Chapter 50

Land of Rivers

Ryoma, Jonin of Sunagakure

The problem with bringing a group of dangerous rogue ninja to the attention of your comrades is that they're going to ask some questions. Questions that were rather difficult for Ryoma to answer in a believable and non-suspicious manner.

Questions like 'what are their strengths and weaknesses?' and 'how do you know about this and why haven't you told our leaders about it yet?'

Fortunately, Ryoma had a number of rather plausible excuses lined up and just enough goodwill from consistent service to get away with it.

"That's the second instance of the cloak and red clouds becoming relevant on our mission." Sho said professionally within the bulk of the Great Bolter. Late into the night of their traveling, with the younger ninja keeping watch around the perimeters, the five jonin of Suna gathered for a meeting about their situation. "Jonin Ryoma- it has come up again. What do you know about these cloaks and the Akatsuki that we do not?"

"Mhm." Ryoma frowned beneath his white veil, brows scrunching together as he visibly considered the question. "I would like to preface that- for the longest time I thought this was a particularly bizarre and ultimately meaningless dream."

"A dream?" Nagare asked with a raised brow and a professional politeness in her tone.

"A dream- which means it's not in any way reliable information. It's possible, however, to have been some form of esoteric illusion." He shook his head. "I dismissed it as just another unusual dream- but seeing the red clouds reminded me strongly of it."

"What is this dream, jonin Ryoma?" Sho asked with a stern focus to his voice.

"The dream is boring for the most part- I wake up in the middle of the night to relieve myself. As I'm washing my hands, however, I notice a figure standing behind me in the mirror." Ryoma huffed. "Naturally- I hold still and start to prepare to engage the intruder."

"When was this?" Tsubame asked with an intense expression.

"Three months ago- Remember that day I woke up and checked the restroom for a few minutes?" Ryoma asked, pointing at her and letting his index finger bounce as if tapping on her memory to jog it. Tsubame's brows furrowed, before she nodded in understanding.

"I do- that was this dream then?"

"It was." It wasn't. It had actually been a dream where he had dreamed about a particularly stubborn squirrel in the walls of the bathroom driving him insane with its scratching. Which made no sense, because they lived in a desert and far from any squirrels. "I ended up destroying the wall in attacking the intruder, but when I checked it the next morning- the wall was undamaged."

"Thus- a dream." Sugimoto said with a frown and an understanding nod. "So what makes you think this dream has anything to do with this?"

"The figure was a half-black, half-white… plant creature." Ryoma shook his head. "Humanoid, and it spoke with two voices, introducing itself as Zetsu. It avoided my attack by sinking into the wall and then emerging a short distance away. The important details were that it was wearing the exact same type of cloak- and sent a recruitment offer my way to join an organization of renegade ninja named the Akatsuki in the Land of Rain."

Ryoma shook his head. "I turned it down- and the next moment I remember was waking up in my bed and moving to check the bathroom wall. As I mentioned before, it was undamaged. Further- I ended up visiting Intel for any up-to-date information about factions in the Land of Rain."

This was also true, but he had actually been visiting for the sake of refamiliarizing himself with the area after the Kazekage's questions about how to alleviate Suna's economic troubles. It was there Ryoma learned that Hanzo had an extended family, which was honestly scarier to picture than the Akatsuki was.

"As it turned out? The Akatsuki existed and were stationed in the Land of Rain, but they were some peaceful movement- and there was no mention of the red clouds." Ryoma shook his head. "With no evidence of battle damages and only a tenuous connection that could've simply been subconscious memory- I dismissed it as an unusual dream and moved on."

"Until now, where suddenly a rogue ninja wearing a black cloak with red clouds appears before us." Sho replied, nodding slowly. "The connection is tenuous but striking. I will require a full written report detailing this dream and creature by the end of tomorrow night- and it will be forwarded to Suna with explanatory context. If our defenses have been compromised in such a way…"

"I'll get it to you by the end of this night." Ryoma replied with a serious nod of his own. "In retrospect I should've filed a report on it immediately."

"That's with the benefit of hindsight." Sugimoto replied with a shake of his head and pressed lips. "If I made a report on every strange dream I had- Suna would be jumping at enemies that didn't exist constantly."

"I would have refrained from logging a report as well, in your situation." Sho said with a shake of his head. "Further- we have no reason to suspect that the red clouds of your dream and the red clouds of these enemy ninja are anything more than coincidence at this time. It is entirely possible to be unrelated."

"Hence why I said it might be my paranoia acting up." Ryoma nodded, before sighing. "You're right- you're right."

"As it stands, we've gained slightly more information about our enemy. We'll revise our marching plans appropriately." Sho declared, leaning forwards to push at tokens in the center of their circle. "With what we know so far, my initial plans to be ready are…"

—

The Miyano fortress was, in contrast with its neighbor tributary-valleys, made mostly of stone blocks. A raised hillfort surrounded by stone terraces carved straight out of the mountainside on the east and overlooking the entire valley below. Large springwaters fell out of the side of the mountain, pouring down and spinning waterwheels in a descending slope all the way down to the flat plains of rice and miscellaneous veggies.

The valley was split up by the occasional guardhouse and even from here Ryoma could see walls and bridges erected atop the ridges and between hills. The entire valley turned into an artificial bowl with a single large river running through it.

The road between valleys stuck close to the river this time, well packed with dirt and littered with the occasional shrine to some old saint or another. The trees were thick along the roads and over the hills, but sparse throughout the actual valley proper, which was dominated by a patchwork of fields. More fields than both the Yagi and Chikae valleys combined, by the looks of it.

"I see they're doing well, for causing so much trouble." Takeda glowered from atop his horse far in front, casting a seething glare widely around himself. "Delayed tribute, infighting, unsanctioned invasions- I'm going to have choice words for Lord Miyano. Many choice words!"

None of the samurai argued against his words this time, almost all of them had sour expressions of their own as they looked across the valley to the stone fortress looming on the hillside.

The Great Bolter waddled along the road behind them, with the rearguard team stationed atop the hull as normal. Their preparations for potential attackers had already been hashed out and put into action last night, and now they simply had to wait if anyone would end up taking the bait.

"Sugimoto, status?" Ryoma quietly asked as they followed the army, helmet firmly on his head and gaze squarely on the road ahead.

"My stamina is still shot- I'll be at half chakra until tomorrow at least." Sugimoto muttered back, shaking his head. The cast and medical braces had been removed and sealed away that morning, and another round of medical ninjutsu applied. Physically he was perfectly fine, just an example of how incredible medical jutsu was. If it wasn't also a finicky pain in the ass to use, Ryoma would pick up some himself.

The issue being that medical ninjutsu was not something you merely 'dabbled' in and Ryoma had about a hundred other skills he needed to shore up before he could make massive investments into medical knowledge.

It was also something that, from his brief query into the subject a year ago, wasn't useful in shiki-form. You had to know precisely where to apply the regenerative jutsu and how in order to actually heal someone- otherwise you just invented a way to give people cancer or blow up their organs. Which was useful in its own way, but it wouldn't solve his 'healing faster' problems. Ultimately, it was just something to put on the backburner and come back to later, potentially never.

"Ninja! Listen well!" Takeda called out, turning around on his horse. "You have only permission to engage an outsider or unknown attacker! Engaging and punishing this unruly subordinate of mine is an internal matter, you are not to interfere!"

This copy came from the site the author publishes on without permission, and reading the original posting supports the author.

"We hear you, Lord Takeda." Ryoma waved from atop his perch. Naturally, because their mission was to 'protect the Takeda Heir' and not 'follow his commands', they had no intention of actually following that order if it meant failing the mission.

"You especially!" Takeda glowered. "That demon-puppet of yours- I won't have it stomping the armies of my subordinates any more than it already has!"

"Yes Lord Takeda." Ryoma replied, rolling his eyes beneath his faceless helm. The Great Dragoon was not fully recharged anyways, only at about half reserves. Keeping it filled while also preserving a high level of stamina for himself was a tricky balancing act.

Summoning it in the middle of the night, filling a bit of chakra, then dismissing it- it just wasn't a very efficient way to restore its reserves. It was, unfortunately, about the best he could do without just having it out all the time.

"Hmph!" The Takeda heir made a little noise and turned forwards away. Very mature, really makes him look like a stern and wise clan patriarch.

"I think the VIP is really warming up to you, Ryoma." Sugimoto chuckled quietly. "You'll be best friends, soon enough."

"Oh for sure- soon he'll be visiting Suna every month. I'll share all my many hobbies with him." Ryoma inclined his head. "Like training, and working, and assembling puppets, and reloading weapons-"

"You sure have a lot of hobbies, huh? I think I share most of those." Sugimoto huffed, rolling his head to crack his neck. "You do anything besides the usual?"

"I occasionally sketch." Ryoma inclined his head. "I need to draw diagrams for my puppetry-notes, after all. There's a fair bit of writing in there too, but it's all technical stuff. I used to cook before Tsubame barged in and took over the kitchen."

"That was not cooking." Tsubame replied, quickly and with a biting tone.

"It absolutely was." Ryoma refuted.

"You ate three ration servings a day supplemented by sweet potatoes. You ate them the same way every day for a week before I finally got disgusted enough to take over." Tsubame's head tilted back in the same way one would look at garbage on the side of the street. "That was not cooking."

"You sketch?" Nagare asked with a tilt of her head.

Ryoma nodded absentmindedly, reaching into his vest and pulling out a scroll. Unfurling it next to him, he tapped on the second seal and released a sketchbook with a puff of smoke and a pulse of chakra. The red sketchbook was then tossed back at Nagare. "Like I said- a lot of it is boring and theoretical."

Nagare took the sketchbook into her lap, then opened it up. She paused at the first page, then looked up to the back of his head again. "These are your ninjutsu notes."

"I don't really organize my notes. They're my everything-notes." Ryoma shook his head. Which was a lie- the notes about Tsubame's limbs were in their own sketchbook, and the notes about the puppetmech iterations were in their own sketchbook. The red was just the miscellaneous and secondary developments. "That's like- the fifth book? The others are back home."

There was nothing incriminating in any of his sketchbooks, mostly because he wasn't stupid, so there was no real issue with showing them off. Nothing he did was all that difficult or secret individually, and so an ally knowing a few outdated thought-processes wouldn't matter all-that-much.

Nagare's stare burned a hole in the back of his head for a few moments more, then it returned to the book. She flipped through the pages slowly as they stomped along towards the Miyano fortress.

"These drawings are very good."

"They're okay- I can really only do technical stuff. My actions and poses are atrocious." Ryoma shook his head. "They're sketches."

"Hey- those are pretty good." Sugimoto said, leaning over to look at the pages as well. "Better than what I can do, certainly. I just sketch medical stuff these days."

"You are attempting to learn water ninjutsu?" Nagare asked, lingering on a page. He twisted a puppet-eye behind her to look down towards her lap. The page was the one outlining his progress into a fourth element.

"That's right- I'm trying to find a technique that allows me to make up for my weaknesses to water, but I'm not having much luck." Ryoma explained with a frown. "If any of my big puppets fall into mud or a deep enough water source, all they can do is walk out along the bottom, and I'd be working with limited air."

A technique to extract moisture from the landscape was, therefore, fairly high priority for him.

"Something to propel large objects faster through the water, or let you breathe water then?" Sugimoto asked, leaning back with a thoughtful look on his face. "That is pretty niche- I don't know of any jutsu that do either of those things. Not in Suna, certainly, maybe Kiri has techniques like those?"

"You should endeavour to learn water ninjutsu for more reasons than just that. It is a highly versatile element with many utilities." Nagare said in a serious fashion, putting the book down and raising her hand into a fist. "With your ability to operate massive puppets- you would be able to transport an incredible volume and take advantage of it accordingly. It would be a waste to not develop a strong grounding in the element!"

"You sound more passionate about this than you have about anything else I've heard so far." Ryoma replied with a humored tone. "Is it perhaps because you have an affinity for water?"

"That is true." Nagare replied without a hint of shame. "I would be willing to give pointers in the element during free hours- additional water style ninjutsu users in Suna would be most welcome."

"And not just because I could carry a bunch of water around for you?"

"That would also be beneficial."

Ryoma and Sugimoto laughed together, and Tsubame let a tiny smile come to her face.

Nagare looked slightly confused.

—

"In the name of the Takeda Clan- Open these gates at once!" Takeda roared in the most manly way he could manage, which wasn't very manly at all. Atop his horse in front of the large wooden gates of the Miyano, the Takeda heir waved his sword up at the nervous looking guards upon the battlements.

"We sent a message Milord- please give the runner time!" One of the spearmen called back hesitantly. "Lord Miyano is north on the Oda front, if you're like to speak to him- only his wife remains home!"

"I do not believe you!" Takeda roared angrily. "Open these gates before I have my samurai bash them open!"

Ryoma noticed a few things on the ride up here. Firstly, that this was a highly exposed location before the gates of the fortress. The gates were at the intersection between two long stone cliffs with a carved slope leading up to higher levels, and the bright evening sun beamed down at its face.

Secondly, there were a few hillsides that would make for excellent vantage points for a highly experienced archer to use. About a kilometer out, roughly level with their current location, with wind mostly stilted by the mountains that surrounded the valley. If he was a proficient archer capable of shooting heavy arrows faster than sound from more than a kilometer out, then this would be an ideal opportunity.

Sure it wasn't night right now, but with all of them pushed up against cliffs and a gate right now, the opportunity was almost too juicy to resist.

The third thing he noticed was a chakra signature on a particular hillside one point two kilometers out. He turned his head slightly and inclined it towards his teammates, who nodded sharply.

Ryoma jumped off the Great Bolter across the heads of a few samurai and slightly down the hill, a little vial of blood in his palm.

"Summoning Technique : Rashomon!" He roared, slamming his palm into the ground and smashing open the vial.

An immense wall of carved stone appeared, shrouded in a great wall of smoke.

"Ninja- What in the hells are you doing-"

The fake-Rashomon cracked as a massive force impacted it. A devastating boom of something breaching the sound barrier followed shortly after. The smoke dissipated from the force, revealing the immense slab of rock for all to see.

Ryoma smirked, and then dissolved into sand, chakra expended.

Behind the Great Bolter, the illusion that disguised the Great Dragoon as an intangible breeze flickered and dispelled. Ryoma, safely inside the cockpit, twitched a finger.

A hot red flare shot up from the Great Dragoon's back, sending a burning star into the sky and alerting team Sho of the attack regardless of their current position. The entire team now alerted, Ryoma turned the toothy grin of the Dragoon towards the hillside.

The archer made the mistake of letting them have time to prepare for a second fight.

Unfortunately, this was also the part of the fight where Ryoma let himself get pelted by arrows to give the rest of his team time to position and maneuver themselves.

Just his luck, huh?