Takuma sat in Maruboshi's living room, gazing at the package that had arrived for him via the courier. Maruboshi was on an overnight wilderness trip, leaving him alone at the house.
Even though ANBU had given them seven days to a week to dec...
2024-11-17 01:52:00 +0000 UTC
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The day after Takuma returned from the ANBU recruitment, he found himself visiting the Torture and Interrogation headquarters. While he was away, they sent an invitation to Maruboshi's house. How did they find he was living there? Oishi Yor...
2024-11-15 18:24:58 +0000 UTC
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The last team to return was the Five and Sixteen duo, who returned two hours before the deadline. From the conversation, all teams had completed their tasks, and while they didn't discuss specifics, they had been given similar tasks: robberies, sa...
2024-11-11 21:03:51 +0000 UTC
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Three woke up with a start and glanced at the running scenery around her.
"I am awake," she said from the princess carry in Takuma's arms, "you can put me down now."
Takuma didn't put her down and continued to run at full...
2024-11-10 01:30:34 +0000 UTC
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The forsaken factory brought up bad memories. The dust in the air, the smell of abandon and rust, even the way faint sounds echoed—everything reminded him of the factory base in Yu, where he had spent over two of the worst months of his life.
2024-11-07 23:09:12 +0000 UTC
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Agando Morosumu, a.k.a Four, felt a bead of sweat slip down his face. He sat in a restaurant with food before him, but he had no appetite because he was in the middle of a task, and his target was aware of his presence.
Two tables dow...
2024-11-04 22:11:32 +0000 UTC
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Yamanaka Amami scouted the estate in the cover of the night. The main building and one of the secondary buildings, which seemed to be the guard quarters, were well-lit—but the rest of the grounds were covered in darkness. As long as she s...
2024-11-01 20:22:13 +0000 UTC
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A silence hung between Takuma and Three as they sat in their shared inn suite. It was their second inn due to their decision to switch places daily. They sat in comfortable chairs opposite each other around a circular table, but the set of ...
2024-10-28 23:15:44 +0000 UTC
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When the local newspaper hit the streets in the early morning, the article about the robbery at the high-ranking samurai's house became the topic of discussion and chatter among the city populace. It wasn't something they hadn't seen before...
2024-10-27 19:55:17 +0000 UTC
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Sune Jakusho had been looking to the evening for the entire week. He had been making progress with the geisha, Yuri, and thought it would be another week before her futile resistance would crumble. He didn't mind her reluctance and defiance...
2024-10-24 20:09:52 +0000 UTC
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The Zakahira estate was abuzz with commotion. The house of a high-ranking samurai was robbed in broad daylight. For that to happen in the Ember Imperial City was astounding, and the news was bound to spread throughout the city by the follow...
2024-10-21 19:54:14 +0000 UTC
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The target's name was Sune Jakusho, a low-level samurai who was connected to a local yakuza-styled gang involved in extorting "protection fees" from businesses, duping elderly people with no relatives into signing over their wealth...
2024-10-18 21:42:07 +0000 UTC
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As far as first impressions were concerned, Takuma wasn't entirely pleased with his assigned partner.
"So how do you want to play this?" asked Three as the duo sat at a two-person table at a teashop. Both had their masks off an...
2024-10-16 20:28:25 +0000 UTC
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The ANBU were a bunch of assholes, Takuma decided when they didn't reveal duo pairing at the camp and declared they would only announce them when they reached the capital city. They were clearly trying to make it hard for the candidates by ...
2024-10-06 17:34:26 +0000 UTC
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The ANBU had set up a temporary camp to house the candidates. It was a bunch of tents around a campfire and was located near a small stream. After Takuma had passed through the woods, the ANBU-nin showed him the way to the camp. Instead of ...
2024-10-05 13:32:15 +0000 UTC
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Two candidates ran into each other on the fourth day as they left the fourth checkpoint at dawn.
Number #16, Yaya Utamatsu.
Number #5, Igabi Kyusu.
Both of them had their masks on and faced each other ...
2024-10-03 13:05:30 +0000 UTC
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ANBU-nin codenamed Leopard reclined on a patio chair on the log cabin deck outside the forest with a thin gauze-like cloth spread over her face because wearing her mask while she relaxed was a massive pain. Even though she was...
2024-09-28 16:35:31 +0000 UTC
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A dirty wild boar sauntered out of the woods while looking around the flat meadow for any predators. When he decided the field was clear, he found a good patch of grass and put his nose down to get food in his belly. As he greedily ate the ...
2024-09-26 18:25:37 +0000 UTC
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Three hours after the questionnaires were collected for evaluation, the candidates gathered in the hall on the ground floor. Takuma stood in the crowd, wearing the 'Scars' mask; he was surprised when he was instructed to wear it as he thoug...
2024-09-24 14:46:11 +0000 UTC
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"How are they doing?" Eisbar asked as he returned from his break. He was a fit middle-aged man of average height with light grey streaks all over his hair that well complemented his blacks, giving him a mature, charming salt-and-pepper look...
2024-09-21 04:00:25 +0000 UTC
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At a location far from the office building with the candidates, a group of ANBU-nin and department staff used another building as their base. They preferred to be in the same location, but a Hyuga was participating in the assessment, and th...
2024-09-19 04:53:21 +0000 UTC
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At six in the morning, Takuma and Maruboshi stood in front of the latter's house. Takuma was dressed in the standard Leaf shinobi gear with a slightly chunkier backpack with what he thought he would need during the two-week assessment. Seei...
2024-09-17 21:44:11 +0000 UTC
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As the last hour of the gathering wound down, Takuma and Arisu sat shoulder to shoulder, feet kicked out, leaning against the wall, away from the tables. The mood of the gathering had long since settled down; some people had left, and the c...
2024-09-15 03:09:11 +0000 UTC
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"Do you like your life now or when you were back at the academy?"
Izumi considered the question from the boy sitting beside her. Even though she had sat beside him five minutes ago, they had only been part of the same conversat...
2024-09-11 20:35:47 +0000 UTC
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The gathering continued, and Takuma changed tables in an attempt to preserve his social battery and found Taro on the least occupied table.
"Thank you for before. Things would've gotten awkward if you didn't speak up," said Tak...
2024-09-09 20:13:43 +0000 UTC
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"Kameko was talking about the gold mine operation your base ran, and I asked a question about keeping track of your surroundings when there's such a sheer quantity of enemies and allies around you," asked Momoe.
It had been alm...
2024-09-06 19:53:26 +0000 UTC
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The vibe of the class gathering had turned awkward when Takuma left the building soon after coming in to talk with Kameko outside. Taro, who had arrived alongside him, sat down and ordered a large oolong tea.
He had caught the ...
2024-09-03 22:07:43 +0000 UTC
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As the week drew to a close, the weekend arrived. On an early Saturday evening, Kameko found herself standing outside an izakaya nestled deep within the Entertainment District, away from the bustling main streets. The front do...
2024-09-01 18:50:41 +0000 UTC
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Beautiful.
That was what Maruboshi thought when he saw his student getting beat up. The skill shown by Uchiha Mikoto was exquisite; every move looked elegant and effortless, but all of it was planned down to the very m...
2024-08-29 16:45:13 +0000 UTC
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Takuma didn't rush in, nor did he pause to relax. Almost getting a hit in was nothing special when Mikoto was playing around with one hand on top of restraining her to his level. Unlike spars with Maruboshi, which were essentially "simu...
2024-08-26 19:24:20 +0000 UTC
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