CH_4.30 (130)

CH_4.30 (130)

Enomoto rubbed the back of his neck as he stood in front of the door. He took a deep breath before entering the room to be greeted by the crowd gathered to watch one of the rare events in the Ring— the debut of a newcomer in the ninjutsu category. It wasn't every day when the Ring allowed one of their fighters to enter the ninjutsu category. A "regular" ninjutsu category fight was rare enough, but when a new fighter debuted in the arena, people with time, money, and influence on their hands used the fights as an excuse to socialize. He looked around the area, and as expected, he recognized everyone he laid his eyes on—old shinobi with too much time on their hands and younger ones looking to network for their benefit. Enomoto wondered how many of them had actually come to watch the fight.

It was universally known that Tsubura's sense of taste was horrible, but it seemed that even the Ring's boss knew better than to force it upon his important guests. Tasteful music filled the room at an appropriate simmer so that people could converse without shouting; gorgeous civilian men and women served alcohol and food and to entertain if the patrons desired. The décor was kept simple and spacious, with enough seating to maximize practicality and comfort without excessive gaudiness, which Tsubura was known for.

Enomoto picked up a glass from a waiter and sedately walked through the room to see who he should talk to first. There was some time before the fight, and he might as well make small talk with some people.

He listened for the conversations in groups and found the one he could slip into easily.

"I heard this Scars is quite young. How young are we talking?" said a middle-aged man Enomoto recognized from the Hidden Leaf Mining Division, the governance office which handled mining activities that came directly under the purview of the Hidden Leaf.

None in the group seemed to know the answer. Enomoto saw his chance and seamlessly stepped in.

"I believe he's younger than fifteen," said Enomoto, garnering the group's attention. "They say he was thirteen when he started, and it has been a year since he began, so fourteen would be a good guess, but the management might have fudged the numbers to put attention on his young age— thus, fifteen or less."

In truth, Takuma was twelve and a half when he began. Being that young, Tsubura had decided to keep Scars' age vague in case someone "above ground," as Tsubura put it so eloquently: "tried to bullshit my position away from me!" In truth, the whispers Tsubura had asked his team to spread were that Scars was anywhere from thirteen to fifteen as to put Scars as someone who had at least one year as shinobi under his belt and not some green-as-grass rookie who had been duped into joining the Ring.

"And who might you be?" asked the man.Yôur favorite stories at novelhall.comoto smiled and introduced himself. "Chunin Enomoto, iryo-nin from the Medical Training Division."

Enomoto saw interest rise in their eyes when they heard that he was an iryo-nin. He smiled and continued to make small talk with them as any iryo-nin would. Never had his decision to pursue iryo-jutsu when he was a new genin let him down.

"What more can you tell us about this Scars fellow?"

He took a moment to spin a tale. "Not much is known about Scars as he never joined a team," a smart move given Takuma wanted to keep him as anonymous as one could be, "but I've heard a few things about Scars..."

The group physically leaned closer to him. Many looked down on gossip, but it held a strong power over people. There were few who didn't like to hear gossip. No one wanted to miss out on something others knew; it made them feel they were involved. And when people heard something interesting, they would pass it along regardless if they knew it to be true or not in an attempt to make them seem interesting and in-the-know.

"... It has only been a year since Scars appeared in the Ring arena, and he's about to make his debut ninjutsu category," which was highly unusual; usually, it took several years of hard work to reach the stage, "and because of that, it's believed that he's from a great clan tasked with conquering the Ring as soon as possible— and from the looks of it, he's doing well."

If it were anywhere else, the charm would've been if Scars hadn't been from a clan, but in the Ring, which didn't see clan shinobi ever, a fighter from a clan held a certain charm to it. Moreover, almost everyone in the room belonged to shinobi clans or families; the story of a clan shinobi reaching Ring's pinnacle at record speed established a sense of superiority over non-clan shinobi. He was simply telling the people what they would like to hear while chuckling inwardly, knowing Takuma was as far from a clan shinobi as possible.

The false gossip had its intended effect. They continued to look interested and now were looking pleased.

"Which clan?" asked a kunoichi.

"Nara or Yamanaka," replied Enomoto. They looked confused and interested, so he continued. "There have been several complaints against Scars about his use of chakra augmentations, so it was speculated that he's close to Akimichi Tsubura..."

"The boss?"

"...Indeed. But one look at Scars will tell anyone with half a brain that the boy isn't an Akimichi. So, who else could have Tsubura overlook so many complaints but someone strongly allied with Akimichi? Thus, Nara or Yamanaka. Personally, I think it's a Yamanaka. A motivated Nara, if one exists, would turn their eyes somewhere other than the Ring."

But the most striking thing about her was her mask. Unlike the flat mask that most Ring fighters wore (including Takuma,) Viper wore a mask that was in the shape of a snake with a surface texture mimicking a snake's scales. It was stylized to suit her. The mask reminded him of another stylized mask he had seen before. Slash Baron, the leader of the Troupe, a famous team in the Ring, wore a stylized mask.

When a fighter won their first ninjutsu category fight, they were rewarded with a stylized mask as a sign of prestige.

If Takuma won today, he would be awarded a mask of his own.

———

.

The person Takuma had thought of had come to watch Takuma's first ninjutsu fight. In a private booth reserved for prestigious Ring fighters, a handful of them, all wearing stylized masks, sat to spectate the fight.

Among them was Slash Baron, sitting in the front. The other ninjutsu category fighters had left the seats around him empty. Most of them were active fighters, which meant they were genin— and the few who had been promoted to chunin, too, didn't dare sit near Slash Baron.

They could feel it. Even though they all wore stylized masks showcasing their status, the man sitting in the front was far beyond what they could handle. Their instincts as shinobi honed by numerous fights in the Ring told them that if Slash Baron wanted, he could kill all of them combined without breaking a sweat.

Which was why none of them said a thing about the woman Slash Baron had bought along with him, even though it was reserved for ninjutsu-category fighters.

"I didn't think I would be hearing about him so soon," said Slash Baron to the woman beside him. "He has progressed much faster than you anticipated."

"Faster than I anticipated? You had a different opinion?" the masked woman shot back.

Slash Baron shrugged. "I hadn't thought about him since I last saw him. I charged you to keep an eye on him for a reason."

The woman clicked her tongue.

Slash Baron chuckled before turning his eyes back to the arena.

'He has changed,' thought Slash Baron as he observed Scars in the arena. The fight hadn't started, but he could already tell from how Scars held himself to the progress the young shinobi had made.

He understood that Tsubura wouldn't have allowed Scars if he didn't think the latter wasn't ready. It meant that Scars had indeed progressed enough that he had a chance to fight in the ninjutsu-category against opponents who would use ninjutsu to tear their opponents down.

Slash Baron looked to the woman at his side, ""So, what has he been doing outside the Ring... Sango?"

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