CH_3.5 (064)

CH_3.5 (064)

How did one get stronger? The question ran through Takuma's mind more than it had ever. His previous answers to the questions had been: follow whatever Maruboshi taught... observe others' combat style in basic training and thus learn how to counter them more effectively... train to improve at his ninjutsu arsenal... and add more jutsu into his repertoire.

But now those answers seemed ineffective. He no longer trained with Maruboshi; both he and his teacher had their lives and couldn't follow their daily training; no matter how much Takuma would've loved to continue, he couldn't ask Maruboshi to adjust to his schedule. Yoshio's mandatory sparring sessions in basic training were no longer available; he could spar with Ai, Nenro, and Masaaki (Taro refused to spar), but their schedules seldom matched. He continued to train his ninjutsu, but he didn't have mission points to get more.

Even his total training time had reduced. During basic training, he would train by himself in the morning and then train more under Yoshio— but now, while he trained in the morning, he worked the rest of the day. On average, with the varying type of D-rank missions, he worked four to five days a week; he had tried to reduce that number, but it proved difficult when the choice of mission wasn't in his hand.

And when he wanted answers, Maruboshi was again out of the village on a C-rank mission, escorting some business caravan somewhere.

He thought about ways to get more powerful on his own, using his esoteric knowledge about this world to his advantage— but nothing seemed viable to him. He could snatch a Sharingan or Byakugan, but that would get him killed immediately. He could steal the Forbidden Scroll of Seals stored at the Hokage's Residence like Naruto did— but the chances of getting court-martialled were inevitable. Every scenario he thought ended up in a dead-end.

Takuma sighed as he sipped the cold lemonade he bought from a food stand inside the Genin Corp complex to beat the scorching summer heat. He had just got a D-rank mission that would have him work the night shift as a security guard at a state food warehouse. He absolutely hated work at night— they wrecked his sleep cycle and disturbed his regular schedule of things.

"That's not a sigh due to the weather, is it?"

Takuma looked up and, to his surprise, it was Ebisu sitting down on the neighboring bench.

"No, it is not," said Takuma, making small talk.

"Would you like to share? Many times, simply speaking things out to someone resolves the problems."

Takuma chuckled, "Is this a way to get me to visit your counseling? I'd speak my problems to you, you'd say some words to me, I'd feel better— and you're hoping that I'd be impressed enough that I would come visit your office for a session. I didn't know you worked as a salesperson, counselor."

Ebisu smiled, "If you think about it, everyone's a salesman. All of us are putting up a version of ourselves in front of others to make them find us appealing in some way. We do it in front of our peers, friends, partners, bosses, and even strangers. Some do it poorly, others do it well, but everyone does it whether they see it so or not. And as to answer your other question, I'd be delighted to have you visit my office for a session."

Takuma glanced at Ebisu. He had a much different image of Ebisu in his mind. A stricter, no-nonsense, more straightforward man— but this one was somewhat of a talker.

"You know, I wouldn't mind a session with you," said Takuma, "unfortunately, you take mission points, which I can't spare. If you took ryo, I'd probably already be in your office planning my shinobi career with you."

While the counseling session with Ebisu didn't cost nearly anywhere close to a D-rank jutsu, they cost mission points nevertheless. Even if they cost a fraction of a mission point, he wouldn't use them for a counseling session when he could save that fraction up for a jutsu.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't get your name," asked Ebisu.

"Takuma."

"Well then, Takuma, it's nice to meet you. How about I give you a quick session here without charge, and you decide whether an official one is worth the mission points or not," said Ebisu with a smile. "What do you say?"

Takuma thought about it for a moment before getting up from his bench and taking a seat beside Ebisu.

"I will take that as an agreement," Ebisu put aside his beverage and sandwich plate to the side.

"How do I get stronger?" Takuma opened up the conversation. If this was going to be a free quick session, then he was going to be direct and blunt to get the most out of it.

"There are jutsu that integrate with taijutsu, but you can invest in them later; for now, you can refer to the Hidden Leaf Kata from the general archives and start practicing," advised Ebisu. "Meet with your friends and spar with them..."

Takuma could do that. The Hidden Leaf Kata was free for him to refer to, and it was an entire style of taijutsu available to every shinobi. If he worked out a system with Masaaki, Ai, and Nenro, he could alternate reliably between the three and maybe even get Taro in the mix to spar with one person daily.

"...because the best way to improve taijutsu is to, put it simply, fight..."

Takuma's mind went blank as the words echoed in his skull.

"... the more you fight, the more your body will learn. For taijutsu, doing is the only way to learn..."

When he looked back, it was clear to Takuma that the basic training spars and the final tournament were more valuable to him than his year at the academy and his spars with Maruboshi. The fear of bleeding and broken bones made him improve drastically more.

"... Thank you, counselor."

He had a decision to make.

———

.

"Have you come to a decision?"

Takuma had called Shady Guy with an answer in mind, and as he stood in front of him, he thought about it once more...

"I will participate," he said.

If he could get stronger and get more resources to get even stronger. If he could get more mission points, he would be able to save up for his genjutsu experiment. Taking one risk to take another risk... didn't sound like a great deal, but it was his decision.

A smile stretched up on Shady Guy's face. He stepped out of the dark street and stood closer to Takuma with an outstretched hand.

"Then I must say, merry cooperation."

Under the moon's silvery light, Takuma shook the hand and sealed the deal.

———

.

AN: The whole conversation with Ebisu was quite different when I first wrote and posted on Pätreon. Takuma came out really dumb in that one— dumber than he usually is.

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