knew where the exam would take place ahead of time, that was an advantage. One that she risked squandering by announcing her foreknowledge.
"Imai. What's going on?"
Near-perfect marks and glowing praise from all proctors up until yesterday. Then, out of the blue, not only did she fail a ninjutsu portion, but she allegedly tried to cheat. Only an idiot would fail to realize that something was afoot.
"It seems, sensei, that someone really wants me to join the genin corp," she said, voice colder than ice.
"You know who," he realized. "Do I want to know?"
She took a deep breath. "No. I don't think you do."
"Fantastic," Yoshiro said with utmost sarcasm. The missions test was weighted the heaviest out of every portion. If someone failed that, then their chances of receiving a jonin sensei would be next to zero.
Too many preparations had been made under the assumption that Imai Kasaiki would graduate as Batch Sixty-Seven's top student. If she failed, it would reflect poorly on not only himself, but on the entire academy institution.
"Sensei," she said. "In missions such as these, what would happen if there was bad intel, and the object of our search had already been moved, or even hadn't existed in the first place? Or if the scroll was bait, aimed to lure one of ours into a trap?"
"It depends on the circumstances," he said with narrowed eyes. "This shouldn't be one of those situations."
"But what if it is," she pressed, and Yoshiro, for the first time in a while, truly had no idea what to do.
But only for a moment. Adaptability was one of the most important traits of a jonin, and Yoshiro was still the head examiner. He had authority, and whilst conducting his exam, he didn't have to explain himself to anyone.
He took out the mission scroll he was planning on giving them and scrawled out another message on the back. Once he was done, he held it up to the light, as if examining it for any mistakes. Really, he was showing it to a hidden compatriot. Again, not for permission—simply to notify them.
"Your first mission was only a cover," he said tonelessly. "Your true mission is detailed on the back. It will still take you to the Explosion Corps headquarters."
Just because he had the authority, didn't mean he could spit on the generosity of the Explosion Corps, ulterior motive or not. This would have to be handled with extreme delicacy.
"Thank you, sensei," she said. "It burns to admit, but I might have fallen into their trap if they hadn't already tipped their hand."
They probably didn't have a choice. If she failed the missions exam, her chances of receiving a jonin sensei were next to zero. But next to zero wasn't the same as zero. Failing the missions portion along with the most heavily weighted ninjutsu portion however? Yeah, that would be hard to explain away.
"Be smart about this, Imai," he said. "Use your head. Be alert and aware."
"Trust me, sensei," she said. "You have no idea how alert and aware I am right now."
Once she was gone, Yoshiro threw himself into the chair behind the front desk, and looked up to the rafters in annoyance.
"Was Iwa aware of this?" he asked, and a masked figure dropped from above, landing with no sound at all. This was Eighteen, the captain of the Red Ogre squad who had been temporarily placed under his command for the duration of the exam.
Kind of. And only in matters regarding the logistics of the exam.
"We were aware of a connection between Imai Kasaiki and the Explosion Corps," they revealed.
"It's sanctioned?" he asked, dread bubbling in his gut.
"No," was the immediate response, to Yoshiro's relief. Though he supposed that, if it had been sanctioned, his own plans would have been curtailed long ago.
Shinobi politics in Iwagakure were conducted in the same manner as shinobi missions. As subtle as they often were at a lower level, any truly impactful incident that yielded dramatic social or economic consequences internationally would be assumed by a good chunk of leaders in the elemental nations—be they Kage, leaders of the smaller nations or even the clueless Daimyo—to be influenced by shinobi. Oftentimes, they were able to guess with relative accuracy which village committed the act. It was so ingrained in their perceptions that even accidents were often attributed to the work of ninja.
But it didn't matter if they could guess the perpetrators. If they didn't have proof, they couldn't justify retaliation to the world stage. Sometimes, that didn't stop said retaliation, and sometimes said retaliation didn't have any consequences. But sometimes they did, and with all the back end partnerships and overt declarations of allyship, things could snowball very easily. That was what caused both shinobi wars so far.
In that way, Iwagakure's political arena was almost like a microcosm of the elemental nations'. On the surface, the divisions, clans or any individuals that held considerable influence, smiled and got along cordially. Behind the scenes, however, it was a mad scramble to consolidate power and influence. These were most often "unsanctioned actions."
The "world stage," in this case, was the Tsuchikage himself, and kind of the Red Ogres. They were their leader's eyes and ears, but even they had their own interests. However, they had to be extremely careful of how they pursued them. Because if the Tsuchikage couldn't be sure that he could trust his eyes or ears, heads would roll.
But all the infighting amongst his court was to the Tsuchikage's advantage, which was why he subtly encouraged it. The situation acted as a far more effective system of checks and balances than any he could devise, and ensured he was less beholden to the people who might seek to undermine him. That was why he was widely considered to be the strongest (read: most autocratic) leader amongst the Five Kage, though the Raikage appeared to be making moves to copy his model in recent years.
This was known to everyone in the village who held influence. Every underhanded move they made, they had to assume the Tsuchikage knew about it. Because he did know—all of it. However, the Tsuchikage knew that the whole system fell apart if he intervened unnecessarily. If he did, his political rivals may actually start to act in secret or possibly organize against him, and that was a threat to the internal security of Iwagakure and his rule.
If he didn't, the status quo would be upheld, and these unsanctioned actions—serious attempts to undermine political rivals—held an undercurrent of tentativeness. Almost as if they were requests for permission.
We know you could stop this, Tsuchikage-dono. Do we have your (implied) permission?
If the answer was yes, then the Tsuchikage and the Ogres would let them proceed. Although they did nothing to restrict other groups from performing acts that undermined or countered such plays.
However, if the answer was no, though it rarely was, the Tsuchikage would put a stop to whatever they had planned. Not through words, but through actions. If that happened, there was no rebuttal. The entity attempting to perform the action would halt their machinations, or they would be considered to be acting in defiance to the Tsuchikage, and the consequences would be most severe.
Thus far, the Bakuhatsu clan's unsanctioned acts had been allowed. But now, they came in conflict with the academy's, and that was too bad for them. Because the academy's actions were, in fact, sanctioned.
After all, the Tsuchikage also had a vested interest in Imai Kasaiki graduating at the top of the class, provided she earned the spot through her own merits.
"Could you ensure that any outside influence is neutralized?" Yoshiro asked of Eighteen.
"Of course."
"Thank you. Please do not act unless it becomes absolutely necessary."
There was a nod, and the figure disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Yoshiro rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I better not have an Imai Kasaiki in my next class. Please, kami, give me ordinary children."
Six years ago, he would have longed for a student so intelligent and driven. How naive he was.
- - - { ワナビー } - - -
There were a few things I knew. The first was that it was no coincidence that I was sent on a mission to a facility I was intimately familiar with. The second was that Gari knew I was intimately familiar with the facility, and with how the staff there operated. He wasn't trying to be subtle.
He was trying to force me in a position that he knew I couldn't get out of. And I even knew what that position would be already.
If you go beyond that and actually damage the facilities, any important research or strategical documents, or kami-forbid seek out classified information, you will face consequences beyond this exam.
The Explosion Corps Headquarters weren't going to come out of this exam unscathed. And once Gari's trap went off, my future would go up in smoke with it.
Only one thing gave me hope. Gari didn't have full control over this portion of the exam. If he did, there was no way he'd have put me in a team with Ishida fucking Iwao.
"What the hell was that about?" my most capable temporary teammate asked.
"A dumb gambit I hoped would give us a new mission," I lied. "Truthfully, and I'm not going to say how, I have insider knowledge of the Explosion Corps operations. I guessed that was the destination of our mission from something I'd overheard long ago, combined with the first part of Yoshiro-sensei's statement, and I wanted him to know that it was an unfair test for me."
"Unfair?" Rio repeated, aghast. "You would have had a massive advantage!"
"Uh, yeah. That's kinda the definition of unfair."
"Kami, Imai," Misao groaned. "What kind of ninja are you?"
"Don't be dense, you two," I said, doing my best to keep my face neutral. "If I made use of my foreknowledge, the proctors—who will no doubt be observing every step we take—would notice. The validity of our scores would come into question, and there's a not insignificant chance that we'd have to retest anyway. To rid us of that chance, I decided it was best to tell Yoshiro-sensei now. Luckily, it was a moot point. We're still doing our mission at the Explosion Corps headquarters, and you can still use me to cheat. Count it as a blessing."
Rio was never the brightest, and while Misao hid it better, he wasn't much more intelligent. They bought my explanation. Iwao, however, continued to frown at me.
"Anyway, we have our mission," I said to change the subject. "First thing's first. We need to pick a leader, and stick to our decision."
All missions were given a leader, even when every participant was of equal rank. In those cases, the position was assigned by command based on seniority and skill. But on the scroll I held, no one was declared to hold the position.
"And I suppose you want it to be you," Rio sniped.
"No, actually," I deadpanned. "I was going to nominate the only person on this team that actually has a leadership specialization."
If anything, Iwao's frown deepened, even as the other team members—his lackeys—gave a chorus of agreement. However, he made no comment.
"Yoshiro-sensei intended for us to figure out where the headquarters is on our own," I said. "Luckily for you, I already know where it is. Follow me."
We reached the site of our mission, and Iwao quickly set us to work casing the building. The Explosion Corps headquarters was on the north side of Iwagakure, hidden amongst apartment buildings far taller than it was. I knew, of course, that a great deal of it was buried underground. Rio and Misao were posted at the front and back respectively of the building, while Iwao began to question me about what I knew.
"Never mind that," I said, covering my mouth to keep my lips from being read. "We have much bigger problems. The two of us need to get somewhere no one can overhear us."
He immediately understood what I meant by that.
"Such a small building can't house the entirety of the Explosion Corps," he announced, slightly louder. "Part of it's underground, isn't it?"
That was a reasonable deduction.
"Yeah," I confirmed.
"Alright. They must have a flood-prevention sewage network. A maintenance hatch should be around here…there. Let's check it out."
I agreed, and we both went in. That was inadvisable—one of us should have stayed outside. Either Iwao didn't realize that, or he fully understood the gravity in my voice.
Once the hatch was closed above us, and we were in the pitch darkness (I chose not to create a light) I let out a sigh. Not in relief—it was far too early for that. But I was satisfied that, for now, no one could hear what I had to say.
"Iwao, there are some things you need to know. You aren't going to like them, and it frankly makes me uncomfortable to confide in you so heavily. But I don't see any other choice."
I could easily speculate what his face looked like right now.
"Spit it out."
"First, I have to apologize." I stole myself. "You, Misao and Rio are in danger. And it's because of me. Someone is trying very, very hard to make me fail. And when Yoshiro-sensei chose you to be my teammate for this mission, he put you and the others in the crossfire."
I told him…not everything. I didn't tell him about my sealing knowledge, only that Gari wanted me in the Explosion Corps for reasons relating to my accident during our first semester in the academy. I told him a little about our arrangement, but only as it pertained to my knowledge of the base and the corps' operations.
My childhood friend turned rival took the news better than I feared. He certainly wasn't pleased, but he knew that getting pissy wouldn't change the situation at all.
"Alright then, strategist. What is your enemy's plan?"
"To get us to damage the base in some way, or get us to read classified intel. Or at least put us in a situation where it looks like we did either of those things. If it's our word against his, then he will win just as easily."
"If that's what he wants, then I imagine the obstacles that I expected to face will be all but a non-issue," he stated. "For example, guards. If he wants us to enter his facility in order to trap us, he will make sure they're either not present or easy to get around."
"Right," I said, having realized the same thing. "And he should want me to draw upon my knowledge of the Explosion Corps' operations. At half 'till noon, the entire office just about clears out for lunch. Leaving us an hour's time frame, less really when taking into account those who are slow to leave and quick to return."
"And you know the layout, I assume?" he asked.
"Yeah. I wasn't technically allowed on the upper floors, but I've still seen enough of them over the years. And I know where the back entrance is, along with the passcode to open it."
"Convenient," he snorted. "His plays are so brazen. It makes me think we're playing a game we have no chance of winning. Maybe our best bet is to admit defeat, and take the zero. At least, if we don't go in and set off his trap, we would escape future consequences."
"Yeah, and be shot into the Genin Corps in the process," I said sarcastically. "Which would put me right back under his thumb. And I know you want a jonin sensei just as much as I do."
His stakes weren't as high as mine, but he did have his own fair share of expectations to shoulder. Forfeiting this exam would be akin to throwing away every scrap of effort he put into these past six years of schooling, and it would probably make his father look bad too. Iwao would rather slash his own belly than be the cause of that.
"But we do have one thing going for us," I said. "See, Gari thinks he's a fucking expert on my personality. But the profile he's built over all these years is based on outdated information. I've already done something that he would never expect out of me, not in a million years. Something that even I never would have considered not so long ago."
"And that is?" Iwao prompted.
Though it was too dark to see, I smiled.
"I asked for help. Both from you, and from Yoshiro-sensei. The old me, the me Gari still thinks I am, wouldn't have considered telling anyone else what was really going on. She would have attempted to handle this situation on her own, even at the expense of everything she held dear. But I'm not doing that. And already, Gari's plan is unraveling. Yoshiro-sensei has given us a secondary mission, one that we can complete to pass this test. One that Gari has had no hand in planning."
The mission Yoshiro-sensei gave us was more difficult than what had been originally planned. Fourteen glass receptacles had been hidden throughout the Explosion Corps headquarters. We have been tasked with finding and retrieving them.
Yeah. A hell of a lot harder. I would imagine that each one should be moderately easy to find, but it still meant we would be forced to spend far longer and likely cover more ground within the secure building. And with a soft forty-five minutes to do so, our chances, on the surface, looked fairly bleak.
But I was a ninja, and looking under the surface was my job. Yoshiro-sensei came up with this mission off the cuff, and I highly doubted that he spent a lot of time in ECHQ. Probably, he had either never set foot inside, or he had only been let in once or twice to get a lay of the exam site.
There were rules he had to follow too. He couldn't set us to collect even lightly sensitive material—actually, having us steal any Explosion Corps property at all was probably a no no.
If I was our sensei, I would have drawn a blank on what to use as the object of our new mission. But he came up with something almost instantly. So, I had a hunch that the objects we were tasked with retrieving, the glass receptacles, didn't belong to the Explosion Corps, and had some significance to the test itself already. Once I figured out what exactly that was, I could probably locate them far more easily.
Iwao clearly wasn't happy with me, but he at least had enough professionalism to only let that come through in the tone of his voice.
"Fine, then. You know exactly what we're looking for?"
I gave him the scroll, having already memorized it. Once we were out of the darkness, he could see for himself.
"Yoshiro-sensei wrote a detailed description."
He accepted that with a grunt. Then, "I don't think we should tell Misao or Rio until after the mission has been completed."
Thank fuck.
"I would agree," I said, as if I wasn't going to insist on that.
Iwao realized as well as I that we would no doubt be under watch the whole way through, both from the proctors and Gari's people. Our two classmates weren't nearly as adept at acting as we were, and if the Explosion Corps henchmen observed our group searching for targets other than the scroll we were initially tasked with retrieving, then they would grow suspicious. They might resort to drastic action and set off the trap earlier than they initially planned to, perhaps before we could finish collecting the receptacles. Utmost discretion was needed, and if the two idiots we were saddled with still believed we were searching for a scroll, they could help sell the act.
Not like they would be good for much else anyway. I actually wanted them to stand watch outside, but Iwao told me it would be the objectively wrong move. Which meant we would likely be marked off for it.
"You never leave behind your least skilled members as watch," he said. It was something he learned in his leadership classes. "Especially outside of a secure facility like this. Besides, we don't have any way to communicate. Leaving a watch at all is pointless at best, a hazard at worst."
Iwao and I decided to utilize the back entrance I was so familiar with after all. If my code got us in, then we'd know that at least some of my assumptions were correct.
They certainly seemed to be when, at lunch time, a steady stream of Explosion Corps employees began to exit the building. From our vantage point atop one of the surrounding apartments, I recognized all of them. In passing at least—I wasn't friends with anyone in the corps, and I went out of my way to not make conversation unless I needed something. If they were nice to me, then I only treated them with even more suspicion. I never forgot that any of them could have stepped in, or at least put in a word on my behalf. But they didn't. They didn't care about me.
When the time came, no amount of kind words would spare them.
I let Iwao corral and otherwise manage his two minions while I analyzed the scene on the streets below us. I was looking for specific people who I knew worked in specific areas, using them as a benchmark to judge what parts of the headquarters were being vacated.
Then, finally, I decided it was time. Under a henge more convincing than any ninja could pull off after such a short period of observation, I went down to try out the passcode. It worked, and I signaled to the rest of my team. Soon, we were descending the stairs into the basement.
"We don't know where the scroll will be," I reminded them though I truthfully had a pretty good guess. If this test was supposed to mimic an infiltration mission, then the object of our search would be in the most secure place.
That would be Gari's office. The main one, not the one in the basement I often worked out of. I had only been inside a handful of times, and the man was never present. Ichikawa Haya only brought me in there when she couldn't identify a prototype I was looking for, and I got the impression that her boss didn't know about any of those instances.
If I were actually looking for the scroll, I would have made a beeline straight there. However, I didn't want to set foot in the place unless I really had to. If I was wrong about the scroll being missing, then I couldn't rationalize to my other teammates why we should continue searching other rooms. They would take the objective, possibly activating the trap in the process.
I was drawn out of my thoughts when I noticed something embedded into the stone under the bannister. At first, it reminded me of the fish bowl security cameras back on my original world, and I almost panicked at the sight of it. But then I quickly remembered that security cameras—and cameras smaller than my entire body at all—didn't exist in the Elemental Nations yet.
"Imai?" Iwao hissed as I stopped to look at the thing. It was glass, and the correct shape and dimensions. I just wasn't expecting to find one so easily.
"It's nothing," I said. "Let's go." But my gaze said otherwise, as I imploringly looked at Iwao who had taken rear. Thankfully, he got my message, and I saw him pop the object out of the wall with an application of the Moguragakure, stuffing it in his vest pocket immediately after.
Once we got to the basement level I was most familiar with, Iwao sent away Misao and Rio to search the materials testing room, which I pointed out. There was so much shit in there—it would take them a while to check everything.
Meanwhile, Iwao and I dipped into my workshop, A.K.A. Gari's second office. Immediately, he handed me the quest object for examination.
"What the fuck?" I said almost immediately, holding the glass up to the light.
"What is it?"
"Fuinjutsu," I said. "It's carved into the surface."
The receptacle resembled a hemisphere, with a silvery backing. In that sense, it looked almost like a distorted mirror. But carved into its domed surface was a complex etching of fuinjutsu. In fact, there were layers of fuinjutsu embedded inside the glass too, making some sort of three dimensional seal. I couldn't even fathom how it was created like that.
"Seals?" he repeated. I knew that he had little knowledge on the subject. "You're friends with Aimi, right? Can you tell what it does?"
"No. This is one of the most complex seals I've ever seen, and it's laid out so strangely."
Trying to decipher it nearly gave me a headache. The looping, dried ink was interconnected through the otherwise clear material. I'd never seen or even heard about seals being crafted in such a manner.
"There's one thing I can tell though," I said, looking at the flat back. On it, in the center, was a traditional seal, which I could partially interpret. "It's a marker. In other words, a seal that another seal or sometimes jutsu can locate physically."
Iwao took a step away. "Could that be the trap? If a technique can use that—"
"If this was that kind of trap, then Yoshiro-sensei would have to be aware of it," I reminded him. "This has something to do with the infrastructure of the exam itself, not whatever plot is going on without his knowledge. But that begs the question, what could Yoshiro-sensei possibly need such a complex seal marker for? No, what could he need fourteen of them for? And why would he put one in a stairwell?"
"Yoshiro-sensei's job is to grade us," Iwao replied after a brief moment. "He would be grading us on our completion of the mission, first of all, but also our conduct and methodology. If he's placed something here, it must further one or multiple of those objectives."
"You think it's being used somehow to observe us?" I asked, peering at the offending bit of glass. Perhaps my original thought of it being a security camera wasn't so far off the mark.
"It would stand to reason. From what you know about sealing, does that seem possible?"
Even with everything I knew, I still had almost no clue of what was possible with fuinjutsu.
"I don't see why not," I said. "I'm inclined to agree with you, so let's say these glass things are being used to watch us. It makes sense that we'd find one in the stairway—it's the lesser-used of two in this building. We'd surely find another in the other staircase. And I'm also positive we'll find one in the head's office. Which is where the trapped scroll, if it exists, probably is as well."
"Then where are the other eleven?" he asked.
"I can speculate, but not with absolute certainty," I said. "We're just going to have to search the old fashioned way."
And that was exactly what we did. We combed the basement, finding only two more markers. Neither were in rooms, just in different hallways. Then we moved up through the opposite staircase, finding another seal in the process.
As Iwao passed each of them to me, I deposited them in my Inventory. That was what I lovingly named my interconnected seal network, which could be accessed through ten ports hidden across my person. It was a super complex, class five seal, so I couldn't put a neutralization matrix on it even if I wanted to. Which meant only I could access its contents.
Let me tell you, the whole thing was not easy to set up. Essentially, each port tapped into my storage vault, which was a physical object I buried in the yard of my house that contained six (so far) different storage seals I called Slots. Inspired by the internet of my old world, it acted as a server, which coordinated all the seals I kept on my person along with those in the vault, and categorized what I stored there. For example, if I sealed away any of the food items I taught the system to recognize, it would be funneled into storage seal two in the vault. Then, I could call it back using my index, which was essentially a button that summoned something from the corresponding seal in the vault, which I called my slots.
Yeah, really really cool. It took me literally five years to make, and I was very proud of it. Still, it had hella limitations. For example, I could only withdraw one item or every item from a slot at a time, which made it impractical to use in certain scenarios. Also, I couldn't choose which item within the slot to withdraw. It was always random.
Therefore, food was the only broad-category slot I had. Slot three contained only shuriken, slot four only kunai, slot five was my fuinjutsu kits (chests that contained paper, ink, brushes and other tools), and slot six contained chests filled with sets of books that I might need to reference.
Slot one was miscellaneous. If I sealed away anything with a designation that I hadn't taught to my inventory, it would go in here. And it would be a bitch to get out, so I really tried my hardest to keep it empty at all times. But for now, our mission objectives could go in there.
We began to have difficulty finding said objectives. In the rooms upstairs, they were better hidden, and we were all excruciatingly aware of each minute that passed. But at the same time (though I didn't want to bet on this) it seemed likely to me that Gari would insist that his goons take a longer lunch break than they normally would. He didn't want us to be discovered, and to fail the exam that way. He wanted us to fail in a much more spectacular fashion.
Though on the flip side, he might want some of his people present and injured when the trap went off. Maybe he would even have them herd us into the trap, and say we panicked or something.
Ugh, yeah that was totally a possibility. We'd have to hurry.
- - - { ワナビー } - - -
Thirteen glass receptacles. That's what I had in my inventory, approximately half an hour into our infiltration. Given the scope of the mission, we made great time. But ninety-three percent wasn't a hundred, and knowing Yoshiro-sensei, it was an all or nothing deal.
Only one big target remained; Gari's main office. This was it. The door was locked, and not with something that could be picked, but the floor was made of stone. Iwao was better than me at the Moguragakure no Jutsu, specifically when it came to reforming the land he passed through into what it resembled initially. He swam through and let us in from the inside, something that he would later condemn as a mistake.
Nearly the first thing my eyes fell on when we entered was the scroll on his messy desk.
Messy. That alone gave me pause. Gari wasn't messy, and the few times I'd been here before, his desk had been clear.
"Wait," I said quickly as Misao let out a soft yes. "Something's wrong."
"That's the scroll, ain't it?" Rio asked rhetorically. "It's got the red band around it."
"Yeah, well, it's also trapped."
"She's right," Iwao agreed, bending over the desk. "The papers are disguising a seal of some kind."
"An explosive seal?" Misao asked, nerves audible.
"No," I said. "I know exploding tags; this isn't one. Or at least, what's visible doesn't explode." I, once again, couldn't actually tell what this seal did, especially with so much of it covered. But something about it set off warning bells.
"They're not even trying to hide it," Iwao muttered, sounding as stressed about the fact as I was. This was all wrong. Why would Gari ever expect us to fall for something that obvious?
While Iwao and the others brainstormed what to do, I looked for the last mission objective. It wasn't visible, so I began to root through cabinets. Except for the locked one with a big sign that read sensitive: do not open, which hadn't been there the last time I'd visited.
"What are you doing?" Misao asked me.
"Looking for some way around the seals," I said, which didn't really make sense. The other times they saw me rooting around other offices and the like, I could pass it off as looking for the scroll. But with the scroll right in front of us, I didn't really have an excuse.
"Be careful," Iwao murmured. "You don't want to stumble on anything confidential." Which could be used against us.
"The confidential stuff that's here is labeled," I said, jerking his head at the tall cabinet in the corner. "That's probably a stipulation that sensei—did you hear that?"
There were footsteps, and I was beginning to hear voices from the stairwell. People were coming back. Conveniently, almost the moment we entered this office. Gari's trap was about to be sprung, and we were exactly where he wanted us to be.
"People are coming," Misao said, his face white and hands trembling. It was more than a bit of an overreaction, in my opinion. This was only a test, and the consequences for him failing weren't nearly as high as mine or even Iwao's. He was already destined for the genin Corps and he knew it. That didn't mean the exam outcome was irrelevant to him—his standing could translate into what division he was assigned to within the genin corps, some of which were definitely better than others. But still, something about his reaction was putting me on edge.
I could have jumped for joy, though, when behind our teammates, Iwao pulled a familiar glass hemisphere out from its hiding place atop a filing cabinet. He was taller than I, and perspective allowed him to see the top of the dome while I couldn't.
"It's unfortunate, but we need to go now," I said, far more readily than I would have if I hadn't actually recovered the mission objective. "None of us know how to disarm the trap, and it would be even worse than failing to retrieve the scroll if we both fail and are seen."
"No," Misao stammered, and even Rio looked at him in confusion. "No, we need the scroll. It would be better if we were seen and got the scroll, right?"
"In a real mission, if we remain undiscovered we could make another attempt," I argued. "In an infiltration mission, it's always most important not to be seen. You know that!"
"That's not always true," he argued.
"Yes it is!"
"We don't have time," Iwao said firmly. "As team leader, it's my decision. We're leaving now. Don't worry, Misao," he said encouragingly. "I know for a fact we'll get a good score."
That should have worked. It sure as hell did on Rio. Misao idolized Iwao. He trusted him to the ends of the earth. In every instance I witnessed, he did whatever Iwao asked.
"I need that scroll," he said, a disproportionate amount of desperation in his tone, and the realization hit me like a freight train. This was why Gari was so confident that he didn't even try to disguise his trap.
"I'm sorry, Iwao-kun," Misao said, and he lunged at the scroll with all his might.
- - - { ワナビー } - - -
AN: Hey y'all. The final exam is wrapping up. Only one more portion left. I cannot say anything about it or how long it will be without spoiling things so I'll leave it there.
Lots of people have been speculating how much Iwa knows about the whole Kasaiki/Explosion Corps thing, and why people haven't intervened. I've quite enjoyed all the ideas and wonderings, but it's finally time to address the topic outright. It's something I've looked forward to writing about, and the system I've described will be featured quite a bit over the course of the fic. Please let me know what you think!
Iwa sucks. It sucks in canon, and it sucks in this fic. That's something I'm intentionally leaning into. The people are shitty, the system is brutal. Their shinobi are too indoctrinated to even want change. And in my interpretation of the world of Naruto, every ninja village is the exact same in this respect. Especially at this time period. It's easy to compare what Kasaiki is going through to the televised lives of the Konoha twelve, but I'd assert that the Naruto canon takes place in a time of peace (not world war), and after a great deal of reform orchestrated by the pacifist Fourth Hokage, which the Third is all of a sudden choosing to embrace (to the displeasure of a good portion of his subordinates, not just Danzo) out of guilt and respect for the Yondaime, who by all rights should still be ruling. I think that this has a great bearing on how budding shinobi are raised and taught. I'm not excusing or justifying Iwa's actions at all—they're horrible. But that's also one of the reasons I find this era so interesting.
How will Kasaiki—mentally an outsider—respond to all of this? I guess you'll have to wait and see :P
One last thing. I'm thinking about changing the summary and possibly title of this story. I believe, and I'm not exactly sure why, they are keeping a sizable number of readers who might enjoy this fic from giving it a chance. What are your thoughts?
See you next week!