Welcome back to the Smoke and Mirrors AU.
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[Clan Relations]
Yanmaru Clan
Unnamed Group
Individual Members
Hattori, to his credit, wasn’t even surprised. Of course the system would separate his clan from the little separate group. He did control both, and both were.. Kind of part of his clan, while maintaining separate public identities.
With a shrug, he clicked on the Yanmaru tab.
[Yanmaru Clan [✏️] Relations (?)]
-= Positive Relations =-
Shinja Clan – Acquaintance
Land of Fire Shogunate – Subordinate
Nishimura Clan – Acquaintance
-= Negative Relations =-
Uchiha Clan Branch – Small Feud
He nodded. That made sense. He moved to the unnamed group next.
[Unnamed Group [✏️] Relations (?)]
-= Positive Relations =-
Masamune, Legendary Blacksmith – Client
Senju Clan – Enemy of an Enemy
Nara Clan – Enemy of an Enemy
Shinja Clan – Enemy of an Enemy
Hyuga Clan – Enemy of an Enemy
…
-= Negative Relations =-
Uchiha Clan – Enemy
Uchiha Clan Branch – Enemy
Fuma Clan – Enemy
Land of Fire Shogunate – Threat to Power
Land of Water Shogunate – Threat to Power
Land of Earth Shogunate – Threat to Power
Land of Clouds Shogunate – Threat to Power
Land of Wind Shogunate – Threat to Power
Hattori’s eyebrow twitched uncontrollably. Hey, isn’t this a death sentence? Finally noticing the (?) on the menu, he mentally clicked it, and let a sigh of relief out.
[Guide to Relations]
Unnamed Group has {4} unique relation types achieved.
Client (Masamune) – You have a good business relationship. Merchants will be less likely to sell you out.
Enemy of an Enemy (Senju, Nara, Hyuga, Shinga, etc..) – If (Slaying Yuugito Uchiha) is revealed to these parties, they will tentatively accept assistance and potential allyship.
Enemy (Uchiha, Uchiha Branch, Fuma) – If (Slaying Yuugito Uchiha) is revealed to these parties, they will seek retribution and nonstop attacks. Slight chance of recovering relations.
Threat to Power (Fire, Water, Earth, Clouds, Wind) – If (Discovery of your Illegal Mercenary Group) is revealed to these parties, they will want to wipe you off the map. Allying or becoming a subordinate is possible for {1} of these parties.
Hattori pinched his brow. At least it isn’t immediate death. They have to uncover this group and its location before wanting to kill us. Right now, they don’t even know we exist still.
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Thoroughly done with that nonsense for now, Hattori promptly closed the menu, and returned to the Yanmaru relations page. He clicked the (?) there as well, and read through the relations.
Acquantainces would be more likely to help in times of crisis or need, but are not by definition friends or allies. Hattori hummed in thought. That made sense.
Subordinate relation means that they would be protected if possible. However, they also need to be ready for mandatory work from the ‘boss.’ The system mentioned specifically conscription.
Small Feud essentially just meant that they have poor relations due to a small incident, but it could be easily resolved in the right circumstance.
All in all, it essentially means that he doesn’t really have any protection if his little group is found out… Who knew making an illegal band of mercenaries was actually a bad thing? All of this made Hattori tired.
With a grunt, he laid down and went to sleep.
He woke at dawn, as he had trained himself to do. He left his cabin and a small smile formed on his face. His clan was already up and training, save for Sukuna and Miwa. He decided he would start training any new children at six, giving them a year to just be children.
“Mei, Yuki, Yuta, Asahiro!” Hattori’s shout resounded through their compound. In an instant, they were before him. Asahiro and Mei were covered in sweat, heavily breathing. Yuki and Yuta looked like they had just woken up recently.
“One important thing we have to discuss. Follow me to my cabin for some privacy. The wa–”
“–lls have ears.” They finished. He sighed dramatically. Did he really say it that much?
The group went into his cabin, drawing the curtains closed and shutting the door, before Hattori spoke again.
“What should we name our anonymous little group?”
Hattori watched with a stoic face as several of his clan members took a deep breath in and out, with their facial muscles twitching. Huh? What a bunch of weird people.
“That’s what you called us so urgently for?”
Hattori nodded. “It’s important, you know.”
Yuta sighed. “Alright. Let’s brainstorm.”
“Hmm… How about… Uh… Phantom Troupe?” Mei said.
Hattori frowned. It sounded good, but… “No. I don’t like that.” Mei looked visibly downcast at that.
“What about The Espada?”
“Team 7?”
“Deadly Sins?”
“Akatsu…”
The group of four brainstormed names for around an hour, before one stuck out to Hattori. It was an acronym.
“Huh? Say that again.”
“The CIA. Central Intelligence Agency.”
Hattori thought about it for a few moments before deciding. “I don’t like it. But, acronyms do sound quite good… Let’s think of some good acronyms.”
“FBI?”
“MI6?”
“NSA?”
Hattori sighed after around another hour of brainstorming. None of the ideas so far fit with what he wanted. None of them really clicked.
“Hey,” Mei, who had been silent this whole time after her first idea had been rejected, finally spoke up again. “How about.. ANBU? Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai. Special Assassinations and Tactical Squad. Since this is a group for high-level missions, this should be fitting, right?”
Hattori stared blanky at her.
Mei felt a bit awkward after a few seconds. After ten seconds had passed, she wanted to cry again. It took twenty seconds for Hattori to finally blink, and then speak again.
“Aha! I love it! Okay. Our group will be called the ANBU. Mei, what a great name, thank you.” Hattori sincerely thanked the poor girl he had almost made cry. He quickly replaced the ‘Unnamed Group’ with ANBU in the System Menus.
With that, the group was basically complete. Now, it just needed to improve before taking missions again.
He got up, bringing the rest of the main power of his clan to the clearing with him, before calling everyone else in the clan.
In just a few months, the year would turn, and he would be 19. The majority of the kids would turn 14. Sukuna and Miwa would turn 6 in around 10 months. Hattori reminisced over his life. Time really passed quick. He turned, watching the two youngest clan members finally arrive.
“Alright. I’m changing the training regiment.” Hattori watched the colour drain out of his clansmen’s faces impartially. This really did need to happen. “Before that, Asahiro, come to me.”
Asahiro walked forward, confused.
“Asahiro Yanmaru. I hereby assign you the rank of Jonin. For the moment, you will not have a team, and will remain on your current team. Please, go back.” Asahiro nodded dumbly. Hattori shook his head slightly. It seemed they still did not understand the importance of their rank.
..Not that he did either. But, if the system did, it must be quite important.
“Me and the other four Jonin will be focused on learning new techniques. We will attempted to be learning how to walk on walls, and on water. After that, we will try to reverse engineer a Ninjutsu we encountered in combat that was incredibly useful.”
“Once we finish learning any of these three, they will be immediately implemented into your training schedule. For now, all of you are to be focused on learning two new Ninjutsu.” Hattori smiled mysteriously at the perplexed looks on the faces of the Jonin.
Of course, they only knew of a single Ninjutsu they would be learning.
“The Fire Style, Fireball Jutsu, and the Fire Style, Dragon’s Flame Jutsu.” They all looked at eachother excitedly. Sukuna and Miwa were looking at eachother with stars in their eyes. Hattori only felt slightly bad about this next part.
“Sukuna, Miwa, you two will be starting training on your sixth birthdays. The rest of you, once you have at least somewhat learned these two techniques, you are not allowed to use them in sparring until we’ve reverse engineered a specific Ninjutsu.”
They frowned, but accepted that it made sense. Sukuna and Miwa were dejectedly sulking, drawing circles in the dirt. He saw them, but did not acknowledge their antics. Right now, he had to be a leader.
He brought out a dozen copies of each scroll he had made after returning from the mission, and passed them out.
“Everyone is dismissed. Please practice these techniques at the shore of the Tawa River, or on the plains inland of it.”
Almost everyone immediately disappeared, except for Yuki and Asahiro. He had told them both to stay beforehand, because he had something for each of them to do.