Naruto: Tango with Death

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Chiriku, who was across me, asked, "Did you find a spirit?"

I nodded, and told him about Jashin, and his behaviour. I didn't see a reason to lie to him, especially considering he was the only one who could help me if something went wrong.

Thankfully, while Chiriku looked a little bothered by my choice, he didn't look worried. He said, "I do not know who this Jashin is, but to introduce himself as the Lord of Death and Destruction, he must be a powerful spirit. You should always be worried of contracting such powerful spirits, especially if they are evil ones."

I nodded, before asking, "Is there any limit I should know about the Gift of the Sages?"

Chiriku replied, "Using the imprint will consume some of its' power, so you can't use it too many times in a row. It is constantly recovering its power, so you will be able to reuse it after a while. Also, if you sign a contract with the same spirit, then the higher imprint merges with the weaker imprint, which will result in a strengthened jutsu, but also a shared cost."

I nodded, that made sense. Seeing he was done with his explanation, I got up from my sit, and executed the technique.

A bloody aura formed around me, and looking over my shoulder I saw a faint spectre of Jashin, holding a scythe. I felt I could control the spectre at will, and with a thought it slashed in front of me.

I felt the air move, meaning the attack affected the physical world. However, after this single attack, Jashin disappeared. The chakra cost was quite minor, so if my opponent didn't know I could use this, they could not even see it coming. It was a spirit striking after all.

I smiled at Chiriku and said, "Thank you for this. If you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask."

Chiriku nodded slightly, before walking away.

As for me, I was really happy I got to learn about the Gift of the Sages, and I wanted to link a spirit to my three other… I need a name for them, Gift of the Sages is for the while discipline.

Spirit Jutsu? Seishinjutsu then?

Well then, while I wanted to find a spirit for my three other Seishinjutsu, now wasn't the time. For now, all I wanted to do was rest under the sun, and that's exactly what I did.

The days passed by quickly, and we all got to enjoy our break. We would train a little from time to time, to make sure none of our skills would get rusty, but most of our time was spent relaxing.

Takashi was not as annoying as I first expected him to be, he wasn't asking me be to be besides him every hour of the day like a nanny, so I actually liked our interactions. I slapped some sense into him too, so I guess we are now friends, with some one sided crush mixed in there. Okay a lot of it, but at least he behaves more normally.

But all good things had to end. After a month of relaxing, we returned to the village, and now was time to break the news to my team.

We met at Training Grounds 5, for our usual training. While we were discussing tactics, Izumi said, "Man, I needed those vacations, but I've started missing going on missions."

Laiko nodded and added, "It was boring to be idle all the time. Say, Sensei, are we going for a D Rank Missions, or can we go right back to C Rank Missions?"

Amai-Sensei shook his head, and Laiko immediately protested, "What?! But you saw our progress, we are more than prepared enough for anything a C Rank mission can throw at us!"

I butted in, "That's not what he meant."

Both of my teammates looked at me quizzically, so I sighed and said, "I'm getting promoted to Chunin. Today."

What followed was pin drop silence, for several seconds. They both looked like they wanted to say something, but their words stuck in their throats.

Amai-Sensei said, "She's not the only one, you know. Both of you are also getting your promotion."

Laiko began to protest, "But…"

Amai-Sensei cut him off, "You've said it yourself, you are more than prepared enough for any kind of C Rank Mission, and you can start taking on B Rank Misson. Let me remind you that C Rank missions aren't supposed to be for Genins. This is a sign you have achieved the level of a Chunin."

He then turned to me and added, "I'll still be there for you anyway, if you ever need help. All three of you."

I nodded slightly, and saw Laiko struggling to hold his tears in, while Izumi was bawling. Uchiha for you.

Smiling, I joked, "Can we take a moment to appreciate how awesome I am? When we first met you both hated me and now…"

""SHUT UP!!""

Hahahaha, I'm awesome. They might have yelled at me, but they were smiling. And while I liked to believe I wasn't too affected by this split up, I did feel a little frustrated.

It took me almost a year to become really good friends with those two, but right as I succeed I have to leave. Silver lining is our month of vacation, I guess.

After some time, Laiko asked, "What is going to happen now, exactly?"

Amai-Sensei replied, "Sukaina will join Anbu, and anything beyond that is secret. As for you two, you will become Chunins, so it will be up to you. You can team up together, or join other groups of Chunin. You can also remain independent if you wish, or take Independent Genins under you."

The Chunin Rank was the true mainstay of the village, we had many more Chunin than the other three ranks combined. Becoming a Chunin wasn't hard, anyone would be able to do it with time, if they didn't die that is.

And because of the numbers, an internal infrastructure had naturally appeared in the village's Chunins. As Sensei explained, there are groups that naturally formed, of different sizes.

Most groups are fellows of the same promotion, or some who decided to stay under the command of their Jonin Sensei, back when they were Chunins.

Of course, this wouldn't really concern me, as I was entering Anbu. As the special forces of the village, Anbu had many more regulations, and far less members.

I didn't know the exact numbers, but I think there are between 200 and 400 Anbu in the village, which, compared to the number of ninjas in the village, is insignificant. And even those numbers could be wrong, the village could either be bolstering up our numbers in rumours, or reducing them.

In any case, ranks kind of lost their meaning in Anbu. Every Anbu was part of a team, and in a team, all members are equal, under the command of the squad leader. According to what Amai-Sensei had told me, strength didn't really matter.

To climb in the hierarchy, then experience and merit were valued. Although it was generally the case, the Squad Leader didn't have to be the strongest in the team.

Of course, officially, we would still have our ranks, but once we put on the masks, then a Chunin and a Jonin are equals.

I guess the village put a lot of thoughts into teamwork, since Anbu carried the most important missions for the village, they couldn't have teams infighting.

To be honest, I was feeling a little nervous about this, it would be my first day in Anbu, so I repeated all of this continuously in my head as I walked towards the Hokage's Tower.