A Measure of Darkness - indefinite hiatus -

TWO

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Genin Takenaka Uchiha: Next Steps
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Our first D-Rank is, as expected, very typical. It feels like an oxymoron to have a team of three talented students who graduated years before their time while the draft still remained completing simple chores, but mission protocol demands Genin must have D-Rank experience before doing a C-Rank.

Now with an income, I can start worrying about money. If I were a plain villager, I would have to live in an apartment or condo, because there are few houses dedicated to clan-less villagers-at least, close to the heart of the village. It's frowned upon (unspokenly) to become a ninja without hailing from a clan or even an elite family, because family and hierarchy is important. Collective good over the individual at its finest.

(Rent is expensive. Studios are 15000 ryo, and the number just goes up from there. Two month's rent costs 30000 plus the application fee of 1000 plus renter's insurance for 3000 plus the cost of buying furniture. I don't think I've ever seen an already furnished apartment. That's not including food costs and pet fees.

(The ninja must also buy an identification card-extremely important, I may add-for 5000, renew that every three years for a fee, buy proper ninja or athletic clothes, and register to buy weapons for 2000. Then buy the weapons. When Father and I went shopping, shuriken are the lowest priced weapons: 5000 for a pack of sixty.)

All in all, the cost of living at the absolute lowest is ten, low-paid D-Ranks every month, about 60000 ryo annually before taxes. Of course, those who don't have clans get taxed harder. Because life is fair.

For clans, they usually have their own banks where their funds result from clan tax, donations, and taking money from dead shinobi or shinobi who marry out the clan. A ninja can take out a loan, if they must, but sometimes the parent saves up the money for them while they are supposed to be in the Academy for at least five years (provided they don't start early at five or six for a total of six-seven years).

It's not all bad not having money. In the ninja world, money is more or less an accessory and not a necessity. It doesn't make sense to hoard money for a flashy upgrade but it does make sense to use money to upgrade human capital. Attending lessons, meeting a mentor, buying better equipment-stuff like that is more important than homes or trendy clothes. If a ninja really wanted to, he could take mission after mission to keep himself away from home with little cost.

"How often do most people get missions?" I say to Uro as Team 11 walks to the mission desk.

"What do you mean?"

"Is getting a mission difficult? Is doing a mission difficult? Why do we only have to do ten D-Ranks every month if we want to live okay?"

"That's a quota villagers without clans should have to met. Your clan may expect a different quota. But, yes, getting missions can be difficult at times. If you want Hokage-sama or mission desk officers to give you better missions, you must develop an excellent track record or be an offspring of a great clan. It helps to already have an impressive portfolio before the end of Academy," Uro says, emphasizing the last sentence.

I see. It's one of those things where I need work experience, so I apply for a job, but get rejected because I don't have work experience. Except, I do, and I avoided that whole affair by being born an Uchiha. Maybe Neji's ramblings had some merit after all.

"If that's the case, Sensei," Shisui says, involved in our discussion, "our missions aren't well-paying missions for our level."

"Well-paying missions yield more money and require more complicated tasks. Let us begin somewhere simple and flourish from there. I have to admit I have willingly rejected many C-Rank requests."