Not Unlike A Misplaced Extremity [IO, NK]

Isaribi was still examining her new hand as Natsuki went on about a uniform of some kind. She closely examined the pads of her fingers. Were these her fingerprints? It wasn't hard to imagine the shinobi forces setting her up with a set of fingerprints belonging to someone else, for whatever nefarious purpose. With a sense of resignation, she reminded herself to wear a glove on this hand until she could get it double checked. Wouldn't really do to go around spreading the prints of whatever poor sap the shinobi wanted to frame. Outside of that, though? Everything else looked more or less the same as she remembered it.

There was a little burst of chakra, and Isaribi looked up to see the fucking uniform. *Good god, what the fuck? It's fucking blue.* At this point, she was long past the point of suspecting that Natsuki was trying to put her off balance. Hell, it was practically guaranteed, by now. As this was, however, the official getup they'd have her running around in, Isaribi made sure not to show any kind of displeasure, as hard as it was. Although she wasn't some kind of fashion expert, the uniform's design made sense for a village full of betas and nu-males. Hell, it was like a costume right out of the theater district. She considered asking Natsuki if this was the fucking dress uniform, but decided against it. She'd already shown a bit too much about herself. With any luck, the silence would say more about how she felt than any petulant words ever could.

She picked the uniform up and folded it over an arm. If she was going to be wearing the ninja force's branding, she might as well try to wear it well. At least she wouldn't be tying up any more sleeves, now that her arm was back. It was still a little incredible to think about, but the regained novelty was wearing off by the second.

Isaribi nodded as Natsuki spoke about what would be expected from her. Nothing particularly suspicious, not yet, though if she knew anything about the ninja, it's that most of what she would be doing would be to maintain the status quo in the village, not to actually improve it. She suppose she deserved-

*Blue and white?*

Like a flash, she remembered the uniform, in almost perfect detail. That fucking soyjak from the other day had been a NOVA corps member? Now she knew for sure that these people had had their eyes on her for a while, and now they were letting her know it. Yeah, alright, they could power trip as much as they wanted to, but it didn't really matter all that much to her. Now she knew who to look out for.

"Yeah, maybe. What do you mean by 'enhancements'? Care to be specific?" Yeah, she wasn't going to buy vague implications from Natsuki at this point. If she was going to be as all-in as they wanted her to be, she had a right to know.  

[WC 509]

There was a silence in the room as Isaribi weighed the new uniform; no expression betrayed what the thoughts behind that gaze might have been, but there was the possibility of quite a lot of them. She did not ask further about the Nova Corps; in all likelihood, she had heard of them in an inn. The band of heroes was always the favorite of the common folk when they were deep in their cups. Then again, perhaps having your arm ripped off by one would do the trick; having said that, the Winter Knight's Cloak was more red than white. Or finally, it could be the interaction Isaribi witnessed with one of them, an odd pairing they were that caught many eyes. And, of course, it always circled back to the top brass.

One of the above or all three might have caused the silence. But it was not about the nova corps or the Hoshigakure uniform when it finally broke. But instead, the mention of enhancement piqued Isaribi's interest. It seemed that power was her greed. However, Natsuki knew better than do an exposition and give her everything at this point.

"All in good time, dear Chuunin. I'm willing to say that thanks to the scientific progress of Hoshi, situations that in earlier times would have been nothing shy of miracles have occurred.  Yohei Kawashima, a war hero injured gravely in the Hoshimura rebellion, many believed his fighting days to be over. " And who could fault them? His ruined body was held together by staples, and there was more alcohol than blood. But Natsuki left that part out for obvious reasons. She was not going to outline past weaknesses of their Nova Corps for Isaribi to hear. Plus, if she were half as good as she thought, she'd find out on her own. "Now back in action as if not a single day of action was lost. On the contrary, he is stronger than ever before. And at thirty years old, he was no spring chicken either, in ninja terms. All thanks to these bodily enhancements. A fascinating result indeed, one that I had the honor of executing."

Now it was Natsuki's turn to pause, but only for a moment. Her lavender eyes focused on the former lawbreaker's arm. Almost as if she was admiring her work. "Healing was only the first part of your process. Bring the desired results to my desk, and you'll find the next one." The Silver Hyuuga said with a grin. 

WC: 416

Oh, THOSE kinds of enhancements. Well, she was sure that if she ever found herself in need of something like that, she would think twice about seeking them through an official channel like this one. The only difference between Natsuki and the black market vendors she was vaguely familiar with was legitimacy, which was all made-up bullshit to begin with. Any inherent value that people assigned to people or groups of people, whether they be shinobi or statesman, was just all manufactured by human imagination. In any case, Isaribi herself was under no such delusions as to the nature of authority. The kage demanded her obedience and her performance, that was all very well and good. She would obey as she was commanded, but in regards to her own personal growth? That was hers to deal with entirely, hers to control alone. There was no viable way to really fight back against a system like this one; participation in it was coercive for all those involved, after all. However, for someone with a mindset like hers, one stewed in criminality and utter disregard for the significance of legality, there was plenty of wiggle room she could use to propel herself upward.

*There's no way to buy out of the game*, she thought sullenly to herself. *You can only win or lose.* And she intended to win. She glanced Natsuki up and down one more time, then simply nodded and turned to leave. Another glance at her arm, as if she was still unsure if it was real, and she was out of the door. The new skin there, as she had noticed before, was unmarked, and she was thinking of leaving it that way. Grima tattoos would no doubt be a bad idea, and Baliquis might start asking unpleasant questions. Well, she would ask those questions eventually, but the less Isaribi had to hide, the better. From long experience, she had learned that lies and deceit tended to pile up until it got way out of control, so it was better to say nothing or simply be straightforward. All this to say, no more tattoos.

Isaribi was not the kind of person to want power for its own sake, as she had in the old days, and she knew that the people in charge here were not stupid enough to believe that she was still the same rage-fueled child she had been all those years ago (otherwise, they wouldn't have let her out to begin with). Power was, to her mind, something to be avoided by normal people; however, that didn't make the powerful exceptional. Again, anything that made someone special was just an illusion. Even if what she wanted drove her to a sticky end, she figured that she didn't have anything else better to do with her life. Maybe the people who came after her would only see an insane criminal or a stupid lowlife, but a legacy wasn't something you got to stick around to see and experience.

Now that she had her arm back, Isaribi adjusted her internal schedule. *Two years. I have two years to accomplish my goal. If I can't do it in that time, then it'll probably be impossible to achieve it at all.* With that, the path to victory appeared within her mind's eye. Every advantage she had now could be leveraged in a specific way to achieve a specific end, now. She wondered if Natsuki was watching her. No doubt, her kind could view Isaribi from a distance with the greatest ease, but it didn't bother her. *Watch me.*

[WC 3504
500 to master https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t51012-sensory-deprivation
2500 towards A-rank https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t54223-genjutsu-screwing
500 to learn https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t50823-mind-read#384802
70 AP

IC rank to chunin
Claiming:
5000 ryo
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t54230-flak-jacket-v7-2#406155
EXIT]

Approved for Isaribi

EXIT

TWC: 2583 

Claiming for Natsuki:
With a 50% LC discount for jutsu, the original knows
One Blow Body [v7] 2500/2500

Discarding 83 words
Chakra Sig memorization: Isaribi Uchiha

Approved