>>5799163Hiding in Mist was a strong utility jutsu, but one that also had a lot of obvious weaknesses. Chief among them, if you generated enough mist nobody could see, including you and your teammates. You could work around that issue by having a sensing water orb on hand, but your teammates would still be blind to face whatever you had shrouded in the mist. Additionally, should you face someone with an ability that negated the need to rely on sight even better than your sensing water orb, you’d be placing yourself at a disadvantage… It wasn’t required to make a blinding mist though. You could probably generate one thin enough to see through but thick enough to use as a medium for generating water clones and spikes with no issue. But another problem with it is that it was a jutsu that you couldn’t reasonably have up at all times. An unnatural fog rolling in was an EXTREMELY clear indicator to anyone observing of your general whereabouts and skillset, even. It ironically announced your presence pretty thoroughly despite being technically a stealth jutsu.
You imagine what it would look like if you were an enemy ninja in a tree, observing a battlefield. The fog following you and your team would be like a constant beacon screaming ‘Hostile Ninja Here!’ that could be seen at a safe distance from a concealed position.
You can’t help but sigh. There might be ways to use that to your advantage, but trying to envision a perfect tactical scenario without issues was annoying. There was probably no perfect strategy that existed in this world. Maybe trying to uncover that one truly perfect strategy was the story of all true shinobi warfare. Just endless tides of men and women all feverishly trying to come up with the one true gimmick that would always work with no counterplay.
You’re disturbed from your contemplations by your arrival at the Hokage’s office. It wasn’t too far from the academy. Sometimes in the training yard you’ve even seen him: He had a tendency to step out onto his rooftop balcony and just watch you all at a distance. Another example of him being a really chill guy with an interest in younger ninja.
You stall outside the building. Did you just… Walk in? Did you need to knock or something? You can’t help but imagine someone pulling a kunai on you and declaring you a trespasser in a restricted zone or something…
“Having trouble?” You hear from behind you. You turn to see a man in ANBU gear standing nearby. He had come from nowhere.
“I’ve, uh, just never been inside before. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, but I’ve been told to our team’s first mission from Lord Hokage.”
The man does that thing Naoki does where he smiles at you with his eyes, or in this case, eye, because you can only see one of them. “I need to speak with the Hokage as well. I’ll show you the way.”
You notice him pocket a book that you must have hallucinated said ‘Make-Out Paradise’ on the cover. Maybe you were losing your mind.
