Nin-To-Five (A Naruto SI): Chapter 49

Land of Rivers

Ryoma, Jonin of Sunagakure

"How are your injuries?" Ryoma asked the next morning, tilting his head back to address his two new passengers.The Great Bolter stomped along the road as gently as it could, slightly more difficult than normal on account of the joints being a bit loose now. The samurai and army were ahead of them, sending the occasional glance back at the ninja with unreadable expressions. It wasn't much different from before, in practical terms, but the deployment of the Mk2 had seemingly renewed their wariness around the ninja.Well- not the ninja in general, more like him specifically. The samurai were more relaxed and casual than ever around the others. The progress made by fighting together on at least one occasion.Nagare was sitting nearly in the middle of the Great Bolter's roof, two immense gourds set widely apart on either side of her so as to not break the relatively thin plate of wood and steel she was sitting on. Sugimoto had his left arm in an improved cast, his legs in braces, and was carefully laying down before her."Not great, but not horrible either." Sugimoto chuckled, turning his head slightly to address him. "I'll probably be at full health by the end of the day- it'll take much longer than that for my chakra to recover, however. Two or three days probably.""Medical ninjutsu is pretty amazing." Ryoma mused. "Broken arm, fractures all over, and heavy bruising? It'd probably take me two weeks to be back to full after something like that.""Ten days is what I'd estimate." Sugimoto corrected with a little wave of his uninjured hand. "You're a jonin in your prime with no pre-existing health conditions- the bruises would be gone by the end of the day, minor abrasions in two days, and fractures in eight- the last two days would just be tenderness.""And your medical ninjutsu cut that down to- what two days of recovery?" Ryoma asked."Fifteen hours or so- it'll take much longer for my chakra to recover though." Sugimoto smiled and dropped his hand. "I managed to disarm him and then immediately lost focus- I forgot that samurai were much better trained in hand to hand than I.""Mhm- that sounds like it was healthy for you."Tsubame emerged from the interior of the Great Bolter, a hot kettle of tea in one hand and a tray of cups in the other. She took her drinks pretty seriously."It took him three seconds of lapsed focus to break half my bones." Sugimoto grinned, closing his eyes and leaning back. "That's not a mistake I'm going to make again, I don't think.""That is good. I almost did not react in time, Jonin Sugimoto." Nagare replied with a small frown, nodding in thanks to Tsubame pouring her a cup of tea. "Please take less risks in the future.""I know, I know." Sugimoto sighed and nodded. "And thank you- your Water Prison caught him just before he rotated my vertebrae a hundred and eighty degrees.""I'm aware." Nagare responded blankly, before turning up to face towards his back. "I used most of my chakra during the battle, It will take at least another day before I'm properly recovered." She nodded towards him. "I will have to rely on you and your giant puppet in the case of immediate conflict, Jonin Ryoma.""Hm. Myself more like it- the Mark Two isn't going to be recharged for a couple days." Ryoma inclined his head towards them in easy admittance. "Hardly defenseless, but it's not something that can be deployed over and over again.""Recharged? So it has reserves of energy as well?" Sugimoto asked, leaning up again in a very careful motion."It does. It has a limited reserve of chakra in its internal storage- I have to refill it manually." Ryoma explained, accepting a cup of offered tea from Tsubame. He pulled off his helmet and set it to the side, pulling up his veil in the same motion.A sip. A sort of nutty flavor. "This is good." He complimented idly. He then turned back to his previous line of thought. "My first idea was to request a series of shiki that drew in ambient chakra and store it- to let it passively recharge in the same way a human might. The problem was-""-That chakra doesn't exist passively." Nagare pointed out immediately, perking up slightly with the topic. "Chakra must be molded by combining mental and physical energies- there's no such thing as ambient chakra.""The closest you'd get is chakra in living things- and that's only certain living things." Sugimoto muttered. Ryoma opened up his pack of deluxe pocky and pulled out a stick, chewing on it to pair with his tea. Chakra strings made the process seamless. "The closest you'd get is a barrier that drains chakra from other ninja in the village- and I'm pretty sure the Kazekage would have words with you if you tried that.""That's right- So I'm stuck refilling it's chakra storage manually every time." Ryoma nodded, munching on his snack and letting his gaze wander around. He maintained full awareness of their surroundings through the eyes of his Great Bolter, but having an exposed face on the move while knowing there was a sniper-threat out didn't do great things for his paranoia.Not that a flimsy helmet would stop an arrow that did a good impression of a railgun from blowing his head off."Hm- Perhaps if you had another to help refill the chakra with you?" Nagare mused, reaching a hand up to cup her chin."That helps- but that doesn't actually fix any problems." Ryoma waved off. "It just distributes the burden around to more people." He had a few ideas in mind to help alleviate his chakra drain here, but all of them would require a near-complete rebuild of the puppetwalker. It was best to save all his ideas for improvements for the next iteration and actually make it once the Great Dragoon was destroyed or obsolete. "It's not a big deal, ultimately, it's just something I have to keep in mind while operating it."All else failed- it wasn't like the Great Dragoon was his only big durable puppet capable of engaging in mass combat. He had no fewer than three Great Bolters as backups. Pretty shitty backups, but backups nevertheless. Each one only had a four-seal array for twenty four motes of chakra stored, and only a few wind shiki to use them on.He'd need to add a seal array to his next version of his puppetarmor too. Each one only added to the burden of preparation he suffered, but that was still worth it to have more effective chakra in battle.Chakra was life, and all that."I see. It is similar to my need to reserve large amounts of additional water for my ninjutsu." Nagare returned, sipping on her tea. "I'll need to refill at the next river we cross. My reserves are half-exhausted.""How much water do you have anyways?" Sugimoto asked with a raised brow."Each of my gourds can contain five thousand gallons- most of which is stored in seals on the interior. I purchased them from the Sealing corps after my first A-rank mission."Ten thousand gallons then. Well enough to never worry about running out of water to drink, but not enough to use larger water ninjutsu carelessly. "I would make a joke about their size, but I'm a bit classier than that, I think.""My breasts are also enormous, yes." Nagare nodded in a flat, professional manner.Ryoma let out an amused cough, and Sugimoto laughed until he started to wince and clutch his ribs."There's no need to encourage his antics, Jonin Nagare." Tsubame drawled, refilling his teacup."Mari told me I should further my social talents." Nagare replied, finishing off her cup of tea and setting it down in her lap. "Humor, I'm told, is a strong start to such a process.""How is Mari anyhow? I haven't managed to keep up with her." Ryoma asked, turning entirely around for the conversation, piloting the Great Bolter onwards with his forwards-facing puppeteyes. "Last time I saw her she was still pulling babysitting duty for the Lord Kazekage.""She is still one of the two acting wardens for the Kazekage's youngest, yes." Nagare responded with a nod and slight frown. "She has since developed blatant affections for the Lord Kazekage and does her best to pretend not to notice, in hopes that the Lord Kazekage does not notice either.""So he's absolutely aware then." Ryoma shook his head. "Well- he must not mind too much if he's still having her watch the kid.""She believes she'd be disrespecting Karura if she developed romantic interest in him. She does not listen to me when I tell her that Karura would wish for the both of them to be happy." Nagare sounded mildly irritated, which was massively more annoyed than Ryoma had ever heard her before."Do all ninja gossip as wives do, or is this merely a characteristic of Suna?" The old samurai Masahiro asked dryly from atop his horse, staring up at them atop the bolter."All ninja, yeah." Ryoma replied quickly and with a firm nod. "It's one of those things you have to swear an oath to do while you're in the academy- they don't let you have a headband without it."No author permission was given for this reproduction. The author's official page carries the chapter they publish."Hmph- No different than Samurai in that regard." Masahiro commented gruffly, a tiny glint in his eye as he did.Ryoma chuckled, finishing off his stick of luxury pocky and tucking the box away again."Oh?" Sugimoto asked, trying his best to sit up and lean over to address the newcomer to their conversation. "Any juicy gossip over in the land of Samurai, Gramps?""Hm- Harumaru is sweet on this wild mutt of a girl back-""No I'm not! Shut up!" A young blond samurai, apparently Harumaru, yelled back at the chuffing old man."-He wanders by to pick on her at least once a week.""I'll send a gift to the wedding, if you send a messenger." Ryoma promised with a wry smile.He tried not to think about his own apparent love life while talking aimlessly about the love lives of other people.—"Trade caravan up ahead, Lord Takeda." Sho called out, leaping from the front of the army back to the samurai who pulled up the rear. "Escorted by other ninja from Sunagakure."Ryoma wasn't surprised to hear that, despite there only being eleven-thousand or so Suna ninja in total. It would miss the point of riling up all this war if Suna didn't move to capitalize on the new jobs, so the Land of Rivers was probably more saturated with their numbers than it had ever been.Takeda leaned up in his saddle, shoulders slightly drooped with weariness from a long day of riding. "Is there- Escort them to me, ninja! I've a mind to peruse their goods." Takeda waved a little hand towards the masked jonin. "You may catch up with your associates while I look.""Understood, Lord Takeda." Sho nodded, throwing a hand signal towards Ryoma and the others, and then leaping away again. The hand signal meaning something to the effect of 'maintain watch'.Ryoma huffed, letting the Great Bolter descend into a resting position again and standing up to stretch and flex. The long ride made his limbs stiff and back hurt, but it was better than walking."Another team huh? Who do you think it is?" Sugimoto asked, staying still and resting upon the top of the Great Bolter."There's a few in the area." Ryoma mused, making his neck pop loudly as he twisted."I bet it's a jonin sensei and their team- escorting a trade caravan is a c-rank mission. B-rank if they got lucky and found a loaded client." Sugimoto mused, tapping his hand on his chest. "Nice, easy mission for some rookies to get a taste of working with clients long term.""It won't be, now that you've said that." Tsubame commented, taking up the empty cups and gently returning them to the interior of the Great Bolter. "Lord Ryoma- You should invest in amenities in the next iteration of the Great Bolter.""More kitchen spac-?""More kitchen space, yes."He huffed in amusement, stepping forwards to fall off the front of the Great Bolter with a heavy thump. "Watch the puppet, would you Sugimoto?""I will be as a heron patrols a riverside." Sugimoto called back with a laugh in his voice.Tsubame leapt off, delicately landing next to him, and the pair moved forwards to stand closer to the VIP. Lord Takeda had gotten off his horse, rubbing the great beast on the side of the neck and watching as a path in the road ahead opened up, and a trio of vehicles clunked along with the distinctive 'put put' of old fashioned engines.Tan, blocky trucks with six wheels apiece and an open, flat back. They were loaded with containers, crates and barrels mostly, and a column of steam rose into the air in their trail. Each one flew a flag with a shipping logo upon it- a mountain with a flower on it and the words 'Arisaki Shipping'.It was kinda bemusing to see actual powered vehicles out here in the boonies- normally such vehicles stuck close to the major economic centers, and never where any of the Daimyo could be offended by their noise and smell.Technological innovation was, naturally, secondary to their aesthetic preferences when it came to urban development.And there on top of the vehicles rode another team of Sunagakure. Concealing desert clothes, headbands, and the appropriate code-handseal shot their way. The only unexpected variable was the fourth ninja, who was wearing little more than fishnet and a bikini.A ninja of Tani, by the looks of it, still not quite willing to change their outfit to be better suited for Suna's harsh climate."Lord Takeda! A pleasure- a pleasure to meet the illustrious heir!" A fashionable older man greeted with buttery compliments as he threw himself out of the foremost car and before the VIP with an enthusiasm and agility that contrasted against his wrinkles. Hands clasped and smiling wide, he bowed several times. "I heard you were interested in my wares?""Perhaps." Takeda replied in his best 'stern' tone. It still came out a bit forced. "My army is in need of resupply- any basic goods you have available, I'll purchase. Food, water, medical supplies."The older man made a slightly 'hm' face. "I should still have some basic supplies left, young lord- I just got finished with a sale to your vassal Lord Miyano, I'm afraid. Most of those goods went to fuel his current skirmishing. I apologize for the inconvenience.""Tch." Takeda let out an annoyed sound and glanced to the side, before shaking his head. "No matter- unload everything you have and I'll determine what is useful and not. I'll write the appropriate checks and promises for their purchase.""Of course, of course." The merchant smiled, before turning back to his trucks and yelling angrily. "Unload everything! Quickly now- quickly!"—"There's been a group of archers harassing this area. Have you seen anything like that?" Sho asked the leader of the other team with a raised palm. Ryoma stood to the side, keeping half an ear on all the goods that the merchant was trying to foist off onto the Takeda heir.He had just got finished pitching a 'genuine kitchenry set of famous senjuwood, straight from the fire capital'. Ryoma was going to secure that purchase if he had an opportunity to- the actual kitchenry wasn't that useful but the sawdust would be."Archers- yeah, we have." The man in front frowned, pulling down at a concealing white scarf that shrouded his neck and lower face. He was wearing a flak vest over loose robes and a layer of cloth wrappings that completely covered his skin. The only part left exposed was his head. "At least two archers have attacked the Miyano lands during our travels through it- skilled, powerful archers too. Both of them had the same strategy and patterns and were almost certainly working together, but we only briefly encountered one ourselves.""Did you identify them? Any notable features?" Sho asked with a frown."Well, like I said, we only personally encountered the one. She bombarded the village the merchants were staying in for several hours. She was caught in a long-distance sinkhole jutsu and crushed by myself." The other team leader frowned at that. "The maneuvering to get to her was tedious- she had some type of jutsu that could detect living creatures in an area. To lure her away, we first had to bait her attention elsewhere and then reposition before her focus could return.""Do you have a suspected range of this jutsu?""At least fifty meters in radius- I suspect it might be tied to some sort of preset marker, but I have no evidence of that. Just a gut feeling." The team leader shook his head. "I suppose you encountered a similar archer?""We have." Sho nodded with a frown. "At least one archer and three escorts- they attacked the fortress we were stationed in with indiscriminate bombardment before counter-fire destroyed them. Their motives are currently unknown.""What did the archer wear- and did you see them before they died?" Ryoma asked, leaning forwards slightly.The team leader frowned. "No- we didn't ID them visually before they died- do you suspect a substitution to be at work?""There was an enemy in the Land of Tea named Laughing Smoke." Ryoma began with a downward tugging of his lips. "He had a technique that allowed him to form a clone over a corpse, a physical clone with all of his skills, some of his chakra, and the ability to operate mostly independently.""If this archer is doing similar, then they could be sending disposable clones out to attack locations knowing they lose nothing by doing so." The team leader finished the thought with a constipated look on his face. "And we'd have no way of ID'ing them by looking at the corpses after- that's a troublesome thought.""It's an outlier- but it would explain some of the behavior here." Ryoma nodded. "And their outfit?"

"Hm? Oh, apologies. They wore a black cloak with red clouds upon it."

Nin-To-Five (A Naruto SI)

Chapter 49

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