The Hodgepodge Shinobi: A Gacha-Gone-Wrong Adventure

We were back at the training grounds again. I was lying in a tree.

Not on a tree. In it. Stuck.

"You know," Jun called up from below, "most people start stealth training by learning how to walk quietly. Not by jamming themselves into shrubbery like a guilt-ridden squirrel."

"This is camouflage!" I hissed, tangled in branches, leaves stuck to my forehead. "I am one with the tree."

"You're one with the sap."

"Don't mock the sap," I grunted. "The sap is my ally."

Ren sighed loudly. "Can we get back to the mission review now?"

Right. Mission review. Arata-sensei had told us to write a debrief scroll about the herb collection disaster—I mean, success—and he was absolutely going to quiz us on it later. Probably with pain.

I finally wriggled free and dropped to the ground with a dramatic thud. My arms were covered in bark rash. My dignity? Missing, presumed dead.

"Okay," I said, brushing twigs off myself. "Let's recap. We found six herbs. I only screamed twice. A wild moss beast tried to consume my soul. I slapped it with plant chakra. We lived."

"That's not a report," Ren said.

"It's a report."

"You also summoned something again," Jun muttered. "That wall of flowers?"

"Botanical Barrier Technique," I said proudly. "Unstable Bloom Variant."

Ren stared at me. "Unstable is right."

I gave her a thumbs-up. She didn't return it.

"By the way," I asked, sitting cross-legged in the grass, "whatever happened to that shouty kid? The one who kept yelling about being my rival during introductions? Spiky teeth. Loud. Kept trying to high-five me mid-sentence."

"Daiki," Ren said.

"Yeah, that guy."

"He got transferred."

I blinked. "What? Why?"

Jun snorted. "Too much chakra, not enough brain."

Ren added, "He challenged Arata-sensei to a duel before our first training session. Arata accepted. Five seconds later, Daiki was embedded in a tree and muttering about fish. So… yeah."

"Oof."

"Now he's with Team 9," Ren said. "They specialize in loud distractions. He fits."

I put a hand over my heart. "I'll miss him. A little."

"I won't," Jun said flatly.

Update: Team Status – Stable-ish

Annoyance Level: Jun 7/10, Ren 5/10, Sensei ???

New Objective: Don't make your next training session another war crime.

We were interrupted by a swirl of leaves and the sudden, too-quiet presence of Arata-sensei.

"I see you're wasting daylight again."

"Training," I said quickly. "I was training."

He stared at me. "Were you training to become a bush?"

I coughed.

"I'd like to formally request an exercise on stealth," Ren said, saving me. "Proper stealth."

Arata raised an eyebrow. "Oh? All right, then. Let's test your ability to remain unseen."

Jun perked up.

"Each of you," Arata said, "will hide somewhere within the southern woods. I'll come looking for you in fifteen minutes. Anyone I find gets tomorrow off to scrub the Academy floors."

That didn't sound like a reward.

"Begin."

Ten minutes later, I was crouched in a bush, again, sweating like a toad in an interrogation.

This time, I was actually trying. Chakra suppression. Breath control. I even ate a raw leaf because I thought it might help. It didn't.

Synapse Spark Triggered: Desperation + Concealment + Self-Loathing

Fusing Concepts…

"Stealth" + "Misdirection" + "Internalized Regret"

Skill Created: "Selective Invisibility – Emotionally Biased Variant"

"…What."

Suddenly, the world warped.

I looked down—my body shimmered, then disappeared. Like, vanished. My fingers? Gone. Legs? Ghosted. I looked like a ripple in the air.

"Holy crap it worked!"

Caution: This version of Invisibility is unstable. You are only invisible to people you emotionally care about.

Everyone else can still see you.

"…Wait what."

Behind me, a twig snapped.

Arata-sensei stepped into the clearing and locked eyes with me immediately.

I froze.

He frowned. "Alex."

I grinned nervously. "Hi."

"You're glowing."

"I—uh—feel seen."

"You're not hidden."

"Technically, I am. Just… emotionally selectively."

He blinked once.

Then turned and vanished again.

You were found. You will be scrubbing the Academy floors with Jun.

Ren was not found. Her emotional detachment has finally paid off.

Later, back at the training field, Jun was grumbling about soap. Ren looked pleased. Arata was sipping his tea like none of us were his problem.

I sat with my head in my hands, quietly chanting, "Selective invisibility is the worst kind of betrayal."

That's when the system pinged again.

New External Scan: Unfamiliar chakra signature approaching.

Classification: High-tier concealment technique detected.

Warning: Observation in progress.

Codename: ROOT

I froze.

"Uh, guys?"

Ren looked up.

Jun groaned. "What now?"

"I think we're being watched."

"…Again?"

Next Quest Unlocked: "Avoid Being Abducted by Secret Organizations (Beginner Tier)."

I laughed nervously.

Then kept laughing.

Then kept laughing.

"Oh no," Ren said. "He's broken again."