Takuma rubbed his ear in irritation; it had been ringing for over an frustrating hour. The dynamite explosions used to destroy the mining infrastructure were to blame even though he was wearing earplugs when they went off. Sure, they weren’t professionally made earplugs, but Takuma expected them to at least do something. His ears were especially sensitive because of training.

“You should get that looked at,” Anko commented as she ran beside him.

They were journeying back to Camp Banana after the successful raid on the Gojiro Gold Mines. Some of the troops had to stay back to escort the miners who had planted the dynamite as the shinobi weren’t experienced in that field. The miners also couldn’t run as far as shinobi and needed to be escorted to a safe location. The rest returned to Camp Banana as they couldn’t leave the position unprotected for long.

“It’s fine. I’m not going to bother the iryo-nin right now. They must be exhausted,” Takuma replied to her.

It was true; everyone was exhausted. They first traveled from Camp Banana to the Gojiro Gold Mines, then fought a bloody battle, lost too many people, destroyed the mine, and then journeyed back to Camp Banana. They’d barely rested during the entire process when the jonin insisted that they return to Camp Banana as soon as possible. Takuma didn’t want to disturb anyone until they reached the base.

Takuma looked ahead and at one of the teams traveling with them.

“That’s them, isn’t it?” Takuma pointed them out to Anko. “The team that ditched the Evacuation Unit.”

“Hideki,” Anko spat and she evil-eyed the chunin in charge of the team.

Chunin Hideki and his two genin were meant to be part of the Evacuation Unit but broke away from the unit to set off explosions around the pit at the start of the raid to surprise the enemy.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think he’s going to get reprimanded for what he did,” said Takuma.

“No, they won’t. Toridasu most probably ordered them to do that regardless of how the Evacuation Unit was doing. He wouldn’t have dreamed of doing that if he wasn’t protected by Toridasu.” As she ran, the ground under her feet cracked under the oppressive weight of her chakra, startling the people around her. “You know what the kicker is? Those explosions were actually fucking useful—he’s going to get fucking praised for it. Ugh, the bastard; I want to feed him to my babies.”

Takuma shuddered at the remembrance of Anko’s snakes. He had one of them wrapped around him when she was rescuing him, but he was so out of it that he didn’t pay any attention to it. However, from how Kameko described it during a small break, her snakes were absolutely dreadful.

“You can have partial credit for the mine collapse if that will help us get more sway in the camp,” said Takuma. He was a genin, and getting full credit would be huge for his reputation and career—but in the current moment, Anko, a chunin, getting some sway in the camp would do the entire team, including Takuma, some good. It was him trading some of his rightful credit and investing it in hopes that it would yield more benefit in the future.

“No,” Anko shut Takuma’s down immediately, “like hell you will do that. I’m going to make sure that there’s no ambiguity in the report when I mention your actions and how crucial they were. Be careful when you say things like that. People will swallow you whole when you offer a bite.”

“But—”

“I know what you’re trying to do, but I’m not comfortable with it.”

Takuma nodded when Anko’s intense gaze lingered, as though seeking a response from him.

“New people are going to come to the camp,” Takuma said. They had lost a significant number of people in the raid; as such, Camp Banana needed to refill its ranks with new blood. “Guess I won’t be the new guy anymore.” A lot of people still called him the new guy till date.

“We might be looking at an advantage at our hands. The number of complete teams has decreased… The number of chunin have decreased, but Team-9 is a complete team that can go on active missions on short notice if required. There’s a chance if we play it right, we might be able to get on the precursor missions.”

“Precursor mission?”

“The Gojiro Gold Mines was a late addition to Camp Banana’s mission calendar. Before that became a priority, we were in the midst of planning a big operation…”

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Apparently, Camp Banana was created by the enemy’s advance, who had already invaded the borders and captured numerous important bits of territory in the Land of Hot Water. They had the dual purpose of being a line of defense to stop them from capturing more while also responsible for recapturing enemy-occupied enemy territory. Before the Gojiro Gold Mines came along, Camp Banana was working on a plan to accomplish the recapture part of their purpose.

The enemy had captured three essential border cities that had great strategic locations as they were the hubs for trade routes and roads built in the region. Everything flowed in and out of those cities, and by controlling the cities, the Hidden Frost—and the Hidden Cloud by proxy—had established a chokehold on the entire region. Camp Banana was planning to break that chokehold by recapturing the cities and move their base location up to one of those cities to ensure that they had a stronger position in the region.

Anko continued. “With our losses, the operation could only realistically start after about forty-five days so the new blood can integrate enough to function as teams—but there were talks of a precursor mission before the operation… and I think I can get us into that precursor mission.”

“What’s the mission objective?” asked Takuma.

“There are several towns and villages that feed into those three cities. Those villages and towns are still selling their harvest and produce to the cities because if they don’t, they will go broke. The few villages that refused are being forced to sell because of the fear of being pillaged and massacred. The mission, whatever it is, will be to weaken the defense of cities for when the main forces go in to liberate the cities. We want any advantage we get, no matter how small it is.”

“Sounds like a lot of time outside the camp,” said Takuma.

Anko shot him a challenging grin. “Are you up for it?”

“It’s up to you, boss. If you think this is worth it, then why not,” he said.

Takuma didn’t want to waste his time. He could be doing the precursor mission outside the camp or do equally meaningful work inside the camp. He didn’t care where he did or what he did so long as it was useful and moved him closer to becoming a chunin.

“If we’re taking this mission, the preparation period will be busy,” said Takuma with a sigh.

“Busier than what we did for the raid,” Anko nodded

“Much busier,” Takuma sighed.

The battle at the gold mines made him painfully aware that he lacked attack variety and needed to gain another weapon as soon as possible.

The question was how.

Fortunately, he had some ideas.

———

.

Dear Taro,

How are you doing, buddy? I hope you didn’t quit your job because it was too hard.

I just completed a long and hard mission that I can’t really share the details about because I’m technically not supposed to be here. As I write this letter, I have just woken up from a sixteen-hour deep sleep because I hadn’t slept in more than two days.

The appeal of all this wore off very quickly, you know. The food sucks, the water tasted off for weeks, my mattress should be ashamed of being called one, and the fucking humidity is the curse that doesn’t end.

I’m finally seeing the appeal of getting an off-the-field position so much. However, I’m good at what I do, so I guess I can only complain so much.

Well… I guess I’m just writing this because I miss you and everyone else.

I’ve made friends here, but it’s somewhat difficult to care when you don’t know if they will be alive by the end of the month. Kameko’s here, and I still do not like her very much—she hasn’t changed much from the basic training days—but at least she reminds me of home.

Forgetting the above, while I’m homesick, I’m as safe as possible in my current situation.

Take care of yourself, okay?

I will see you soon,

Takuma.

———

.

Dear ma’am,

I hope this letter finds you in good health.

This morning, as I sat on my bed, my mind fetched the memory of our discussion when I brought you my deployment order. Your words about it being an opportunity when I was so adamantly against it was the start of it all.

You were right. This is an opportunity—a great one at that. I still would’ve preferred working at my office in the Police Force, though, but I believe that’d be most people’s preference. Regardless of my preference, I believe this was the right move. I might be made for this—for wars—or is it for violence—or maybe it’s simply for killing.

There was a mission with a lot of deaths, and afterward, the iryo-nin were asking everyone if they slept well, how they were feeling, or if they were experiencing any out-of-the-ordinary distress. I knew what they were on the lookout for, and I’m thankful that they care.

But… I didn’t feel anything. I don’t like taking lives. I don’t feel any sick pleasure from it. If given the choice, I don’t want to do it—but, to be honest, it comes really easy. It’s no different than doing any other activity.

Alright, this is enough. I didn’t intend this to be so heavy.

Regardless of how I feel about it or don’t feel about it, I’m focused on making the most of what I can get out of here.

Your student,

Takuma.

PS: How’s Sasuke doing? I hope he’s having a great time at the academy.

PPS: I think I’m done with pre-made genjutsu. It took a long time, but I think I’m ready for some customization.

———

.

Dear Kano,

I hope you’re in good health.

I know you’re not supposed to tell me about the investigation, but I wonder if there has been any progress in finding the blacksmith behind the touchmark or anything else related to the assassins.

I have attached the details of the office through which you can send letters to me.

Please send me a reply.

Regards,

Takuma.