[Naruto] Saga of Tanya the Kunoichi-Chapter 42: Mission Meeting

Tanya's Mindscape

"Kyubi-san, I would like to propose to you again on cooperation between us". Tanya calmly voiced out in a calm business-like manner.

'Hmph! What can you give me, brat!? Speak!'. Kyubi has had enough of Tanya coming over and over again like some salesman asking if he would like to extend his car's warranty. It was so annoying!

Finally, he is giving me a chance to speak...

"I understand your circumstances, and I know you wanted freedom most".

'HMPH! THEN YOU SHOULD KNOW I WILL NEVER COOPERATE WITH YOU - YOU ARE MY VERY PRISON!'. Kyubi spat out the most obvious fact.

"Yes, correct, but it was never my intention to have you imprisoned inside me. It was my father, who sealed you inside of me". Tanya spat the most obvious fact back at him.

'DON'T USE SOPHISTRY ON ME! You still wanted to harness my power!'.

"Like I said before, I acknowledge I am borrowing them. And this is what I am willing to trade it with: Your freedom".

Kyubi went silent but then squinted his eyes, trying to see through Tanya's expression. While Kyubi could detect negative emotions, he was not a lie detector. If anything, Tanya's lack of negative emotions when she was talking to him made it even harder to see through her.

'You cannot give me that! You will die if I am free from your body, brat'!. Kyubi said in annoyance, though his words no longer had the loud, bratty tone. He knew Tanya must know this obvious problem, so he wanted to know what she was planning.

"Kyubi-san, nothing is impossible in this world. I can make a promise to put in the effort for you to be free - while having my life intact. But I need power and position first to make it possible. I am not a genius to create a new jutsu or other methods to achieve what was not possible for decades".

'Grrr... How can I trust you?! You humans were liars, and would use each other and discard them! I have lived and was used by humans for hundreds of years like mere weapon!'.

"Kyubi-san, I understand it would be difficult to trust me, given your experience. But I can assure you I am different. I never saw you as a weapon or a monster - but a fellow like a 'human' that had a lot to give, and I will exchange it with you for what I can offer. I am proposing a trade. Your cooperation, in exchange for a chance of freedom". Tanya opened her arms wide as if welcoming Kyubi.

'...'. Kyubi went silent. The giant fox only made sounds of grunts and breathing.

"I will leave first for you to think about the proposition. I can assure you I will never borrow your power without a reason, unless it involves the life and death of me or my subordinates - and you included - I would not tap into your powers".

Tanya knew she needed to give up something to gain trust from the fox slowly. While she could just forcefully suck chakra out of Kyubi to use casually on missions just to make it easier for herself - but she would only incur his hatred and distrust.

Danzo had told her that the use of Kyubi's power was harmful to her body due to two foreign chakras like fire and water, trying to mix in her body. As chakra comprised spiritual energy as well, Kyubi's chakra contained his will - and also unwillingness. His unwillingness caused a volatile rejection inside Tanya's body, causing chakra waste, performance issues, and even self-damage.

In the long-term, Kyubi's cooperation was a far better deal than using them forcefully for incomplete power with too many drawbacks. And honestly, she really disliked the feeling of Kyubi's hatred inside her mind. It reminded her of that shitty Being X.

'Grrr...'. Kyubi was still in thought, grunting at Tanya as she disappeared from his sight.

***

Tanya returned to the real world, sipping her still warm coffee in her hand casually as if the meeting with Kyubi was nothing but a part of her schedule.

Tanya glanced at Naruto's bedroom, where he was practicing the Shadow Clone jutsu she had taught him. Naruto was practicing very hard, and Tanya could be proud of him for this point.

On his first attempt, Naruto successfully created a shadow clone. Although its face appeared somewhat odd and it vanished into a puff of smoke after a few seconds, Naruto was very giddy and happy that for once he was able to accomplish it. And it was much easier than the Bunshin Jutsu too, which he never succeeded in all these years. Quite funny given that Bunshin Jutsu was E rank, while Kage Bunshin no Jutsu that was B rank was easier for both the siblings.

A few days passed, and her body was fully recovered today. Naruto mastered the Shadow Clones technique too.

Tap tap.

Tanya looked to see a small swallow pecking at the window. A tiny scroll tied at its feet. Getting out of bed, she opened the window to let it come inside. She untied the small scroll from the swallow's feet before opening it.

Pre-mission meeting. Today 2:00 pm. HQ Training Hall.

Tanya mused. It would be her first official mission as an ANBU. While she had a little worry because of her lack of covert 'assassination' skills, but Hiruzen had taken that into account already. Not all assassinations required sneaky methods. One can handle rogue or missing-nin directly and without scruples.

She looked at the clock. There were a few hours left before the assigned time. She made lunch and tidied up the house a little. With the remaining time, she prepared her ninja tools and had a quick read to pass the time.

***

ANBU HQ, training ground

Captain Kaito, Daichi, Ayame, and Tanya were already gathered, with Daichi arriving last much to his personality. As soon as Daichi came, Kaito immediately handed out the files to all the squad members to brief them about the mission.

'We were tipped with information on the whereabouts of an A-rank rouge-nin - Kuroshi Nagano. He was a known subordinate of Orochimaru who was involved in his inhuman experiment before his defect. Last seen in the black market of Hinode region working as a part of mercenary-nin group, Jinroka. He worked under a fake name of 'Jiro'. Our mission was to track, capture, and extort information for the whereabouts of Orochimaru'.

While Danzo knew Orochimaru was in Akatsuki - and Itachi too - but no one else did. Hiruzen was kept in the dark as - in the assessment of overall situation, if Konoha began sending their ANBU to interfere with Akatsuki in order to find Orochimaru, Itachi's place in the organisation would be compromised.

Kaito received a quick order from Danzo with a simple, 'You know what to do. You are dismissed'. Whatever happens, Orochimaru and his affiliation to Akatsuki should not be disclosed to not incur Orochimaru's enmity.

Danzo also had made a deal with him recently, and soon enough, they would meet. At the very least, he can keep Orochimaru at bay from harming Konoha by showing his willingness to continue cooperation. And if the snake ever wanted to kill Hiruzen, Danzo himself would lend a helping hand.

Captain Kaito continued.

'Estimated difficulty A rank. His skill at Jonin-level. Had a high attainment in medical-ninjutsu, water release, and moderate skill in kenjutsu and genjutsu. Special skill includes a nin-kenjutsu using reflection of water vapours to cause optical illusion. It also can misdirect opponents' sight. He was adept at using poison, infusing them into water release along with his technique'.

Captain Kaito highlighted the most important known abilities of the rogue-nin. As for other abilities, it was in the file given.

Daichi frowned slightly, hearing the details of the opponent. It sounded difficult. Tanya flipped through the pages to read further details. She thought in her mind, killing the opponent was not the problem - already thinking her main body wouldn't even need to do the work. But her skill set was... well, let's just say she doubted the body would remain intact. It was to capture him alive and extort info, which raised the difficulty.

Kaito made pre-arrangement on how to deal with the enemy and different formations. The goal was to get Ayame's Kochu, which had paralysing toxin, to reach him. The second approach was for Kaito's Sound Release genjutsu. After the formation was made clear, the meeting was adjourned.

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'Badger, you are responsible for teaching Yosei Earth Release technique that would be useful for her in the meantime. We will set off tomorrow at the mentioned meeting point at 8 am. Dismiss'.

"Understood, taichou", the three squad members replied together.

Hebi and Monkey disappeared from the training grounds, leaving Badger and Yosei. Hiruzen already considered Tsuyu's chakra nature when he assigned her to be teammates with Daichi in expectation that Daichi would guide her in the work.

Daichi looked at Tsuyu, wondering what he would share with her.

'Hm~ So how many Earth Release jutsu do you- wait you just graduated recently...'. Daichi realised Tsuyu shouldn't have known many.

"I know one. I would appreciate any basic Earth Release techniques, senpai. I lack a lot of the basic techniques".

'Oh. Then you have enough basic on nature transformation already. Okay, let's head out to the training ground. This place wasn't suitable for Earth Release practice'.

Tsuyu nodded. Both of them disappeared from the HQ training grounds to outside.

Standing in the empty training field, Daichi with his sunny smile began to teach Tsuyu.

'For now, you can try Hiding Mole jutsu. It is very useful in our line of work. You just dig underground and BAM! You got them disabled dragging them down. It was my favourite jutsu for sure. The hand seals are like this...'.

Tanya followed Daichi's hand seals; and then infused the chakra into the ground through her hands. The ground becomes very loose with the infusion of chakra. Daichi explained the mechanism of the jutsu, using constant chakra output from the hands to dig or swim through the loose ground.

In a single try, Tanya already dug down into the ground and across 10 meters before popping out. That was really just because Tanya can afford to use a lot of chakras all at once to dig a lot faster, not caring about its efficiency.

'Whoaaa. Your affinity for Earth Release was crazy! Even I took an hour to get it!'. Daichi's impression was strong, and he felt slightly jealous.

"Thank you for the praise, senpai". Tsuyu was a tad respectful because Daichi was teaching her so she put aside the fact that this dude was frothing and gooning to Naruto's Transformation Jutsu a few days before.

'Haha. I am just honest. In your file, it's mentioned you had good sensory ability. Are you able to estimate my position?'.

"Yes, senpai. I can estimate other's chakra from about 10 meters range".

'Whew. That's good. And you had no training on that, too. If you train hard on sensing, you really could become a good sensor. But eh, having to train hard to become a sensor when we have those Aburame or Hyuga or those Inuzuka dogs, it really doesn't seem worth it'. Daichi shrugs at that thought.

'I wasn't able to detect other's chakra like you did unless they were in front of my face. So I use Earth Pulse technique. The jutsu was simple. You would mold your chakra and pass them as pulsing vibrational waves through the earth. When your chakra interacts with foreign chakra, it would reflect a signal back to you so you can estimate their position. Depending on your practice, you can send and detect chakra interaction up to hundreds of meters. In terms of detecting something there it is good'.

'But to differentiate between different chakra signals, it is very difficult. Someone hiding in a crowd would be very difficult to differentiate, so it wasn't a proper sensory technique. You can't estimate opponent strength with it either. Though if they try to hide in some bush or transform into a rock or something, they wouldn't be able to hide. Most people just practice it up to a few meters to use with the Hiding Mole technique'.

Tanya nodded. The jutsu sounded like a sonar technique. While the drawback was there, it was a good jutsu.

Daichi used the whole day to teach Tanya a few different jutsus. Hiding Mole, Earth Pulse, Mud Wall, Rock Bullet, Earth Clones. And while at it, Tanya asked him about his jutsu that made his body very hard.

'Ah. I call it Earth Armament technique. Hm. I will teach you after you practice Earth nature transformation a little more. You can try leaf sinking training. Just place a leaf on top of a water surface - and then infuse earth chakra into the leaf and condense the chakra until it becomes heavy enough for the leaf to sink. Once you can do that, you can use Earth Armament. You can use a feather or change the water to a heavier liquid if you want to train on Earth nature transformation more. Your Earth releases will become much heavier and compact the more you improve.'

Tanya listened seriously, intrigued by the practice method and its effect. She had only practiced on Leaf Hardening method.

'Hee~, you know~ I got this method from a rogue Iwa-nin. It seems simple, but I tried to sink a feather into water for a year of practice but couldn't. I am still training in my free time. Maybe if you could do it, you can discover something. Ah and you can try to 'float' a sunken pebble up too. Not sure how though. My head cannot get around how adding Earth nature chakra can make anything lighter so I just can't figure out that one haha'.

Daichi won't have to explain the practice method's close relation to Iwagakure's Light-Weight and Added-Weight technique, mastered by only a select few shinobi. Tanya would find out sooner or later.

Little did Daichi know, this basic training would eventually create a real monster. Tanya, after all, had access to a cheat training method...

After Daichi left Tanya to her own devices, she decided to go to the academy's training field to continue her practice and watch over Naruto's training at the same time.

***

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