Nin-To-Five : Interlude 27

Sunagakure

Uchikikabe, Jonin of Sunagakure

“These newcomers have distracted us.” The Vice Captain of the Barrier Corps declared with a frown, sipping his tea and staring out the small windows of the sandstone walls of his office. “With so much time spent courting the ninja of Tanigakure, we almost failed to notice a new power bloc forming right under our noses.”

Uchikikabe took a sip of the offered tea, seated on the other side of a granite desk and feeling generally uninterested in what his vice captain was talking about. He knew what the vice captain was talking about, at least partially. The arrival and integration of the ninja of former Tanigakure had gotten all the corps busy with socializing, favor-trading, and power leveraging to extract as much value out of the new arrivals as possible.

Integrating the Tani ninja at all was still something Uchikikabe considered a bad idea and pointless security risk, but he wasn’t the Kazekage, so all he could do was watch them carefully.

Not that he thought they would deliberately betray Sunagakure. The ninja of Tani had been their allies for more than a decade now, and were afforded a small amount of trust as a result. It's not like they were letting in Stone or Fire ninja here, after all. 

It’s just that they were still ninja of Tanigakure, fundamentally, with an entirely different set of customs and security traditions. It would only take one misstep, slip, or lapse in understanding for some catastrophic breach in security to occur.

Or maybe he was still a little tense from the fucking attack on their village by a Tailed Beast three months ago. 

“The Kazekage knows exactly what he’s doing to- he couldn’t possibly be ignorant of it.” The vice captain continued to speak, a suspicious growl coming into his throat. “Assembling the pieces like that. It’s too late to try to break it up, all that we can do now is infiltrate and leverage it.”

“What power bloc are you referring to, vice captain?” Uchikikabe asked politely, leaning back in his chair. He brought a hand up to brush his white hair back, the locks falling into his eyes in an irksome fashion. 

“A power bloc of the future leadership of Suna. Vice captain Sho of the weaponry corps, vice captain Mari of the Shiki corps, Jonin Nagare, who has ties to the vice captain of the ninjutsu corps…” The Vice Captain turned around and placed a hand on the desk, fingers pulling in like the legs of a dead spider. “...And vice captain Ryoma of the puppetry corps, who has been having regular meetings with Jonin Sugimoto of the medical corps and Jonin Nazo of the genjutsu corps. All the pieces are there!”

“You think a conspiracy to control Suna is forming?” Uchikikabe asked blandly. It was unusual for so many different corps to be represented in a single social circle like that, but intra village unity was overall a good thing. He wasn’t really seeing a reason to be concerned so far. 

“Conspiracy is probably too strong of a word.” The vice captain admitted with a scowl and nod. “But it's undeniable how the course of Suna’s future is being shaped here.”

The vice captain leaned back and started counting on his long, thin fingers. “With Captain Buki’s injuries in the attack, it's unlikely he’ll remain the captain of the Weaponry Corps. He’s just keeping the position held until Sho is experienced enough to take it from him.”

Another finger rose. “Vice captain Mari was almost directly chosen by the Kazekage himself for the position- she’ll be a shoe-in for the captaincy as soon as the Captain retires or dies. Captain Goshikata is almost as old as Arada is- it won’t be long before she’s in control.”

A third finger. “Nagare is vice captain Pakura’s right hand! Udekabe was forced to pick Pakura because of her strength, not because he likes her. He’s getting older and less influential as time goes on- as soon as Pakura is captain, Nagare will be her vice, without a doubt.”

A fourth and fifth finger. “Neither Nazo or Sugimoto are in the running for leadership positions in their corps, but they’re both respected and influential members of their respective groups.”

The hand closed into a fist. “And Jonin Ryoma, hero of the Third Ninja War, hero of the Golden Tea coup, Savior of Tani, the strongest puppeteer Suna has seen in a generation? It’s a matter of time before captain Gentai steps aside- five or ten more years and he’ll be Kazekage material, let alone captain of the puppetry corps!”

The fist slammed into the granite tabletop hard enough to crack the stone, which almost immediately started to mend and repair itself afterwards. “The future of Suna is being shaped right now, and it happened directly under our noses! Two thirds of the corps are represented by this group, and their influence will only continue to grow as time goes on!”

Uchikikabe took a long, slow sip of his tea. “Fairly important then.” The vice captain was being a little overdramatic, in his opinion.

The vice captain chuckled. “Always cool and collected Uchikikabe. I like that- it's why I asked for you for this mission.”

“A mission?” Uchikikabe asked, furrowing his brows. A sensation of dread started to form in his gut, from the passionate rant he was just forced to listen to and his knowledge of the vice captain’s peculiarities…

“It’s too late to try to disrupt this group, they’re already formed and starting to consolidate.” The vice captain waved a hand, as if dismissing his own frustration. “But if nothing is done, the represented corps will naturally increase in prestige and influence in Suna over time, with everyone else being left out. We can’t let the Barrier Corps fall behind.”

“What are you proposing, vice captain?” Uchikikabe set the cup of tea down as his lips curled downwards by a hair.

The vice captain nodded sharply. “Your mission, Uchikikabe, is to infiltrate this group. We need a representative in this power bloc to make sure that the Barrier Corps are not sidelined in the future.”

The vice captain shook his head despondently. “Some years ago, Ryoma came to us asking for a sensor-barrier commission for his giant puppet, five million was our asking price. That was a mistake in retrospect. If he didn’t have that, he’d be forced to rely on one of our members for that technique, and we wouldn’t be in such a precarious position.”

“And now with this Kyojutsu project…”

“Kyojutsu?” Uchikikabe asked, picking up on the unfamiliar word. ‘Village technique’?

The vice captain did not immediately respond, pulling up and turning away from him, looking back out the window. 

“You’ll find out later.” The vice captain answered cryptically. “For now, you have your assignment. Find a way to infiltrate this power bloc, insert yourself, get them ingratiated to you. We cannot afford to not do this.”

Honestly, Uchikikabe felt like they totally could afford to not do this. It's not like Barrier techniques are going to become useless any time soon, and specialists in and field are going to be more proficient than generalists in their specialty. The Barrier Corps, if anything, was only going to become more important as time went on thanks to the ongoing developmental war between offense and defense. 

But what did he know? He was just a Jonin and a war veteran.

“Yes, Vice Captain.”

Office politics were a pain. 

—

Oh six-hundred, the target left his apartment in the production complex and passed by an early morning food stand before rounding back and reaching the Puppetry Corps HQ by six-thirty. He performs the water clone technique using a stored gourd and then performs deskwork for the next two hours. 

Oh nine-hundred, target leaves his office and begins to wander. This block of time appears to be dedicated towards tasks relating to the puppetry corps as a whole, with no formalized pattern. Activities observed thus far include speaking to junior members of the Puppetry Corps, inspecting work being done in a puppetry workshop, or having meetings with the Puppetry Captain. This lasts for three hours. 

Twelve-hundred, target has lunch with another. Usually a fellow member of the puppetry corps, a short woman with black hair, but sometimes with more or different individuals. Target does not have a consistent lunch location, but always orders extra.

Thirteen-hundred, target descends into the drained aquifer layer. Activities unknown, Uchikikabe didn’t have the clearance to go down there yet. His tracking barrier managed to follow the target’s path for at least four hundred meters before he left the range of divination. Target sometimes brings large scrolls of miscellaneous supplies with him, sometimes not.

Nineteen-hundred, target emerges from the drained aquifer layer. He goes to the central village distribution center and takes three shares of rations. He then returns to his apartment. He makes another water clone, who begins to cook, while assembling a set of small puppets and preparing various seals and shiki. Work is done on his armor, the specifics outside of Uchikikabe’s specialty. Target eats all three ration shares and showers.

Twenty two-hundred, target goes to sleep.

Uchikikabe sighed, reaching up and scratching the side of his head, staring at the notepad in his hands and sitting on a smooth stone rooftop. The blistering sun was shining down on him, but a simple air convection jutsu kept him reasonably cool and comfortable. 

There wasn’t really a dedicated portion of the target’s schedule which was open for him to introduce himself. He’d have to go out of his way to appear, and that would be suspicious. The best time might be the lunch period, but the target didn’t have a favorite restaurant, so there was no way of telling how long he’d have to wait to get results there. 

Maybe it would be easier to approach one of the others and infiltrate through them? He’d need to think of a plan for that…

“Jonin Uchikikabe.” A voice called out from above and behind him. He turned from the notebook to look back over his shoulder.

The white veil of an ANBU. Goggles to conceal the eyes, a headscarf to cover the hair, a loose bodysuit and flak vest to conceal the body.

A small, brief spike of tension rose in his chest from seeing one of the ANBU suddenly behind him. “ANBU.” He nodded and returned the greeting.

“You have been tracking the activities of Vice Captain Ryoma for several days. Why?” The ANBU was female, he could tell by the voice, but it wasn’t a voice he was familiar with. 

She was slightly off too, he had been tracking the target for a full week now, not just a few days. It took them a little bit to detect his presence- a credit to his subtlety and a demerit to Suna’s internal investigative processes. Maybe he needed to work on the village sensory arrays after this.

“Well…” He considered what he should say briefly. The vice captain would probably be mad if he just out and admitted to there being a silly office politics power game going on… But he couldn’t exactly lie to the ANBU, they’d feel it. “...I’m trying to find a good opportunity to introduce myself.” He settled on, tapping on his notebook and sighing. 

“...To introduce yourself?” The ANBU said after a moment, tilting her head slightly.

“That’s right.” He nodded. “I have a proposal for him, but just approaching him out of the blue would be suspicious and rude, so it’s best if we happen to bump into each other in public and then I can bring it up casually, you know?”

The best strategy he had thought of for winning the initial friendship of the Vice Captain was helping with that giant puppet he had. From what had been declassified about it, it seemed to have a notably weak defensive profile, being neither terribly agile or sturdy against high level ninjutsu.

In comes Uchikikabe with a basic chakra shield, a basic technique of the Barrier Corps. Helping with the core weakness of the puppet would be sure to earn some gratitude, give him an extended period to socialize with the target, and improve the combat power of one of Suna’s top performers on the battlefield.

It both furthered his busybody vice captain’s goals, and would make more dead enemy ninja, which Uchikikabe was happy to help with. He wouldn’t go out of his way to socialize like this, but if he had to, it might as well contribute to a goal he approved of. 

The ANBU shifted slightly. “A… proposal? Of what kind?”

“His efforts during the Third Ninja War were very admirable.” Uchikikabe declared. Hundreds of dead enemy ninja, he wished he could match a record like that. “I’d like to support him, if I can.”

Her breath hitched for some reason. He raised a brow, wondering why she had made a reaction like that. It was pretty out of character for one of the ANBU to make any sort of obvious gesture like that, so maybe she was trying to hint him towards something without saying it aloud?

After a few moments, she apparently gave up on communicating the message silently, and just outright spoke. “I see. If you are looking to… approach… Vice Captain Ryoma, then it would be best to do so openly. His psychological profile indicates an appreciation for honest communication.”

Ah, good, he wasn’t going to be interrogated in a black cell for following his vice captain’s orders. Instead, he was getting advice. He rolled the pen in his hand a few times. “You’re suggesting I just request a meeting and introduce myself there?”

She didn’t reply. He glanced towards where she just was.

Nothing but rooftops of smooth sandstone.

Everyone was addicted to being dramatic in this village. He sighed again.

—

The vice captain of the Puppetry Corps was a pretty intimidating fellow, physically speaking. Tall, broad shouldered, with a frame that was bulked out further with the addition of his enclosing armor plates. His black haori hung loosely over his shoulders like a cape, kept in place with a thin leather string, and his lower face was concealed with a white veil in the same style as the ANBU.

Whether or not he was actually a member of the ANBU was unknown, but Uchikikabe was leaning towards ‘no’, simply because he had a public facing position in the village and a name instead of a code name. 

It gave the man a mysterious vibe to go with his large frame. 

“You requested a meeting with me. Is this personal or corps business?” The vice captain asked in a smooth, drawling accent. It was slightly foreign in a way that Uchikikabe couldn’t immediately recognize, but not enough to be off-putting. 

Uchikikabe waggled his hand, seated in a chair opposite of the puppeteer’s desk. “A bit of both, honestly?”

“Oh?”

“One of my fellow corps members strongly implied that I should be more social, and go find ‘friends’ in other corps.” Uchikikabe sighed, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “I knew they wouldn’t stop bothering me until I did, so I agreed and here we are.”

“You’re here to make friends with me?” The vice captain asked with an amused tone, propping his chin on one of his fists. “I’m flattered you picked me, apparently.”

“I figured I might as well be productive while I’m doing such a bothersome task- I read the declassified reports of your giant puppet. The Dragoon, right?”

“That’s right. What about it?” 

“Forgive me if this is a bit forward, but it seems a little lacking on the defensive side, isn’t it? It’s not got enough agility to effectively move out of the way, and while it can resist low level attacks, anything moderately big can smash its wooden frame right apart.” Uchikikabe was pretty sure this wouldn’t offend his target, but he mentally readied an apology just in case…

The vice captain huffed, leaning back in his chair and nodding. “No, you’re totally correct. It’s got good attack power and endurance, but it breaks apart entirely too easily for my tastes. I’m hoping to improve that as I iterate upon the design, but progress is slow.” 

That was a surprisingly open self-assessment that he just gave. Wasn’t he worried that someone might try to take advantage of that in the future? Then again, Uchikikabe didn’t immediately see a way to take advantage of ‘the defense isn’t what i’d want it to be yet’ that you wouldn’t just do anyways as an enemy, so maybe that was a moot point. 

“I’m glad my assessment wasn’t totally off base then.” Uchikikabe nodded, reaching into his flak vest and pulling out a scroll, setting it on the table. “Which brings me to why I’m here. I figured the best way to start this… friendly acquaintanceship… was to offer a technique exchange.”

“A technique exchange? I’m not inherently opposed, but it depends on what technique you’re interested in here…” The vice captain replied, raising a hand up to his chin and rubbing it beneath his veil. “Despite how my corps talks, I do keep some things a secret.”

“I’m mostly interested in that fire-negating seal you devised back in the Third Ninja War. Something like that could definitely help in future conflicts with Konoha.” Uchikikabe explained, then tapped the scroll. “In exchange, I’m prepared to offer tutelage in how to perform the basic chakra barrier technique that’s foundational to my Corps, as well as an annotated copy of the shiki required to establish a chakra barrier. I figured this would be the best way to improve the overall defensive power of your big puppet without being too complicated to learn.”

“A defensive technique for a defensive technique, that’s not a bad trade…” The vice captain mused, leaning forwards and closing his eyes, clearly thinking about the offer. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in it. I’ve been looking to get my hands on something like that for awhile now.”

A few long, silent moments passed as Uchikikabe allowed the vice captain to think over the proposal.

He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was getting close to noon.

“I’ll also pay for lunch.” Uchikikabe offered dryly.

“Well damn, it’s a deal then.” Ryoma huffed amusedly, standing up and offering a hand to shake. “I’m looking forward to our… friendly acquaintanceship.”

“Same.” Uchikikabe replied honestly. For as much as he was being forced into this, it didn’t seem that bad overall. “Do you have a place in mind for lunch or should I pick somewhere?”

“I’m feeling hibachi, since someone else is paying for it.”

“You’re taking shameless advantage of me here.”

“Absolutely.”