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Takuma wasn't expecting to meet someone he knew. He put down the shovel and bucket as he returned the greeting. "How have you been? If I'm not wrong, the last time we met was at Inuzuka Hana's promotion party, right?"
Okubo Momoe was his shinobi academy classmate. She had cinnamon brown hair that barely reached her shoulders but had now grown down to her upper back. Like most early teen shinobi, she had lost the baby fat in her face because of regular strength and conditioning training, giving her sharper features that paired well with her cat-like, glassy amber eyes.
Even though they only shared a class for a year, she was among the few to create a lasting impression. For one, she was their batch's Rookie of the Year, a commendable honour considering she competed against peers from shinobi clans who received training from an early age. She was also the first in their batch to receive a chunin rank promotion.
They had sparred once two years ago. She had forced him to surrender by launching a B-rank, Fire Release ninjutsu at him. Looking back on it, her skill with jutsu was shoddy at best, but it was so terrifying in his memories that he hadn't even tried to fight back, which was saying something since he was at the height of his Ring fighting days at the time.
Back then, he had an extreme mindset where he would rather get knocked out and risk harsh injuries than willingly surrender.
"That's right. I enjoyed our discussion that day." Momoe smiled and offered a handshake. "You've been busy since then. Congratulations on the promotion. It created a lot of buzz in our batch. Everyone had bets on who would be the next to get promoted; many lost their money because of you."
"Thank you," Takuma smiled, showing her his dirty hands. "Yeah, I heard about the bet from Taro."
"He did win all of it, after all," Momoe chuckled.
Taro had bet on him as a joke and wasn't expecting to win. He had used a portion of a considerable amount of money to buy Takuma the best shoe cleaning brush money could buy. As a shinobi whose boots got dirty every single day he trained, the horse hair brush was a godsend. It was probably among the best gifts he had received in his two lives.
He noticed her looking at his mud-filled bucket and asked, "Wanna guess what I'm doing?"
"Nature transformation for Earth Release."
"That's right." He was surprised by how quickly she replied.
"I've done hundreds of training sessions with that," she pointed at the mud. "I went from being okay with getting my hands muddy to hating it more than anything else in the world, then circling back to liking it again. I even picked up pottery because of it."
Takuma was again reminded that the girl before him had used B-rank ninjutsu in their spar two years ago. He wondered how many more B-rank ninjutsu she had learned since then and how skilled she was with them if she had gone through hundreds of advanced chakra manipulation sessions.
"So, fire and earth, huh," said Takuma as he offered her to sit down. Neither wanted to take the chair while the other sat on the ground, so they just sat on the grass.
"Hmm? Yes, fire and earth. It's water and earth for you," she said after a moment of thought.
"I see you remember our spar."
"I remember all my fights beat-by-beat. That includes our spar, of course. I can see it in my head right now."
"You must have a good memory." His body remembered his fights, and it showed through intuition and honed instinct, but he didn't remember most of his Ring fights or academy spars. It was difficult to remember things while getting beaten up.
"Not really. I think my memory is average. It's just fights that I remember," she said.
"Ah, so like how shogi masters can remember their games."
"Yeah, that, Exactly."
"So, what do you think about our spars?" he asked.
Momoe hummed in thought. "To be honest, it wasn't anything special. Neither you nor I were any good back then. We made many mistakes; more me than you. I used a B-rank jutsu. I mean, it's embarrassing looking back at it."
"I don't think I'm any good still," he replied. He had never felt good about his skill. He was sure most people wouldn't feel good about themselves when comparing themselves to jōnin, but he definitely thought more about it than others.
"I get that feeling. It's tough to feel good when someone dismantles all your moves every time you meet," Momoe all but whispered it with a rueful tone. Before Takuma could guess what she meant, she continued, "Izumi has been thriving under Lady Uchiha. I heard she wanted to thank you for introducing them."
Takuma scoffed at the absurdity of the statement. "An outsider introducing two people from the same clan."
"Right?" she laughed as well. "She feels bad because she hasn't been able to thank you."
"I've been busy with work. I'll catch up with her as soon as I get some time. Please tell that to her for me," said Takuma. He barely had time for most things, not to mention this 'total time' had gone down because of the shadow clone restriction.
"You want any tips for this?" asked Momoe, pointing to the dirty bucket.
"Thank you, but not yet."
"Why?"
"...I believe failure has an innate value," Takuma answered after choosing the best words to convey his feelings. "Imagine a pitch black, dark room. My objective is to reach the table in the room, but I don't know where anything is or what's in the room. You, on the other hand, know where it is and shine a spotlight on its location for me. I could then make my way to the table every time. But I won't know anything else about the room. I won't know why the table was placed in that location; what influenced that placement in relation to everything else? But if I go in without help and stumble through the room, I will find out where things are. I might also learn what they are or even find the hidden light switch, which would make everything clear for me—all because I was willing to stumble around."
That's why Takuma hadn't asked Maruboshi who also used Water and Earth Release ninjutsu.
"That's a nice, visual analogy," she said
"The guy who invented the light bulb said no failure went to waste. Even though he didn't find the right material, every time he failed, he discovered what didn't work, and that was just as important a discovery." He had checked, and it was the same story in the world.
"That's a wise way to think about it," Momoe said with an appreciative nod.
"I'm still stumbling in the room. When I feel I've found enough, I'll ask you to spot a light for me."
"Done."
Takuma glanced at her. He had been a chunin for less than a year, which meant he wasn't supposed to have a B-rank ninjutsu yet. But the girl beside him had a B-rank ninjutsu as a genin, which was much more egregious flaunting of the law than his official ANBU exemption.
"Can I ask you a question?"
Momoe looked at him. "That tone says it's a difficult question to answer."
"Maybe? It depends on you."
"Well, I'll answer if I want to."
She gestured for him to go ahead and ask.
"Your jōnin teacher is a Sarutobi. Did you perchance accept a sponsorship from their clan?"
When he thought about how a civilian-born shinobi like Momoe could get access to B-rank ninjutsu before she was promoted to chunin, sponsorship was one of the most obvious answers. He recognised that she had rich parents who could buy her access. Only the biggest clans were allowed to maintain personal jutsu archives, and those clans were far richer than her parents—but that didn't mean a clan's individual members were swimming in money.
There had to be some in the shinobi clans in need of money, but they couldn't ask their clans, which would create an opportunity for a rich outsider to buy that precious access reserved for only the powerful. However, there had to be limits to that approach in wealthy social circles like influential shinobi clans.
"Takuma... I didn't know you were so direct," Momoe sounded half-amazed.
Even though he had refused the Uchiha clan, he still had the offer in his back pocket in case his views changed. The Akimichi clan sponsored Masaaki, but their situation was very different to Takuma and Momoe's; that relationship was tied too early in his shinobi career. Momoe might have also done it early, but she was the top talent in her batch, and if what Taro said was true, the two batches above them had yet to produce a chunin.
Even if she had entered that relationship early, she had much more potent leverage.
"How about we do it like this? Tell me why you want to know, and I'll answer in return," she said.
Takuma considered giving a token answer that he was considering an offer from a clan, but then decided to be direct in case she returned with his token response with a token answer.
"When we sparred, you were a genin, yet you had a B-rank jutsu. That was two years ago and, even though our positions differ from before we earned our forehead protectors, you must understand how difficult it can be for us to rise and gain resources without some form of backing."
While he only had experience with the Police Force, he didn't think his experience would be that different if he were in other departments. Taro worked in the Analysis Team of the Hidden Leaf's Intelligence Department, and according to him, the department was essentially controlled by the Yamanaka clan. It was possible to rise through merit, but one had to gain the favour of people in power if one truly wanted to succeed.
And people in power didn't like to give it up.
"My teacher is a jōnin and we have a close relationship as master and student; he could've given me that jutsu," Momoe said.
"Did he?"
"Yes, he did."
Takuma was surprised. Even though jōnin had a significant influence, he didn't think they would just give their students B-rank jutsu—at least, not until they were chunin, or at least close to becoming one. It made sense if there was a similar situation to his with ANBU, where the jōnin would help their student bypass the one-year limit because they would also be held responsible if things went wrong because of that decision.
But back then, she was still a year away from her chunin promotion.
"However, you're right. He did try to get me under the Sarutobi banner." Momoe had a self-assured smile. "He promised me immediate access to a B-rank jutsu of my choice, more when I turned chunin, resources to help me grow, connections in high places, and a long list of resources."
'Ah, so she did accept it,' Takuma thought, but then she continued,
"I didn't accept his offer."
"Then?"
"He still gave me the ninjutsu."
"What? I mean, how?" said Takuma, baffled.
Why would the Sarutobi jōnin give her the jutsu after she rejected them?
"I'll be honest, I felt so insulted back then. I respect my teacher from the bottom of my heart, but I was really upset when he gave me that lowball of an offer," Momoe said with a displeased expression.
"I'm sorry. I don't get it."
"I'm worth more than a few of B-rank jutsu." Momoe's tone had a sense of self-confidence in it. "If a clan wants me to work for them—bleed for them—they will have to offer me much more than a promise of B-rank jutsu. I demanded an A-rank jutsu upfront for me to consider an offer. I want them to pave the path for promotion when I'm ready to become a jōnin. I want a profit-share in the clan's earnings. A few B-rank jutsu? If anything, they'd have to open their B-rank archives to me or pay for any B-rank jutsu I want. It's a given that they will give me resources to grow.
"If they can't promise that, it's not worth even entertaining that conversation."
Her gaze held a glimmer of trust in herself. Although all of it could easily be interpreted as overconfidence or unchecked ego, for some reason, he could only see it as an unbreakable faith in her abilities and potential.
"But why would they give you any of that when you were just a genin. It's not like you can guarantee they're getting a future jōnin powerhouse in their ranks. What if you died one day after all that investment with nothing to show for it?" Takuma asked carefully.
The odds of becoming a jōnin were astronomically low even for genin part of jōnin teams. He would've felt comfortable saying that to his friends, but Momoe wasn't his friend, and he didn't know her well.
"I know that," Momoe nodded in understanding. "I'm not expecting that level of offer anytime soon, but that doesn't mean I have to accept what they're giving me now. It's not like I need their help right now."
That couldn't be denied. Even though Takuma wasn't following his batchmate's careers, he still heard things. She had already been on a team of chunin led by a jōnin on a couple of high-ranking missions.
"I understand where you're coming from, but with those demands, don't you think it'll be too late by the time they accept? Won't you need to be a done deal for jōnin for them to feel comfortable giving that offer?"
"The sooner I accept any offer, the more they'll hold it over my head. Let's say I accept an offer today, by the time I'm ready to become a jōnin, they will have already helped me a lot. The more I take, the more they'll hold over my head. They'll still help me become a jōnin if I'm ready because it's to their benefit as well, but it'll be on their terms. They might use my eligibility as a political chip—like saving it until they want to block someone else's bid."
There were no official restrictions on how many jōnin promotions could happen in a year, but historically, at most one person could be promoted per year. It was done to limit huge waves in the Hidden Leaf's political landscape. There were exceptions like post-war promotions, where war contributions were rewarded and jōnin rosters were refreshed.
"By bringing the most I can without doing all the work myself, I hold the most leverage," said Momoe as she pulled some grass and threw it over her legs. "Saying all that, I don't ever plan to accept a clan's offer."
"Huh, why?" Takuma asked, surprised.
If a clan ever offered him that much, he would accept it immediately because he couldn't see any downside ever coming close to balancing out the advantages.
A twisted smile tugged on Momoe's lips as she said,
"Even the thought of swearing fealty to a clan makes me want to retire on the spot."
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The link is in the synopsis!