[Rin Kugutsu - Lv. 18 Shinobi (D)]
Takeshi met her gaze straight on. She lowered her gaze and bowed. Although she possessed seniority, having served for ten years in the Black Serpent Corps, she was a weakling. Stronger than the weaklings of the White Rat Corps, but a weakling nonetheless.
After sixteen years in the clan, the system had shifted the way Takeshi thought. Some described him as a puppet void of emotions.
Family members were associated with numbers, levels.
Skills were translated in proficiency and ranks.
Unlike him, Rin Kugutsu did not come from the main family line. Her parents were humble wood manufacturers in the clan, providing parts in the Kugutsu workshop.
Many would see her in a good light. She managed to make a name out of nothing in the Black Serpent Corps, with her own skills.
But Takeshi's standards were high, unbelievably high.
He had managed to draw a correlation between ranks and status in the clan, or in the shinobi world in general.
Lv. 1-9 were the weakest shinobi. E-rank shinobi. Most shinobi from the White Rat Corps belonged to that category.
Lv. 10-19 were the backbone of the clan, capable of skirmishes and handling most minor requests. They were either veterans of the White Rat Corps, or members of the Black Serpent Corps. They were D-rank Shinobi.
Lv. 20-29 was the realm of elites. Takeshi belonged to that category. He was a proud C-rank Shinobi, well-versed in puppetry arts and capable of ninjutsu too.
Lv. 30-39 was the realm of corps captains. Ito Kugutsu, leader of the Black Serpent Corps, was a B-rank Shinobi. Harumi Kugutsu, leader of the Scarlet Scorpion Corps, too, was a B-rank shinobi.
Lv 40-49 was the realm of elders. A-rank shinobi was the pinnacle of the clan. The patriarch and the five elders all belonged to this realm.
However, level enough was not enough to determine a shinobi's strength and lethality. The patriarch, capable of wielding 10 puppets at a time, was far superior to the elders in terms of pure combat.
His grandfather, the elder Kenta, had killed over a hundred shinobi in a single battlefield forty years ago with a special poison jutsu.
And yet, Takeshi did not view those figures as overwhelming. He knew that in the vast lands of winds, there were clans with even more powerful skills. He had especially heard of certain clans in the East with jutsu capable of setting forests ablaze. Likely, they had stepped in the S-rank realm.
This is why Rin, despite being a solid Black Serpent Corps member, did not enter his eyes. Many had wanted to take him in their teams, but Takeshi wanted to become a team leader as soon as he joined the corps, something that no one did before.
"I accepted you in my team because the others from the Black Serpent Corps were not trusting my skills. If I wanted to, tens of shinobi of your skills would beg me to take them in. But I did not, out of respect for the trust you once gave me", Takeshi spoke
Rin bit her lips. She knew it. When Takeshi joined, he was weaker than her. By a large margin. Yet, only a dozen missions later, a single year later, he had already outgrown her. His puppet underwent large improvements, and he learned several ninjutsu.
"You are not growing fast enough", Takeshi continued, "If this continues, you will be discarded"
Rin's eyes widened. It is not like she did not think of this. In the last mission, her puppet had been destroyed, and she had barely managed to build it back for this mission, even asking Takeshi for a delayed departure which he accepted reluctantly.
Takeshi revealed a smiled. Not one of kindness, but one of curiosity, borderline evil.
"Did you have time to think of my proposal?", he continued, pressing his advantage.
Rin gulped. She nodded weakly.
Takeshi had a personal laboratory, a small privilege of his status, as the grandson of Elder Kenta. Rumours said that he had learned how to brew poison there, under the supervision of his grandfather.
However, Takeshi did more than just grow plants there.
Rin had seen the laboratory. Scorpions, Hyenas, Rats...All sorts of animals were undergoing strange experiments. And Takeshi wanted to move on to the next step: body modification. Just like he had crafted Jingoku in this laboratory, he wanted to improve her.
Takeshi smiled: "You said that the merchants would not be ready until tonight, right? Come to my laboratory. The tools are ready. Trust me, you will not regret it"