I've uploaded a new story! Its an Elder Scrolls gamer story. Check it out via my profile if you're interested.
Beta'd by The Megaevolved Pony
Takai coughed up a bit of phlegm. Hinata may act like a weakling, but she sure as hell isn't one. She had thrashed him in pure taijutsu and held her own when other abilities came into play. Takai groaned from his prone position. How many times had she hit him with that attack?
Too many to count.
He heard her shuffle in discomfort while he got up. How could someone so shy pack such a hit?
"Alright, I give. You win this time." Takai said, clutching his abdomen. He would have to hold off on more intense training to recover.
"Are you alright?" Hinata questioned. She was standing just a few feet away, fiddling with her fingers.
Takai merely grunted, straightening. "Sometimes a good ass kicking is perfect for training."
What now? Wouldn't be a bad idea to go out and stock up on equipment. A quick shake of the holster on his leg revealed his lack of weapons. Training had robbed him of a lot of it.
Maybe staking out the competition would help too.
"Just keep training, Hinata. Naruto will notice one day. I promise." Takai said, walking towards the entrance of the training ground. He threw a wave over his shoulder.
Hinata merely nodded in reply. There was a bit more fire in her eyes than before.
Takai had a grimace on his face as he paid for his equipment. His wallet was pretty much completely empty sans a handful of notes and a five ryo coin. Soon, he slipped out of the shop and leapt up onto the rooftop. Time to do a little bit of spying.
He began his rooftop-jumping adventure in the general direction of the hotel Gaara and his siblings were staying at. Any hints he could get would be handy. Besides, this is what they were taught.
A few minutes of searching later and he was perched on a roof. He had a perfect view into their hotel room. He laid down, prone on the roof. He reached into his pouch and retrieved a spyglass, notepad, and a pencil. The spyglass clicked a few times, locking into place when he expanded it. It was a few brown tubes fitted together with glass on either end.
Takai hummed a gentle tune as he raised the spyglass and pressed his pencil to the paper.
It seemed like they were all in the central room of the hotel. Three futons were laid out. The furniture appeared to have been moved elsewhere within the room. Likely the bedroom. To the left of the front door was Gaara's brother. Or maybe sister? Takai couldn't tell. The person was wearing make-up and a black, full-body garb. Ugly too.
The opposite side was Gaara himself. He was leaning against the wall and had a thousand-yard stare. His sister, however, was in front of the window. She yelled something to her androgynous sibling.
Takai quickly homed in on the thing the garb-wearing sibling had laid out. It looked kind of like a marionette in a way. His pencil flew across the page as he took notes. This kid was apart of the Puppet Brigade.
The innards of the device were fascinating. All sorts of gears, linkages, cables, and other mechanisms. It seemed to have some sort of senbon launcher in the mouth. Definitely poisoned. It had some other things within, but he couldn't tell what they were for.
The spyglass slowly moved towards the girl. She was fully turned from the window now, yelling at her puppet-wielding sibling. The two quickly got to bickering. Gaara's eyes briefly flashed over to the duo, but remained silent. It seems he didn't care very much. Maybe he was estranged to an extent? It certainly seemed like it. How to take advantage of that?
His eyebrow raised as the arguing siblings went silent. Though, he was only certain the blonde was quiet because her hand gestures were still. Both were looking at their red-headed sibling with something akin to...fear? Terror? It was to the point that the one in black had scooted away and the blonde followed her sibling's lead.
The red-head seemed to be listening carefully.
It was then that an ANBU popped into the very edge of his vision. The man was hanging onto the wall beside the window and planting some sort of seal. Of course, ANBU would have been all over this. Maybe he can collect some information on their operation procedure?
Takai stilled when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"You should leave, Genin-san." A rather generic voice sounded out.
Lowering his spyglass and turning just enough to see behind him, there was a sheep mask hovering over him.
Well, best to comply before he got tasered by some wild jutsu.
"Yes, Sheep-san." Takai said, tucking his things away in his pouch. He went to roof hop, crossing several blocks in a few hops.
He felt the ANBU's eyes on him even after he disappeared from the man's sight. He shuttered for a moment, getting rid of the jitters.
'So, what the hell were they so afraid for?' He wondered as he left the area.
Takai racked his mind trying to figure out why his sword's seals would not work. For the life of him, the answered escaped his every attempt at solving it. It worked amazingly on paper, so, why not on metal? A better medium should improve performance, no? It was really grating on his patience. He spent hours agonizing over the accuracy of his seals.
Not.
One.
Error.
It actually surprised him. He was still relatively new to seals. The fact that he got this much to work on paper was shocking.
Though, this was where his inexperience really shown.
The Hokage's clone had dropped by to examine his work earlier. Now, he was done carving and had no idea what else to do. He was obviously missing something. But, what was it?
Straightening his back and hearing a concerning amount of pops made him drop his line of thought. He needed to get out.
A day had passed since he entered his home to work.
Three days until he had to go into the last part of the Chunin Exams.
Takai scowled as he reassembled his sword and put it into the sheath. After that, he put it in the storage seal in his pouch.
He sat in silence for all of about twenty seconds before grabbing at his hair, growling in frustration. What to do?!
His project had hit a roadblock, his training was pretty much done, and everyone he knew was busy. Hell, even Hinata couldn't stalk Naruto! She had clan business.
"Gah!" He exclaimed. Slamming a hand down on the floor next to him, he slowly fell over, simply lying there. Maybe some relaxation was due?
Quite suddenly, an idea slapped him in the face. It was if two brain cells finally interacted!
That girl who took care of him after his face was shattered! Perhaps he could get her to teach him medical ninjutsu? It was worth a shot.
He had decided to walk through Konoha on street level. Sometimes it was just best to stop and smell the roses.
Or something.
In reality, he was just planning what to say. He had to get her to teach him. Having nothing to do was driving him insane. If the rumors about how difficult it was to learn medical ninjutsu were true, then all the better. Something time-consuming would work wonders.
He reached the hospital faster than he expected. Well, no time like the present, right?
Takai pushed open the glass doors and approached the front desk. It was one of those raised ones. The counter was granite. There was wood paneling running along the lower half of the wall. It was a stained oak. It was actually quite pretty.
Placing aside his displeasure of feeling short, he stopped at the counter.
"Hello, I would like to talk to the nurse who took care of me during my stay." Hopefully she was in today and not busy.
The lady sitting at the counter looked up from some sort of book he couldn't quite see. She examined him for a short moment before pushing a paper forwards with a pen.
"Fill out the form." She said flatly, like he was just barely worth the energy of addressing.
Takai grabbed the items off the counter and began. A short moment later and it was all filled out. Everything but her name at least. He couldn't recall it. Maybe she never said it?
He didn't know much about girls, but they don't like it when you forget things they said. Sakura had hit Naruto for doing that a couple times.
He also had zero idea where to go. There were also probably a lot of nurses that look like her. Being short and having brown hair wasn't exactly uncommon.
Takai eventually deflated. There goes his chance. He looked around the room, his one eye scanning everything. About halfway, he stopped. There was a recruitment poster for the hospital. They needed medical staff.
Maybe he could learn medical jutsu after all?
He turned back to the lady and jabbed a thumb at the poster. "Need medics? I'd be willing to train."
The woman looked at him critically. After a few moments of staring at one another, she leaned down below the counter and retrieved a scroll. She tossed it to him. Takai snatched it out of the air and unrolled it.
His eyebrow rose as he read the scroll. He glanced up at the woman who had looked back to her book.
"You're just handing this stuff out?" He questioned, rolling the scroll up.
"Yep. Head Doctor doesn't want people with no potential to bother him." She replied, not even looking up.
Fair enough. Wasting time would be inefficient. Takai held the scroll up next to his head, shaking it a bit for emphasis. "Thanks, this will really help."
The nurse answered with a nod and shooed him away. She hadn't even looked up from her book.
What a bitch.
But he had gotten what he needed, he could commence his learning.
Time to get to work.
Hours later and he had barely gained any progress at all. Turns out it normally took people years to learn the jutsu. Though, the applications were too much to pass up. Just the ability to heal himself would be a a huge boon to his training. He could rush physical training by training until his muscles failed entirely, heal himself, then do it again. He could make years worth of gains in a month or so.
Of course, it could also take years to learn the jutsu. The sucky part was that he couldn't just copy it from a medic and have it down. The jutsu itself was actually really easy to get down, he already learned how to channel his chakra in such a way. But applying it? That was different. It was manipulating the body on a cellular level. Pretty much just knowing how it all worked and being able to specifically control it all.
The academy gave him basic anatomy, but it was for violence, not understanding. They didn't learn why the liver was such a great place to hit, just that it was. A good liver shot will drop someone like a sack of rocks in water.
Good thing he had shadow clones.
Takai placed his hands into the hand sign and in a puff of smoke, another Takai stood next to him. The pair looked down to the rat they were practicing on.
"Looks like we triggered cancerous growths." The clone observed, pointing out the grotesque bulges in the animal's back.
The original grunted. "Could we weaponize that?"
"It was way to slow. Maybe in the improbable scenario that we need kill someone using cancer for assassination. Place a tumor in the brain in their sleep?" The clone explained.
"We would still have to improve our control. Any old doctor could tell you these growths aren't natural. Something like that would require a finesse we lack right now."
Well, he didn't intend to be much of an assassination specialist. Outright fighting sounded like what he preferred.
Okay, maybe he actually would have to hit a few books. Anatomy was complicated and extensive, but he was stubborn and had the best cheat of all time. His sharingan.
With that, the clone scooped up the rat and tossed it out the window. Keeping corpses in the same area he'd be living in wouldn't be sanitary. Plus, it would help fertilize the grass or something. An upside he supposed?
'Maybe a garden would be nice...' Takai mused as he exited through the same window and began making his way over to the library. The public one. More academic texts there. Plus, what he's looking for isn't exactly restricted information.
Turns out that it was a great call. There was another shinobi in there who was complaining about the archives being closed with the Chunin Exams being in town. Better to make a few Konoha-nin wait than allow foreigners to steal secrets.
Medical textbooks were also a a ryo a dozen in the public library.
Literally.
There was a section to buy worn books to keep for yourself. The majority were medical ones. Though, he didn't need them for long. Just enough to skim over the pages with his sharingan active. With a clone? He easily ran through Anatomy for Dummies, Organs and You, How to NOT Kill Your Patient, and Beneath the Skin: An In-depth Review.
All four were written by some big shots who worked as doctors on the civilian side of things. Names he didn't recognize.
Except for that last one.
The author's notes said the author learned from Tsunade herself for a little while. It took a pretty ryo, but it was a treasure-trove of information.
Didn't matter much to Takai though.
With the last page done, he set the book down on the floor of his little "lab" room. He looked at his hand firmly before pulling out a kunai.
'You only live once I guess.' He thought as he slide the sharp blade over his palm, far deeper than he meant. A cringe and hiss escaped his lips as his kunai clattered to the floor. His hands shook violently as he formed the hand-signs and focused with his eye shut. A gentle green glow, almost a minty shade permeated his eyelid as the two sides of the cut slowly mended, the blood-flow stopping.
He lost track of time. Multiple minutes at the least went by as he went through the process.
Clot blood. Did it go to the bone? Didn't feel like it. Then it was easy. Just fixing the skin up.
Once the pain fully disappeared, he cracked his eye open to reveal his perfectly fine hand. He even clenched his hand a few times, testing the appendage.
It felt great. Perhaps better than it had prior actually.
It hadn't even been that difficult. While he had no doubts what he could heal extended to minor wounds and muscle fatigue, it was something, right? Now he could boost his training all on his own.
He nearly got up to go put his ability to the test, but his gaze was drawn to the puddle of blood on the floor.
"Eh...guess I should handle that." He said to himself as he went to retrieve cleaning supplies.
Takai watched in fascination as the self-inflicted stab wound healed. He had driven a kunai through his hand to truly test his ability and it was working wonderfully. Next to no pain and this time, it only took a full minute.
Truly, the Mystic Palm Jutsu was a blessing from the gods above.
And the sharingan. What an absolute cheat. He could watch someone use a jutsu and throw it back in their face. Honestly, it just wasn't fair at all. Taijutsu? Not safe either. He can reply with the exact same moves.
'I'm a living cheat.' He thought bemusedly as he rose from his seated position in the middle of the training ground.
Two days left until the finals.
He had a counter prepared for all three of the opponents he was truly worried about.
His little pet project was stalled.
Though, his clones that were training his wind and earth releases finally dispelled for good. There were also now two naked trees in the training ground. He did feel a mild headache coming on.
Heh, naked. A little funny. Right?
"Alright, time to test this out." He said, forming the required hand-signs. The ground around his feet wobbled for a second like some sort of gelatinous substance before he sunk right through.
'Woah. Now, how do I move? Just...swim?' Takai pushed his hands forwards and felt his technique turn the earth ahead to the same fine sand while solidifying behind him. This would be perfect for avoiding attacks. How can they reach him if he just drops beneath the soil? Combine that with a shadow clone and he'd have the perfect trick.
Done with testing his new jutsu, he began swimming upwards, breaching the dirt and rising. The ground turned solid behind him.
Now, how do get his hands on some wind jutsu? Not particularly important, it'd be nice to have jutsu of every element. That way he had a counter for everything.
Maybe he could meet some other members of his summoning clan? Yeah, that would be smart. Though, it would be better to visit their land rather than summoning the whole clan here. He didn't have remotely enough chakra to do such things.
He performed the hand-signs and summoned a familiar lizard with a poof of smoke.
"Summoner, greetings." His deep voice said from the smoke.
"Yes, hello. I wanted to see about meeting more of your clan. If I am to be summoner, I should pursue close relations with the clan as a whole, not just with one individual.
Qask nodded. "Yes, that would be preferable. I will reverse-summon you to the village."
A poof of smoke later and Qask was gone.
"Well, this should eat two days, right?"
Takai appeared in the middle of town in a similar burst of smoke, albeit smaller than Qask's. He emerged, expecting a bustling little village, but that was not the case. Not a single person was walking the streets. The buildings themselves were covered in soot. Smoke rose in the distance.
"What...happened?" He asked uneasily, gesturing around. One building, he guessed an apartment building, was actually destroyed. A chunk was missing out the front and it was burnt out.
Qask's face twitched. "The Crustacean Clan. We have been at odds with them since our conception. We rule the land and they rule the sea. Normally at least. Recently, they have taken to raiding our farms and such at the village's borders. Apparently their harvest went wrong and they lack food."
Huh. So even in a land of talking lizards and crabs, war was present.
"How's it going?"
Qask began walking, gesturing to various public buildings which had been transformed into shelters for civilians and soldiers alike. They were guarded by lizards with various weapons. Notably, they appeared to be different species.
"Not great. We have not come to blows with them since before our last summoner died. He managed form a shaky peace agreement with the Crustacean Clan." Qusk explained as they neared the edge of town.
Oh boy. Surely they didn't expect him to-
"As summoner, I hope you can find a peaceful solution to prevent more lives of my clan being thrown to the sea." He dashed Takai's hopes expertly. They had arrived at a sort of pier made of brick that overlooked a seemingly endless ocean. The town seemed so small in comparison. "They will not attack you. Similarly to us, they also hope for a peaceful solution, but they also cannot allow their people to starve."
Takai nodded in understanding. He would do the same. "So, do I just dive in and start swimming?"
The corners of Qask's mouth tilted upwards ever so slightly. "Well, yes."
"Peachy." He said dryly as he hopped up onto the guardrail. "Well, here goes nothing."
Takai leapt into the water in a dolphin dive, piercing the water like a knife. He activated his Water Breathing Jutsu and began to go down to the deep. Another presence joined him. He felt the feet of a rather large lizard land on his back and climb to his right shoulder, anchoring itself there. Thankfully, he wouldn't be alone for this little mission.
Takai would have commented on the city if he could have spoken under the water.
It laid on the seabed, which appeared to have been purposefully flattened to accommodate the city. It was similar in size to his own summoning clan's village, only it was made of pearly white stone. Everything. It also had lots of domes. Spires, towers, even castle walls for some reason. Not sure why those were needed if one could swim, but whatever.
As he approached, he saw several shapes move on the ramparts of the wall. Unfortunately, it wasn't clear enough for his eyes to see just yet. He had several hundred more feet to go.
Or he did. A massively heavy weight had wrapped around him. He looked back to see a giant lobster holding him in it's crusher claw. Strangely, he didn't feel any panic.
Mostly because Qask didn't do anything.
The lobster lowered to the ocean floor far faster than Takai could swimming and scuttled towards the city. As they neared, more details stuck out. The walls were very ornate. Carvings of various ocean animals as well as portcullis for an entrance. Right now, it was wide open.
Now that he was closer, he could actually observe those who manned the walls. Oddly enough, they looked humanoid rather than crab. Much like the Lizard Clan's own members. Though, he guessed they had the ability to turn into their more animalistic forms. That could be useful. A giant crab? Probably great armor.
'Crab folk?' Takai thought curiously as he looked at the guards. They were about eight feet tall and built like brick walls. Incredibly broad shoulders with more narrow waists. That led to four legs that looked like perfectly normal crab legs. They, of course, were naturally spiky. Their groins were covered in loincloths. Their shoulders appeared to have extra large natural shell plates. Large crusher claws emerged from either side with smaller pincer claws situated below. So, they had four arms in total.
Though, their pincers looked incredibly human. Five fingers on either claw. Or, more accurately, hand. They definitely had hands. The places where joints were had a sort of grey hide. Definitely tough, but seemingly flexible as they held spears in their hands. Their heads looked like what he imaged a crab's head would look like if it had one. Stout and well-protected. They didn't seem to have necks, or at least, it was set deeper into the shell out of view. The face was precisely what a crab's was except it protruded slightly, affording a much wider range of vision for the black eyes set on either side of their heads. On top was a set of feelers that were long and spindly, about two feet long.
Their shells had varying colors. Though, they followed a simple pattern. Their abdomens and the undersides of their legs were a light sort of tan color while the rest was anything really. Takai even saw a pink one for a split second.
Their spears appeared to be all metal with a leaf-shaped blade at the tip. That would make it usable for not only thrusting, but also slashing.
What metal was that though? It was a light blue. Each spear had two leather grips; one towards the front and one towards the back. They seemed to be just a bit longer than their knuckles were wide. Probably just ideal places to have their hands for comfort.
Either way, the guards seemed surprised by his presence, but directed glares at the lizard sitting on his shoulder. The lizard, for his credit, threw one back the best he could considering his face wasn't very expressive.
The lobster carrying him looked like a normal lobster for the most part. Just twenty feet tall.
Takai looked past the gate as the trio went through, revealing what seemed to be a diplomatic precession.
And a strange dome that covered the city? It began just outside the wall. There was no plants or little fish swimming through the water there. The lights were clearer too. What was it?
Then the lobster walked straight through, no longer weighed down by the water.
The whole city had air?!
Takai looked to the precession. More of those crabs with a second particularly large lobster. This one was probably twenty feet tall and had a small structure mounted on his back. It looked like some sort of noble's carriage. White wood with golden accents. The glass was stained with images, but they were a bit difficult to discern.
The lobster holding him approached the second and held him close to the door.
'Guess I get a free ride.' Takai reached for the vertical gold handle and opened the door up.
The inside was mostly velvet. There were soft couches opposite each other on either side. Black curtains were folded to the side, but could likely be used to cover the windows. In the middle was a relatively small table that was similarly high quality. It was a dark wood, probably stained mahogany. The edges were once again, gilded in gold. There was a mural in the center of the tabletop. To be honest, it was gorgeous. It was of the Sun above. Figures could be seen worshiping it in a large, rolling plain.
Takai secured himself and entered once the lobster let go of him. The massive crustacean closed the door behind him using the tip of it's claw. Surprisingly, it didn't knock the whole thing over, showcasing an impressive amount of dexterity.
"This is all pretty damn fancy." Takai commented, collapsing on the couch and lounging.
He heard a little grunt as Qask re-positioned himself as to not get his lower half squished. "Yes. I believe the saying is 'the riches of the sea'."
Definitely rings true. Maybe the Land of Fire should expand into the ocean to the south? It could net some nice resources.
Or cause hundreds to die.
Either or really.
The carriage leaned to one side briefly before the lobster began moving. He could hear the crab folk outside, conversing in a series of deep chirps and whistles.
"Any idea what they're saying?"
"None at all." Qask replied lightly. His eyes were then drawn to an overhead light in the center of the ceiling. It appeared to be some sort of candle, yet there was no smoke.
"Seals." Takai said immediately.
His lizard companion nodded. "It would appear so. The Crustacean Clan has never been known for it's prowess in the more delicate arts, but that was clearly a mistake." He looked around once more before hopping down onto the arm of the impossibly soft couch. "This may be on par, if not better than what much of the Lizard Clan's village has."
Takai had to agree.
"So, they won't kill us, right?"
"Likely not."
So, not a guarantee? "What do you mean 'likely'?"
"I mean unlikely. They are unlikely to kill you."
Great. Really confidence-inspiring.
Takai let out a sigh as he slouched. "Why do you need me again? What's stopping delegations without me?"
This time, it was Qask's turn to sigh. "It's a bit of a tradition between our two clans. Summoners have always brokered peace between our realms. In the process, they choose a clan to sign with. Though, you are an exception. You arrived just prior to a bout of conflict, leading you to sign our scroll. As far as our historical texts go, such a thing has not happened before." He explained, stretching out on the arm.
"Seems a tad...dated." Takai said slowly.
"Perhaps, but it is the way things have worked since before I was even born. And before my father. And before his father." The lizard said, almost wistfully.
Well, fair enough. Humans weren't exactly better. The Hyuga chief among them in terms of rigidity over tradition. Takai didn't have room to speak on the matter either. After all, he followed the tradition most Konoha youth adhere to; aspiring to become a shinobi. He did it too.
'Drawing a number of parallels here.' He snorted.
"Why do you think they're transporting us in something this nice?"
"I would bet they hope to make a vast impression upon you in an attempt to get you to sign their contract." Qask replied easily, but out of the corner of Takai's eye, he could see the lizard side-eyeing him.
Great. From child soldier to diplomat. Just great.
The ride didn't take that long all things considered. Just a few minutes. Presumably, they were parading him through the village. Some social pressure was an excellent tool.
At least for people who have social inhibitions.
Eventually, the door was opened by a green hand that was separated into sections by chitinous armor. Slowly but surely, a remarkably human creature poked into the carriage, barely fitting in the door. The person had a humanoid upper body, but that's where the similarities ended. The upper portion was as if a human was created from a bunch of chitin plates. The only soft part looked to be the face, which was a light green. That looked human enough, apart from pure black eyes. His, or rather, her, judging by the small bulges in the chest chitin, hair was a dark red and had feelers of a similar color protruding from the top of her head.
Her arms were slim and elegant with slight elbow protrusions, almost like a talon.
Then her waist led to a shrimp lower body. It was a darker green than her face with spines and spikes and ridges. Two large claws jutted out the front, curled up at the moment. The claws themselves were black, as were the little legs holding her up.
"Greetings, summoner." The shrimp lady said as she managed to lay her tail across the opposite couch and sit down.
He jumped to correct her immediately. "I apologize for the misunderstanding, but I am not your summoner."
She placed a thoughtful gaze on him, about to say something until she spotted Qask. Her face quickly morphed to distaste. "Oh, I see."
"Indeed. The Lizard Clan has already been bound to this one." He said simply.
"Well, arrangements could always be made." She said, reaching for the door and pulling it shut. That totally wasn't ominous at all.
So, crazy story guys. There was this cat, yeah? And-
Nah, I'm just fucking with you guys. Just been dealing with the after-effects of a break-up. Been separated for a whole year now. Shit hurts.
I made a Discord server for if you guys want to remind me (read: bully me) to update instead of leaving shit abandoned for eons.
Discord: T9sPwzGbMp