Rather than lean too heavily in either direction and risk drawing attention to myself, I decide to split the middle and end up being placed relatively close to the platform where the prayers took place. I glance Kiba being led off to his assigned position, and though he doesn't draw attention to it I can spot the flash of orange cloth gripped tightly in his hand. A scrap torn from my tunic, it should allow the Inuzuka to follow me through the forest.

I stand up my tip-toes and try to get a sense of where the major players are getting placed. To my left is a group of three, young boys with dark hair and crimson eyes that mark them as Uchiha. Somewhere far beyond them are the Inuzuka, and if I remember correctly the Prince of the Sun as well. To my right are two clanless kids, whispering intently to each other. About a mile past them are Chouji and his friends, decked out in colorful armor and wielding oversized tetsubos. Hinata and her entourage are even further past them.

The sun is about a quarter of the way through it’s daily journey when they finally finish assembling all the participants, giving me more than enough time to chart my first moves – and enough time to recognize the creeping heat in my gut, like a snake uncoiling from a deep sleep. The older Shinobi have gathered in a rough semicircle behind me, whispering too quietly to be heard at this distance.

The Priests keep their eyes fixed on a sundial, counting down the moments until the hunt is to begin. I close my eyes and breath in deeply through my nose, but it does little to quell the heat in my stomach. I wrap my hands in bandages, just in case.

The metallic crash of a gong being struck signals the beginning of the hunt, and I am surrounded by chaos.

The Uchiha boys to my left waste no time – they sprint away from me as fast as I can, but to my surprise they don’t seem to be aiming for the forest. Instead they pull weapons from sheathes and fall upon a group of clanless kids, screaming bloody murder. One of the clanless is dead before his friends even realize they’re under attack, and though they manage to rally quickly, in terms of fighting skill they’re simply no match for the Uchiha boys. The morning air is filled with screams and scarlet.

I can’t afford to let the slaughter distract me. My legs are carrying me into the forest, and as I crash through the perimeter into the deep shadow I feel my cloak’s power surround me, shielding me from sight.

I keep moving anyway. I trust the cloak with my life, but the longer I wait, the further away Hinata gets. Right now we’re relatively close – I can’t let that chance slip by. I channel chakra to my legs and feel the strength in them multiply, and then with a single leap I’m soaring through the air.

>wait

>>3410717
My feet find purchase on the lowest layer of branches. Konoha’s forest is massive, a relic from the times of giants, when trees towered above the ground like mountains. It’s also incredibly dense, countless centuries of unimpeded growth allowing multiple layers of thick, sturdy branches to form at varying heights. The branches are actually wide enough that I don’t even have to devote attention to keeping my balance as I sprint along them, angling hard in the direction I last saw Hinata.

I haven’t gotten half a mile before I hear the whistle of steel cutting through the air. I jerk my head to one side, and a knife buries itself into the tree trunk just behind where my eye had been a half moment before. Instinctively I throw my body to the left and fall over the side of the branch, controlling and slowing my descent by touching chakra-infused feet and hands to the branches I pass. I hit the ground hard, but without a twinge of protest from my legs, and place a hand on the hilt of my knife. It is warm to the touch, and the wind stirs as I slide an inch of the metal free.

My attackers – for there are three of them, I can see now – are still perched in the lowest branches above me. The one closest, a girl, drops easily to the ground. The other two, one on either side of her, follow suit just moments later.

“Uzumaki Naruto,” the girl says, quiet enough that I have to strain my ears to hear. “It is past time we met.” She wears loose black fatigues, but from the way they catch around her shoulders I imagine she has armor beneath. Her hair, a silvery white, would normally fall to her shoulders but is bound tightly to keep it manageable in combat. Most noticeably, her eyes are two different colors – one is brown, the other an unnatural, electric blue.

Something deep inside me growls, hungry. I take a half step back and tighten my hand on my knife.

“Looks like you’ve got me at a bit of a disadvantage,” I tell the girl, my eyes darting back and forth as I construct the battlefield in my mind’s eye. “Isn’t it bad Shinobi etiquette, to fight on such uneven footing?”

The girl’s mouth quirks in something that might be a smile, but in an instant it is gone. “A fellow Shinobi is owed an introduction,” she says simply. “You are trash, and entitled to nothing.”

“So it’s like that then,” I say, shrugging my shoulders. “You’re welcome to you’re opinion, but…” I throw one arm out, my other hand not budging from my knife. “I am Uzumaki Naruto, son of parents I cannot name, forger of silvers, rice stealer, law breaker. You call me trash but I am a Shinobi, like my sensei Hatake Kakashi.”

The girl’s eyes narrow at the sound of Kakashi’s name. “Ronin.” She spits into the dirt.

>wait

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>>3410723
And then it all clicks into place. “You’re her,” I say, taking another half step back. The girl advances on me, flanked by her minions, but she’s moving slowly enough that there’s still a good amount of distance between us. “The new Hatake favorite.”

“So you do know me.”

Barely. Kakashi rarely talked about his family, and he had only just made the decision to start being more helpful when the Hyuga had kidnapped him. But he had mentioned the girl his family had chosen to take his place, and I can use that.

“Hatake Hitomi,” I say, dipping into a suitably mocking bow. “It's so wonderful to finally meet you.”

Hitomi makes a gesture with one hand, and her minions begin fanning out in either direction. My eyes dart between them, struggling to identify them. Neither bare any clan markings, but one of them, a pink haired girl in light armor, has a small diamond tattooed in the center of her forehead. The other, a boy with thick eyebrows and bandages wrapped around his arms, walks with a curious gait – it is almost like his legs are heavier than they’re supposed to be.

“I don’t suppose we can talk about this like rational people?” I ask, backpedaling in a desperate attempt to stop them from surrounding me.

“I have nothing to say to you,” Hitomi says. She begins pressing her hands together in a variety of handseals, clearly in no particular rush.

“But I have so much to say to you!” I tell her. “Sensei was always so talkative after a few drinks.”

Hitomi flubs a hand seal, her fingers clearly aiming for horse but not quite finding the right configuration. “You’re lying,” she snaps, jerking her head in a transparent attempt to draw my eyes away from her hands.

I am, of course. But lying has long been my element.

>Fight
>Keep talking
>Make a break for it
>Other?

>>3410729
>Keep talking

>>3410729
>Keep talking
Shinobi or no, slick talk has gotten us awful far

>>3410729
>Keep talking
Any time Kiba.

So what's our second shinobi tool again? Was it the bell? Because if so, keeping it ready in case we have to make a break for it might be prudent.

>>3414032
We went with the knife, we slashed Hyuuga cunt in the face with it.

>>3410729
I can see the hesitation in Hitomi’s face, in the way she moves. Her minions, Pink-san and Green-san, are equally uncertain. Without clear instruction from Hitomi, they seem reluctant to advance.

I have to think about this. What does Hitomi want? She’s Kakashi’s cousin, chosen to take his place. She tracked me down as soon as the hunt began. She called me trash and spit at the mere mention of Kakashi’s name.

She tracked me down immediately. She wants to kill to me. “Kakashi is going to kill himself,” I tell her.

That does the trick. Hitomi stumbles over her hand signs again, unable to keep the surprise fro flickering across her face. “You’re lying,” she says again.

What had Hanabi called him? “Kakashi is nothing but a wastrel and an addict,” I say. “He spends his days drinking and smoking and hating himself for becoming Ronin.” I spit onto the forest floor, for emphasis.

“He wants to die, but he trained you?” Hitomi asks. She has stopped weaving hand signs – she has even stopped advancing toward me.

“I’m nothing but a gift,” I say, the words tumbling from my mouth before I can fully vet them. “An offering to you. He drinks and talks about his legacy. How he doesn’t want to be known as the man who abandoned his family.”

Of all the cons I’ve ever spun, this is perhaps the most audacious. Truth be told, I know little and less of Kakashi’s relationship with his family – but from what little I know of Hitomi, she seems…threatened by him. Why else go after me with such vigor, if not to prove herself better than the brat Kakashi trained? By painting myself as a tribute, I might be able to reorient her – or at least buy myself enough time to think of a real plan. But the more I think about it, the more I realize it won’t hold up. It can’t hold up, not even under the mildest scrutiny. If Hitomi stops to think for even a moment, she’ll realize that my previous behavior doesn’t track with the story I’m telling her. Why call myself Kakashi’s student if he’s a suicidal addict? Why mock her if my purpose is to serve?

>wait

>>3414615
But I can see it in her eyes – a desperate belief. She wants me to be telling the truth. She wants me to be on her side, or at least not a representation of the challenges she faces as a clan’s chosen heir. I take a step back, and nobody follows. Pink-san and Green-san stand frozen, waiting for Hitomi’s signal, but none is forthcoming.

“You’re…a gift for me?” She asks, as if she still doesn’t quite believe it.

“He was supposed to present me to you,” I explain, desperate to talk – because when I’m talking she’s listening, and when she’s listening she’s not thinking through what I’m telling her. “You and all the Hatake. But then the Hyuga took him, and I managed to escape but I didn’t want to run to you in case I brought the Hyuga down on you. I was going to find you during the hunt, I really was, but then the day came and I was so…” I trail off, feigning fear, “I was so scared, all I could do was run. I-”

Hitomi holds up a hand, cutting me off, but to my surprise she doesn’t signal for Pink-san and Green-san to murder me. “Then did he teach you?” She asks. “Did he tell you how it’s done? It belongs to the Hatake…it’s our ticket.”

Far behind her, nestled in the shadow of the forest, I see movement. An impossibly large man, his face covered by a mask sculpted to reflect an Oni, appears for only the briefest of moments. His light brown hair, pulled into a topknot, is still barely visible if I squint.

Akimichi Choji.

>Signal for Choji to attack
>Signal for Choji to wait
>Other?

>>3414619
Raiton: Chidori

>>3414619
>>Signal for Choji to attack
Nice to see you back QM, keep up the good work!

>>3414619
>Signal for Choji to attack
Hello again QM, good to see the best Naruto Quest in a long time back!

>>3414619
>>Signal for Choji to attack

>>3414619
>>Signal for Choji to attack

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>>3414619
“I’m going to be completely honest, I have no idea what the fuck you’re babbling about,” I tell Hitomi, shrugging my shoulders. “Thanks for hesitating long enough for me to line up an ambush, though.”

Hitomi whirls, but she’s not quite fast enough. Chouji, covered in plates of wood, bone, and even a little steel, bursts from the cover of the underbrush with an explosion of dirt and leaves. Before Hitomi can muster a defense he collides with her, the force of his charge and weight knocking her straight across the clearing until she slams into the trunk of a nearby tree. She falls hard to the ground, and does not stir.

Pink-san and Green-san take a moment to realize what’s going on, but the instant they do they burst into motion. Green-san draws two knives from his belt an drags them along his own calves – a moment later, heavy weights tumble to the forest floor. Pink-san presses her hands together and charges Choji, putting herself in between him and Hitomi.

I want to help, but in the blink of an eye Green-san closes the distance between us. He’s fast enough that I don’t even have time to draw my knife before he’s on me, a flurry of punches and kicks that force me away. Green-san is nearly as fast as Kakashi, and strikes look like something pulled from an instructional scroll – perfect in form, delivered with pinpoint precision. I fall back and Green-san’s foot whistles just inches from my nose, tearing a chunk out of a nearby tree trunk like it was made of paper.

I fall back onto my hands and spring backwards, creating a clone as I do so. Green-san barely hesitates – he plows right into the clone, his eyes never leaving the real me.

He does, however, lose concentration as he crashes bodily into my clone and the two of them tumble to the ground. My clone has a knife in its hand and it stabs downward, gouging deep holes in Green-san’s back. The boy howls with surprise and pain and buries his fist in my double’s gut, causing him to burst into smoke.

>wait

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>>3416332
Green-san rolls to his feet, still breathing heavily, and I take the opening to draw my knife. Wind howls around me and makes a beeline for the exposed blade, extending it until it’s no longer a knife but a sword, three feet in length. I whip the nearly invisible blade back and forth, eyeing Green-san.

Behind me, I can still hear Choji clashing with Pink-san. From what I can make out he has the upper hand, but Pink-san is using a variety of tricks to keep him from landing a finishing blow. She breathes fire and shifts the ground beneath Choji with a stomp of her foot, throwing him off balance and forcing him to shield his face with his forearm.

Green-san charges, as I expected. Those wounds in his back look nasty, red blood seeping through his green fatigues. If he doesn’t finish this soon the life will leak right out of him – so all I have to do is delay.

It’s easier said than done, however. Two clones burst into existence, one in front of me and the other behind. Green-san jukes right and then speeds left, throwing my front clone completely off balance, and I leap backwards until I’m standing in the waiting palms of my back clone. He throws me high into the air, just before Green-san destroys both of them with a spinning kick.

Green-san glances up at me and repositions, trying to identify where I’ll come down. Not willing to give him the benefit of being a step ahead I create another clone at my feet and push off, changing my trajectory mid air. The move throws Green-san enough that I’m able to get him with the tip of my sword, extending it just far enough to score a long, shallow cut across his torso. He grunts and bends down, then leaps with an agility that seems unhampered by his wounds.

I make another clone, trying to get away, but Green-san disperses it almost before it finishes solidifying. He lands a flurry of punches on my chest and forearms, and my body explodes into agony.

>wait

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>>3416333
I crash to the ground, desperately rolling to keep my distance – it doesn’t help – Green-san is so fast that I can’t pull away from him without tricks. He kicks me up into the air, and it’s only by leaping off a last second clone that allows me to avoid his follow up. I think the hits I’ve already scored are slowing him down, but at this rate he’ll take my head off my shoulders long before he collapses.

I create another two clones and send them rushing forward. By now Green-san has learned that these are no ordinary illusions, and he’s quick to destroy them before they can land a hit. I, however, take the brief opening this presents to dash into a nearby shadow.

My cloak’s power engulfs me, rendering me once again invisible. Green-san, momentarily taken aback, is unable to dodge my knife blade extending, and I catch him along the leg. He stumbles and charges forward, slowing but still far faster than any enemy I’ve fought in earnest. He steps into the shadow and though he cannot see me, he seems to have a seventh sense for where I’ll be, avoiding my knife strikes and even landing a few more punches and kicks.

I roll backwards out of the shadow, returning to visibility. Green-san starts to press his advantage, but I stop his initial charge by throwing my knife at his face, forcing him to sidestep. As he does so I raise my hands and create a clone on top of them, then launch that clone in Green-san’s direction. He’s fast enough to disperse that clone midair with a well-placed kick – but he’s not expecting a second flying Naruto, screaming bloody murder. I bury my fist in his right cheek, throwing him across the forest floor, as the clone that launched me races to grab my knife.

A sickening crunch draws both mine and Green-san’s attentions. On the far side of the clearing, Choji has finally cornered Pink-san, and he crushes her neck in between his massive, meaty hands. Pink-san goes limp, and Choji drops her to the ground in a boneless heap.

“Sakura!” Green-san shouts, eyes going wide. He looks from Sakura’s corpse to Hitomi, to Choji, to me. I can see a decision click into place behind his eyes, and then suddenly he’s sprinting for the cover of the forest.

My clone tosses me my knife, and as I catch it the wind swirls around me, throwing up my hair and cloak. I point the tip of the blade towards the fleeing Green-san and –

>KILL HIM
>Let him go

The posts above are me, of course. I'm just too retarded to remember to use my tripcode.

>>3415146
>>3415306
Goo to see you guys too, glad you're enjoying the quest so far. Very excited to see how y'all handle the rest of the hunt.

>>3416335
>KILL HIM
Sakura is dead, might as well off Lee as well. Sorry bro ;_;

Huh, so konoha stole kiri's shtick
>>3415306
>best Naruto Quest in a long time
This isn't bloody mist

>>3416335
>KILL HIM
Can't really befriend him now that we offed his fucking crush.

>>3415306
>best Naruto Quest in a long time back!
This is the saddest thing I've seen in a long time.

>>3416374
>bloody mist
Haven’t participated in that since the first thread, how is it so far?

>>3416335
>KILL HIM
>worst gorl is dead
Meh

>>3416465
It was going pretty well.
Myon beat Zab with the technique her dad taught her and saved Junko and Kasumi
Killed mercenaries hired by some guy who was angry his kid died during the exam while dad cut his head off
Zab and Myon got Juzo as a teacher
Did laps around an island and got cool scar from a tiger
Struggle snuggled Anko under the sea
Impressed the Kaguya clan head
Begrudgingly helped cloud slaughter jobbers from hot water. One them gave Myon and Kasumi Jashin necklaces for letting them have on last chance at glory
Occupied a village and fought zombies before cutting Hidan up like the chump he is and giving his head to Jashin for a mysterious blessing

I just hope Banzai didn't drop it or get dropped

>3416335

>>3416335
>KILL HIM

>>3417245
Dat fail of mine

>>3416335
>Let him go
I like Lee.

>>3416335
>>Let him go

>>3416335
>KILL HIM
Man, hitomi fucked up.
Hope this doesn't hurt chojis chances

Man, Sakura didn’t even get dialogue? That’s cold. Part of me wants her to use her own death as a diversion and then just Creation Rebirth-ing herself all better.

>>3416335
>>KILL HIM
Really fuckin good quest you're running, man.

>>3416335
>KILL HIM
such is life.

>>3419231
Well, she is worst girl for a reason.

>>3419231
Yeah, having her getting killed this quick doesn't really give me much hope in this not becoming a non edgy murder quest.

Also Choji just fucking murdered the teammate and possibly friend of the girl he want's to marry. Dude just tanked that ship.

>>3420473
To be fair, killing other participants seems to basically be the whole point, so I assume everyone knew what they signed up for. And Choji’s face is covered so maybe he can still swing it.

>>3420611
"Hey, that giant masked Akamichi dude murdered my friend. Maybe I can deduce who it is by remembering his equipment and fighting style and cross referencing the other Akamichi who entered the hunt. Or maybe I'm not a fucking retard and know that it's that fat fuck Choji, the guy who keeps trying to get married to me, who just broke Sakura's neck like the chicken wings he eats whole."

Also I'm pretty sure outright murdering fellow leaf ninja, hunt or no, is seen as shitty.

>>3420839
We literally just saw the second holy family gleefully murder the competition as soon as the hunt started.

>>3420839
Choji's going for Sachi, not Hitomi.

>>3420891
Well yeah, but they're fucking Uchia, the edge lord dynasty. Can't really complain to HR about the family of murder-goths that run half of the village, now can you?

Danzo was right.

>>3420909
Well, think about this: Hiashi has been planning for Kakashi's return, and when we drew our knife, we pretty much fucked the first plan up pretty good.

In addition, it seems that this is just the way of the world; dog eat dog, and all that.

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>>3416335
The wood of my knife's handle grows hot against my skin, temperature increasing until I’m worried that it might actually burn me. Just as I’m about to drop the knife the wind solidifies, forming a fifteen-foot-long blade that punches through Green-san’s back and out the other side.

He falls to the ground and in an instant I’m on top of him, the wind dissipating and leaving only the metal blade. Green-san turns over onto his back, blood pouring onto the grass below, and holds up one hand as if to ward me off.

Pathetic. I bring my knife down and it sinks into his chest until the point hits bone. Green-san gasps and clutches weakly at my wrist, but I wrench the knife free and stab him again. Blood trickles from the edge of Green-san’s mouth – but still he breathes, and so I stab him again, and again, and again, until his chest is nothing but blood and chunks of meat. Heat rages through my blood and bones, my vision tinged with red, and I-

Something catches my wrist on the upswing, a massive hand that engulfs nearly the entirety of my forearm. “Naruto,” Choji says from above me. “He’s dead.”

I look down at the ruined, bloody corpse on the ground, at the crimson that stains my hands and arms up to the elbows. The rage inside me fades as quickly as it blossomed, and I am left feeling vaguely nauseous.

“Are you alright?” Choji asks. There’s no judgment or mockery in his tone. If I have to guess I would say he seems genuinely concerned for me, in a way that doesn’t read as pity.

“I’m fine,” I tell him, pushing myself to my feet. “I…I’m fine.”

“If you say so.” Choji removes the oni mask to reveal his face, glistening with sweat. “Do you mind giving me his scroll? I need a moon.”

Still somewhat shell-shocked, I rummage around in Green-san’s things until my hands find a small white scroll. Even it has not escaped from the fighting unscathed – blood stains a good portion of it. But Choji doesn’t seem to mind. He wipes it off on his armor and tucks it into his belt.

“Hitomi will have a sun scroll,” he says, walking over to the Hatake girl’s body. To my surprise she’s not dead – but her arm is badly twisted, bone poking out past the skin.

“She went down really easy,” I manage to say, following Choji over. He pats her down until he finds her scroll, black as the night sky. “I kinda expected more.”

Choji tosses the scroll to me, and I snatch it out of the air. “I caught her by surprise,” he says, tenderly moving Hitomi’s broken arm. “Lucky. I wouldn’t have wanted to fight her straight up. Especially not with that clanless girl on her side.”

I glance over at Sakura’s corpse. She lies on her back, but her neck is twisted such that she appears to be staring straight at me with wide, unblinking green eyes. I look hurriedly away. “Do you know what she can do? Hitomi, I mean. It looked like she had some kind of special eye power.”

>wait

>>3420993
Choji frowns, looking up at me curiously as he fashions a crude splint for Hitmoi’s arm. “Eye power?”

I point to my left eye. “One was brown, but this one was like, bright blue. You’re saying that’s not a secret Shinobi ability?”

Choji reaches out and pries open Hitomi’s left eyelid with a single, meaty finger, exposing her brown eye. “Brown.”

“It must’ve been the right, then. I know what I saw.”

Choji turns his attention to the right eye. This time, the iris he exposes is bright, electric blue. “Brown,” he says again.

I look at him like he’s lost his fucking marbles, because apparently he has. “Blue,” I insist, pointing at the eye.

“Are you colorblind?”

“Are you? That eye is blue as fuck!”

Choji looks directly into the blue eye for a long few seconds. “It’s brown, Naruto.”

I clench my fists, intending to argue back, but try as I might to summon the energy I just can’t. Instead I sigh and rub my forehead, accidentally smearing Green-san’s blood all across my face as I do so. “Whatever. It’s fine.” I focus, and with an effort of will generate three copies of myself.

I blink.

The other three clones blink with me, mirror images. That happens, sometimes, when I don’t create them with true intent – they mimic my gestures until I order them to do something else. But that isn’t what has my attention. What has my attention is that there are three of them.

“That’s a useful technique,” Choji says, examining my copies. “I’ve never seen a clone with substance before. Did Kakashi teach you that?”

I stop myself before I tell him no. It’s the truth, but it would only invite more questions and I’m currently too engrossed in this new development to handle more questions. Ever since I bound the kitsune within me, I’ve been able to create the copies – but only ever two at a time. As a child, I had spent weeks straining to create a third, but never found success. And yet, here I did it without even meaning to.

Is it Kakashi’s training? As easy an answer as that would be, it doesn’t feel right. My hand drifts to my stomach, and the sick, nauseous feeling I’ve had ever since the fight ended redoubles.

“Naruto?” Are you with me?” Choji asks.

I shake the thoughts from my head. “Search the bodies,” I instruct my copies. “Take weapons, armor…anything useful.” As they split up, I turn back to Choji. “Salvage is half yours, if you want it.”

Choji shakes his head and stands, throwing the still unconscious Hitomi over his shoulder as he does so. Her broken arm is now solidly bound in a makeshift splint, and her breathing seems easier than it did before. “You need it more than I do,” he says. “I’m done.”

“You’re done?”

>wait

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>>3420998
“I have both scrolls,” Choji says, gesturing to his belt. “A very quick pass. And I get to present the Hatake with their chosen heir, rescued from the clutches of a vile ronin’s apprentice.”

“So you’re pinning the whole thing on me? You’re the one that broke her arm.”

“I’m pretty sure I got her quick enough that she can be convinced it was all you. Besides, who’s going to contradict me? All her allies are dead.”

I shake my head. “As if I don’t already have enough bad publicity.”

“Think of it as good publicity,” Choji says, shrugging a shoulder. “I upheld my end of the deal, and I think this is a better way for you to uphold yours. Even you admit that Kakashi’s influence over the Hatake has waned.”

My doubles return with a small cache of weapons and armor. I restock on throwing knives and shuriken, and replace some of my shoddier pieces of armor. The chainmail vest recovered from Sakura’s corpse is particularly useful – it is sturdy enough to catch a knife, and fits comfortably under my tunic. Also recovered are several vials of substances I can’t quite identify – poison, maybe, or some kind of flammable mixture. Whatever they are, they’ll be useful. “Well I guess I can’t blame you,” I tell Choji as I change. “Thanks for the help there. I doubt I’d still be alive right now if you hadn’t been around to help.”

“I’m not sure,” Choji says, rubbing his chin. “I wouldn’t bet against you, Uzumaki Naruto.”

I bow slightly, and he returns the gesture. As he begins to trudge off back towards the edge of the forest, a thought comes to my mind. “Hey Choji,” I call after him, “how did you know what kind of scroll I needed?”

“Hm?”

“I didn’t tell you I had a moon scroll, but you knew I’d need a sun scroll,” I say. “And you knew Green-san would have a moon scroll too, come to think of it.”

“Green-san?” Choji asks, glancing over at the boy’s corpse.

I wave my hand dismissively. “I’m serious. How did you know?”

Choji frowns. “Did Kakashi not tell you?” He asks, sounding genuinely surprised. “All clan kids receive sun scrolls. Clanless receive moon scrolls. That’s how it is every year.”

“But…you need both to pass.” The implications of Choji’s statement take a moment to wash over me, and by the time they do Choji has already vanished into the forest.

I clutch my two scrolls in either hand. The hunt is designed to pit clan against clanless – even as I think it, I remember the way the Uchiha boys butchered the clanless kids at the very beginning of the hunt.

The bile rises in my throat at the memory, but despite my sickness all I can do is laugh. I always knew it was called the hunt, but I never really stopped to think about who precisely was being hunted.

>wait

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>>3421000
I look down at the scrolls in my hands again, and they feel weightier. Technically, I’ve passed the hunt – I could leave right now and be declared a full Shinobi. But that wouldn’t free Kakashi from his cage, and I would be leaving the Inuzuka in the lurch. I made a promise, and I wasn’t the type to break a promise.

The real question was whether I should keep moving, looking for Hinata, or wait here for the Inuzuka. This little detour with Hitomi and her team cost me a good chunk of time – it’s unlikely that I could find Hinata barring a good bit of luck – but at the same time I don’t really want to present myself to Kiba and his nakama empty handed. I feel like that would be a dangerous display of weakness in this strange Shinobi world.

>Seek our Hinata
>Wait for Kiba
>Other?

>>3419455
Thanks anon, I'm glad you're having fun.

>>3420473
I know it might come off as disingenuous given the murder in the last few updates, but I really don't intend this quest to be an edgy murder killfest. You don't have to kill anyone. But Shinobi are magical murder machines, and when they get in fights people tend to die. I'm not going to avoid illustrating that when the weapons come out.

>>3421003
>Seek out Hinata
Shikamaru will probably know where Hanabi is. We could ask him.

>>3421003
>Seek our Hinata

>>3421003
>>Seek our Hinata

>>3421010
>Shinobi are magical murder machines
thanks, couldn't have put it better myself. Zabuza was in the right, and the fact that Kakashi gave a whole speech about shinobi only being tools of murder early on in the show only solidified my view.

Well I just find it weird that Choji would kill his fellow villagers, clanless or not.

>>3421010
Some people just consider anything not strictly LG to be edgy.

>>3421087
From what's written, it seems like the world it's in is mostly 'cream of the crop'. For instance, this is the second part of the Chunin exam; there was no written exam prior to this.

>>3421010
Don't worry about an handful of guys getting salty QM, your quest is great.

>>3421003
>wait for Kiba

>>3421003
I bend low and leap, returning to the trees. I can’t afford to look weak in front of the Inuzuka, to look like the smallest bump in the plan has thrown me off balance. I have to make them believe I have this under control.

Unfortunately, I don’t particularly have this under control. Hitomi’s interference has cost me a head start and Choji – two of my very few allies. If I want to pull through on this, I need to shape up, fast.

I breathe in deeply through my nose, allowing my mind to go blank. Kakashi taught me very little about tracking, but he did teach me the basics – how to identify individual scents amongst the collection of them that made up everyday life, how to identify footprints and signs of travel, and most importantly how to draw context from the information I was collecting and make sense of it all. On the first breath my nose identified very little – I suppose it was too much to hope that Hinata was wearing a distinctive perfume – but on the second I caught just the barest whiff of something. Oil and steel.

It could be any of the other contestants, but it wasn’t like I had a wide variety of options to explore. I know Hinata is close, and I know…well, very little other than that. Other than the fact that she’s not a warrior, that she sat and did nothing while her father violated the hospitality she had extended. Does that mean she’ll advance slowly, cautiously? I can only hope.

I take another breath, but the scent has already faded. Still, I know the general direction it came from, and so I dash across the branches, very careful to stay aware of my surroundings.

My three clones pop into existence alongside me as I run, fanning out so that I can cover more ground. I can’t tell which one is the new one, since they’re all exactly identical, but the presence of the third leaves me slightly uneasy. More uneasy than I already was, considering I could be murdered at any time, I mean.

For maybe two miles, my clones and I continue unchallenged. I skid to a stop on a particularly narrow branch, signaling my copies to do the same, and look around. If Hinata moved in a straight line from the beginning of the hunt, she likely would’ve passed through this area. I sniff the air tentatively, but nothing jumps out at me.

I drop to the ground, leaving my clones hidden in the trees. It is only now that I’m starting to get nervous – can I really expect to be able to find three specific Shinobi in a forest this size? I remember with a grim clarity that the Inuzuka themselves doubted their ability to track Hinata. What hope do I have?

>wait

>>3426337
No. There has to be something that will give me an edge here. I might not have Hinata’s pedigree, or the Inuzuka’s dogs, but I have something they don’t. I have Kakashi, and the lessons he taught me. They’ve gotten me this far. They can get me a little further.

What has Kakashi told me? I think back on his lessons, as sparse and seemingly pointless as they often were. Is there anything I can use? I travel back through my memories, through spring and winter and fall, all the way back to the summer we first met. All the way back to my first lesson.

Sitting in a field, focusing. Listening to Kakashi drone on and on about how the Shinobi who has truly mastered himself is the one that does…

Nothing at all.

I know where Hinata is.

All of the sudden I’m sprinting along the forest floor, trusting my doubles to keep up with me from their perches overhead. It’s so blindingly simple, and it fits with everything I know about her, as little as that may be.

I can tell I’m reaching the edge of the forest because the trees are thinning out, the sunlight creeping through the branches. For a moment my heart leaps in my throat – they’re not here, I’ve misjudged, I’ve cost myself even more time – but as I lean forward to take another step I realize that I cannot. I am frozen in place, mid stride, as if my entire body is encased in stone. The only thing I can move are my mouth and eyes – they flicker to treetops, where my clones lie in wait.

“Uzumaki Naruto,” comes the voice of Shikamaru, sounding eerily like it is coming from every direction at once. “I hope you remember what you promised me.”

>Talk
>Attack
>Other?

>>3426341
>Talk

>>3426341
>Talk
I'm listening

>>3426341
>>Talk
Yeah, I remember just fine.

>>3426341
>>Talk

>>3426341
>Talk

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>>3426341
“I remember just fine.” I strain against the technique that holds me in place, an icy chain wrapped around my skin. It flexes in response, weakening like physical bonds might, but I’m left unsure as to whether I could break it, if push came to shove. Two figures melt out of the underbrush, a young boy with wild brown hair and a blue scarf, and none other than Hinata herself. She is dressed in white and greys and carries no weapon, but her eyes shine with power.

“He has illusions in the trees,” the boy says. “You can drop those, we know this is the real you."

“They’re not illusions,” Hinata says quietly. She doesn’t move her gaze as she speaks or walks, an eerie, inhuman mannerism. “I don’t know what they are, but they’re substantial.”

“I’d appreciate you dropping them,” Shikamaru says. The more he speaks the more I’m able to get a handle on his location, but it's still vague.

“Funny. I’d appreciate it if you let me go.”

There’s a moment of silence. “We’ll do it together. On three, neh?”

I don’t love surrendering the high ground, but if it lets me move again… “Neh.”

We count to three. True to Shikamaru’s word, the pressure against my skin fades. I catch a glimpse of a shadow snaking across the ground, moving in Shikamaru’s general direction until it vanishes into the forest. High above us, my clones dissipate.

“Wow, that never works,” the boy says.

“It bodes well,” Shikamaru says, pushing past a few low hanging branches and joining his allies in the small clearing. Of the three, he wears the heaviest armor, with both a chainmail shirt and a thick jacket. “It shows trust.” He bows slightly. “It’s good to see you again, Naruto. You've been busy.”

“He already has a sun scroll,” Hinata says.

Shikamaru thinks on this for a moment. “You were running out of the forest,” he says. “Are you done? It’s not much further to the edge, and you’d be named Shinobi.”

“I’m not here for a title,” I tell him, then turn to Hinata. “My sensei is rotting in your palace.”

Hinata nods, solemn. “I…want to apologize,” she says, her eerie, unblinking eyes still locked on me. “I wouldn't have invited you had I known my father’s intentions.” Suddenly she lunges forward – but instead of striking me, she lays herself prostrate across the ground. “I humbly beg your forgiveness!”

A glance over at Shikamaru and the boy confirms my suspicion that this isn’t normal behavior. “Stand up,” I tell her. I hate having people bow to me, which luckily isn’t a problem the vast majority of the time. “Please, just…stand up.”

Hinata pushes herself to her feet, but continues bowing at the waist. “What my father did was…unconscionable. I promise you, if I could free Kakashi I would. But I do not have the power.”

“Bullshit. You’re the Princess of the Moon. You’re…God.”

>wait

File: Shikamaru.jpg (45 KB, 564x1055)

45 KB JPG

>>3431032
“Only once I emerge from the forest,” Hinata says. “Until I am named Shinobi, I’m just a child.”

“So pass the hunt. How tough can it be? You’re hunting half-trained clanless, don’t tell me you can’t handle that.”

“It’s more complicated than that, Naruto.” Shikamaru says.

I cross my arms, waiting for an explanation.

Shikamaru sighs. “If this were a normal hunt, we wouldn’t eve be talking to you. But Hinata needs allies, and we can be reasonably sure that you haven’t been compromised by Hiashi.” He pauses a moment after he speaks, gauging my reaction. “As we’ve been saying, Hinata’s interests don’t perfectly align with her father’s. He doesn’t respect her, and he doesn’t see her as a worthy heir to divinity.”

“So why not just…” I pause, trying to remember what I’ve learned about the particulars of the Sun and Moon. “Just declare her unfit? They’ve done that before, right? The bloody Sun.”

Shikamaru nods. “They have, but there are rules. Hiashi is a powerful man, but he is not divinity. And the Uchiha refuse to get involved Hyuga affairs. Without divine authority, Hiashi can’t alter the natural succession.”

My eyes widen, just a fraction. “But if Hinata dies in the forest…”

“So you see our problem,” Shikamaru says. “Hiashi has been preparing for this hunt for years. He’s been stacking the deck against us. We have no idea who we can trust, and-”

“Shikamaru,” Hinata says. Though her voice is no more than a whisper, Shikamaru stops talking instantly. “They’re here.”

I swallow.

“What?” Shikamaru asks.

Hinata doesn’t move, but her hands shake at her sides. “The Inuzuka. They’re here.”

I look left, then right, but see no hint Kiba or his nakama. Still, Hinata doesn’t seem like the kidding type.

“They can’t have tracked us,” Shikamaru says. “We were too careful. How could they have…”

And then his eyes find me.

I shrug. “Cat’s out of the bag now, I guess.”

“You led them to us,” Shikamaru snarls. “What did he promise you? Money? A marriage?”

“He actually hasn’t promised me anything,” I say, strolling forward. “This is actually a mostly unrelated ambush. But from what you've told me, he wants Hinata dead pretty bad. I wonder what he’d give me if I could make sure she didn’t make it out of the forest?”

It isn’t the original plan. In many ways, it’s better than the original plan. Kiba gets to kill Hinata, I get Kakashi back, and there’s no need to hunt down Hanabi – I still haven’t forgotten the beating she gave me that day in the palace. All I have to do is signal the attack.

But as I watch Hinata tremble, I hesitate. She bowed to me. She is divinity, and she bowed to dirt. She came here today not just because she needs my help, but so she could apologize.

Do I really want to be the kind of person that punishes that?

>Attack
>Work something out
>Other?

>>3431034
>Work something out
Hinata is probably one of the few people we know who have shown us genuine kindness, even if it was undercut by her father's bullshit. If Kiba wants to bloody the Hyuuga's nose, he can do it just fine by not playing into Hiashi's plans.

>>3431034
>>Work something out
Hinata seems like a decent person. I’d rather we work out killing her sister instead.

>>3431034
>>Work something out
She can help us capture Hanabi and we can fuck over her dad's plan.

>>3431034
>Work something out

>>3431034
>Work something out

>>3431145
Kiba said he's not really one for just bloodying someone's nose, heavily implying that things aren't looking good for whichever sister he gets his hands on. We MIGHT be able to talk him down from that in favor of just ransoming her to secure the goodwill of the Princess? That would have to come after explaining that killing Hinata plays straight into Hiashi's plans and makes his clan the perfect scapegoat though.

>>3431320
If I had to be honest, we could probably convince him to switch his initial "let's steal some girl" plan to "let's steal the girls sent to kill the girl we initially came to kidnap" rather easily.

After all, his main objective is fucking with the Hyuga clan and he'd be probably way more interested in getting his hands on people actually valued by the head rather than the heir that he's desperately trying to remove from the line of succession.

>>3431334
He could fuck him further by simply killing the daughter he wants to get the succession though. I'm not saying getting him to spare Hinata would be difficult, I'm saying that Hinata would probably be bummed out at the cost being her sister's life.

>>3431034
Reeeeeee what the fuck.
>Work something out
Is Hanabi even participating in this hunt? I guess I could reread. Still, though, it would be ideal to kill *her* as opposed to... Hinata.

Hanabi's a cunt.

I guess she isn't in the hunt. I hope Kiba doesn't mind getting them young.

>>3432396
Hanabi is participating in the hunt. Kakashi mentioned it last thread.

>>3432623
Oh thank the Lord. I say we ask Shikamaru and Hinata if he knows where she went, or if he can give his best guess.

>>3431034
>Work something out
Well Kiba did say a princess and Hanabi still qualifies.