Chương 34: Chapter 22

Sunagakure Ryoma, Jonin"Last week I gave an overview of all the facilities and systems available to take advantage of in the village. We also went over basics about navigating the bureaucracy of ninja work and constructive mindsets. I see a few new faces in the class who weren't present last week- either see me after class or ask one of your classmates if you want a review of what was covered in specific."

"Show of hands, who took advantage of at least one of the things I mentioned last week? The daily rations, your clearance in Intel, and so on." He called out over the class, once more rolling out scrolls upon the desk. Unlike last week, these weren't dummy scrolls used to make him look more prepared than he was, these were actual scrolls full of actual preparations. About half the kids in the class sent hands up, which was a relatively good sign.

The other group of kids looks distinctly bashful about having a lowered hand. Ryoma nodded.

"Alright- keep your hand up if you took advantage of at least two of the things I mentioned last week. Everyone else, drop them." Seeing everyone except two people sheepishly drop their hands was more in line with his expectations. It looked like mesh-poncho boy and blue-hair red-kimono girl were the two who were actually the most serious about this whole ninja thing. He gave another little nod and pointed at poncho boy.

"Poncho, what did you take advantage of and why?" Poncho-boy frowned at that, before dropping his hand and answering.

"I started picking up daily rations and went to the Intel building to ask about available Jutsu- they told me I need to be a Chunin to get anything above D-rank from them."

"That's the standard clearance regulation I mentioned." Ryoma explained with a nod.

"Jutsu will be available based on rank, D-rank for Genin, C-rank for Chunin, and B-rank for Jonin. A-rank and higher jutsu are only available at the behest of an official master or by lease of the Kazekage."

"That sucks." Poncho boy complained with a groan, ignoring the slightly scandalized looks from the genin around him.

"I was hoping to get something good." Ryoma gave a little amused huff.

"That's another lesson to lead into I suppose." He turned his head to address the entire class.

"Who here knows what the rank of a Jutsu actually means?" A few moments of quiet consideration before the pink-haired boy spoke up.

"Power, ain't it?"

"Nope." Ryoma shook his hand in denial. He was about to tell the kid to raise his hand next time before giving up on that. It was their own time they were wasting if they were all clamoring at once.

"Difficulty to learn, right sensei?" That kid who wanted to be a wind-specialist spoke up, short brown hair, brown eyes, and bulky goggles around his neck. He scratched his neck as he answered. Ryoma shrugged.

"More or less correct. More specifically it refers to the level of skill required to shape the chakra correctly for the Jutsu to function. Many jutsu of E or D rank require a great deal of technical, physical skill to perform but don't involve enough chakra manipulation to rank them any higher."

"All of you should be capable of the three basic genjutsu- Clone, Transformation, and Substitution-""Ah-" The girl with blue hair and a red kimono made a noise at that. She hadn't dropped her hand from earlier yet either, so Ryoma just raised a brow and waited for her to continue. She made a sheepish expression before steeling her resolve and speaking.

"Sensei, aren't they classified as ninjutsu? I thought that genjutsu was strictly limited to jutsu that insert chakra into a target's system to manipulate their senses?" Ah, right. That was a thing wasn't it? Ryoma gave a little wiggle with his hand.

"You are technically correct, but adhering to technicalities is not particularly useful in the field, in my experience. Genjutsu. Illusionary Techniques. If the image of a person you see is produced by a clone or a genjutsu, nothing much changes. You are still seeing an insubstantial image an enemy has used chakra to produce in hopes of distracting you." He shrugged.

"They're functionally identical save for your means of freeing yourself- either by cycling chakra or by attacking the clone. That's a coin you're going to have to flip every time you're in that situation anyways, so saying one isn't a genjutsu is just being pedantic. If it produces an illusory thing, it's probably safe to treat it as a genjutsu."

"In fact- you know what the easiest genjutsu in the world is?" Ryoma asked with a little smirk. She shook her head.

"It's the E-rank Genjutsu: Lying." There were a few laughs, a few giggles, and a few looks of enlightenment at that. Ryoma raised his hands and gave them a 'hold on now' gesture.

"I'm being rather serious here, it's probably one of my most reliable techniques. I've taken down people I shouldn't have stood a chance against with that one." He snapped his fingers, remembering that he was on a tangent.

"Which brings me back to my previous point- The rank of a Jutsu has nothing to do with how useful it is."

"Wait what?"

"Really?"

"That doesn't sound right."

"Huah?!" The kids were a riot, huh? He raised his hand and waited for them to settle down. After a few moments, they stopped having dramatic reactions to his declaration and gave him the quiet he needed to speak again.

"I personally know five D-rank jutsu." Ignoring for a moment he learned one of them right before this lesson.

"Body Flicker, Sand Transformation, Air Convection, Dust Cloud, and Explosion. Body Flicker allows for rapid overland movement making it ideal for tactical repositioning. Sand Transformation layers the body in sand and lets you change its color, serving as both basic armor and a disguise. Air Convection cycles the air around you to protect you from heat, airborne hazards, and slightly weaken incoming projectiles. Dust Cloud throws up a great deal of sand and dust into the air around me, granting visual concealment.

Explosion generates an explosion on a point I focus upon."

"All of these are merely D-rank techniques, any of you are cleared to head down to Intel, pick up a scroll, and start learning them. They have collectively saved my life on numerous occasions." There was a nice, ambient aura of interest in the classroom as he spoke. He tilted his head to the side as he continued.

"During my most recent mission, I used four of them almost constantly, in all the ways that I just mentioned. I predict that I'll still be using them by the time I retire from active service, simply because they're so useful to me."

"Are they super difficult to learn? No. Are they flashy ninjutsu that wins a battle on their own? No. Are they secret techniques carefully hidden away? No. They're fairly standard techniques that do particular things, but can be devastatingly effective in competent hands- They're like Kunai, if you want to think of it that way."

"S-sensei- which one do you use most often!?" The girl with the 'Frosty!' sash asked with a nervous but determined look on her face. It was hard to remember all these names.

"Sand Transformation." He declared confidently, reaching up to tap at his vest.

"I'm a firm believer in defense. I'm currently under two layers of armor right now, this vest, my bracers, and greaves, and-" He unzipped the vest a tad and pulled away at the white scarf around his neck and lower face to reveal his upper chest. The layer of mesh armor, thin steel wires sewn into a cloth shirt and pants.

"-this mesh armor. I normally enter battles with a layer of sand covering my body as well." He was currently wearing a white scarf to hide his lower face- he'd head over to the ANBU HQ and ask if it was okay for him to keep wearing the veil later. No reason to not be safe about it, and all that. The classroom looked pretty interested in his mesh armor, glancing back and forth from him and poncho-boy. Ryoma zipped up his flak vest again and returned his scarf to where it had been before continuing.

"As you might be able to imagine- many attacks cease to be effective against you when you're wearing as much armor as I am. Most ninja need to pull out massive weapons or special jutsu to do much damage."

"Sensei- doesn't it make more sense to just dodge the attacks? If you're wearing armor, aren't you slower and taking more hits anyways?" Orange haired girl asked curiously, leaning forwards on her desk.

"The ideal amount of armor is always 'as much as you can carry without slowing yourself down too much'." Ryoma declared confidently.

"I'm a little bit less agile than an unclad ninja, sure, but the amount of agility I lose is marginal compared to the amount of durability I gain." He shrugged.

"You might decide differently as a ninja, it's up to the individual to determine how much they want to sacrifice mobility in exchange for armor- I'm not your dad after all."

"Waow~ you're not?!" Pink haired 'seduction specialist' let out at that, a mock-surprised tone and giggles in the back of her throat. Ryoma rolled his eyes with an amused huff as the class laughed.

"I'm not old enough to be your dad, joker." He waved a hand dismissively. He then remembered that he was doing a thing and pointed at blue-hair, red-kimono. She had been diligently keeping her hand up this entire time.

"Serious girl. You used two of the things I mentioned from last week- what were they and why did you use them?" Finally, with a relieved slump in her arm, she dropped it and answered.

"Yes sensei. I first went to the armory and salvage division to exchange my old weaponry for a new set." Very sensible. He nodded and rolled a hand for her to continue. She then reached up a hand and scratched her cheek before continuing.

"I then went to Intel to request information about you, sensei." He raised a brow. He supposed it was normal to be curious about the person teaching you. She probably could've just asked though.

"Most of the information was above my clearance but…" She hesitated for a few moments, before blurting out.

"A-are you really a Jonin at only fifteen, sensei?!" If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. There were a few moments of quiet at that, before the rest of the class caught up with the declaration and started going wild.

"Fifteen!"

"No way!"

"Wait, that's like~ Totally in our age group!"

"Woah! That's crazy!"

"Huah?!" And so on. It was hard to make out any particular voice or question over the clammor of a bunch of kids getting riled up like this, so he just raised a hand and waited for them to quiet down again. He really wasn't sure why they were getting all astonished over this- Kakashi was a Chunin by six. Sasori was a Chunin at eight. Itachi was Chunin by ten. Chunin by thirteen and Jonin by fifteen was nothing special. After a good while, they quieted down again.

Serious-girl looked thoroughly embarrassed to have caused such a loud commotion. Ryoma shrugged.

"Yep." He answered before moving on to the lesson he had actually planned today.

"Those examples are pretty good, both you and poncho-boy over there get a thumbs up." He gave a lazy thumbs up for emphasis, before dropping his hand.

"For everyone else- I'd strongly recommend taking advantage of all the systems I mentioned. Like I said, they exist to help and facilitate you being a ninja. They're a waste of money if no one is using them. Independent study is going to be your most reliable means of proactive growth as a ninja. The lessons here can only help so much, you need to take initiative too." He slapped the back of his hand into the palm of the other.

"With that in mind- I'm going to be teaching you all how to make Explosive Tags today." He already knew how to make the tags, but he made sure to learn how to perform the actual jutsu in preparation for this. Hard to teach if you don't know, and all that. It wasn't that hard, but the technique had quite a few limitations he'd need to work around to make it less risky. There was a significant ripple of excitement at that- mostly from the boys. Ryoma smirked under his scarf and started the lecture.

"Explosive Tags are perhaps one of the most common and useful tools in a Ninja's arsenal. They are technically a Jutsu-Shiki of the D-rank 'Explosion' Jutsu, a Earth-Release technique that creates an explosion on a point proportional to the amount of chakra invested into the technique. It requires a great deal of concentration to explode a target at range, but the explosion can also damage the user, so most people simply use the technique in its Shiki form and never bother with the actual jutsu."

"In a shiki-form, the explosion already has a 'tag' for the user's chakra to arrive at, thus allowing the ninja to both detonate a target and stay safely beyond the range of the explosion. There are many more advanced variants of this technique known of- but they're more of an Iwagakure specialty than a Sunagakure specialty. The only handseal is 'Rat', owing to the relatively inefficient simplicity of the techni…"

— Asking the ANBU questions was pretty easy overall, mostly because it was the same process for asking the guys in Intel questions. They were really one in the same at their core. The Sunagakure Security Division was composed of quite a few subsections and smaller teams that all collectively directly served the Kazekage.

Intelligence, Analysis, Policing, Torture and Interrogation, Imprisonment, and more were all subcomponents of the part of Suna that made sure Suna functioned as a city-state of supernatural mercenaries. This was both the boring administrative parts and the rooting out spies, traitors, and dissidents parts. That included the ANBU, the special-forces that held nominal authority over all other groups because of their direct service to the Kazekage.

If the ANBU showed up at your door, they were there because the Kazekage himself ordered them to be, and they were probably speaking with his voice at the moment. Not every village used their ANBU the same way, but most villages had them, or at least a close equivalent to such. For Suna, the ANBU were secret police with a license to kill.

He knocked on the door of the Security Division building, waiting patiently for the sensor-ninja deep inside the building to check his chakra signature, verify who he was, and then send word to the people at the door to let him in. After a few moments, the massive sandstone doors swung open near-silently and allowed him to walk in. Inside there was a fairly substantial greeting room with a handful of guards and a rounded desk-space in the center.

The desk was made of yet more sandstone, polished this time, and covered in snacks, cups of tea and coffee, and a few loose papers. There were three chairs at the circular desk, each occupied by a familiar face. He raised his hand in greeting. The three men at the desk gave him a wave back with little smiles on their faces.

"Well well well- If it ain't Ryoma again! Weren't you just here yesterday?" The first one, Gan, asked while leaning forwards. He had red face paint that came down from his eyes. His face propped up on one hand and a lazy grin on his face. Ryoma shrugged.

"I forgot to ask one of my questions- sorry about that."

"Nah don't worry, it's what we're here for."

"I thought we were here to pick up easy paychecks." The second one, Ban, asked while leaned back in his chair and feet kicked up ontop of the desk. He had green face paint that curled across his chin.

"Sure as shit ain't here for the free coffee- tastes like ass." The third one, Yan, answered at once with a scowl, sipping at his drink and reading through a book. He had blue face paint that came down from his forehead and across his nose. The other two chuckled at that before Gan nodded his head.

"Whaddya got today, Ryo-man?" Gan asked. Ryoma shook his head and clarified.

"This one is actually for the ANBU." All three of the men turned towards him with raised brows.

"ANBU huh? One of those questions then." Gan pushed himself up from his slouch and reached over to press a button on the bulky radio-system mounted upon the sandstone. Several relatively chunky cables came from this radio and trailed into the ground, disappearing into the stone.

"Hey- We got 40-064 here with a question for you boys. We good to send him over?" A few moments of waiting passed. A green light at the end of the radio turned on. Gan nodded, pressing the radio button again.

"Confirmation received, we'll send him over." He leaned back and pointed a thumb at the staircase in the back of the room.

"Go ahead and head on down- You remember the way right?" Ryoma nodded, walking around the desk and making his way towards the staircase. He was smoothly joined by one of the guards along the way.

"Thank you."

"No problem!" Gan called back, returning to his comfortable slouch. Ryoma nodded at the guard, who nodded sharply in turn as they moved down the staircase and into basement floor one. From there it was a walk to the back of a long hallway lined with doors, then a knock on the left-hand door. He wasn't sure what most of the doors led to, but at least one led to the questioning and detainment cells. He had been blindfolded last time he was led into them. His knuckles rapped against the doorframe.

After a few moments more, the doorknob turned on its own with a click and swung open, revealing a rather normal looking office complete with desks and a single man patiently seated and waiting for him. It was the ANBU equivalent of a secretary, more or less. Either that or their acting captain, Ryoma wasn't sure which. Ryoma walked inside before sitting down, letting the door behind him swing close all ominously as he did.

The ANBU, showing remarkable dedication to the bit, raised a hand and flashed the'Identification Request.' sign-language. He was completely covered, a black jumpsuit with armored plates and a turban-veil combo that hid everything except the eyes. The eyes which were in turn covered by black-tinted desert goggles.

"Ryoma, Jonin, 40-064." He recited dutifully, again. It was a bit of a pain to learn the sign-language, but it was needed if you wanted to communicate with the ANBU- when they weren't interrogating you that is. The ANBU nodded, flashing another set of handsigns.

'You Intelligence Request.' Ryoma nodded, reaching up to tap at his lower face.

"I've been wearing one of those white veils for about two years now, one of the ANBU keeping an eye on me during the Third Shinobi War handed it to me and I didn't think much of it. I only just recently found out that it's supposed to mark you as ANBU." The ANBU tilted his head, and even through the full face concealment it was easy to tell what he was thinking. Ryoma shrugged helplessly.

"I don't really have any excuses here, I just didn't know. My question is- I've been wearing it for two years now and no one has said anything to me- Is it okay for me to keep wearing it?" The ANBU considered that question for a moment, before pushing back and turning to the filing cabinets on the back wall. He sorted through folders for a few minutes, before pulling out a file, unsealing another folder and sorting through it, before pulling out a file and unsealing another folder and so on.

Eventually he got to what Ryoma assumed was his own file and read through it. After all the rigamarole, the ANBU nodded to himself and looked up, giving a thumbs up.

"It's fine?" Ryoma asked again for clarification. The ANBU nodded again, emphasizing the thumbs up before dropping the hand and starting to reseal everything again.

"Oh, good. That was my only question, sorry for taking up your time." The ANBU nodded, finally putting everything away again before reaching out a hand and letting a chakra string connect to the door. A complicated internal lock mechanism unlatched itself before letting the door swing open again. Ryoma stood and performed a polite bow.

"Thank you for answering. I'll head out now." The ANBU nodded a final time as Ryoma walked through the door, letting it shut ominously behind him and linking up with the guard again. The guard nodded, and the two of them left the building. The guys in Intel waved as he left- Gan in the middle of demolishing a stack of barbecue skewers. Good idea- Ryoma was getting pretty hungry.