Nenro followed the Uchiha from Takuma's team at breakneck speed. They had just defeated their targets when the Uchiha came running in a second later, telling them that they had an unaccounted enemy team coming in.
"There's a chunin among them; are you sure?" Nenro asked the moment he saw Takuma, a nervous edge in his voice.
As he finished the sentence, Masaaki's team arrived as well, led by Fuma Arisu. They had similar tense expressions painted with anxiety and unease.
"Chakra levels confirmed by Minoru," Takuma was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his brows tense in concentration. He glanced at them for a moment before going back to staring hard at the floor.
Nenro glanced at the sensory-nin part of Takuma's team. He had gotten over the fact that Takuma was leading people from clans like Fuma and Uchiha; he worked in a place with no shortage of those clan members— but having a sensory-nin under his command was much more of a surprise. Sensory-nin were extremely rare. He was thoroughly glad that they had a sensory-nin among them.
"How can we be sure they're an enemy force?" said the Yamanaka from Masaaki's team.
The Inuzuka from Nenro's team scoffed. "Of course, they are. Who else would come to a drug farm? Anyone besides us is an enemy." Despite the rough words, Nenro could tell that Inuzuka was agitated from the large brown ninken rubbing his head against his partner's leg as though trying to calm him down.
"The question is, who are they, and why are they coming here?" asked the Yuhi on Nenro's team.
'That's not the question,' thought Nenro, but before he could voice his opinion, Takuma spoke up.
"That's irrelevant. We don't need to know who they're, only that the chunin among them will wipe us out," said Takuma. "But to guess, they're probably a courier team visiting to collect a consignment delivery."
That made sense, thought Nenro. The farm was a production plant, and the produce they grew needed to go out so it could be sold. Nenro bit his lip— their luck was horrible.
"This wasn't taken into account," Akimichi from Masaaki's team sighed, rubbing her forehead with a frown.
Takuma shook his head. "The delivery schedule wasn't part of the intel package."
"We are unlucky," Akimichi groaned.
Nenro glanced at the people around him. Their expressions were darkening by the second. Everything had been going extremely smoothly to this point— they hadn't encountered a single problem from scouting to capture. The morale that should've been at a high had plummeted to a sinking low.
"We don't have much time; a few minutes at best," said Takuma. "We need to come up with a plan to take them out, or…"
"Are you insane?" the Inuzuku interjected.
"… at least survive until our chunin can replace us," Takuma finished. He looked at the Inuzuku, "We don't have a choice. We can't run or hide, and we don't know when the chunin will finish their fight. We have no choice but to engage."
Nenro swallowed deeply. Running or hiding would turn them into deserters, and there was no worse fate than that of a deserter— turning rogue would be a better choice than returning to the village if they decided to avoid this. Moreover, allowing the incoming chunin to go unchallenged would risk the lives of Hidden Leaf chunin. The priority was clear— the highest-ranking shinobi were to be protected and supported so if everything went wrong, they would at least survive.
It was so much easier to replace a genin than a chunin and, similarly, infinitely simpler to replace a chunin than a jonin.
Everyone in the group knew that, so they realized they had no choice.
"We are going to ambush them," Takuma stood up.
"Who made you the leader?" Yamanaka narrowed his eyes.
Takuma turned towards him with an emotionless stare. "Do you want to be the leader? Do you have a plan? If you want to take responsibility, be my fucking guest, but if you don't, shut the fuck up and listen. We don't have time, and I want to survive this."
Yamanaka's face twitched. He looked away and didn't say anything.
"Anyone else? You have five seconds," Takuma looked at everyone, but no one spoke up. "Good, now open your minds and listen. The chunin is the primary target, but before we try to engage him, we need to take out the three genin with him. But, we can only spare two of us for three genin....
"Minoru and Inuzuka, you two will be responsible for the genin."
"Why them?" asked the Uchiha.
"Minoru is the weakest among us, he has the highest chances of dying against a chunin, but he will survive a genin. Inuzuka has his ninken; that makes up the numbers in a way," Takuma answered before glaring at Uchiha. "Do not question my decisions. I can't keep repeating this, but we don't have time. Only ask if you have doubts about what you need to do."
Takuma's voice was tinged with frustration and anger.
"I'll wrap up the genin and join the rest of you against the chunin," said Inuzuka.
Nenro appreciated the man's prompt response. It removed the tension and awkwardness before it could grow and allowed the conversation to proceed instantly.
Takuma seemed of a similar mind as he gave the Inuzuka an appreciative nod.
"The rest of us will be divided into three teams— Tank, Damage, Support," said Takuma.
Takuma then explained the responsibilities. The 'Tanks' were going to be the team responsible for drawing the attention of the chunin and absorbing as much damage as possible so that the other teams could operate without worrying about being attacked. The 'Damage' team, as the name suggested, was all about dealing as much damage to the enemy as possible— chunin didn't mean invisible; as long as they got in enough damage, they could theoretically take them down. Finally, the 'Support' team was in charge of filling any gaps that would pop up and doing anything they thought would help the other two groups.
But as Takuma's explanation came to an end, Nenro could tell that everyone had one question on their mind. Who was going to be on the 'Tank' team? It was clear that the 'tanks' were going to be the people who would be suffering the majority of the brunt of the chunin's damage.
They were going to be the people with the highest chances of dying.
Nenro thought there would be a spell of silence when deciding the team assignments, but he was proved wrong immediately.
"I will be a tank," Takuma said seamlessly after his explanation.
"I will join you," said Masaaki.
Nenro's eyes widened as he stared at his two best friends volunteering for the most dangerous jobs. He felt a grimy feeling churn in his heart. A terrible scene flashed through his mind as he imagined a scenario where he lost the only two people he cared about in the group.
However, Takuma immediately shot that down. "No, you're on the damage team." He then turned to Akimichi, "I want you to be with me on the tank… just the two of us."
"Takuma, let me come with you!" Masaaki exclaimed loudly.
"Shut up, Masaaki. Follow the orders," Takuma said to Masaaki while staring at Akimichi.
"I am an Akimichi. The job was made for me," Akimichi pounded her bo-staff into the ground.
"Thank you," Takuma half-smiled. His smile went away almost instantly. "The 'Damage' team— Masaaki, Nenro, and Gouki— you three are responsible for taking him down. Without you guys injuring him, we don't have a chance of surviving this. Don't hold back, but be efficient. I do not want you gas out before we are through this."
Nenro, Masaaki, and Uchiha nodded. Masaaki looked dissatisfied, but he was following orders. Nenro himself felt nervous. He was going through the jutsu he knew and how to use them.
"I can do damage," said Fuma Arisu.
"I know. You're on partial-damage duty," Takuma replied. "Arisu, Yamanaka, and Yuhi— you three are in support. You guys are going to cover our asses. If someone's in a bad spot, get them out. If you see a chance to attack, you go for it…. If one of us gets injured, pull them away…. Anything to increase the chance of survival EXCEPT tanking unless both me and Akimichi are dead."
Nenro stared at Takuma. How could he look so calm in this situation? How could he keep barking orders to nine people in such an abrupt situation like this? What was going through his mind? How was Takuma envisioning this would turn out? Did he believe they would be able to survive the upcoming battle? Was it his previous experience that gave him confidence?
Nenro had many questions but no way to know the answers.
"There isn't enough time to formulate a traditional plan of action, so everyone will need to improvise the fuck out of it," said Takuma. "For this to go well, every one of us will need to be mindful of our surroundings and each other— if we don't support each other, at least some of us will be dead, and if we don't get back up in time, it's up to all of us.
"As for the ambush. This is what we are going to do…"
After Takuma explained the 'plan,' he asked the teams to split up before they positioned themselves for the ambush, but before they could move, the Uchiha spoke up.
"Are you not scared?" he asked Takuma.
Takuma, who had half-turned away, returned to look at the Uchiha and then gazed at the group. "I am terrified out of my wits," he said, "but I want to keep living, and that desire for survival is what keeps me going right now." He chuckled, "If I'm going to die, then it's not going to be on a B-rank mission out here in the middle of nowhere. I want to die in a warm bed when my skin is wrinkled like a witch, and I have problems shitting— which seems an unlikely scenario in our occupation, but it's nice to have an end goal.
"And well… there's a disgusting amount of porn in my house, which I would like to be disposed of before I die. Have to clear my browser history before I kick the bucket, if you know what I mean," Takuma laughed boisterously as he said that last part.
Nenro didn't understand what Takuma meant, but he had gotten used to it after years of their friendship. Others, though, looked just as confused as he did when he didn't know Takuma as well as he did now.
"If we live today, Arisu is going to take us all to the best restaurant in the village and foot the entire bill. Gorging ourselves to death is a much better way to go out," Takuma shot a rare grin at Arisu.
"Sure, why not," said Arisu with a small smile.
The situation hadn't changed, but the mood was lightened considerably.
Takuma motioned to Akimichi, and the two stepped away to have their team discussion.
Despite knowing Takuma had been leading a team for three-quarters of the year, Nenro never thought Takuma to be the leader material. At most, Nenro thought Takuma would be a decent manager, but now observing him in the moment, Nenro could tell that even though he was rough around the edges and not as charismatic as some other people he knew, Takuma was definitely a leader material.
He sighed before turning to Masaaki and the Uchiha.
"Let's share what all of us can do. We have a chunin to kill, and it's going to take all we have…"
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader] or Ko-Fi [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
Nenro followed the Uchiha from Takuma's team at breakneck speed. They had just defeated their targets when the Uchiha came running in a second later, telling them that they had an unaccounted enemy team coming in.
"There's a chunin among them; are you sure?" Nenro asked the moment he saw Takuma, a nervous edge in his voice.
As he finished the sentence, Masaaki's team arrived as well, led by Fuma Arisu. They had similar tense expressions painted with anxiety and unease.
"Chakra levels confirmed by Minoru," Takuma was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his brows tense in concentration. He glanced at them for a moment before going back to staring hard at the floor.
Nenro glanced at the sensory-nin part of Takuma's team. He had gotten over the fact that Takuma was leading people from clans like Fuma and Uchiha; he worked in a place with no shortage of those clan members— but having a sensory-nin under his command was much more of a surprise. Sensory-nin were extremely rare. He was thoroughly glad that they had a sensory-nin among them.
"How can we be sure they're an enemy force?" said the Yamanaka from Masaaki's team.
The Inuzuka from Nenro's team scoffed. "Of course, they are. Who else would come to a drug farm? Anyone besides us is an enemy." Despite the rough words, Nenro could tell that Inuzuka was agitated from the large brown ninken rubbing his head against his partner's leg as though trying to calm him down.
"The question is, who are they, and why are they coming here?" asked the Yuhi on Nenro's team.
'That's not the question,' thought Nenro, but before he could voice his opinion, Takuma spoke up.
"That's irrelevant. We don't need to know who they're, only that the chunin among them will wipe us out," said Takuma. "But to guess, they're probably a courier team visiting to collect a consignment delivery."
That made sense, thought Nenro. The farm was a production plant, and the produce they grew needed to go out so it could be sold. Nenro bit his lip— their luck was horrible.
"This wasn't taken into account," Akimichi from Masaaki's team sighed, rubbing her forehead with a frown.
Takuma shook his head. "The delivery schedule wasn't part of the intel package."
"We are unlucky," Akimichi groaned.
Nenro glanced at the people around him. Their expressions were darkening by the second. Everything had been going extremely smoothly to this point— they hadn't encountered a single problem from scouting to capture. The morale that should've been at a high had plummeted to a sinking low.
"We don't have much time; a few minutes at best," said Takuma. "We need to come up with a plan to take them out, or…"
"Are you insane?" the Inuzuku interjected.
"… at least survive until our chunin can replace us," Takuma finished. He looked at the Inuzuku, "We don't have a choice. We can't run or hide, and we don't know when the chunin will finish their fight. We have no choice but to engage."
Nenro swallowed deeply. Running or hiding would turn them into deserters, and there was no worse fate than that of a deserter— turning rogue would be a better choice than returning to the village if they decided to avoid this. Moreover, allowing the incoming chunin to go unchallenged would risk the lives of Hidden Leaf chunin. The priority was clear— the highest-ranking shinobi were to be protected and supported so if everything went wrong, they would at least survive.
It was so much easier to replace a genin than a chunin and, similarly, infinitely simpler to replace a chunin than a jonin.
Everyone in the group knew that, so they realized they had no choice.
"We are going to ambush them," Takuma stood up.
"Who made you the leader?" Yamanaka narrowed his eyes.
Takuma turned towards him with an emotionless stare. "Do you want to be the leader? Do you have a plan? If you want to take responsibility, be my fucking guest, but if you don't, shut the fuck up and listen. We don't have time, and I want to survive this."
Yamanaka's face twitched. He looked away and didn't say anything.
"Anyone else? You have five seconds," Takuma looked at everyone, but no one spoke up. "Good, now open your minds and listen. The chunin is the primary target, but before we try to engage him, we need to take out the three genin with him. But, we can only spare two of us for three genin....
"Minoru and Inuzuka, you two will be responsible for the genin."
"Why them?" asked the Uchiha.
"Minoru is the weakest among us, he has the highest chances of dying against a chunin, but he will survive a genin. Inuzuka has his ninken; that makes up the numbers in a way," Takuma answered before glaring at Uchiha. "Do not question my decisions. I can't keep repeating this, but we don't have time. Only ask if you have doubts about what you need to do."
Takuma's voice was tinged with frustration and anger.
"I'll wrap up the genin and join the rest of you against the chunin," said Inuzuka.
Nenro appreciated the man's prompt response. It removed the tension and awkwardness before it could grow and allowed the conversation to proceed instantly.
Takuma seemed of a similar mind as he gave the Inuzuka an appreciative nod.
"The rest of us will be divided into three teams— Tank, Damage, Support," said Takuma.
Takuma then explained the responsibilities. The 'Tanks' were going to be the team responsible for drawing the attention of the chunin and absorbing as much damage as possible so that the other teams could operate without worrying about being attacked. The 'Damage' team, as the name suggested, was all about dealing as much damage to the enemy as possible— chunin didn't mean invisible; as long as they got in enough damage, they could theoretically take them down. Finally, the 'Support' team was in charge of filling any gaps that would pop up and doing anything they thought would help the other two groups.
But as Takuma's explanation came to an end, Nenro could tell that everyone had one question on their mind. Who was going to be on the 'Tank' team? It was clear that the 'tanks' were going to be the people who would be suffering the majority of the brunt of the chunin's damage.
They were going to be the people with the highest chances of dying.
Nenro thought there would be a spell of silence when deciding the team assignments, but he was proved wrong immediately.
"I will be a tank," Takuma said seamlessly after his explanation.
"I will join you," said Masaaki.
Nenro's eyes widened as he stared at his two best friends volunteering for the most dangerous jobs. He felt a grimy feeling churn in his heart. A terrible scene flashed through his mind as he imagined a scenario where he lost the only two people he cared about in the group.
However, Takuma immediately shot that down. "No, you're on the damage team." He then turned to Akimichi, "I want you to be with me on the tank… just the two of us."
"Takuma, let me come with you!" Masaaki exclaimed loudly.
"Shut up, Masaaki. Follow the orders," Takuma said to Masaaki while staring at Akimichi.
"I am an Akimichi. The job was made for me," Akimichi pounded her bo-staff into the ground.
"Thank you," Takuma half-smiled. His smile went away almost instantly. "The 'Damage' team— Masaaki, Nenro, and Gouki— you three are responsible for taking him down. Without you guys injuring him, we don't have a chance of surviving this. Don't hold back, but be efficient. I do not want you gas out before we are through this."
Nenro, Masaaki, and Uchiha nodded. Masaaki looked dissatisfied, but he was following orders. Nenro himself felt nervous. He was going through the jutsu he knew and how to use them.
"I can do damage," said Fuma Arisu.
"I know. You're on partial-damage duty," Takuma replied. "Arisu, Yamanaka, and Yuhi— you three are in support. You guys are going to cover our asses. If someone's in a bad spot, get them out. If you see a chance to attack, you go for it…. If one of us gets injured, pull them away…. Anything to increase the chance of survival EXCEPT tanking unless both me and Akimichi are dead."
Nenro stared at Takuma. How could he look so calm in this situation? How could he keep barking orders to nine people in such an abrupt situation like this? What was going through his mind? How was Takuma envisioning this would turn out? Did he believe they would be able to survive the upcoming battle? Was it his previous experience that gave him confidence?
Nenro had many questions but no way to know the answers.
"There isn't enough time to formulate a traditional plan of action, so everyone will need to improvise the fuck out of it," said Takuma. "For this to go well, every one of us will need to be mindful of our surroundings and each other— if we don't support each other, at least some of us will be dead, and if we don't get back up in time, it's up to all of us.
"As for the ambush. This is what we are going to do…"
After Takuma explained the 'plan,' he asked the teams to split up before they positioned themselves for the ambush, but before they could move, the Uchiha spoke up.
"Are you not scared?" he asked Takuma.
Takuma, who had half-turned away, returned to look at the Uchiha and then gazed at the group. "I am terrified out of my wits," he said, "but I want to keep living, and that desire for survival is what keeps me going right now." He chuckled, "If I'm going to die, then it's not going to be on a B-rank mission out here in the middle of nowhere. I want to die in a warm bed when my skin is wrinkled like a witch, and I have problems shitting— which seems an unlikely scenario in our occupation, but it's nice to have an end goal.
"And well… there's a disgusting amount of porn in my house, which I would like to be disposed of before I die. Have to clear my browser history before I kick the bucket, if you know what I mean," Takuma laughed boisterously as he said that last part.
Nenro didn't understand what Takuma meant, but he had gotten used to it after years of their friendship. Others, though, looked just as confused as he did when he didn't know Takuma as well as he did now.
"If we live today, Arisu is going to take us all to the best restaurant in the village and foot the entire bill. Gorging ourselves to death is a much better way to go out," Takuma shot a rare grin at Arisu.
"Sure, why not," said Arisu with a small smile.
The situation hadn't changed, but the mood was lightened considerably.
Takuma motioned to Akimichi, and the two stepped away to have their team discussion.
Despite knowing Takuma had been leading a team for three-quarters of the year, Nenro never thought Takuma to be the leader material. At most, Nenro thought Takuma would be a decent manager, but now observing him in the moment, Nenro could tell that even though he was rough around the edges and not as charismatic as some other people he knew, Takuma was definitely a leader material.
He sighed before turning to Masaaki and the Uchiha.
"Let's share what all of us can do. We have a chunin to kill, and it's going to take all we have…"
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón [fictiononlyreader] or Ko-Fi [fictiononlyreader]. Link here and in signature.
Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
