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/qst/ - Quests


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You are Uzumaki Shiki, son of Uzumaki Naori and her partner Ryūzetsu, and a member of Konohagakure’s Team 15. For the first time in six months you’ve come home to the shinobi village Amegakure, together with your teammates who have just finished escorting a group of art merchants between the two villages you currently call home. There was some trouble on the road in the form of five deadbeat former genin who decided to try robbing your party, and they got much more than they bargained for – one of their guys is dead, one is in the hospital recovering from his wounds, and the other three are in prison by now.

It wasn’t even that you were trying to kill the guy, you simply threw an attack their way to create an opening for your teammates. But when two of your just enemies stood there and got hit instead of defending themselves properly, of course people were going to get seriously hurt or killed. Then again these were also the guys who thought that standing in the middle of the road in a group counted as an ‘ambush’, so maybe you had them overestimated from the start.

In any event you’re in Amegakure now, having arrived at your family home with your team to find your sister Makoto waiting for you. Needless to say, your teammates have found the whole experience so far to be rather confusing and surprising.

“It’s always been a bit... odd,” you admit with a slight frown. “Definitely formal, almost ritualized, but only in specific ways and at certain times.”

“Naori-ue in particular always acts way different with her close friends,” Makoto adds thoughtfully, putting words to what you’ve both long understood. “That’s how she was raised – with a really specific understanding of how to interact with certain people.”

“Our parents had a lot of rules,” you explain, walking over to one of the small cabinets and pulling out some cushions. “But they always explained the reasons for them, why they applied when they did and why they were sidelined when they were. And despite how busy they still are, they always made time for us.”

“Yeah no, both our parents are the kind of person to whom the people they love are the most important thing in the world,” Makoto shrugs before taking a cushion from your hand. “So while it made it hard to bring friends over, I think we were born lucky.”

“Not like we had many friends,” you sigh, “at least none our age.”

“Wait, why not?” Wasabi-kun frowns. You walk past her to set the electric kettle going. “Why wouldn’t you two be the most popular kids in the village – like some kinda mad cross between Boruto-kun and Sarada-kun?”

“... I think I might know the answer to that,” Sumire-kun speaks up in a soft voice. “Does your academy here have a ‘preview day’ like ours does in Konoha?”

“Yeah, it does,” you confirm. “Makoto and I sparred together.”

“You already knew ninjutsu and taijutsu by then?” Sumire continues. “Didn’t you?”
>1/3
>>
>>5243457
Makoto nods. “We didn’t realize that most six-year-olds dodn’t have the chakra reserves of a chūnin.”

“I used the Ryūka technique,” you remember.

“Yeah, back then it was harder for you to not set stuff on fire!” Makoto laughs. “And I countered it with Mizurappa.”

“You were always a natural with suiton,” you chuckle. “Remember that time at your fifth birthday when you tried to blow out the candles and...”

Makoto frowns. “I thought we agreed not to talk about that?”

“... I don’t remember agreeing to anything.”

“So this is what having a sibling is like,” Wasabi muses.

Sumire glances at her. “I forgot that you’re an only child... it is nice, isn’t it?”

...

You make sure to provide your guests with tea and wagashi (melon-filled namagashi in this case), which they seem to enjoy sitting on the porch watching the rain fall on the garden (along with Momo and Ichigo, Makoto’s salamander summon, who ‘bask’ on some of the rocks). It’s an unusual if enjoyable moment of complete calm.

“Yeah, so sorry I’m a bit late,” Naori-ue apologizes upon appearing from her office, adjacent to the sitting room, where she has a hiraishin marked kunai on the wall behind her desk. “There was a training session I had to oversee in the 13th training grounds.”

“The one in poisoned village?” you frown. “What for?”

“Some of the chūnin needed a refresher on how to deal with toxic conditions,” your mother explains, “so I thought it was best that I be on-site for that.”

“No kidding,” Makoto shakes her head. “That place is still a deathtrap.”

“That was the village that was destroyed during the Third shinobi war,” Hanabi-sensei sighs. “To think it’s still uninhabitable after all these years.”

“What are you talking about?” Wasabi-kun asks.
>2/3
>>
>>5243464
“There’s a small village near Amegakure’s old city that was exposed to so much poison during the Third shinobi war,” Hanabi-sensei explains, “that it had to be abandoned. There are lethal levels of heavy metals and other contaminants still contained in the soil, so Amegakure uses it as a special training ground.”

“We were taught a little about that war in our coursework,” Sumire muses, “but I had no idea it was so bad.”

“It shaped a lot of our history,” Naori-ue muses, and for a rare moment her tone is completely serious – before that moment passes. “Anyway, we should get you three moved in – you three can have one of the guest rooms, for sure.”

...

While Makoto and Ryūzetsu-ue are busy preparing dinner for guests – two of whom have yet to arrive – Naori-ue calls you over to the dojo. When you arrive you find it empty, except for your mother, two cushions on the floor, and two small teacups with a pot between them.

“Please,” she gestures to the unoccupied cusion, which you dutifully occupy by sitting in seiza atop it. “So yeah, you killed a man yesterday. I wanted to ask you now that we have a moment, how do you feel about that?”

“It’s difficult to say,” you admit.

- Naori -

“I didn’t even intend to kill him,” your son admits after a moment. “I threw that shuriken and duplicated it hoping to create an opportunity for my teammates – I didn’t expect any of them would get hit in the face like that.”

“It’s hard to predict that sort of outcome, for sure,” you agree with his implicit meaning that the death was actually somewhat of an accident. “That being said, they were trying sincerely to hurt or kill you and your team.”

>You shouldn’t feel concerned. Always fight other shinobi assuming they mean to kill you.
>It’s something to consider going forward – when you must kill, and when you must not.
>Was using the fūma shuriken an appropriate use of force? Was there a realistic alternative?
>Other?
>>
>>5243468
>>Was using the fūma shuriken an appropriate use of force? Was there a realistic alternative?
>>
>>5243468
>>Was using the fūma shuriken an appropriate use of force? Was there a realistic alternative?
>>
>>5243468
>>Was using the fūma shuriken an appropriate use of force? Was there a realistic alternative?
>>
>>5243468
>>You shouldn’t feel concerned. Always fight other shinobi assuming they mean to kill you.
>>Was using the fūma shuriken an appropriate use of force? Was there a realistic alternative?

"When you fight another shinobi, you should always assume that they intend to seriously injure or kill you. Assuming any less could get you killed for underestimating them. That said, you and Makoto have always had a problem with 'appropriate force'. Why do you think I don't use sage mode to end every fight I am in instantly? You need to learn to appropriately measure an enemy's capability, and meet them on or slightly above that level. Meeting every fight with overwhelming force is a good way to get sloppy when the time comes that you meet an opponent who can take it."
>>
>>5243468
>>You shouldn’t feel concerned. Always fight other shinobi assuming they mean to kill you.
>>
>>5243468
>It’s something to consider going forward – when you must kill, and when you must not.
>>
>>5243468
>>It’s something to consider going forward – when you must kill, and when you must not.
>>
>>5243468
>It's a balancing act. You'll always have to weigh appropriate force against the potential threat, and if you misjudge it you'll have to live with the consequences.
>>
>>5243468
>>5243920
support
>>
>>5243468
“Yeah no, think about it carefully,” you muse, “so you’re sure not to take away the wrong lessons by mistake. Were there any realistic alternatives to the decision you made?”

A pause. “I could’ve used a standard shuriken, I suppose.”

“Would that have made a difference?” you press, encouraging your son to take that thought to its rational conclusion. “Would it have achieved the effect you were seeking?”

Another pause, as Shiki considers the likely results of such an attack. “Yes, but it might not have been much different – it may have actually been harder to dodge more projectiles.”

“And perhaps the other wounded bandit would have bled to death,” you muse. “Maybe fewer people would have died, maybe more.”

“... it sounds like you’re trying to discourage the question,” Shiki frowns.

You shake your head. “No, it’s always good to think about your actions – it’s part of being responsible for them. However once it’s come to violence there are often no ‘good’ choices, only ones that prioritize your mission and your comrades.”

“I think you did exactly that.”

After a few moments, your son confides in you. “I guess this whole ‘kill or be killed’ thing is just totally foreign to kids our age – me and Makoto I mean.”

“Fair point,” you admit, “back in my day there were a lot more B-rank missions and higher to go around. More kids are surviving to their twenties now, which is a good thing, but it’s harder to find qualified chunin.”

“Despite academy students having more advanced classes...” Shiki sighs. “Yeah, I guess I can see how limited experience would make that outcome possible.”

“You know,” you muse, considering this carefully, “your other mom learned the Tenrō from me?”

“You never told me that,” Shiki replies curiously. “How did you learn it?”

“By interrogating the previous warden of Hōzuki with genjutsu,” you recall, “before killing him. It was an Akatsuki mission – I didn’t want to leave the prison un-guarded despite having to kill Mui-han to keep him from... I guess destroying the world or something.”

“Or something?”

“Yeah no, I didn’t let it get far enough to see what would happen,” you admit. “Point is I think I have a way to help you understand my perspective a little better.”

“By using genjutsu to share the memory of an experience with me,” Shiki realizes – smart kid.

“You can say no,” you insist. “A lot of my memories are... well... a lot.”

- Shiki -
>Yes.
>No.

- Naori -
>Share the memory of your fight with Kurosuki Raiga.
>Share the memory of learning about Ajisai’s death.
>Share the memory of your sword-duel with Kaguya.
>Other?
>>
>>5244488

- Shiki -
>Yes.

- Naori -
>Share each memory with him in turn, and explain what's happening and why as best you can. Keep going until he's had enough.
>>
>>5244488
>yes
>share your fight with the paths of pain in konoha
>>
>>5244488
>>Yes.
>>share your fight with the paths of pain in konoha

I really liked that one moment where Noari had to explicitly choose between gambling to save literally everyone and focusing her efforts on the hospitals and having to watch everyone else die.
>>
>>5244488
>No.
Stop using superpowers to solve everything.
>>
>>5244508
Go play regular human quest, dumbass
>>
>>5244488
>>Yes.
>>Share the memory of your fight with Kurosuki Raiga.
>>
>>5244488

- Shiki -
>Yes.

- Naori -
>Share the memory of your fight with Kurosuki Raiga.
This is the one most relatable to Shiki because the situational comparison between Shiki's age and physical condition mirror that of when Naori fought Kurosuki Raiga.
>>
>>5244493
>>5244488
I'll support this. Start with the easy stuff with Raiga before ramping up in emotional intensity.
>>
>>5244488
Supporting >>5244493 & >>5244527
>>
>>5244488
After considering your idea for a moment, your son nods. “I get that you’re concerned... but you have a point. Show me what you think I need to understand.”

That trust he places in you... it would have been difficult for you to comprehend, before you had children. The full meaning behind that trust isn’t lost on you – it’s only offered because where many others might see a person of monstrous powers and insidious influence, Shiki sees someone who he can trust to have his best interests and his personal growth in mind at all times. That’s a huge sense of responsibility to you, and it’s deeply personal.

“There are three memories I want you to experience,” you explain. “The first one is an event you already know about.”

- Shiki -

Naori-ue places her hand against your forehead, and you can feel the genjutsu beginning to take effect. Instead of fighting it, which is always your first instinct, you consciously allow it to take hold so that the familiar confines of the dojo are quickly replaced by scenes of a battlefield – and startlingly, your slight apprehension at what you’re about to see is replaced by feelings not your own. You’re not just seeing it – true to Naori-ue’s intent, you’re actually feeling what she felt at the time, seeing it through her young eyes.

She never told you that it was raining that day.

The stench of blood hangs heavy over the scene of a mass murder, a man in a raincoat stands over the corpses of other men, finishing off the last survivor with a blade you recognize from seeing it in Buntan-nee’s hand. She never told you what it sounded like, the last, burbling breaths of a dead man. The tension and dread of a battle she knew could not be avoided, the growing resolution to strike first, the momentary thrill of the attack. She never told you that she didn’t even really notice that her eye had been cut out, and though she told you about the frantic retreat feeling her barely-contained panic was something you were hardly prepared for.

So this is what it feels like to watch a friend be murdered. It’s revolting... a nauseating mix of hatred and sorrow that your mother barely managed to contain. But contain it she does, somehow, and with the benefit of your own training you realize that had she not you would never have been born.

“Still standing, little red?” the swordsman grins dementedly. “How wonderful! At least you can take a hit or two and still come swinging at me!”

“I promise to say something nice for you when I bury you, nameless brat!”

“Raishō Naori,” you hear your mother’s voice, as a child your own age, mutter back.

“What was that?”

“My name,” you reply as the air around her blade begins to shimmer. “My name is Raishō Naori!”
>1/?
>>
>>5245160
“Well, if we’re doing this,” the man cackles, “then where are my manners? My name is Kurosuki Raiga, wielder of Kiba, the Boltswords!”

The first time your mother ever used the kengen with the sword whose name is now practically synonymous with her own, the Umekiri Ichimonji, she unknowingly killed a child. Although she had no way to know it, she was immediately punished – you feel the pain of her ribs shattering, her cheek being crushed by a hammering blow. You watch her second friend, who was your doctor when you and Makoto were little, lose the use of his legs. And then... someone else entirely swoops in to kill the madman.

Black cloaks. Red clouds. A glimpse of the fully-evolved sharingan. Uchiha Itachi.

“I lost a friend that day,” Naori-ue tells you as her memory ends in black. “And for a long time, drifted away from another. That was what it felt like to lose them. That was what it felt like to lose a part of myself.”

...

A second memory, this time one of Konohagakure with... well, with a lot of buildings in it that you don’t recognize as still being there. There’s smoke in the air that stings your nostrils, and obvious damage surrounds you as far as you can see.

Your mother closes your eyes, sensing for the one thing that would help her divine Pain’s intentions… only to find that Konan-oba is no longer in the village. It’s infuriating to her that she quite simply blows away a giant multi-headed dog monster and some kind of zombie panda with chained explosive tags just to vent.

“Bastard,” she hisses. “So it’s going to be like that...”

“What?” Ajisai-san, younger now with black eyes and tell-tale signs of having been reincarnated, asks.

“He’s going to blow up the whole village,” your mother declares. “That’s why he threw the Animal Path over the wall and summoned Konan-sensei and his other Paths away. He knew I had him cornered and he was always planning on doing this anyway.”

“Well where is he?” Ajisai-san. “Can you stop him?”

“I have no idea,” Naori admits. “And I doubt he’ll give me an easy opening to counterattack… so even if I can spot him in time, and come up with a way to do it, I’d be gambling everyone’s lives on it.”

“So it’s either gamble everything on a single strike,” Ajisai-san summarizes, “or prepare for the worst and save everyone you can.”

“Exactly,” you can feel a sense of bitterness, dissatisfaction... but also, a grim recognition of reality. “It's not just my own pride, but thousands of innocents that Pain is preparing to murder.”
>2/?
>>
>>5245162
The blast wave hits in almost the exact center of the village and scours a small circle down to bare dirt before reflecting back upwards in a phenomenon that until that day had been totally theoretical. No conventional barrier could have hoped to stop it – a relentless omnidirectional force spreading from a point some three hundred meters above the hypocenter.

Entire city blocks are reduced to dust and shrapnel in seconds by this doubled shockwave, which eventually pushes entire crumbling buildings off their foundations and carries them away. Shinobi unfortunate enough to still be out there are swept up in it… the few unfortunates nearest the hypocenter are simply pulped by the force, while a few hundred meters away anyone still on their feet has time to scramble for cover or to dodge the debris coming their way. You’ve never seen anything like this, and you understand in this moment – Naori-ue didn’t want you to have to experience anything like it the way she did.

It baffles you that anyone facing such a force even stood a chance.

The shock front would have destroyed the hospital completely if your mother hadn’t raised a Kongō Fūsa barrier that forced the destruction to take a wide path around her, like a lone figure parting a relentless tsunami of unidentifiable debris. Literally thousands of helpless victims that inundated the hospital as a result of Pain’s diversionary attack, and hundreds of medical personnel treating them, would have been crushed a second time.

Naori-ue is in bad shape – something wet and warm trickles from her eyes as an unfamiliar man and the lady that runs your favorite ramen shop in Konoha are supporting her.

After opening two of her inner gates to recover her strength, Naori-ue takes charge of the situation. "Keep protecting these people," you hear her instruct them. "Ayame... keep helping, in any way you can. I'll see to things out there, so don't worry.”

...

Naruto-san and Sasuke-san stand with her at the base of the crater, facing down a series of orange-haired shinobi wearing the Akatsuki uniform, all of whom are pierced heavily with black rods. One of them wears a familiar face... is that Ajisai-oba?

Tsunade-han glances at you – at Naori-ue – in shock as she agrees to let Naruto-san and Sasuke-san fight against Pain on their own. “You can’t be serious!”

“I have no right to tell them not to,” you hear her declare. “But there’s also something that I need to do that’s non-negotiable. I’ll take the Animal Path myself.”

“No,” Naruto counters. “Get granny Tsuna...”

“The Animal Path was my friend. I won’t let Pain continue to defile her corpse like this.” You can feel her rage, cold and intensely focused, building with each word, along with her determination to put an end to the outrage she's borne witness to. You couldn't have possibly imagined how this would feel without having felt it yourself. You'd have no frame of reference for it.
>3/?
>>
>>5245165
“It is a shame to lose such a concentration of chakra,” a pale-skinned woman muses as you take in your surroundings. Pale skin, long white hair, horns... waitaminute...

“But a living incarnation of war has no place in our world.”

It’s almost sensory overload as Naori-ue tests senses that have expanded in ways you struggle to comprehend – chakra, thermal, air movements, an instinctive level of spatial awareness that has reached the level of a true ‘sense’ by itself.

“Yeah no, those were some pretty weighty words,” Naori-ue stalls for time, giving herself a chance to study her enemy with those new senses. “It almost sounds as if you hate me despite having only just met me.”

“Are you even aware of the fact that you are smiling?” Kaguya counters. Totally impassive, but Naori-ue gets a strong impression that she has a complete disdain towards not just herself, but towards all of humanity. “You are about to face a god in battle and you are smiling, as if nothing else could make you so happy. That is how I know that you cannot coexist with us.”

It’s striking how much calmer Naori-ue is at this point in her life, facing the strongest opponent any human has ever faced – complete acceptance of the risk, complete focus on the task in front of her, absolute mastery over self. She feels the fear and the tension, accepts them for what they are, and sets them aside as unnecessary.

“And?” she counters Kaguya-hime’s rebuke. “You lost the part of yourself with any understanding of humanity when you ate the fruit, so how could you know what my smile means?”

Naori-ue’s senses tell you what’s happening in exquisite detail as Kaguya-hime pulls out one of her own bones – the right radius – and forms it into a sword like an ancient jian. There’s no viscera, no obvious pain – the bone slides out almost without resistance and settles into her hand as thought it had never belonged anywhere else.

“Tsubaki no Haikotsu,” she announces, blank eyes never leaving Naori-ue nor showing any change in emotion, never betraying any intent.

“You just made that up,” Naori accuse her.

“We have never had need of it before,” she clarifies, “however we understand that further discussion would be meaningless. So we will converse instead in the language most suited to you.”
>4/5
>>
>>5245396
Naruto-san and Kakashi-oji are apprehensive, Naori-ue can sense it – but there’s a little flicker of excitement. She understands full well the risk, that the blade in Kaguya-hime’s hand will kill her even with a glancing blow, making it in a certain sense the ultimate kenjutsu form. In order to win, her skills will need to match Kaguya-hime’s raw ability, which she understands will be a test.

“You’re right,” your mother admits with a sigh. “It’s too bad – a god could have made for a fine ally against your clansmen. But humanity has no need of a god who can’t understand the human heart.”

The first moves are almost impossible to process even with Naori-ue’s overwhelming sensory acuity, Umekiri leaving her saya and seeking the first strike. Kaguya’s bone blade meets the now-famous kodachi, a very keen response but a swing even you recognize as shallow, much like the next two exchanges. Three slashes in quick succession and nothing to show for it, both fighters dancing lightly around each other to gain a positional advantage. Each time Naori-ue moves she unseal paper butterflies, hiding them among illusory distractions.

She flickers behind Kaguya using a hiraishin marking placed directly on her using some means you didn’t even manage to catch despite all your advantages, and combines two quick hand seals using her left hand with a diagonal slash with Umekiri in her right.

“Suiryūsen!”

Kaguya however merely turns, showing you that her arm has crossed in front of her so that you can see her left palm under her right shoulder. She quickly absorbs Naori-ue’s attack, which would have scared the everloving hell out of you but doesn’t seem to even fluster your mother, and retaliates by firing hardened white hairs from the back of her scalp in a wide spray.

“Yeah no, I think that’s enough for you to get the gist,” Naori-ue tells you, and very suddenly the dojo floor returns – your face laying against it in a little puddle of slobber. “Sorry about that last one – I know the extra sensory information was probably too much to handle for too long.”

“... what was that?” you ask her awkwardly.

“The result of everything that came before it,” Naori-ue explains. “I had to be that scared little genin, and that overwhelmed and outraged mercenary, to be the person I was when I needed to face Kaguya-hime alone. If you can benefit from the sort of things I endured without having to endure them yourself – that would be nice, for sure.”

A thought. Something you just began to understand a few moments ago. “The Ōtsutsuki are a clan... you expect others to come here looking for Kaguya-hime?”

- Naori -

>Yes, Kaguya-hime certainly thought so. But it may be your generation that has to face them.
>We can’t say for sure. The Kages decided to keep it quiet for the time being, so it’s classified.
>Let me worry about that for now. You should focus on doing what you know you can.
>Other?
>>
>>5245409
>>Yes, Kaguya-hime certainly thought so. But it may be your generation that has to face them.
>>
>>5245409
>Let me worry about that for now. You should focus on doing what you know you can.
>>
>>5245409
>Others
Kaguya-hime certainly thought so, but she was also insane, we can't say for sure. So the Kages decided to keep it quite for the time being, its classified.
>>
>>5245409
>Yes, Kaguya-hime certainly thought so. But it may be your generation that has to face them.
>We've already dealt with one other so far.
>>
>>5245409
See >>5245431
>>
>>5245409
>Let me worry about that for now. You should focus on doing what you know you can.
>>
>>5245409
>>5245431
This
>>
>>5245409
“Kaguya-hime certainly thought so, but Kaguya-hime was insane,” you admit. “There may have been another one who came here with Kaguya-hime but we can’t know that for sure, and the clan on the moon is basically extinct – down to just one survivor.”

“So we don’t know what to expect or when,” Shiki-kun summarizes.

You nod. “That’s my understanding.”

Shiki shakes his head. “I’m sorry, this is a lot to process.”

You reach over to ruffle his hair, the same way you have for years, and he allows you to do it, same as he has since he was old enough to have an opinion about it. “Take your time, and remember – you don’t need to have all the answers right away. Just do what you can as best you can, and the answers should come.”

“I believe in you, Shiki-kun.”

- Shiki -

You embrace your mother... what you’ve seen and felt will be with you for a long time, possibly until the day you die. You saw deep and lasting pain, a lot of regret, and impossible choices. But you also saw unyielding strength, a powerful love for others, and a striking sense of focus and discipline. And that’s left you with a new appreciation of just how much Naori-ue has done for you, and for the world she helped bring you into, along with a profound sense of gratitude that urges you to action.

She simply returns the gesture, perhaps understanding the meaning behind it, perhaps willing to simply enjoy the moment for its own merits.

“Yeah no, what do you say we have dinner with your teammates?” she eventually muses.

“That sounds nice,” you tell her.

“Our other guests should be here now too,” she continues. “Let’s go, Shiki-kun.”

...

The other guests turn out to be Yugitō-oba and Fū-neesan – which is absolutely, 100% alright by you.

“Been a while, Shikkun!” Fū greets you as soon as she stops swinging you around by your neck.

“... missed you too neesan...” you manage to choke out a response.

“Come on, let the poor young man breathe,” Nii Yugitō insists with a wry grin. “Leave some for the rest of us.”

Fū-nee glances down at you in dawning comprehension before shaking you vigorously by your shoulders. “Ah! Hang in there, Shikkun!”
>1/2
>>
>>5243464
I'm sorry, I have to interrupt and remark on the incredibly poignant image you have conjured in my mind, as tender as it is tragic.

Picture the scene: lights turned down low; family, friends and other well-wishers singing while gatherered around a pair of doe-eyed, apple-cheeked tots in party hats. They both look on in wonder at their birthday cake with five whole candles. The singing ends. There's a brief pause. Without warning from one end of the table a blast of water erupts, strong enough to bowl over a full-grown man (which, in fact, it does: the poor monk never saw it coming.) The cake is just a sad, soggy ruin now plastered across half the room--nevermind the candles. Silence reins for a few heartbeats. Various expressions of shock and two of tearful horror are evident. Then, the crying starts . . .
>>
>>5247073
The meal, as is expected when you have so much company, is one only possible with the cooperation of several shadow clones in the kitchen doing all the preparation work. The appetizer, sakizuke, is a tart bite-sized morsel of watermelon-flavored cream, steamed into a puff with a preserved cherry on top, followed by a hassun, a plate with summer seasonal foods – freshwater eel with pickled ginger slices and lightly-pickled cucumber. It’s striking how poised Hanabi-sensei is while eating, and just as striking how out-of-place Wasabi seems. She’s either a little stunned at being treated to kaiseki that you’d expect to pay a few thousand ryo for in a restaurant you can only get into with a reference from an existing patron, or else she’s nervous at being seated next to Matatabi’s jinchūriki.

Either way, it falls to your parents to try and carefully make her a little more comfortable, prodding Makoto into talking more with her to distract her from whatever’s got her so nervous. Next is the seasonal mukōzuki plate of sliced sashimi, which features two of the aozakana: ‘blue fish’ which come into season in the early autumn, which is the seasonal transition you’re experiencing right now. Featured here are saba mackerel and saira knife-fish, both popular this time of year especially in coastal communities but harder to get here for people who can’t teleport.

Then comes a hiyashi-bachi of chilled steamed edamame, which cleanses the palate for the closest thing to a ‘main’ course – a hot pot with thin-sliced venison, mushroom, tofu, and various vegetables in a miso-based broth. Next is a small bowl of rice with pickled vegetables – which seems to make Sumire about as happy as you’ve ever seen her when eating – followed by dessert in the form of a light but flavorful peach jelly with a white chocolate drizzle. While the adults in the room can all sip on sake the whole time, the rest of you are stuck drinking tea. Good tea to be sure, but it’s not really what kaiseki of this type was meant to be paired with.

Still, it’s an excellent meal even by the standards of the Uzumaki household’s entertaining standards.

...

Once you’ve dealt with the dishes, you return to the sitting room to face out into the garden, where your family’s many guests sit and listen to the rain with tea.

“This is normal for you?” Wasabi-kun hisses softly when you sit down with your team.

You shake your head. “Only with important guests.”

“We’re ‘important’?”

You nod. “You’re my teammates. That’s important to me, which makes it important to my family.”

“Hey Shikkun!” Fū-neesan grins, basically dropping in on you. “Let’s play a game, shall we?”
>2/3
>>
>>5247152
Can we make this version canon please?
>>
>>5247163
“So,” Makoto mutters in the darkness, when you’re back to sharing your room that night. “That’s your team.”

“That’s my team,” you confirm. “They’ve been good to me so far.... all of the class has. We didn’t talk about it, but what’s your team like?”

“Well Gin-kun can be trouble sometimes,” Makoto admits, “and Sakuto-kun can be headstrong...”

“Sakuto?” you interrupt. “You mean that jerk’s your third member?”

“He’s mellowed out since the last time you spoke,” Makoto sighs, “though he can also still be a bit abrasive. He’s good at medical ninjutsu though – right up to using the chakra scalpel in a fight.”

“That’s pretty nasty,” you admit. “But I’m glad your team worked out too – I’ve been worried you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” she acknowledges, “I was worried too. About you, I mean. Now, not so much.”

...

The next morning Makoto has to leave shortly after breakfast for a training session with her teammates, and after giving her a quick hug you and your team head out into the village so that you can show them around – a mission entrusted to you by the village head (Naori-ue) and the chief of security (Ryūzetsu-ue). The first thing you do is show them around the heart of the village, from the lakeside back to the Uzumaki shrine (where you pay respects to your ancestors), and onward to the old shrine (which you explain that your mother actually teleported across the lake from its previous location). There the monks welcome you in and offer to show your team around, including the room where your mother lived for several years after your grandmother passed.

Sumire-kun seems particularly struck by the awareness that your mother, without doubt the most powerful and capable kunoichi in the world, was an orphan just like her. After getting shūin for your visit, which the head abbot offers to write for you and your team personally, you take your teammates past highlights through the rest of the village – pointing out the first dedicated airship terminal in the world, the end terminal of the first international Thunder Rail line, the war memorial, and right next to the war memorial the small and often-overlooked memorial to the deceased members of Akatsuki. The first generation are all here of course including Nagato, who was something like your great uncle, as well as the generation who worked under Pain. Only one name is missing from this list: Uchiha Obito, the man who crassly used Nagato-oji for his own ends in league with Uchiha Madara, seeking to betray the whole world to Kaguya-hime.
>3/4
>>
>>5247411
After wandering through the local history museum, which has an interesting special exhibit on Hanzō the Salamander (including his sword collection from which you understand your personal blade came), you find yourselves at the mall waiting for your meeting time with the clients you came here with. With a little time to shop while Sumire-kun and Wasabi-kun are examining traditional craftwork from the region (the old local styles of ceramics and lacquer, gift boxes of wagashi made with floating rice and taro and other local ingredients, that sort of thing), you find your own thoughts drifting oscillating between the practical and the stylish.

>1d6, best three of four
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5247420
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5247420
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5247420
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5247420
>>
>>5247420
You find yourself examining equipment, where your eyes fall on packs of senbon in a supply store. This shop also has prepared parasols – which you never learned how to use properly, since you didn’t attend the academy in Amegakure – and even the tiny bells meant to be attached to senbon to use the shadow senbon technique (which you did master in Konoha’s academy, even if you find it a little gimmicky). A quick test against one of the shop’s targets in back confirms that you can toss two senbon with one hand quite easily, and double it four times into thirty-two by the time they strike. The rather dastardly idea in your head is to provide an alternative to doing the same technique with shuriken – and to coat the points in Momo’s venom.

You even manage to do exactly that by summoning Momo into a public restroom, the door to which you briefly block for privacy, drawing some of the venom from Momo’s exposed bones to coat eight senbon and seal them into your raikō kenka formulae. That will give you two attacks with each hand before you need to ‘reload’, which should be enough to test the theory. You also seal ten uncoated senbon into each seal, five single senbon with bells, and three sets with only one bell between two senbon.

...

After all the preparation, you stop in front of a shop selling clothes in the style your mother has made somewhat popular among shinobi in Amegakure, and even among other villages to a lesser degree – particularly among kunoichi. One of the fabrics catches your eye – medium blue, with stylized white whirlpools swirling on one edge.

“It doesn’t take a genius to know who you are, young master,” an older lady muses, walking up to you as you evaluate the fabric. “Your mother, Naori-sama, was one of the first to order a custom item from our humble shop – and now we have three different locations. Her patronage over the years has meant the world to us.”

“That’s nice to hear,” you muse politely.

“Your style of cloak – it’s quite chic for a young man.”

“Kind of you to say,” you reply.

Then you notice her examining you closely. “Can I help you, ma’am?”

“Perhaps you can,” she muses thoughtfully. “I would like to make a deal with you, same as I did with your mother before you were born – I will make you a new coat, and my company will maintain it whenever it becomes damaged, if you will simply wear it.”

>Deal.
>I’ll pass.
>Maybe when I’m famous.
>Other?
>>
>>5247586
>>Deal.
>>
>>5247586
>Deal.
>>
>>5247586
>>Deal.
>>
>>5247586
>>Deal.
>>
>>5247586
>>Deal.
>>
>>5247586
Other:
>I am going to be operating out of Konoha for the foreseeable future, just so you are aware.

As a side note: shinobi are supposed to steer clear of anything that might feasibly be a bribe, or alternative income source while on official business, right?
>>
>>5247586
“I have to admit, I’m a bit curious,” you frown. “I know that Naori-ue has only one such arrangement, and that otherwise she avoids using her name and position that way like the plague. So why you?”

The old lady chuckles. “You really have no idea who I am, do you? That’s nice. I like to keep it that way.”

“Okay, so who are you?” you ask, slowly approaching the limits of your patience.

“I am Kinoshita Ōi – perhaps you have heard of my name, but have had no face to which you could attach it?”

Kinoshita Ōi... wait...

“Ah, I see that rang a bell?”

“Kino,” you realize. “This isn’t your shop, is it?”

“Ah, no, no it is not,” she recognizes the mistake. “My apologies if you assumed it was. No, I like to browse the work of other local artisans – it gives me ideas, you see, and I’ll often source my materials based on that.”

Kino-ya. You’re talking to the founder of Kino-ya, probably the single most famous design house in the Land of Storms. Kinoshita Ōi is well known not just for her fashion design but for producing her designs entirely from the work of local artisans like this one, for bringing in and supporting talent across multiple forms of practical, decorative, and fine art, and for giving generously to help fund social works and arts festivals within and around Amegakure. She’s also developed a reputation for her eccentricity – you’re not aware of anyone who knows her face outside the village security department, which is evidently just the way she likes it for exactly this sort of shopping trip.

In other words, along with Naori-ue, this is one of the people who really helped drive the revival of traditional arts and design in the Land of Storms with the close of the last shinobi world war.

“In that case,” you muse, “I’ll accept your kind offer... but I live and work in Konohagakure right now. Will that be a problem?”

“No, not at all,” she insists, “I can deliver it to your mothers when I’ve finished and then Naori-sama can take it to you.”

‘Deliver’, as opposed to ‘send’ – she means to hand-make and hand-deliver the coat she intends to make for you.

“Please look forward to it.”

She takes your measurements quickly, seemingly does some mental calculus to adjust for a flak jacket, and then scurries off to start buying fabrics and thread.
>1/2
>>
>>5248652
“So what did you do while we were shopping, Shiki-kun?” Sumire-kun strikes up a conversation as you escort your clients out of Amegakure.

“I picked up some new equipment to try out,” you muse, “and ordered a new one-off cloak from a high-end designer.”

“Oho?” one of the art merchants muses. “Which designer would that be?”

“Kinoshita Ōi.”

The man looks aghast at that revelation. “I had no idea you were so well-connected – Kinoshita-dono only makes garments for a select, hand-picked clientele.”

You shrug. “It was an exchange – a nice new cloak with lifetime repair and replacement, and in exchange I wear it to show off my homeland’s artistic talent.”

“Nice,” Wasabi-kun muses. “So where is it?”

“Kinoshita-san is still making it,” you admit.



Your team, your sensei, and your clients all travel the rest of the day to get out of the rain before setting up camp. The next morning you strike out early, and make it a fair distance before Hanabi-sensei stops you. “If you have business with us step forward,” she declares loudly. “Otherwise, step aside.”

A large man with broad shoulders, a big beard, and a dark cloak steps out from behind a tree, along with four thugs. The man looks familiar from your mission files. “We’ve got a woman with an attitude here – I like it. Too bad I can’t allow it.”

“You would be the rest of the Garakuta gang, then?”

“None other,” the man declares. “I sent my guys out here to rob you the first time, but now that’s gotta change.”

“Get ‘em!”
>1d6, best three of four
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5248751
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5248751
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5248751
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5248751
I WANT THAT BOOTY
>>
>>5248751
The thugs move around to flank you, while the bearded leader sticks his hands out from under his cloak before bringing them together and clasping them together. “Doton: Sokona -”

You interrupt his technique by unsealing a senbon with a bell attached to it, and throw it at his head. He’s careful to dodge it, though the movement and the surprise attack throw off his balance and focus just enough to keep him from completing the technique.

“Seen that one,” you frown. “And getting stuck in the mud doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time. So I don’t think I’m gonna let you use it.”

“Nice, Shiki-kun!” Hanabi-sensei commends you. She hits one of the thugs in his wrist to block a kunai, only to find that his entire hand comes off. A follow-up strike to his chin dissolves his head in a splash of water – these are all water clones?

You move to cover for Wasabi-kun for a second while she uses her cat-covering technique, sniffing carefully at the air. In the mean time you toss another pair of senbon with bells, one at a thug’s water clone, and one at the boss to keep him moving.

“All of these guys except for fuzzy-face over there are water clones!” she declares. “They don’t have a scent!”

“The casters have to be nearby,” Sumire-kun declares as she takes a step back from having parried a kunai herself, letting the cloned thug stumble forward before she dispatches it with her tantō. “Sensei?”

Hanabi-sensei quickly takes a look around with her byakugan, before nodding once. “You’re right, the four thugs are all here. But I think I’ll let you three handle this.”

“Shiki-kun, can you handle the boss?” Sumire-kun asks you.

You look the man over, having just thrown another senbon with a bell that he blocked with a kunai. “Yeah.”

“We’ll handle the thugs,” Wasabi-kun insists, “just keep that jerk from using his technique!”

“I’m getting a little tired of this,” the boss grumbles.

“I was about to say the same thing,” you admit. “But if you want me to use something spicier, I’ll be happy to oblige. Just don’t complain about the heat.”

>Slip in a ‘shadow senbon’ coated with salamander venom, see if you can make it stick.
>Use a bell, take advantage of his overconfidence and use the shuriken shadow clone.
>The bells are meant to use genjutsu – you can make them ‘ring’ with the wave transmission.
>Other?
>>
>>5249175
>>Slip in a ‘shadow senbon’ coated with salamander venom, see if you can make it stick.
>>
>>5249175
>>Slip in a ‘shadow senbon’ coated with salamander venom, see if you can make it stick.
>>
>>5249175
>>The bells are meant to use genjutsu – you can make them ‘ring’ with the wave transmission.
>>
>>5249175
>>Slip in a ‘shadow senbon’ coated with salamander venom, see if you can make it stick.
>>
>>5249175
>1d6, first three, DC 10
>SP: 4/4
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5249369
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5249369
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5249369
dice plus one dee six
>>
>>5249369
Use 1SP?
>Yes
>No
>>
>>5249391
>Yes
>>
>>5249391
>>Yes
>>
>>5249391
>Yes
>>
>>5249391
yes
>>
>>5249391
>SP: 3/4

“I see what you have in mind, brat,” the bearded man smirks. “It’s just about the oldest, lamest trick in the book – and even if it worked, there’s a reason nobody uses senbon. The have no killing power!”

“Let’s say that after you’ve seen what I have in mind,” you counter, producing a pair of senbon and throwing them.

The bearded gang leader’s smirk fades as you snap your fingertips, while the senbon are still in flight – he clearly sees them coming, but when the sound of the bells hits him his eyes widen in confused surprise as he loses track of their position for just an instant, putting his kunai blade in the wrong place to parry.

Meanwhile, your teammates have quickly dispatched the water clones and faced down the four thugs who have come out of hiding, their strategy having fallen flat leaving them with little but brute force to get their way. Wasabi-kun seems completely fine with that, just about ripping the first man’s arm out of its socket as she throws him to the ground before kicking several of his teeth in to keep him down. Another thug readies a kunai to throw at her, but Sumire-kun has already summoned Nue. Currently the size of a panther or so, the chimera knocks the would-be attacker to the ground with a pouncing tackle.

“Nue, hold!” Sumire-kun orders, and Nue obliges, grabbing the man’s arm in his fangs and holding him down with his body weight. Sumire uses the opening to gather water from one of the defeated shadow clones for an unusually large attack. “Suiton: Suireiha!”

Instead of one large blast she releases several blasts in quick succession, each about the size of her usual one-handed attack instead of the slightly smaller attacks she typically can create when using the technique this way, covering for Wasabi-kun to get in close. Between the two of them, the last two thugs go down easily.

Back in your own fight, the bearded man pulls the senbon out of his shoulder. “You little bastard, what did you just do?”

“A power-obsessed simpleton like you wouldn’t understand,” you sigh, “but when a solution is simple, efficient, and effective, we call that ‘elegance’. Using a simple genjutsu, two senbon, and a little bit of giant salamander venom is an elegant solution, don’t you think?”

There’s a pause while the color drains from his face. “What was that last thing you said?”

“Giant salamander venom,” you repeat.

Hanabi-sensei joins you, the battle having largely wrapped up. “I thought you were using senbon to have a less lethal option?”

You scoff. “When did I ever say that?”
>1/2
>>
>>5249449
Wasabi-kun and Sumire-kun quickly set to work tying the thugs up to be left by the side of the road so that some of Ryūzetsu-ue’s men can pick them up – Wasabi-kun can’t help but cock her fist, prompting a flinch from a couple of the thugs.

Meanwhile...

“Bullshit,” the bandit leader spits. “No way a brat like you could be...”

You weave the seals and summon Momo-kun. The man’s eyes widen and he starts to visibly sweat at the realization that you weren’t lying, and as he stares into the abyss stares into him. Then the abyss licks his own eyeball again.

“That guy’s not looking so good,” Wasabi-kun muses as she joins you. “Kinda pale and clammy-lookin. What’s up? Why’d you summon Momo-kun?”

“You gave that thing a name!?” the bandit practically screams. “What kind of psychopaths are you!?”

“Now that’s not nice,” Wasabi-kun frowns, scratching Momo-kun behind where his ears should be. “Momo-kun’s a good boy, arentcha Momo-kun?”

Momo barks happily at the attention.

“Calm down,” you sigh. “They may both be neurotoxins, but Ibuse’s venom affects the autonomic nervous system, eventually leading to suffocation. Momo-kun’s works on the somatic nervous system.”

The man tries again to form hand seals, but finds that his right arm and hand won’t do what he wants – the side, naturally, which your senbon hit. “What did you do to me!?”

“I get it!” Wasabi-kun surprises you. “It’s like the Ranshinshō technique!”

“The what?” you ask, almost in unison with your opponent. “Shut up.”

“His nervous system is all scrambled around the spots where you hit him,” Wasabi summarizes. “There’s a really high level medical ninjutsu that does that with the whole body.”

“Anyway, you can’t form seals right now,” Hanabi-sensei muses, “so why don’t we call it quits before someone really gets hurt, hm?”

...

The rest of your trip is totally uneventful now that the Garakuta gang is completely out of the picture. Its members and its leader are now on their way to Yukigakure to experience the warden’s warm welcome, and the art merchants are happy to get home to Konoha with their wares and all of their blood still tucked away safe and sound.

Unfortunately, you soon learn that things have gotten a bit out of hand even in the six days you’ve been gone.
>2/3
>>
>>5250253
Team 15 reports immediately to the mission assignment desk, where one of Naruto-san’s shadow clones meets you personally.

“Congratulations on another successful mission,” he acknowledges, before shaking hands with his sister-in-law. “Hanabi-san, sorry to have you turn right back around but we’ll need you on this as well.”

“What’s going on around here?” Hanabi demands impatiently. “I’ve never seen so many people so worked up.”

“There’s been a rash of incidents lately,” Naruto explains, “all claimed as the work of the Byakuya gang.”

“The who now?” you frown.

“They’re a group of shinobi turned self-described noble thieves,” Hanabi-sensei explains. “They steal things then ingratiate themselves with local folks who are unhappy with their financial situation by handing out a cut of their profits.”

“Not an unfair or inaccurate description,” Naruto admits, “though it bothers me that they’ve found so much support. I don’t think we can completely write that off.”

“So, what do we do, boss?” Wasabi-kun asks.

“You don’t do anything,” Naruto insists. “With the threat to the Kaminarimon company this has become a matter of internal politics, and you three just came off a B-rank mission that took six days to complete. Go home and rest – things will be coming to a head tonight, so let the adults handle it this time.”

>1d6, first three
>DC 10
>SP: 3/4
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5250666
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5250666
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5250666
>>
>spend 1sp
>Yes
>No
>>
>>5250697
No
>>
>>5250697
>>Yes
>>
>>5250697
>Yes
>>
>>5250697
>Yes
>>
>>5250697
Outside of the mission assignment office, you and your teammates occupy a park bench to have a little gripe session, a semi-public airing of grievances.

“It’s always like this!” Wasabi-kun grumbles. “Other than Hanabi-sensei all the adults look down on us... for what? For being born in the peaceful world they created!”

“You’ve been awfully quiet about this,” Sumire observes “What are you thinking, Shiki-kun?”

“There isn’t much we can do,” you admit with a sigh. “I’m a foreign national, remember? The Hokage probably doesn’t want me getting mixed up in his village’s politics if he can avoid it.”

“Speaking of politics, why exactly are these people targeting Denki’s old man anyway?” Wasabi-kun wonders aloud, leaning back on the bench. “I mean, is there even any proof the company’s done anything wrong other than make money hand over fist?”

“For that matter, what kind of shinobi calls out their targets like that?” you shake your head. “Come to think of it, what kind of thief does that?”

There’s a pause. “They wouldn’t,” Sumire-kun realizes almost at the exact same time as you do.

“What, so all this is just some kinda distraction?” Wasabi-kun frowns. “Shouldn’t someone else’ve thought of that?”

“We’ve been out of the village for almost a week,” you point out.

Sumire-kun is quick to agree. “One of the best ways to trick someone is to make them think your lie was something they thought up themselves – I fooled the same adults involved in this ‘noble thieves’ case the same exact way.”

“Sumirin, try to call sensei!” you insist, before pulling out your own mobile and dialing the one person you absolutely trust to have the write answer for this situation. “Naori-ue, we have a problem.”

- Naori -

“Okay, so if you were going to steal something from Konoha,” your son presses you eagerly, “what would you wanna target?”

You frown. “So yeah, I can only speak for myself since I don’t know anything about the enemy – but I’d say the most valuable think in this village that isn’t alive is at the Ninjutsu Research Center.”

“The what now?” he frowns.

“It’s some sciency place Boruto-kun keeps hanging out around,” Wasabi-kun scratches lightly behind her ear. “Guy who runs it gives him new games all the time, limited edition stuff. I don’t even think Boruto-kun knows what goes on there.”
>1/2
>>
>>5252590
“It’s a research center developing scientific ninja tools,” you explain. “And it’s the reason Naruto-kun and I don’t talk much anymore outside official business.”

“Why is that, exactly?” Sumire-kun asks curiously.

“Yeah no, we had a dust-up over it at one of the Union meetings,” you clarify. “Imagine those Garakuta gang punks you fought a few days ago, but they’d all bought the ability to use the rasengan – to put our strongest techniques in the hands of people who don’t have the experience or the perspective to use them judiciously would be a disaster.”

“So what do we do about this?” your son asks. “Sumirin, did you get a hold of Hanabi-sensei?”

“She’s not answering her mobile,” Sumire-kun tells you.

>That means it’s up to the four of us to make sure this gang of miscreants doesn’t get their way.
>Sumire-kun, Wasabi-kun, speak with your sensei directly. Shiki-kun... try not to slow me down.
>All three of you should go to the Kaminarimon building. Make sure nobody gets hurt in all this.
>Other?
>>
>>5252805
>>That means it’s up to the four of us to make sure this gang of miscreants doesn’t get their way.
>>
>>5252805
>>All three of you should go to the Kaminarimon building. Make sure nobody gets hurt in all this.
>Other?
Have a shadow clone secretly follow them. Just because Naori wants them to have a safety net doesn't mean she should ruin their mindset by letting them know it exists.

Trust but verify the new generation.
>>
>>5252805
>All three of you should go to the Kaminarimon building. Make sure nobody gets hurt in all this.
>>
>>5252805
>All three of you should go to the Kaminarimon building. Make sure nobody gets hurt in all this.
>>
>>5252805
>>That means it’s up to the four of us to make sure this gang of miscreants doesn’t get their way.
>>
>>5252805
>All three of you should go to the Kaminarimon building. Make sure nobody gets hurt in all this.

>Yeah no, we had a dust-up over it at one of the Union meetings
Who won?
>>
>>5254122
Since Naruto still has his weapon research center I'd say he did.
>>
>>5252805
“Yeah no, sorry Shiki,” you apologize quickly, “but I’ll get there faster on my own. I can’t order you three to go help, but Shiki? I think you can do some good at the Kaminarimon building. And you’ll do more good as a team.”

Your son and his teammates exchange a series of quick, silent glances, before coming to a conclusion. “I’m going,” he insists curtly. “Even if it’s disobeying an order – not acting now would be worse.”

“You don’t have to convince me,” Wasabi-kun immediately agrees. “Let’s get on it!”

“Right!” Sumire-kun agrees, and the three of them take off together in a loose formation.

A few moments after they’re physically out of sight, you create a shadow clone to follow them. You trust that they’ll be alright, and that they can show discretion when dealing with random civilians that have been whipped into a frenzy somehow by conmen.

It doesn’t take you long to locate a disturbance outside the research center, where you swoop in on a team of vaguely familiar genin fighting against grown men in owl masks. The genin – Akimichi Chōchō, Yamanaka Inojin, Uchiha Sarada, and a girl you don’t recognize – are easily holding their own against most of the thieves. There’s one exception, probably about at the level of an experienced chūnin, who uses the Kitsunebi technique.

“Take this, you little punks!” he crows, slinging the fireballs around with sweeping movements of his hands. “And curse your foolishness for picking a fight with a real ninja with your last breaths!”

You hit the remaining fireballs with water needles, spit from your mouth in quick succession, extinguishing them all. Then you allow yourself to be seen. “Yeah no, that’s not a good look for a ‘noble’ thief.”

“Who the heck are you?” he demands, holding his hands in a position to start weaving seals.

He gets through snake and is trying to do ram when you resheath Umekiri. As he tries to bend his fingers properly, most of them fall off at various knuckles... a realization followed by a wail.

“Don’t be such a baby,” you sigh. “Your fingers can be reattached – but snuffing out a young life, that would’ve been permanent.”

You hit him in the back with Umekiri’s hilt. “So yeah, I’m gonna have you sleep for a while.”

The man falls awkwardly onto his face, out cold.

Sarada-kun is the first to speak up. “Naori-dono? I... even with the sharingan I barely saw what you did.”
>1/2
>>
>>5254531
“Are you four okay?” you ask the important question, before creating a shadow clone. “Can you handle this?”

“Well, now yeah,” Inojin-kun muses. “Should we... I dunno, collect his fingers or something?”

“If you feel like it,” you shrug. “Boruto and Shikadai are missing – where did they go?”

“Towards the train line,” Sarada-kun tells you.

“Then I think I know where I have to be,” you muse. “Thank you, Sarada-kun. You kids did good work... my clone will tie these up and someone will be a long to collect them.”

- Shiki -

You manage to take a side street to get around the crowd, leaping down from a rooftop to join the genin and instructors standing outside the Kaminarimon company headquarters. Hanabi-sensei seems a little surprised to see you.

“I thought you were ordered to rest?” she frowns. “What are you doing here?”

“Naori-ue is dealing with a threat to the Ninjutsu Research Center,” you inform her.

“We tried to call you twice,” Sumire-kun adds. “Straight to voicemail.”

“Can’t just sit around at a time like this,” Wasabi-kun insists.

Hanabi-sensei quickly checks her mobile to confirm what Sumirin told her, then nods. “Okay. We can use the help – just go easy, okay? Get this crowd to disperse without hurting anyone.”

Teams 40 and 20 are present – a whole lot of people you don’t see very often, and an absence of a few teams you expected to be here.

>1d6, first three
>DC 8
>SP: 2/4
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5254544
Some good rolls please
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5254544
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5254544
>>
>>5254544
The protesters are already clashing with the chūnin and village police who have formed a perimeter around the entrance to the Kaminarimon headquarters building, but one particularly spirited fellow shouting about “destroying the Kaminarimon company” catches your eyes. You wave Sumire-kun over to you and point it out to her.

“Does that look like a seal to you?”

After a moment she nods. “I’ll go get Sensei!”

A few moments later Team 15 is gathered, waiting as Hanabi-sensei uses her Byakugan to examine the crowd. “You’re right... well-spotted, guys.”

“The police chief’s up inside the building, yeah?” Wasabi-kun thinks things through a moment. “Is there any way we can get a call through?”

“Denki-kun is on suspension with his teammates,” Hanabi-sensei informs you. “That should mean he’s inside right now.”

“I’ll send him a picture,” Sumire-kun declares.

“You have his number?” Wasabi-kun muses. “Just what I’d expect from the class rep!”

After sending the pictures out to Denki-kun, you and your team confer with teams 20 and 40 before spreading out along the front line along with various chūnin – you even see Mirai-san getting in on this. You pick out the first guy you noticed with the seal on his neck.

“The Kaminarimon Company works us to the bone and keeps all the profits for themselves!” he protests before you tap your right fingertips against the seal and perform the genjutsu release technique.

He goes a little unsteady for a moment, wavering briefly on his feet, before shaking his head. “What’s going on here? Why am I shouting at the headquarters building when they just gave me a raise last week?”

“You were put under a genjutsu by the Byakuya gang,” you explain over the crowd noise. “They wanted to use you as a diversion while they committed a heist somewhere else in the village.”

“That’s right... there was a guy who stopped me after work,” he recalls blearily, before shaking his head again. “Oh, crap!”


“It’s okay!” you insist, “You weren’t the only one. But we’re going to need you to talk to the police – do you mind?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “I’ll cooperate, of course.”

He steps across the line, and you lead him to a uniformed officer to have a little talk. All up and down the security perimeter you see a few others doing the same, while others even go so far as to tell their fellow protesters what was going on.
>1/2
>>
>>5255364
- Naori -

So they planned to take the train, thinking nobody could outrun it? How foolish.

You slide the window of one of the forward cars open, duck inside, and step through into the second car of the mostly empty train with a smile on your face. “Tickets, please.”

The two shinobi you find there, an older man with a full beard and a boy maybe a few years older than Shiki and Makoto, are initially too stunned at your sudden appearance to even react. Then the younger of the two leaps into action, with a single tiger hand seal. “Hyōton: Mangehyō!”

Before the ice needles have even finished forming your own kunai is on its way past them, and as they streak for the spot where your afterimage still stands Umekiri’s hilt is striking the boy in the solar plexus. His feet lift up off the ground slightly and his eyes lose focus, before you turn and kick him across the whole remaining length of the car and through the door in the back.

Meanwhile the man has barely had time to draw his own sword, stepping back away from you. “I’m not going to let you stop me now – not when the take of a lifetime is in my hands!”

“Gekkō-han, missing-nin from Yukigakure, wanted for multiple counts of homicide, grand theft, and racketeering,” you muse. “Filth.”

“After killing that brat, you have the nerve to lecture me?” he laughs.

In mere moments he finds his own blade pressed against his through, his arm and wrist twisted awkwardly to allow that to be possible. “Who said I’ve killed anyone tonight?”

“What-” he grunts in pain. “Are you... looking down on me?”

“Perhaps a little,” you admit, finally twisting his arm enough to pop his elbow. “Yeah, as much as I hate to quote that man, he had a point – no self-respecting adult would fight seriously against children.”

Then you spin him around, flip him over in a high arc onto his back, then kick him in the face hard enough to knock him out in a single blow.

...

You ruined a lot of lives tonight. Most of them deserved it, but that poor ice-using boy didn’t deserve any of this. You want to think that it’s better for him to know the truth about the man who postured as his guardian, who murdered his parents and then used him for his abilities to fleece people before abandoning him at the first sign of complication. Gekkō is a real piece of work, thoroughly twisted by vice, without a single redeeming feature to his credit – a villain fit for this era of peace. Perhaps knowing that the man who murdered his parents will die in Yukigakure’s prison will be some small comfort to Ryōgi. You hope it will, just as you hope Koyuki-han will be good at her word to treat Ryōgi with as much leniency as their nation’s laws will allow.
>2/3
>>
>>5255364
“The world we shinobi walk in can be unforgiving, even cruel sometimes,” you insist to Shikadai and Boruto, who seem downcast at Ryōgi’s arrest. “Sometimes it’s necessary. But in any event, it’s how we negotiate the realities of this world, and try to make it a better, fairer place, where we can find meaning.”

“Remember that... and try not to let it get you too down.”

...

Which leaves you with this – a scroll, stolen briefly by Gekkō-han before you captured him and remanded him and Ryōgi directly into Yukigakure’s custody. In it is contained a wealth of knowledge regarding the theory and practical application of ninjutsu, enough you think to serve as the basis for a system to recreate it through technological principles.

>Study it, determine the likely form of the tool, and create a counter-strategy to teach to “real” shinobi.
>Remove any mention of techniques like the rasengan which you deem too dangerous to spread widely.
>This scroll’s entire existence is an affont. It should be locked away in the shrike forest and never see the light of day.
>Other?
>>
>>5255632
>>Study it, determine the likely form of the tool, and create a counter-strategy to teach to “real” shinobi.

If Naori can't stop Naruto from pushing high tech ninja tools, then he can hardly begrudge Naori creating "proper" counter strategies to share around.
>>
>>5255632
>Study it, determine the likely form of the tool, and create a counter-strategy to teach to “real” shinobi.
>>
>>5255632
>>Study it, determine the likely form of the tool, and create a counter-strategy to teach to “real” shinobi.
>>
>>5255632
>>Study it, determine the likely form of the tool, and create a counter-strategy to teach to “real” shinobi.
>>
>>5255632
>>Study it, determine the likely form of the tool, and create a counter-strategy to teach to “real” shinobi.
>>
>>5255632
>Study it, determine the likely form of the tool, and create a counter-strategy to teach to “real” shinobi.
ARMS RACE IS A GO!
>>
>>5255632
>Study it, determine the likely form of the tool, and create a counter-strategy to teach to “real” shinobi.
>>
>>5255632
>other: display utter disgust at how careless your blockhead cousin has grown as of late.
>>
>>5255632
>1d6, first three
Roll for how bad the contents turn out to be, on a scale of one to instantly murdering Katasuke.
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5256785
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5256785
>on a scale of one to instantly murdering Katasuke.

wait what wtf did he do. Do I need to look this guy up?
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5256785
>>
So is higher or lower better?
>>
>>5256810
>>5256792
>>5256790
>>5256785
>12 is a result
WELP. someone's getting a maiming
>>
>>5256785
It may not be something you want to see in the world, but it exists now and you have to decide what to do about it. And the most conservative way to handle it is to first figure out what it is you have to deal with by reading through as much of the scroll as possible.

...

There are three ways to deal with the device that the head researcher, Katasuke, has come up with. The most obvious and low-tech way would be to damage it in such a way that it’s left inoperable. You suppose anything that could prevent it from releasing the tiny scroll into which individual techniques are sealed would do the job, right down to just physically blocking the ejection port. The second way requires a little more skill, but in a sense for an observant shinobi could be easier.

It’s striking to you that the shinobi kote has such a flaw, though not surprising. To keep the operation simple and reliable it can only store six techniques – one of each element and one of no elemental nature. Each of these is activated by a specific one-handed gesture on the side wearing teh gauntlet. These gestures cannot be changed, false signs can’t be meaningfully mixed in the way you, Sasuke-kun, and Kakashi-han have taken to doing, and messing about too much can lead to unintentional activation or even interfering with your own attack.

The third way is extremely specialized, but perhaps for the Uzumaki clan, the most brutally effective option – to devise a fūinjutsu formula that mimics the signal that tells the gauntlet to select and release a technique. If it works, the effect could be to use a Kongō Fūsa-derived ninjutsu to cause the gauntlet to explode. And wouldn’t you know it, the key to the sealing system Katasuke and his fellow scientists devised to work around not being allowed to use Uzumaki fūinjutsu techniques is right there in front of you.

...

But there’s more in here, and some of it isn’t exactly something you’re happy to see. Hiden techniques for a number of clans are included – the shadow imitation, the partial expansion, and others from Konohagakure. The explosive clay technique from Iwagakure, made infamous by Deidara, is described in detail with no clear way suggested to make it work. The ryūmei used by your wife Ryūzetsu. Then there are kinjutsu – including the multi-shadow clone. Absent are many of the various kekkei genkai, as well as the Edo Tensei. But there’s also a description of a derived technique based on Minato-han’s hiraishin.

Taken together, it’s infuriating.

>Take this straight to Naruto and lay down the ultimatum – get this in check or Amegakure leaves the Shinobi Union. Start playing hardball.
>Take this to Sasuke. He’s not going to be any happier about it than you are and Naruto might listen to him. Force Naruto's hand.
>Take action. Place the necessary markers around the building and teleport the whole damn thing to another dimension. Negotiate from strength.
>Other?
>>
>>5256886
>Call a meeting of the kages, make clear what's happening and explain the dangers to absolutely everyone
>>
>>5256886
>>Take this to Sasuke. He’s not going to be any happier about it than you are and Naruto might listen to him. Force Naruto's hand.
>>
>>5256886
>Take it to Sauske, force Naruto's hand.
>Escalate your demands if he refuses by going full hardball.
>if he still refuses then Get the kages assembled and force THEIR hands.
>Reveal scroll contents
>Demand you idiot cousin to either scrap the project altogether or nerf it heavily.
>Imply that even simple bandits and genin-level terrorist can use and replicate high level lethal techniques like Deidara's explosive clay with a simple tool such as the one the research facility is trying to develop.
>Make extrapolating predictions based on current trends of the sheer amount of terrorist incidents with the advent of the shinobi kote.
>our idiot cousin just laid the foundations and invited EVERYONE to another even more horrible shinobi world war because of his blockheaded tendencies. A Shinobi war where not even civilians are exempt.
>If Naruto really wants the shinobi kote to exist then fine, everyone will get a shinobi kote and the deaths that come in the wake of its use will be all on his country's shoulders. Let him enjoy is Shinobi World War 3 while Amegakure sits this one out by going full isolationist and will VIOLENTLY rebuff any foreigners in the meantime.
>>
>>5256886
>Take this straight to Naruto and lay down the ultimatum – get this in check or Amegakure leaves the Shinobi Union. Start playing hardball.
>>
>>5256886
>>Take action. Place the necessary markers around the building and teleport the whole damn thing to another dimension. Negotiate from strength.
>>
>>5256886
>>Take this to Sasuke. He’s not going to be any happier about it than you are and Naruto might listen to him. Force Naruto's hand.
lets give him the benefit of the doubt, that Naruto doesn't know which techniques are being worked on exactly/he doesn't know how far the "scientist" has gone in their pursuits
>>
>>5256886
>Take this to Sasuke. He’s not going to be any happier about it than you are and Naruto might listen to him. Force Naruto's hand.
Leaving the Shinobi Union will kind of mess up a lot of things, and we kind of need a bit of a chill pill if we're considering yeeting a building into a different dimension.
>>
>>5256886
>>Other?
Talk to him. Copying ninjutsu with technology aside, were the clans having their hiden copied notified or informed at all? They're hiden for a reason, and putting those techniques in the hands of the average person without the proper training risks great harm to them.
>>
>>5256886
>Take this to Sasuke. He’s not going to be any happier about it than you are and Naruto might listen to him. Force Naruto's hand.
>>
>>5256886
Your first instinct is to teleport the whole research building and all its contents to one of Kaguya’s extradimensional realms – the high-gravity one seems like a strong candidate – and if Naruto-bee disagrees he can try to convince Sasuke-kun to go and fetch it for him. It would take a lot of chakra, but you could probably do it in sage mode. That being said, there might just be a simpler and easier way to handle this. You have the scroll, which in the short term buys you a little time to talk to the only person you think Naruto will listen to about this.

...

“... this can’t be right,” Sasuke mutters with a scowl. “Naruto may be an idealistic idiot, but even he has some semblance of common sense. He knows better.”

“The fact that it has information on my wife’s kekkei genkai concerns me,” you emphasize. “You know what that implies.”

“Katasuke-san has clearly been involved in some shady business,” Sasuke admits, “even if your son isn’t technically a citizen of Konoha his diplomatic credentials should extend him the same protection from unreasonable surveillance. But if he’s also got details on hiden from our clans, and even techniques from foreign villages, clearly either he or the people supplying him with information aren’t exactly following the rules anyway.”

“So we’re taking this to him?”

Sasuke nods in agreement. “I don’t see that we have any other choice.”

...

Naruto doesn’t even look at the scroll.

“So you already knew,” you deduce.

He nods curtly. “Thank you for recovering this, Naori-san.”

“Yeah no, I should’ve gone with my first instinct,” you grumble. “Except instead of one of Kaguya’s dimensions I should’ve dropped the building on your stupid idiot head, Naruto-bee.”

“My hands are tied with this one,” he sighs wearily. “The elders and the daimyō wanted the project expanded, and authorized Katasuke-san to gather intelligence from less than reputable sources within the village. The whole information brokerage business is still going strong – it’s hard to pin down the major players doing anything that’s actually illegal.”

“So instead you’ve done... what, exactly?” you demand. “Do any of the clan heads know about this?”

“I’ve informed them, but I’ve also made it clear that at the moment we have no way to take direct action,” your cousin admits.
>1/2
>>
>>5257727
>“I’ve informed them, but I’ve also made it clear that at the moment we have no way to take direct action,” your cousin admits.

Them knowing is a good first step. Even if Naruto feels his hands are tied, I'd hope they're looking into it at least.
>>
>>5257727
There are no such things as "tied hands" in this world, naruto.
You can barely be called human at this point, and you're friends with all the other monsters in this world.

People like the elders and daimyo don't get to make bad decisions that are going to hurt people anymore, because we exist.
The holy trinity of "go fuck yourself". Enough power to remake the world if they so desired.

They're gonna cut your funding? Vaporize them and take over everything. That's the ninja way.
>>
>>5257727
>Guys you don't get it
>Yea this would definitely kick off another world War if it got out
>But how else are the daimyo going to justify their existence?
>Plus it could negatively affect the shareholders
>>
>>5257727
“Yeah no, maybe you could convince the current clan heads with that,” you snort, “but I’m not buying what you’re trying to sell. Each one of us here could remake the world if we wanted to – so I know that the only one tying your hands here is you.”

“What I want to know is why.”

“I agree completely,” Sasuke throws in his weight as well. “Surely you can guess at the repercussions of what you’re letting this man do? If the Shinobi Union finds out that we’ve essentially stolen information on hiden in the other nations...”

“Katasuke-san can’t replicate most of those techniques,” Naruto interrupts.

“I’m hearing a ‘yet’ there,” Sasuke counters. “And so will anyone else with two brain cells to rub together, Naruto. Gathering the information demonstrates the intent.”

“The elders are an old problem,” Naruto sighs, shaking his head. “Working around them has been a tradition since Old Man Third’s time in the office.”

“There was a time in my life when I would’ve killed problems like that for chump change,” you point out. “Surely there are more subtle, less brutal ways to have your way.”

“You’re overstating it a bit,” Naruto insists. “But they’re really, really old, Naori – they’re a problem that will resolve itself.”

“Yeah no, in the mean time, their increasingly out-of-touch takes are going to cause a lot of problems,” you assert.

>The scroll was lost in the robbery, and Gekkō died in an escape attempt. If anyone asks that’s what happened.
>Let me talk with Katasuke-han. I’ll give him the perspective he needs to understand what he’s doing.
>Akatsuki were always willing to play the bad guys, so I’m willing to take a controversial role in this.
>Other?
>>
>>5257835
>>Let me talk with Katasuke-han. I’ll give him the perspective he needs to understand what he’s doing.
>>Akatsuki were always willing to play the bad guys, so I’m willing to take a controversial role in this.
>>
>>5257835
>Other
Just how much political influence does Naori have, because I remember that she speaks for a lot of smaller villages, and has friends in a lot of larger ones.

If we were to inform the other Kages and miscellaneous leaders, could we cut off supplies that Konoha needs for this research?

Either that or have Naruto, or Naori publicly disagree with the research and explain the consequences of it continuing.
>>
>>5257835
I haven't seen any Boruto, is he this fucking shit of a hokage in canon? Literally risking the current WORLD PEACE because he can't be assed to deal with some ancient fucks that'll ruin it because they want the biggest stick?
>>
>>5257835
>>Let me talk with Katasuke-han. I’ll give him the perspective he needs to understand what he’s doing.
and if that fails
>Akatsuki were always willing to play the bad guys, so I’m willing to take a controversial role in this.
>>
>>5257858
It's even worse.
[spoilers]HE thought this was a good idea in canon, despite the fact that a few terrorists with shinobi gauntlets could destabilize a small nation. The political ramifications of Konoha producing these things for profit and supplementing the Land of Fire's military with them are also only ever touched on. In a sense I'm giving him more of an excuse than he had in canon.[/spoilers]
>>
>>5257881
Wow. Been a while since I tried to spoiler-tag anything.
>>
>>5257835
>>Akatsuki were always willing to play the bad guys, so I’m willing to take a controversial role in this.
>If we do get the Akatsuki back, call up Sasori Sempai for his consultation on dealing with Shinobi kote technology.
WE GETTING THE OLD GANG BACK TOGETHER...well what's left of the old gang that is...
>>
>>5257835
>>Akatsuki were always willing to play the bad guys, so I’m willing to take a controversial role in this.
>>5257928
Speaking of the old gang, whatever happened to whathisname’s head, last I remember Naori put his head away but I think I’m misremembering
>>
>>5257835
>Let me talk with Katasuke-han. I’ll give him the perspective he needs to understand what he’s doing.
>>
>>5257881
Mans really thought the whole job was just having a cool hat huh?
>>
>>5257835
>Akatsuki were always willing to play the bad guys, so I’m willing to take a controversial role in this.
>>
>>5257835
“Give me five minutes to speak with Katasuke,” you insist. “I’ll solve this problem for you.”

The thought gives Naruto some pause. “You swear you won’t hurt the guy?”

You nod. “Not a hair on his too-smart-for-his-own-good head.”

“Okay,” Naruto eventually agrees. “He’s at the hospital right now, being treated for minor injuries he got in the robbery.”

...

You knock at the door to his room, where he’s mostly just resting while waiting to be discharged, but you don’t bother to wait for a response before you barge in. “So yeah, you’d be Katasuke-han, right? I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”

You grab hold of his shoulder and teleport him to where your example is set up chained to a tree trunk – a former shinobi from the Land of Rivers, who had been scheduled for execution anyway and agreed to your hasty arrangement to send him out in what he called a ‘blaze of glory’.

“Ah, so we’re doin’ this after all!” the man, heavily tattooed and scarred, muses. “Better late than never, I always say!”

“This is Sado-han,” you introduce the man. “Sado-han, this is Katasuke-han.”

“Sup nerd!” the condemned greets your guest.

“Naori-sama, I find I’m struggling to see the point to this,” Katasuke-han admits.

“Sado-han is a Jashinist. He was found guilty of burning six children alive before eating them,” you explain. “And so yea, I think he’s the perfect person for this little demonstration.”

“Aw, you’re gonna make me blush,” Sado smirks.

“Why would he do such a thing?” Katasuke-han protests, clearly disgusted.

“Cause fire’s the way you gotta go if you wanna go out pure!” Sado declares. “So far as I’m concerned I helped those brats get in good with Jashin! The whole ‘eating’ thing may’ve gone a bit far though, that I’ll admit that. I swear, it made sense at the time.”

“So yeah, I really take you for the kinda guy who’s never seen the results of the thing you’re trying to create,” you declare, forming a seal with your left hand. “Allow me to help. Katon: Homura!”

The flame bullet you exhale strikes Sado with sufficient force to shake the post he’s chained to, before it swirls around him in a powerful vortex. After the whooshing of the flames, you hear deranged laughter.

“Yeah, this is what I’m talkin’ about!” Sado crows loudly over the sound of the flames that are consuming his own body at this very moment. “None of this prison bullshit, just a good-old-fashioned barbecue – with Jashin himself as the guest of honor! Hahaha, hell yeah! You watchin’ this, Lord Jashin!?”
>1/2
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>>5258780
There’s not much left afterwards but burned bones, embers, and the unmistakable stench.

Katasuke stares in horror at the spot where a man just died in front of him. “What the hell was the point of that!?”

“That’s one of the standard options for the gauntlets you designed,” you glance over your shoulder at him where he stands in shock. “I know you can’t have experienced anything like this, but have you ever even thought about what happens when that technique hits someone?”

“I...” he struggles to find any sort of graceful way to admit that the answer is no.

“Yeah no, just think,” you muse, “any reprobate with enough money is gonna be able to get their hands on one of these things... and you’ve been collecting research on even deadlier techniques than that. Wanna see what some of them can do to a living human body?”

“... no thanks.”

“You sure?” you press. “The rasengan makes a real splatter if you make it powerful enough, you know. It’s really quite dramatic.”

“... I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Well do it that way,” you frown, pointing away from yourself. “My clothes are expensive.”

When that’s done, you come to your point.

>If you want to continue this project, you do so under Uchiha Sasuke’s direct supervision and accept all the limitations he wishes to impose.
>You’re making a big problem for my cousins – I think you should turn over your sources and “volunteer” to seal your own research indefinitely.
>I don’t like your research, but I HATE the likely implications. It's bad enough that I'm seriously considering re-founding Akatsuki.
>Other?
>>
>>5258800
>>If you want to continue this project, you do so under Uchiha Sasuke’s direct supervision and accept all the limitations he wishes to impose.
>Other?
Forcefully stopping your research would be a major pain, and likely only serve to stick any further research by others deeper into the shadows. I can only hope you've gained perspective on the potential ramifications and can think about what you really want to come of your work.
>>
>>5258800
>Your ignorant actions aren't just dangerous. They WILL cost countless people their lives. Not just now, but for as long as this technology exists.
>You would think a scientist would be smarter than this. That someone like you would stop to think and understand the consequences of what they're doing.
>You should be ashamed of yourself. Is this what you want your name attributed to? It's disgusting.
>>
>>5258800
>>If you want to continue this project, you do so under Uchiha Sasuke’s direct supervision and accept all the limitations he wishes to impose.
>>
>>5258780
>>5258800
that Jashin Cultist is such a swell guy.
>>
>>5258800
channel Omniman
>Think boy think!
>your project, YOUR project from what I've seen so far has the potential to kickstart another world war. Imagine if you would, hundreds of shinobi soldiers armed with YOUR product and laying waste to women, children, and civilians like yourself using techniques such as the one demonstrated. Would you want to be attributed to the consequences? Would you want your pet project to create such a fallout?
>I don’t like your research, but I HATE the likely implications. It's bad enough that I'm seriously considering re-founding Akatsuki.
>unless...You either seal your own research indefinitely...or continue under severe restrictions.
>>
>>5258800
>>If you want to continue this project, you do so under Uchiha Sasuke’s direct supervision and accept all the limitations he wishes to impose.
>>
>>5258867
He did more to put a stop to this than Nart did lol.
>>
>>5258800
>You’re making a big problem for my cousins – I think you should turn over your sources and “volunteer” to seal your own research indefinitely.
>I don’t like your research, but I HATE the likely implications. It's bad enough that I'm seriously considering re-founding Akatsuki.
>>
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>>5259076
>"I'm doing my part"
>fire.gif
>>
>>5259076
Based Jashinist
You gotta love their sincerity, you know? It's like they've got it all figured out. No doubt, no fear. Only love for their god and his teachings.
>>
>>5259847
Yeah, they are a dying breed.
>>
Just a thought, but rather than cutting Katasuke off entirely, why don't we encourage him to work on civilian uses of Ninjitsu? I'm sure Naori could help by building in a limiter to prevent misuse.
>>
>>5258800
“Yeah no, I think your research is wrong,” you declare. “It cheapens the traditional shinobi arts and devalues the sacrifices made by our ancestors and our comrades. But I hate the fact that the technology you’re creating will put innocent lives at risk. So while I can’t stop your research without creating even more political problems, I’m going to insist that you conduct it under Uchiha Sasuke’s direct supervision from now on and that you accept any regulations he imposes.”

“Now hang on!” Katasuke protests. “I admit that there’s a risk here, but you’re effectively knee-capping our entire program!”

“It needs to be done,” you counter. “Just be thankful I’m not the one doing it, otherwise it would be literal.”

Even after what he’s seen, and even after his visceral response to it, he’s still more concerned by your imposition on his research program than he is with its consequences. You guess this is as far as you can get without resorting to much more drastic means.

You just hope it’s enough, despite wondering if the genie might already be out of the bottle.

- Shiki -

It’s been a few weeks since the resolution of the Byakuya gang incident, and you’ve seen more of your parents lately. Naori-ue spent some time drilling you in close combat, and teaching you how to recognize a new potential problem – scientific ninja tools, specifically a gauntlet that shoots out tiny scrolls. She teaches you what to look for to interpret what type of technique is coming next, how to target it in such a way that you can destroy it.

She also leaves you with some direction, both in terms of your kengen training and in terms of training your Uzumaki fūinjutsu. In both cases, that direction is to use your natural gift for fire release transformation – ideally a kengen technique combining fire chakra flow and genjutsu, and a version of the Kongō Fūsa that uses the formula for the Tenrō at its core.

As for Ryūzetsu-ue’s role in your training, she’s left you with the very basic training regimen she devised for you and Makoto to prepare you for learning to use the Ryūmei – a dangerous set of techniques that involve projecting a fragment of your soul outside of your body.

...

“So... what’s going on?” you wonder aloud.

Sumire-kun shrugs. “I couldn’t tell you, Shiki-kun. Sensei didn’t tell me anything either.”

“It’s gotta be something big,” Wasabi-kun insists. “I mean, we’ve had two weeks straight to do nothing but rest and train.”
>1/2
>>
>>5260444
“... sorry I’m late,” Hanabi-sensei apologizes when she comes to find you half an hour late to the meeting she arranged with you yesterday. “Here. Take them.”

She hands you three sets of paperwork. “You look terrible, sensei.”

“Konohamaru-kun and I got a little carried away last night,” she admits, explaining the bags under her eyes and her slight pallor. “He gets worked up about something, then I get worked up about it, then we make mistakes... don’t ever start drinking.”

“Chūnin exams?” Wasabi-kun reads from the papers you hand her.

“Yeah, already,” Hanabi-sensei confirms. “I think you three are more than qualified. Moegi-kun, Konohamaru-kun, and Udon-kun are all recommending their teams too.”

“What do these exams usually involve that requires a consent form?” Sumire-kun wonders aloud with a frown.

“Candidates have absolutely died in the past,” Hanabi-sensei admits. “Unnecessary lethal force is frowned upon now, since even genin who qualify but who fail the exams are too valuable to be wasted these days. But killing an opponent typically isn’t grounds for disqualification either.”

“So what’s it like?” you ask. “Naori-ue told me there used to be multiple stages of elimination?”

“That’s right,” Hanabi-sensei confirms. “Though the tests are just meant to determine who’s suitable to lead a team as a chūnin. You can have multiple promotions at the end, or none. It’s all up to the village leaders based on proctor observations.”

“Should you agree... and you’ve already signed the form,” Hanabi-sensei realizes as you had the form back to her. Without discussion, your teammates do the same right afterward.

...

One week later, you and your teammates decide to head to Lightning Burger for a “last meal” before the official welcoming ceremony – maybe a mistake, you realize, because the place is packed. There are shinobi from all five of the major villages present, most notably a trio of genin from Kumogakure who are giving Boruto-kun and Sarada-kun some trouble over their booth. You figure it’s because Tsubaki-kun is still on her way, which you know because you saw her before you came in.

“Hey, shouldn’t someone do something about that?” Wasabi-kun muses as one of the Kumo-genin grabs Boruto-kun by the collar.

>Grab a packet of ketchup and squirt it in the dude’s face. Draw the attention off Boruto before things get out of control.
>Challenge him verbally. Make it clear that you don’t think much of weaklings who like to act big.
>Just wait. It could be interesting to see who responds to this unfolding situation and how they do so.
>Other?
>>
>>5261413
>>Challenge him verbally. Make it clear that you don’t think much of weaklings who like to act big.
>>
>>5261413
>Challenge him verbally. Make it clear that you don’t think much of weaklings who like to act big.
>>
>>5261413
>>Just wait. It could be interesting to see who responds to this unfolding situation and how they do so.
Not our problem
>>
>>5261413
>Just wait. It could be interesting to see who responds to this unfolding situation and how they do so.
We are going to be directly competing against each other here. Let's see what info this little confrontation will give us.
>>
>>5261413
>>Challenge him verbally. Make it clear that you don’t think much of weaklings who like to act big.
>>
>>5261413
>Just wait. It could be interesting to see who responds to this unfolding situation and how they do so.

Boruto should be more than equal to whatever this is. Probably just some guy trying to act tough by showing he's not afraid to lay hands on the Hokage's kid. Good luck with that plan, genius. Oh, and heavens help him if he actually does something he can't take back.
>>
>>5261413
>>Just wait. It could be interesting to see who responds to this unfolding situation and how they do so.
>>
File: Shinki.png (1.6 MB, 1440x1076)
1.6 MB
1.6 MB PNG
>>5261413
“Too loud,” you muse as you walk past, raising your voice just enough to make sure that the genin who’s grabbed hold of Boruto’s collar can be sure you’re talking to him. “I feel bad for Yugitō-anee.”

The genin releases his hold on Boruto and wheels on you – you managed to just stir the pot enough to force someone, anyone in the room really, to react and show you what they’re made of. “Okay, new plan. When I’m through here you’ll be feeling nothing but pain.”

“Either that or disappointment,” you pause to reply with a smirk. “We can flip that coin later if you really wanna.”

“Why wait?” he counters, “Let’s go right...”

You catch sight of a reflection in the window, something coming up behind you like a trail of black smoke. With a turning blow using the back of your left hand you disperse it, putting your teammates on alert. The cloud of iron sand (that’s what it has to be, seeing how bad hitting it like that hurt) wraps the Kumogakure genin and Boruto both tight, binding them so they can’t make any more trouble.

You turn to see who it was that stepped in, gesturing subtly to Sumire-kun and Wasabi-kun that you’re okay, and that it’s best if they hold off. Turns out the boy responsible is part of a team from Sunagakure, with dark hair and red face paint, wrapped in a shifting dark cloak composed entirely of iron sand. Along with him are his teammates – a tall boy with a blue-on-white painted mask, and a tomboyish girl with blonde hair and dark eyes.

“What’s the big idea, Shinki-kun?” the girl sighs. “You know you’re playing right into his hands.”

‘Shinki’ narrows his eyes slightly, locked on you. “Interesting.”

“Yeah, that’s not really an explanation,” you insist with a frown, waving your hand slightly to work some of the aches out. “I’d like one, if you don’t mind.”

“It’s because there’s no point in fighting here,” Shinki declares. “Besides, I don’t care who sees my abilities. I’m not one to hide who I am.”

The Suna tomboy sighs wearily. “Jeez, Shinki-kun... sometimes there’s such a thing as being too honest.”

“It would seem Tsubaki-kun has just arrived,” Sumire-kun muses in a faux-polite tone, subtly pressing the end of her tanto’s hilt against the small of the Kumo girl’s back. “I suggest that you and your team should find a different table.”

“Don’t touch...” the third Kumo genin begins, only to find Wasabi-kun grasping him firmly by the scruff of his neck.

“Or we can help you find a table,” Wasabi-kun offers.

“What’ll it be?” you ask the team’s apparent leader as Shinki releases him.
>1/?
>>
File: Koushuu_Ref_1.jpg (511 KB, 1438x1615)
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511 KB JPG
>>5262359
“... let’s go,” he decides after a tense moment. “I don’t think I like the atmosphere in here.”

Sumire and Wasabi release their own grips over his teammates, and allow them to slink out with their proverbial tails between their legs.

“... weak in body and in spirit,” you mutter, before turning to your teammates. “What say we eat outside this time? Seems a bit busy today.”

“I’m game,” Wasabi-kiun shrugs.

“It’s a nice day,” Sumire-kun agrees. “It’ll be like a picnic.”

“Hey!” the tomboy from Sunagakure interrupts, drawing your attention. “Let’s at least do the thing properly?”

“Shinki,” the boy seems to take his teammate’s meaning. “My father is the Fourth Kazekage, Gaara-sama. I look forward to seeing you during the exams, Boruto-kun. Shiki-kun.”

So he already knew who you were.

“Araya,” the masked boy introduces himself simply. “My family isn’t noteworthy.”

“And I’m Kōshū,” the girl greets you with a slight grin, revealing familiar sharp teeth. “My parents are the current Mizukage and his wife, Temari of the Kazekage clan. It’s a long story.”

“I wouldn’t mind hearing it some other time,” you shrug. “You already know, but I’m Uzumaki Shiki, on exchange from Amegakure.”

There are some mutters among the other genin. As the introductions continue one genin from Kirigakure – one of a set of triplets – pulls out a small card and sets it on the table for the others from his village to see, prompting shocked gasps and hushed whispers.

“Nagao Sumire,” Sumirin inclines her head politely. “Assigned to Konoha’s Team 15.”

“Izuno Wasabi,” Wasabi takes her turn. “From a small clan, you’ve probably never heard of it.”

“The Izuno clan are said to be protected by a cat deity,” Shinki mutters, as if recalling a briefing. “Primarily use hiden-type nintaijutsu.”

There’s a long pause.

“... okay, maybe you have heard of it. Am I supposed to be impressed?”

"Be impressed or not. It's really none of my business."
>2/3
>>
>>5262363
“At least there’s one interesting team,” you muse after finding a table outside to sit at with your teammates. “And one team we can write off.”

“Yeah, those three were...” Wasabi muses, looking for a way to put it. “It feels like I could beat their toughest guy, and I’m the one still playing catch-up with you guys.”

“That boy from Sunagakure, Shinki-kun,” Sumire glances at you. “What was your impression of him, Shiki-kun?”

“I think I managed to size up pretty much everyone in that room,” you admit, “and the ones I’d probably enjoy fighting are Shinki-kun, Sarada-kun, Tsubaki-kun, Shikadai-kun, and Kōshū-kun.”

“Not us?” Sumire-kun muses.

You shake your head. “Win or lose, I’d feel bad afterwards. So while I’d fight you seriously no, not really.”

“Aw,” Wasabi-kun smirks. “That’s sweet.”

...

You’re directed to meet somewhere ominous that evening – a training location numbered “44”. At the gate you were sent to you find a large man in a grey uniform with a bandana-style headband. At five o’clock exactly, he makes an announcement.

“Welcome to the first stage of the chūnin exams. I am Morino Ibiki, and I’ll be your proctor. Behind me is the 44th special training grounds...” he smirks ominously, “...also known as the Forest of Death. The stage requires you to reach the tower at the exact center of the forest, which will serve as the exam venue, within twenty-four hours. That’s ten kilometers, and everything in there is either giant, poisonous, or both. Combat is allowed, though unjustified lethal force is heavily discouraged.”

“There are only two rules – Rule One is that any team which fails to arrive at the tower within twenty-four hours fails. Rule Two is that any team which loses a member fails.”

“The chūnin here will take each team to its own gate,” Morino-san concludes. “I’ll see the survivors in twenty-four hours. Try not to die.”

Then he bursts into smoke – a shadow clone dispelling, you recognize.

...

At your gate, your team wonders how to approach this.

>Slow and cautious. You have plenty of time, so just don’t make any mistakes.
>Get there fast, get ahead of the teams that will inevitably be setting up traps.
>Take a balanced approach. As fast as you can without being reckless.
>Other?
>>
>>5262378
>Get there fast, get ahead of the teams that will inevitably be setting up traps.
Blitz!
>>
>>5262378
>Get there fast, get ahead of the teams that will inevitably be setting up traps.
>>
>>5262378
>>Get there fast, get ahead of the teams that will inevitably be setting up traps.
>>
>>5262378
>Get there fast, get ahead of the teams that will inevitably be setting up traps.
>>
>>5262378
Seems like this is going to be pretty uncontroversial, so go ahead and gimme 1d6, best three of four.
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5262490
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5262490
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5262490
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5262490
>>
>>5262499
>>5262526
>>5262556
13...not bad. That should be about 72%. Solid rolls.
>>
>>5262378
You settle on an idea that Wasabi-kun seems to really like, and one which Sumirin agrees has a reasonable basis behind it – a lot of teams are going to use the time to set traps around the tower, which they’d be foolish to sit around waiting to see the results of. In fact there’s nothing to stop a team that arrives early from setting as many traps they can before heading into the tower aside from a sense of prudence. So that gives you an incentive – the sooner you get to the tower, the fewer traps there will be to navigate.

So you and Team 15 set of on a tear once the gates are opened for you, heading straight into any obstacles you might be destined to encounter. Giant leeches? Not a problem. Giant centipede? Can’t kill what they can’t catch. Giant bear? Smoke bombs make it think twice about chasing you. It ends up trying anyway, but the delay is enough to let you get out ahead of it.

...

After about an hour and a half you arrive at the tower to find that one team is already there – the one you met from Sunagakure earlier in the day. You run into each other while they’re laying out tripwires in the obvious entrances to the clearing around the base of the tower, and you’re busy placing fake explosive tags in poorly-hidden areas.

“Explosives?” Shinki wonders. “Shouldn’t you be disguising them a bit better?”

You shake your head. “I wouldn’t waste perfectly good explosive tags like this.”

“Wait, these are fake?” Wasabi-kun glances at you. “Why?”

“Just to mess with their heads,” you admit.

“That’s almost meaner!” Kōshū-kun flashes you a toothy grin. “But it’s the kinda mean I can get behind, so yeah. Hand me some of those too?”

“I suppose they should keep our potential rivals off balance heading into the paper exams,” Sumire-kun shrugs, placing three more tags around and halfheartedly ‘hiding’ them while you hand Kōshū-kun a few more fakes to place in conjunction with some of her tripwires. “Kakashi-sensei would say ‘a battle between shinobi takes place in the mind as well’, or words to that effect.”

A few minutes later your two teams agree that it’s probably best to head inside and wait, since other teams should be arriving soon and it’s coming up on time to eat anyway.

...

“Yeah, who the heck even does that anyway?” you hear Shikadai-kun exclaim later, once the teams that made it in time have started to assemble the next day. “I mean, all those fake tags made it impossible to tell when one was real. What a damn jerk!”

“Yeah, who does that,” you jump in halfheartedly, refusing to admit it was you.

“To be fair it got that team from Iwagakure we thought were going to be trouble,” Denki-kun points out. “You know, the Genbu trio?”

“Yeah, I guess that means they weren’t so good after all,” Iwabe muses. “Sorry guys, false alarm.”
>1/2
>>
>>5263676
>1d6, best three of five
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5263751
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5263751
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5263751
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5263751
Three of five? Must be a pretty tough check.
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5263751
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5263751
>>
I see Yoruichi has blessed this day's live.
>>
>>5263676
You look around to see who’s absent – Team 40 had been with you to start with, but didn’t seem to make it, and the Genbu trio who’d been hyped up before the start of the exams is missing as well. But other than that, it’s mostly teams you knew (or cared) little about that are gone. Ino-Shika-Chō are here, Boruto, Sarada, and Tsubaki are here, Shinki and Kōshū’s team is here (of course), along with the Senka trio and those idiots from Kumo that you nearly provoked into a fight yesterday. Surprisingly, you also see Hachiro from Kirigakure and two of his thuggie little friends – who immediately balk under your gaze and retreat as far away from you as they can and still stay in the building.

...

Inside a classroom, all of the remaining candidates are seated in an apparently randomized order for the exam – the test forms are already laid out face-down on your desks, each with two pencils. The proctor, Morino Ibiki, glowers at you for a while before laying out his rules

“From now on and for the duration of this exam you are not to speak aloud. Any candidate who speaks will be immediately disqualified along with their teammates. Cheating is strictly prohibited under the same penalty as speaking. You will have one hour to answer the first twelve questions, and an additional ten minutes to answer the thirteenth question – we’ll get to that later.”

...

The questions honestly aren’t that bad. Some of them are fairly simple, others take a little bit of thought to work out, one or two are a bit of a stretch. But nothing here is too far outside what you’d assume a chūnin would have to know. Out of your teammates you assume Sumirin probably had a little bit of an easier time, and while Wasabi-kun probably got a question or two more than either of you wrong she should be fine too. In fact, it almost feels like the questions were designed carefully to create a spread of different scores.

...

“Alright, pencils down,” Morino Ibiki-san orders. “As promised, it’s time for question thirteen. But it doesn’t come without risk – what I want you to do is mark on your papers either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, meaning ‘yes’ you intend to answer the final question or ‘no’, you intend not to. Should you say ‘yes’ be aware, when your submissions have been graded the candidate with the lowest score on each team will be barred from continuing.”

“Additionally, if a team’s exam papers do not match answers regarding question thirteen, that will be considered grounds for failure.”

So... that’s an interesting set of instructions. You hear chatter in your head almost immediately.

“You have five minutes to answer.”

Clearly then, you were meant to coordinate with your teammates...

[So we’re not doing this,] Sumire-kun declares. [I won’t sell either of you out.]

[I don't like it,] Wasabi admits. [You saying that on my account. But if you’re sure, I can't stop you.]

... but what about...
>2/3
>>
>>5263941
[... do you trust me?]

[Of course,] Wasabi responds.

[Absolutely,] Sumire agrees.

[Okay,] you nod. [Then mark your test forms...]

...

After the five minutes are up, the proctors collect your exams and quickly sort them into stacks. Morino-san then calls out names, one team at a time, and sends them to the next room. Among those teams, you note, are three faces you did not expect – Boruto-kun, Sarada-kun, and Tsubaki-kun. But hardly anyone else you’d consider to be ‘important’ joins them. Not the Senka triplets, not the other remaining teams from Konoha, not Shinki-kun and Kōshū-kun’s team.

That alone should tell you that you made the right call.

“Well, all that remains now is to tell you all remaining here... that you have passed the first stage of the chūnin exams. Congratulations.”

“Wait... what!?” someone calls out.

“So I was right,” you muse.

“Of course it was a trick,” Shikadai sighs wearily. “I mean, it’s not like the rules from yesterday were ever changed.”

“So if we chose to proceed knowing that one member of our team could not pass,” Shinki-kun adds, “that means we could not participate in the next stage of the exams.”

“Exactly,” Morino Ibiki-san insists. “There are three types of teams that ended up nextdoor – teams that couldn’t communicate covertly or otherwise guess what their teammates would do lack the skills. Teams where two members were fine with sacrificing a teammate for personal advancement lack the moral fibre. Teams which failed to consider the next stage simply missed the point.”

“Sometimes the mission takes priority over a single life, but in this case the expedient solution to progress precluded the success of the overall mission. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to break the news to the teams which failed that particular test.”
>3/4
>>
>Naori-Ue says hi.
>>
>>5264245
"Hi mom!"
>>
>>5263984
- Meanwhile -

Team 3 arrives in a classroom, still shocked and confused at being told they’ve failed the first stage of the chūnin exams. In that classroom they find their jōnin-sensei, Sarutobi Konohamaru, who has been waiting for them with a frown.

None of them make eye contact.

“Sorry, sensei,” Sarada mutters. “It’s my fault. I was the one who lost sight of the real objective.”

“I was the one who thought he could breeze through everything,” Boruto insists. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Sarada-kun, but you’re not important enough that your screwups are always gonna drag us all down.”

“I was the one who failed you,” Tsubaki insists. “I pressured you into proceeding because I assumed I would be going back to the Land of Iron after this, and so it did not matter whether I passed. I did not take my role on the team seriously.”

“You’re all correct,” Konohamaru-sensei assures them. “The challenge now is to take that knowledge and do something useful with it.”

- Shiki -

You’re given three days before the next stage of the exam, which as Wasabi-kun points out means three days of having twenty-seven foreign genin wandering around your (well, her) hometown. While in some cases that won’t be a problem, there’s at least one team that will be incredibly annoying.

“Team Yurui, huh?” Kōshū-kun muses the next morning over a cup of steaming tea. “Yeah, those three are gonna be a real nuisance.”

“Remind me of something,” Sumire-kun frowns. “Why is it the three of you are sharing our table?”

“That’s a good question,” Araya admits. “Kōshū-kun, why are we sitting at their table?”

“Because Shinki-kun wanted to and just didn’t wanna say anything,” Kōshū-kun rolls her eyes. “You know how he is.”

Shinki doesn’t seem amused.

>Well, we may as well be good hosts. This is after all a diplomatic event too.
>Honestly, right now I’m just concerned for our classmates who didn’t pass.
>I’m not sure it’s entirely appropriate for our teams to be so casual like this.
>Other?
>>
>>5265150
>>Well, we may as well be good hosts. This is after all a diplomatic event too.
>>
>>5265150
>>Well, we may as well be good hosts. This is after all a diplomatic event too.
>>
>>5265150
>Honestly, right now I’m just concerned for our classmates who didn’t pass.
>>
>>5265150
>>Well, we may as well be good hosts. This is after all a diplomatic event too.
>>
>>5265150
>>Well, we may as well be good hosts. This is after all a diplomatic event too.
>>
>>5265150
>>Well, we may as well be good hosts. This is after all a diplomatic event too.
>>
>>5265150
1d6 best three of four on order of the Queen!
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5266143
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5266143
>>5266146
Boo!
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5266143
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5266143
>>
>>5266143
“Come on,” you nudge Wasabi-kun in the ribs, “my diplomatic instincts are tingling. We should show our guests around the village a little... thing is it’s not really ‘my’ village to show off, so I could use your help.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Sumire agrees, despite her somewhat skeptical tone. “Sunagakure and Konohagakure have been allies since well before the last great war, after all.”

“That said,” Wasabi-kun adds in, “if you guys start acting like those jerks from Kumogakure I’m goin’ home.”

“That’s fair,” Araya shrugs. “Normally I don’t think we’d bother playing nice, but it seems like Kōshū-kun has taken an interest in you guys.”

“Hey now,” Kōshū-kun protests, “it’s not just me, Shinki-kun’s interested too.”

“I am,” Shinki-kun agrees. “But only because I wish to see how strong they are.”

You shrug. “Can’t say I’m much different. I have you three pinned as the team to beat, call it intuition.”

...

You show Team Shinki around, with the help of your teammates, taking them to the academy, through a couple of the local parks, down along the river, past the war memorial stone.

“It’s a little like Sunagakure but with trees,” Kōshū-kun muses.

“Or like Kirigakure, with clear skies,” Shinki-kun observes.

“You’ve been to Kirigakure, Shinki-kun?” Sumire-kun tries to strike up a conversation.

“Only once,” Shinki-kun replies. “To meet with Kōshū-kun’s parents. I don’t think the mist cleared up the whole time we were there.”

“Yeah well, that was in spring,” Kōshū-kun counters. “And you gotta admit, it’s a nice change of pace from Sunagakure.”

“How do you find it here, Uzumaki Shiki-ku-” she begins to ask, only to stop short when she spies another genin team coming in the opposite direction down the road. “Ah, nuts.”

It’s the Senka trio, who all smirk in alarming unison before cutting a path straight towards your group.
>1/2
>>
>>5266513
“Alright, so this is the Senka trio,” Kōshū-kun grumbles. “Makinami, Sazanami, and Takanami, don’t ask me which is which cause idunno.”

“Seems like Kōshū-kun’s made some new friends,” one of the trio, who you’ll consider to be ‘A’ until told otherwise, muses. “Good for her.” That last part was sarcasm.

“It’s not gonna last,” ‘B’ chimes in. “That’s how it goes for traitors, even if they doget special treatment.”

“Used to be she’d be hunted down and killed, now they’re talking about giving her one of the Seven Swords,” ‘C’ frowns. “Doesn’t it just turn your stomach?”

“Why’s that a big deal?” you scoff. “Most of them suck anyway.”

Kōshū-kun is particularly emphatic in her agreement, as if she’s been waiting to hear those words for years. “I know, right!? Finally someone else gets it, the Kiba are good but those are obviously Buntan-senpai’s, and the Seversword’s fine I guess, but all the others are just... I mean they’re kinda...”

“Goofy?” you offer.

“Yeah that,” Kōshū-kun quickly agrees. “Anyway I’m probably going to get one of my mom’s swords after I make chūnin, so I have no idea why you guys are so worked up.”

“Just the idea they’d be sent out of the village is ridiculous,” ‘B’ declares. “Even if you were technically born in Kirigakure, you’re too close to Sunagakure to ever be one of us. No amount of talent’s gonna make up for that.”

“That’s pretty old-fashioned,” Wasabi-kun frowns.

“Some people can be hard-headed about such things,” Shinki-kun offers his own thoughts. “Particularly when the shinobi of concern has more valuable ‘talents’ to offer, instead of nothing but talk and unearned reputation.”

“Excuse you?” ‘A’ scowls. “I don’t remember asking the Kazekage’s brat for his opinion.”

“Nah, he’s right,” Kōshū-kun muses. “I mean I love my dad and all, but my ‘talents’ are why my parents sent me to my mom’s village to study.”

Ah, so that’s it.

“... you have the hyōton,” you realize aloud.

After a moment, Kōshū-kun sighs. “Yeah, that’s right. I know you’d’ve told your teammates eventually, but maybe don’t shout it next time?”

“Understood.”
>2/3
>>
>>5266567
“Ice release?” Wasabi-kun frowns. “Like what they use in the Land of Snow?”

“And a long time ago, in Kirigakure,” you reply. “I had no idea Chōjūrō-san was related to that clan.”

“Neither did he,” Kōshū-kun shrugs. “Not until I got my chakra nature got tested. Probably had to do with my mom’s bizarrely strong affinity for wind release bringing it out or something.”

“The Yuki clan were nearly wiped out in a civil war when our parents’ generation were young,” you explain to Wasabi-kun and Sumirin. “Fear and hatred for their role in it, mainly. The survivors went deep into hiding, but often not deep enough.”

“You know a heck of a lot about it,” Kōshū-kun frowns. “Why?”

“There was a kid involved with a major incident here a month or two ago who had that kekkei genkai,” you clarify. “My mother Naori-ue explained some of the details to me, it’s a long story.”

“That’s great and all,” ‘A’ interrupts, “but I’m starting to feel a bit ignored over here.”

>Dude, why are you even here? What were you hoping to accomplish by stopping us?
>Yeah, that’s deliberate. If we choose to ignore you, you can still walk away peacefully.
>If you really want to pick a fight, the Academy has an open arena for... disagreements.
>Other?
>>
>>5266680
>If you really want to pick a fight, the Academy has an open arena for... disagreements.
>>
>>5266680
>If you really want to pick a fight, the Academy has an open arena for... disagreements
>>
>>5266680
>>Continue to ignore them
Why waste time on them
>>
>>5266680
>>Yeah, that’s deliberate. If we choose to ignore you, you can still walk away peacefully.
>>
>>5266680
>>Yeah, that’s deliberate. If we choose to ignore you, you can still walk away peacefully.
>>
>>5266680
“Why are you three still here?” you roll your eyes. “If you’ve got a problem, sort it out during the exams. Otherwise, quit wasting our time.”

...

In two more days, you find that the remaining genin teams have been called to a venue outside of Konohagakure proper – a small city that appears to have been largely abandoned in favor of Konoha’s growth. A woman about Naori-ue’s age with brown hair up in buns and a white shirt with a standing collar is front and center to explain the nature of the exam.

“For this phase of the examination, the rules are simple – you win when you have the opposing team’s flag in hand, you lose when they have yours. Killing on this one is strictly prohibited – sometimes you have to capture an enemy for interrogation, or subdue a target who may be acting erratically. But also...”

Tenten-san drops her voice slightly. “I mean, this is a game of capture the flag. What game of capture the flag ends with the other team all dying? That’d just be too over-the-top, even for shinobi.”

Then she clears her voice, and raises it again. “Teams will be assigned as opponents at random, then assigned to opposite posts within the old city at random.”

>1d3, taking the second roll
>>
Rolled 3 (1d3)

>>5267043
>>
Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>5267043
>>
>>5267043
“So,” you muse, taking the few minutes of setup to discuss strategy. “Team 5. What do we know?”

“Denki-kun is still physically the least impressive genin from our class,” Sumirin replies calmly. “Iwabe-kun is still physically impressive for his age, which is older than us, and when Metal-kun isn’t panicking he’s the fastest and strongest out of our class. But that being said even those two have glaring weaknesses – Iwabe-kun is predictable and not all that fast, Metal-kun doesn’t use any ninjutsu or genjutsu and has extreme social anxiety. Without Denki-kun’s smarts, their team would be hopeless.”

“Denki-kun has to know all that too,” Wasabi-kun realize. “He probably also knows a lot about us – and really, Sumire? Do you still think about to beat your friends that much!”

Sumirin seems a bit embarrassed. “I mean, I’m just observing – that’s all.”

“That said, what I’ve ‘observed’ is that even their strengths have weaknesses,” you add. “Iwabe-kun’s earth walls are tall and wide, but they only cover from one direction at a time and that direction is never ‘above’ or ‘below’, making those the best avenues for attack.”

“And Metal-kun doesn’t have any long-range attacks other than shuriken,” Wasabi-kun agrees. “So if we stay back from them all they have to rely on is Iwabe-kun’s walls.”

“That being said we should expect some sort of clever trick from Denki-kun,” Sumire points out, “who has probably been thinking hard for the last three days about how to beat us, while I doubt any of us have really been considering how to beat them.”

“It’s not the blade of a master that a master fears,” you muse, “but the blade of a spirited idiot, huh?”

“Something like that,” Sumire agrees.

>You two go to get their flag, I’ll take defense with my shadow clones and traps.
>We’ll all go, leaving shadow clones behind. If we get there first, we’ll win.
>Why go at all? Make them come here and fight on our terms, and crush them.
>Other?
>>
>>5267086
>>Why go at all? Make them come here and fight on our terms, and crush them.

work as a team, win as a team. I'm kinda meh about resting defense on one person.
>>
>>5267086
>>You two go to get their flag, I’ll take defense with my shadow clones and traps.

but regardless of which option wins, lets make shadow clones and use the transformation jutsu to disguise ourselves as each other.
Denki will have plans for each of other, but those plans won't work if we aren't who he thinks we are.
>>
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>>5267086
>You two defend the flag, while i go on the offensive.
>>
>>5267086
>>We’ll all go, leaving shadow clones behind. If we get there first, we’ll win.
>>
You may actually want to discuss this one? I'm getting four very different answers here.
>>
>>5267304
sure

>>5267086
We all know they aren't the greatest danger, but underestimating could lose us the flag and the round. As far as we know there isn't a time limit so waiting with the team is a valid one, but also boring.
Shiki has enough chakra to make multiple shadow clones to back up the girls and have some left to defend.
As i wrote in my other post, since Denki knows our abilities we can easily take an extra advantage if the shadow clones and the girls prepare and use the transformation jutsu to give the appearance of each other, the other team will engage in a way they disgussed previously in accordence to the best match ups, the transformations would throw that off completely!
>>
>>5267248
>>5267097
>>5267090
anyone home?
We gotta decide on a single course of action here
>>
>>5267086
>>5267248
I'll change to
>You two go to get their flag, I’ll take defense with my shadow clones and traps.
>>
>>5267086
>>5267090
I guess I'll swap as well

>You two go to get their flag, I’ll take defense with my shadow clones and traps.
>>
>>5267304
>>5267097

I figured that shiki has plenty of power and to take down the other team on his own, even if it takes a minute.
I'm more worried about some trickery being used and them ending up getting our flag somehow, but with both sumire and wasabi defending it that's a lot less likely.

However, the opposite is also true and i'd be fine with shiki defending and the girls going on offense, i just thought that shiki going on offense would be more fun to play.
>>
>>5267086
I’ll support >>5267097
Like the anon said, it sound like more fun to play
>>
>>5267462
power and stamina*
>>
>>5267086
Back from drafting
>1d6, best three of five
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5267590
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5267590
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5267590
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5267590
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5267590
>>
>>5267590
“I have a plan,” you muse, weaving the sign for a few shadow clones. “Leave defending the flag to me.”

...

You set to work preparing your multi-level ruse – the open, circular building is a perfect stage for you to play upon, with a flag set into the center with walls surrounding it. Sealing tags with senbon tipped in numbing toxins, small explosives designed to disorient through a flash and a loud bang, tripwires both active and fake, some even with multiple wires (some of which are disguised). One of your clones transforms to look like Wasabi-kun, and another to look like Sumire-kun. You send one clone with your real teammates, and the fourth continues to look like you. You yourself find some cover to hide behind, and wait for the right moment.

...

Team 5 watch for a while, seeing what they believe to be Team 15 waiting for them – when in reality you’re observing them from above the open area inside the walls of the building. Using your wave transmission you send your clones the signal, and the one looking like Sumire joins the one with your face in putting the second stage of your plan into action.

Your shadow clones, once they give your opponents a chance to see them, fade into the background of the swirling mists. Iwabe meanwhile makes the first move.

“Tsuchinami!” he shouts, slamming his fist into the ground and disarming a large number of your traps by forcing the ground around the flag to roll and sway like ocean waves.

“Now it is my turn!” Metal-kun declares, making a play on the flag itself.

“No, wait!” Denki shouts, even as a pair of senbon with bells force Metal-kun to backpedal.

“I see, so it will not be so easy,” Metal-kun realizes.

Denki dodges a few belled-senbon as well, while a single shuriken grazes Iwabe’s cheek before disappearing into the mist. “They’re trying to confuse us about their locations, distracting us with the bells to cover their moves. Smart.”

A few more bells, and the odd glimpse of your disguised clones moving through the mists, and you’re ready for phase three of your plan. You use the wave transmission technique to set up a vibration in the bells attached to shuriken you’ve already thrown, which set them ringing in unison.

“The bells are all ringing?” Denki realizes, before quickly covering his ears. “Aw crap, it’s a genjutsu!”

“Too late,” you tell them from the covering shroud of mist as more senbon come flying their way. Metal-kun, having fallen into a pattern of avoiding the senbon with bells, takes three in his thigh and leg with numbing poison on them, coming away with a limp.

“Watch out!” he calls out. “They are using senbon without bells mixed in with the ones that do have bells!”

“Crap...” Iwabe realizes too late. “This genjutsu’s got me all screwed up!”
>1/2
>>
>>5268116
“I’m sorry,” Denki-kun apologizes to his team, having taken a cluster of senbon to his shoulder after setting off a sealing tag trap by mistake, disoriented by the genjutsu as well. “I really didn’t think they’d all be here...”

“That’s the thing,” you muse, joining your clones as the mist clears. “We aren’t. Sorry.”

Your clones all disperse.

Iwabe-kun’s eyes widen as he realized he and his team have been played. Then he grins wildly. “Well, if it’s just you and me dude, I’ve got no excuse for whimping out now!”

Unsteady on his feet he raises his club and charges across the open space at you... only to step on a sealing tag you’d hidden thanks to a wobbly step.

The blast momentarily blinds and deafens him, and in the moment after that your foot collides with the side of his head. He manages to get up again, if only just, but you hear an alarm in the distance and a few moments later shinobi in flak jackets descend on your little base.

“Alright, that’s it! Team 15 has Team 5’s flag, the fight’s over!”

...

“Sorry about that,” you shrug as the medical personnel treat the injuries you gave Team 5. “The whole point was to slow you down long enough for my teammates to get through whatever traps you left for them. So I did everything I could to drag things out, turn it into a real nightmare.”

“Yeah, fair,” Iwabe grumbles. “I just can’t believe we got toasted by just you... do us a favor though, and let those other guys have it just as good, alright?”

“We’ll do what we can,” Wasabi-kun assures him.

...

It’s Metal-kun’s father who greets the teams that passed the second phase of the exams – your team, Shikadai’s team, Shinki and Kōshū’s team, the Senka trio, Yurui’s team from Kumo, and Hachiro’s from Kiri.

“Congratulations on passing the second stage of the chūnin exams – you should all be proud of this accomplishment!” he cheers you on. “However, this is no longer a team exercise. From this point on all of you will be fighting alone, against your rivals. That includes members of your own team. And out of your rivals gathered here only eight will progress to the final stage.”

“That means we must hold preliminary matches, starting right here, right now. I will be your proctor – show me what splendid shinobi you are!”
>2/3
>>
>>5268171
There’s a crackle, a series of shouts you can hear even coming from Lee-san’s earpiece.

“I am sorry, Tenten!” Lee-san apologizes awkwardly. “I was merely excited and I...”

“Very well then, I will see to it.”

Then he turns to you, “Apologies, the arena is actually nearby. Please follow me.”

...

The arena is in another circular building, with a ring platform around a wide open space under a dome. That platform is wide enough for a small audience, and you see Hanabi-sensei waiting alongside what you presume are the other senseis for each of the teams that have gotten this far.

There’s also a screen on one wall, which at Lee-san’s signal begins to flash with the names of the remaining combatants...
>1d9
>taking the first two
>>
Rolled 1 (1d9)

>>5268176
>>
Rolled 7 (1d9)

>>5268176
>>
>>5268176
- Uzumaki Shiki vs Yurui -

So, we’re doing this right out of the gate then? Well, at least this is your chance to put this jerk in his place, and to do so with zero consequences.

“Ah, lucky me,” Yurui muses loudly as he descends into the arena. “I was hoping I’d get to fight you.”

“Why would he be hoping for that?” Kōshū-kun wonders behind you – with only two sets of stairs in this whole silly building, it means you had to walk a long way to avoid looking like a showoff by leaping into the arena. You intend to let the beating you give Yurui do the showing off for you.

“He’s an idiot,” Shinki-kun replies curtly.

“Poor dumb bastard,” you hear Hachiro-kun sigh.

You square off in front of Yurui, offering the traditional seal of confrontation – which he doesn’t return.

“Make your respects, jerk,” you insist curtly. Lee-san glances at you.

Then Lee-san glances at Yurui for his response. “Nah, don’t feel like it.”

“Then welcome to the end of the line,” you declare. "I can't promise that it won't hurt."

Lee-san raises his hand, then brings it down. Yurui is already chewing his special gum, in essence cheating by starting to prepare his first attack before the signal. “Begin!”

Yurui leaps back, not particularly quickly by your standards, and starts to blow a bubble.

>Target his first bubble with the senbon that’s already unsealed into your hand.
>Let him blow some bubbles, Pop them all with a wall of shadow cloned senbon.
>Use his bubbles as a diversion to summon Momo and send him underground.
>Other?
>>
>>5268514
>Let him blow some bubbles, Pop them all with a wall of shadow cloned senbon.
>And mix in some fire chakra flow
>>
>>5268520
>>5268514
>supporting this, give the audience a good show
also don't be to outwardly pleased while beating his ass
>>
>>5268514
>Let him blow some bubbles, Pop them all with a wall of shadow cloned senbon.
>>
>>5268514
>>5268520
Make it a shoooooow, supporting
>>
>>5268514
As you figured, he blows a bunch of colorful bubbles that slowly fill the space between you.

“Bubbles?” you muse. “Your special ninjutsu is to blow bubbles at me?”

“How’s that?” Yurui muses from behind his admittedly impressive wall of floating color. “How do you plan to...”

“Senbon Kagebunshin.”

The bubbles burst with a reasonable amount of force, deflecting and dispelling many of the shadow cloned projectiles. Yurui tries to blow more bubbles... only for one of your senbon to pop it before it separates from his face.

“Like that,” you reply after he falls flat on his back. “I plan to get to you like that.”

You hear a loud cheer from the stands – probably Wasabi-kun and Hanabi-sensei – while Lee-san checks the body.

“The winner is Uzumaki Shiki-kun!” he declares. “If the medics could come down here for a moment, I think Yurui-kun should be checked over before being cleared to return home.”
>1d8, taking the second and third rolls
>>
Rolled 6 (1d8)

>>5268579
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5268579
>>5268583
god damn it, you are early
>>
Rolled 5 (1d8)

>>5268579
>>5268585
never mind me, i am an idiot ...
>>
>>5268579
boo, no flare at all. literally!
>>
>>5268583
>>5268585
- Inojin vs Araya -
Coming this afternoon/evening.
>>
>>5268585
>>5268587
DESU I'm fine with just going with this.
>>
>>5268593
it was a 1d6 and 1d8 by just me, to make it clear
>>
>>5268597
Yup, I noticed. But I don't mind this time.
>>5268590
Also, give me another 1d6. Best three of four.
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5268605
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5268605
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5268605
You saw nothing
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5268605
>>
>>5268605
“That’s a pretty long weapon you’ve got there,” Inojin-kun muses, before holding out his own scroll. “This is my weapon... time for you to learn the pen’s mightier than the sword!”

He unrolls the scroll and unleashes a wave of small, colorfully-painted birds that swarm Araya in greens and blues. The Suna-nin waves his sheath around, taking out a few of the birds with every swing, but Inojin isn’t done. He has a lion-dog in pink and purple swing around wide behind Araya while several of the birds start to explode with blasting tags that he mixed in as a distraction. But Araya turns and swings his sword at the dog, dispersing its ink.

“Wait...” your eyes widen slightly as you see evidence of the trick. “When did he make the switch?”

“So you noticed,” Hanabi-sensei muses. “It was probably well before we reached this room.”

“A switch?” Sumire-kun frowns. “What are you talking about?”

“Look right above Araya’s head,” you tell her. “Next time a bit of ink gets splattered.”

‘Araya’ takes out another lion-dog as he charges forward, then cracks Inojin hard over the head. Inojin drops his scroll and brush to draw his own blade, but takes several punishing blows from there as his head is probably still ringing from the first shot.

“I saw it,” Sumire-kun tells you. “What was it though?”

“Strings,” you declare.

“Wait, so like for a puppet?” Wasabi-kun asks... though her gaze is firmly on Araya’s teammates, who you notice for the first time aren’t watching Araya, but you instead.

“He’s probably using some technique to bend light around himself and his strings,” you clarify. “I’d imagine he’s hiding on the ceiling.”

“Can you spot him?”

“I probably could,” you admit.

“But you’d rather not let his teammates know you figured it out?” Sumire realizes.

“No reason to give it away.”

“That guy is a jōnin-level puppeteer, even if nothing else is at that level yet,” Hanabi-sensei grumbles. “And he seems like the weakest of his team... what is Gaara-sama even thinking?”
>1d7
>Taking the first and third rolls
>>
Rolled 7 (1d7)

>>5268742
>>
Rolled 3 (1d7)

>>5268747
>>
Rolled 4 (1d7)

>>5268742
>>
>>5268747
>>5268749
- Shikadai vs Tarui -
Coming later
>>
>>5268970
“Good grief,” Shikadai sighs as he faces off against his opponent – the dark-skinned girl from the same team as Yurui, who you beat.

“Hey, you better not say anything about not wanting to hit girls,” Tarui mumbles.

“Nah, I make an exception for girls who are trying to hit me,” Shikadai shrugs. “I guess we’re doing this then.”

“Begin!” Lee-san declares, and Tarui charges in with her arm raised for a lariat. She’s fast, but she’s also bringing herself closer to Shikadai and his shadow.

She stops abruptly when Shikadai expands his shadow, but Shikadai doesn’t stop. His fist meets Tarui’s chin, and sends her flying across the room. When she hits the far wall she slumps to the floor – clearly alive, but not getting up any time soon.

“The winner: Nara Shikadai!” Lee-san declares as Shikadai-kun offers a polite bow towards where Tarui is lying on the floor.
>1d6, taking the second and third rolls
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5269202
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5269202
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5269202
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5269202
>>
>>5269202
- Nagao Sumire vs Toroi -

Sumirin walks down the stairs, completely calm and composed, before finding herself facing down the last member of Team Yurui – Toroi, a rotund boy with glasses and a bandanna-style headband. He also carries an oversized shuriken slung across his back.

“You walk so slowly,” Toroi comments. “Can anyone so slow really call themselves a ninja?”

Sumire merely offers the seal of confrontation to start the match, which her opponent refuses to recognize.

“Begin!”

“Raiton: Overdrive!”

His attacks may be faster than they would be otherwise, but Toroi-kun’s taijutsu still seems lax. If it weren’t for the elemental disadvantage Sumire would be picking him apart by now, but as things stand she’s resorting to kunai from a distance. These he mostly swats aside, breaks, or dodges... but it’s strange. She keeps maneuvering so that her discarded weapons land all more or less in the same area within the arena.

“Come on, what’s wrong!?” Toroi muses loudly. “Don’t tell me that’s all you have!?”

Sumire-kun takes a deep breath and weaves her signs.

“Wait... is that...” Wasabi-kun frowns.

You nod. “Yup.”

“Suiton: Suijinheki!”

The blast of water pushes Toroi back across the arena, until he manages to break up the ‘wall’ with his lightning chakra flow taijutsu.

“Surely you didn’t think that...”

“No, I didn’t,” Sumire admits, raising the seal of confrontation again.

The fake hilt-wrappings, really paper textured to look convincing, have started to peel off the handles of the kunai she’s been throwing – to reveal explosive seals that Toroi is just now noticing.

“Oh,” he realizes aloud. “Oh, cra-”

...

"Winner: Nagao Sumire-kun!"
>1d5, taking the first and third rolls
>>
Rolled 5 (1d5)

>>5269241
>>
Rolled 5 (1d5)

>>5269241
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5269241
>>
>>5269241
“So you used seal markings on your wrist guards to store extra water,” you muse, recognizing how Sumire-kun managed to conjure up such a powerful wall of water. “Very nice.”

“Thank you,” she inclines her head politely. “I had planned to save that trick for fighting you, but a lightning taijutsu user is sort of a difficult task for me right now – at least, if I intended to keep any of my other techniques hidden.”

“You say that,” you muse, “but I’m not quite convinced you don’t have more where that came from.”

“Ah, who knows?” she replies with a placid smile. “A girl has to keep some secrets.”

- Nashiko vs Kōshū -

Ah, so it’s Kōshū-kun’s turn to fight.

She notices you watching her intently and waves. “Hey, Shikkun and friends! Be sure to get a good look!”

“Wow, that’s an energetic one,” Hanabi-sensei muses.

Her opponent looks a bit nervous – a girl from Hachiro-kun’s team with wavy pink hair.

Kōshū-kun raises the seal of confrontation. “Nashikkun, let’s make this a good one, okay?”

Both kunoichi start by gaining some distance, weaving their first hand seals. Nashiko-kun pulls moisture from the air to create shuriken, while Kōshū-kun unseals a long wooden staff with a broad, almost oar-like head at one end that she uses to block the attack. The way she spins it... it’s almost totally effortless, belying an unusual physical power.

“Here I come,” she declares, her expression suddenly serious. Her speed is nearly a match for yours as she charges Nashiko-kun, though she completely overwhelms her opponent. Nashiko draws a tantō to no avail, her opponent being much stronger and faster to boot. Kōshū-kun overwhelms her with spinning blows and quick jabs, keeping her on the back foot until she spots an opening. A sweep at Nashiko-kun’s legs with a gust of wind pulls her off her feet, and Kōshū-kun is quick to release a mechanism in her staff that releases three sharp blades in the formation of an inverted-T.

“I give up!” Nashiko-kun quickly admits. And after a few tense seconds where she assesses the odds of some sort of ploy, then receives a nod from Lee-san, Kōshū-kun withdraws her blade and offers the seal of reconciliation.

“Better luck next time, Nashikkun,” Kōshū-kun offers politely. After a moment, Nashiko-kun accepts the gesture.

Kōshū-kun flashes you a pointy grin and a thumbs-up as she returns to her own team in victory.
>1d4, taking the first two
>>
Rolled 1 (1d4)

>>5269461
>>
Rolled 1 (1d4)

>>5269461
>>
Rolled 1 (1d4)

>>5269461
Well this won't do.
>>
Rolled 3 (1d4)

>>5269637
how the fuck did you manage to make this worse?
>>
Welp. Guess that's another fail. Might be time to just 1d3+1.

P.S. I emphatically ship Shiki and Koushuu. I am already headcannoning that she develops a habit of attempting to sneak up on him and playfully bite him as a quirky, familiar greeting because she loves his reactions and claims to be part shark.
>>
>>5269643
Just lucky I guess.
>>
>>5269650
>Koushuu
She's cute, but she'll have to fight Sumire to the death if she wants in on this. Our team's already a love triangle in the making.
>>
>>5269505
>>5269521
- Izuno Wasabi vs Shinki -
>>
>>5269767
“He’s a match for me,” you tell Wasabi-kun quietly. “He uses magnet release to move that iron sand, it’s a dual-nature type combining wind and earth. What he can do with it besides the obvious I can’t tell you.”

“Thanks, Shiki-kun, really,” Wasabi-kun muses. “But it sounds like you’re telling me I’ll just have to figure this one out on my own.”

“... well, you’re not wrong,” you admit. “Just be careful and don’t hold back.”

“Izuno Wasabi vs Shinki,” Lee-san declares. “Begin!”

Wasabi-kun wastes no time, opening by unsealing a pair of fūma shuriken and hurling them at Shinki even as she opens up some distance. His iron sand forms arms that stop the two projectiles effortlessly, then does the same for the explosive-tagged kunai, which go off without causing Shinki any harm.

“Good,” Sumire-kun practically whispers. “She’s gauging the speed he can move that sand with before committing any more chakra than she has to.”

“She’s learned from you, Sumire-chan,” Hanabi-sensei observes.

“It’s going to take more than that,” Shinki muses as he effortlessly blocks another attack from a distance. “So what will you do, Izuno-kun?”

“Yeah, I know that,” Wasabi-kun replies, pulling up her hood. “It’s gonna be a pain in the butt, fighting a guy like you, since a lotta what I’ve learned is support ninjutsu – tracking and medical techniques. But I do have one way to attack, so it’s gotta be this.”

“Nekokaburi!”

Wasabi’s high-speed, physically empowered taijutsu is crisp and precise, even more so than usual, but she also does a fair bit of darting using the shunshin. You see why she tested Shinki first – she can’t do this for very long. As fast as his sand is she very nearly breaks through it a couple of times. He doesn’t even really have time to form any definite shapes, instead relying on encircling himself in a loose cloud.

“Enough!” he shouts, forcing the cloud to basically explode outwards in all directions, sending Wasabi-kun tumbling across the arena. You find yourself gripping the safety railings uncomfortably tightly, enough so that they bend slightly under the force.

Wasabi-kun recovers quickly, so as Shinki recollects his iron sand she’s nowhere to be found. After a moment the ground in front of him opens up enough for a kunai to whiz past his face, having tilted his head to avoid the attack. Though, it comes right back past him when Wasabi-kun emerges from the ground behind him to catch it and throw it back down at him – at which point he dodges again and uses his sand to grab Wasabi-kun by the ankle.

“It’s over,” he declares, using his sand to swing her through the air in a high arc.

“Yeah!” Wasabi-kun shouts. “Either way I agree!”
>1/2
>>
>>5269798
It’s not just the kunai that explodes – perhaps anticipating that he wouldn’t move to defend himself, there are a few explosive tags planted beneath Shinki’s feet that all go off as well. By the time the dust settles Shinki manages to stagger to his feet, clearly burned and blasted, but still absolutely ready to go. “Had I not noticed the tag,” Shinki admits, “I might not have thought to protect myself from below. If the tag your opponent can see does not serve as a distraction, such a trick can backfire.”

Wasabi-kun tries to get back up out of the crater that formed around her where Shinki slammed her body into the floor, but ends up curling up instead, coughing and clearly in pain. The chakra cloak she uses to enhance her taijutsu is gone.

“Referee,” Shinki muses, turning to Lee-san. “This match...”

“Don’t say it...” Wasabi-kun staggers to her feet as well, forcing her body to move through sheer willpower despite clearly nursing a few broken ribs. “Don’t you dare say ‘this match is over’ or some stupid thing like that when I’m still standing!”

“... understood,” Shinki muses, his gaze hard and cold. “I understand that you’re the stubborn type who doesn’t know when to quit.”

“Damn right!”

Wasabi-kun raises her Nekokaburi again, with what must be the last of her strength, and charges low along the floor, on all fours like a coursing animal on the hunt. As she meets the iron sand she spins, using the chakra flowing through the two ‘tails’ of the sash you gave her, turning them into a tool powerful enough to turn the sand aside and let her keep going, darting side to side as she cuts through the multiple layers of sand Shinki’s put in her way. And surprisingly she breaks through to the last one, throwing a punch that strains against a layer of iron sand floating just near Shinki’s body, before breaking through that as well and leaving three deep lacerations in Shinki’s right cheek and shoulder.

But Shinki’s response is devastating – behind Wasabi-kun’s back, some of the sand she passed has formed into iron-hard feathers.

“Shinki no!”

...

“Guess this is as far as I go,” Wasabi-kun sighs, before passing out on the stretcher as the medical ninja take her out on it.

When her opponent returns to his team he’s greeted by a smack across the face, but he seems resolute even as Kōshū-kun shouts at him for having gone too far.

“Shiki-kun,” Lee-san insists quietly but firmly. “I need you to clear the stage, please. Wasabi-kun will be fine... he missed any of her vitals. She’s just going to need treatment and some rest.”

“Come on,” Hanabi-sensei insists, putting her hand on your shoulder. “I won’t tell you to not let it bother you... but you should try to channel what you’re feeling towards something productive. Okay?”
“... yeah. Got it.”
>1d9, taking the first roll and the next roll that isn't identical
>>
Rolled 1 (1d9)

>>5269859
>>
Rolled 1 (1d9)

>>5269859
Man that was awesome to read, and heartbreaking to finish. Well done Wasabi, I really hope that the proctor see her potential here and promote her despite being eliminated.
>>
Rolled 1 (1d9)

>>5269859
>>
Rolled 2 (1d9)

>>5269859
>>
Well... quite the odds at work here!
>>
>>5269882
Just the dice gods reminding us not to get cocky. This has now happened twice on trivial roles. I think we have been put on notice.
>>
>>5269859
The next few matches go by quickly. Two of the Senka triplets take out Hachiro-kun and his other teammate, while Chōchō-kun slaps the third down pretty remorselessly with her partial expansion technique. All three are basically interchangeable – water release, two shadow clones a piece. Even at their best you still outnumber each of them three to one. Not even a chance. No, it’s still Shinki that bothers you.

“Unfortunately two of you will now have to fight a second preliminary,” Lee-san declares, gesturing to the board that flashes through the remaining names until it selects two. “Senka Takinami and Kōshū-kun, would you please get ready to fight.”

“This out to be interesting,” Takinami smirks. “If I beat you here, I’ll be promoted for sure!”

“That’s a big ‘if’, you know that right?” Kōshū-kun frowns, raising the seal of confrontation and leaving it raised. “I think you’re coming on just a bit too hot.”

“You know what I think?” Takinami goes right on smirking even as he creates his two clones mid-charge. “I think you probably can’t even...”

“Use the hyōton?” Kōshū-kun completes the thought. “Sorry, but you’re wrong about that.”

The two clones find their feet stuck in ice that’s crept along the floor, giving off a chilly-looking mist that clings low to the ground – Kōshū-kun must have been able to use that technique with nothing but the same seal of confrontation she had used to greet her opponent. The real body managed to avoid getting stuck since he leapt high as part of the coordinated assault, called the Mikazuki-no-mae technique, but Kōshū-kun raises the tiger seal.

“Hyōton: Tsubame Fubuki.”

Dozens of ice projectiles the size and shape of swallows seemingly soar out of the mist, slamming into Takinami and his shadow clones, leaving the Kiri-nin frozen to the floor.

“Why don’t you just stay there for a while,” Kōshū-kun smirks. “Use the time to chill out a bit.”

“... no pun intended?” Takinami demands, straining against his opponent’s icy grip.

“Oh, pun fully intended,” Kōshū-kun replies calmly. “I always intend my puns. I’m not a coward.”

Lee-san examines the situation, before raising his hand. “Takinami-kun is unable to continue, the winner is Kōshū-kun!”

Kōshū-kun pumps her fist as she walks towards the stairs and out of the arena. Then she rejoins her team and uses the opportunity to loudly berate Shinki again. “See? You can beat someone without putting them in the hospital if you actually try.”
>1/2
>>
>>5270529
But what if we don't want to?
>>
>>5270529
>Catalog
“Now then,” Lee-san begins after clearing his throat. “These are the eight finalists – Nagao Sumire, Nara Shikadai, and Akimichi Chōchō from Konohagakure, Senka Makinami from Kirigakure, Shinki, Araya, and Kōshū from Sunagakure, and Uzumaki Shiki from Amegakure. You will have one month to train, and to recover if you need to, before the Third Stage begins – this will consist of a single-elimination tournament with randomly-paired semifinalists. The brackets will be announced the day before the matches begin.”

“For the semifinals, we will avoid matching teammates against each other. But after that point, you may have to face your friends to progress.”

“Everyone, train well and good luck!”

...

“If it comes down to it,” Sumire-kun tells you as you head to the hospital to see Wasabi-kun, “I’d rather forfeit to you then fight you. I think you know as well as I do that you stand the best chance of beating Shinki.”

“If it comes to that,” you sigh. “As much as I wouldn’t want you to just give up... I also really, really wanna give that guy a good thrashing.”

“We’ll train together,” Sumire-kun insists. “At least for the first two weeks.”

...

Inside Wasabi-kun’s hospital room you find it surprisingly busy, with three people you didn’t really expect. First is your aunt Karin, who seems to be helping Nara Sakura-san with Wasabi-kun’s immediate recovery, and then there’s your mother Naori-ue, who seems to have (quite correctly) guessed that you would head straight to see your teammate once the preliminaries were over. The third unexpected guest is someone who only managed to beat you here because you stopped to discuss a training regimen with Hanabi-sensei before she had to go off to do various “jōnin things”.

“What’s she doing here?” Sumire-kun demands quietly.

“Listen, I know you may not be in the mood,” Kōshū-kun admits, “and I don’t expect it’ll change how you feel, but I thought Wasabi-kun here deserved an explanation. Maybe you’d like to hear it too?”

After considering this for a moment, you nod.

“So, in Sunagakure a lot of the adults like to think Shinki is some super-mature, professional shinobi already, when in reality hes still just a kid like the rest of us. He just shows it in different ways.”

“Such as?” Naori-ue asks politely.
>2/3
>>
>>5271088
“Well it seems like he uses the minimum force against some enemies but then goes way overboard against others, which may not make sense at first,” Kōshū-kun explains. “But that’s because he’d be embarrassed to have to take people he thinks of as “weak” seriously, so he tries to use as little force as possible. Against people he thinks of as “strong” he can be brutal, even cruel, because he’s too eager to prove himself –“

“And by doing that, impress his adoptive father,” Naori-ue guesses.

Kōshū-kun nods in agreement. “And that’s Shinki-kun in a nutshell.”

“Why are you telling us this, really?” you ask with a frown.

“Because Shinki-kun’s only paying attention to three people in this tournament anymore,” Kōshū-kun replies, her tone somewhat tense. “He saw Wasabi-kun here as someone to beat, sure, but he really wants to fight me, and the two of you, Shiki-kun. You and Sumire-kun.”

“I know already what I should expect from him. I figured it was only fair to let you know too.”

>Honestly, when you put it that way I kind of get it. I think it’s unacceptable, but I get it.
>You know, it’s actually a little suspicious that you’re acting so friendly towards us like this.
>I hope you know that I’m committed to beating Shinki, even if that means going through you.
>Other?
>>
>>5271090
>>I hope you know that I’m committed to beating Shinki, even if that means going through you.
not as a threat, more a warning
>>
>>5271090
>>I hope you know that I’m committed to beating Shinki, even if that means going through you.
>>
>>5271090
>>I hope you know that I’m committed to beating Shinki, even if that means going through you.
>>
>>5271090
>I hope you know that I’m committed to beating Shinki, even if that means going through you.
>>
>>5271090
>other
If he wanted to fight, all he had to do was ask. But I believe you about him being a dumb kid. He doesn't really seem to 'get' that there are consequences for trying to gut someone's teammate like a fish in front of them. He will reap what he's sown, one way or another.
>>
>>5271090
>Honestly, when you put it that way I kind of get it. I think it’s unacceptable, but I get it.
>>
>>5271090
“I’m surprised,” you admit to Kōshū-kun. “I actually like you quite a bit, Kōshū-kun, and you clearly have some integrity – I appreciate that. But that being said, in order to beat a lesson into that no-good teammate of yours, I may need to beat you first.”

Kōshū-kun considers it carefully, before sighing. “For real though, I wish we could’ve had a nice, relaxed, friendly bout. But I don’t think I have that luxury either – it’s a dumb political thing.”

“You mean between Sunagakure and Kirigakure.”

She nods. “You already know a little, but let’s just say if the elders in Sunagakure thought I was taking it too easy there’d be trouble.”

After a moment, you offer a curt nod of your own. “Okay, I think I get it. I’ll let it drop for now.”

“Thanks. See you all later then, everyone.”

- Naori -

“Well, she’s definitely another interesting one,” you muse after Kōshū-kun leaves. “So yeah, have you two thought about how you’re going to train?”

“Well, I’d like to start by sealing away the better part of the lake,” Shiki-kun muses. “But other than that, I hadn’t thought of anything specific.”

“I’ll use the four limbs weighting seal on you,” you volunteer. “It’s a good way to do more or less passive strength and speed training while you do other things - and it's the way I did it when I was your age. Just be sure to do some amount of physical exercises every day to make full use of it.”

“Thanks,” Shiki-kun nods in appreciation. “Did you have any ideas for how you wanted to improve, Sumirin?”

“A few,” she admits. “I’d like you to teach me the shadow clone technique – finally.”

“You saw the Senka trio using it?”

“I think it’d suit me,” she confirms. “But I also have a few other tricks in mind... as much as I now find my father’s memory a distasteful one, the style of combat ANBU uses has an appeal.”

“I see,” you muse. “You’re not wrong about that.”

“Do you have any ideas for me?” your son wonders curiously. “Or rather, I should probably ask if you have any ideas I can act on in a month?”

>I think you could start by learning some of the Uzumaki fūinjutsu using Tenrō as the basis, then go from there.
>I think you should focus on inventing your own unique kengen technique using fire release. It could be spectacular.
>Your ‘vibrating rasengan’ may be a halfway step to several possible techniques. You wanna investigate it together?
>Other?
>>
>>5272181
>>Your ‘vibrating rasengan’ may be a halfway step to several possible techniques. You wanna investigate it together?
>>
>>5272181
>Focus on learning to control steam release
Steam release may be able to counter Shinki's iron sand. If we wet his sand down, he won't be able to keep it near him without risking a steam explosion.
Simply by negating his defense, all sorts of other options become viable again.
>>
>>5272181
>vibro ball is a go!
>>
>>5272181
>Your ‘vibrating rasengan’ may be a halfway step to several possible techniques. You wanna investigate it together?

Shiki is definitely already on their way on their shadow-cloning weaponry and fuinjutsu shenanigans, this feels like it'll synergize quite well.
>>
>>5272181
>>I think you should focus on inventing your own unique kengen technique using fire release. It could be spectacular.
>>
>>5272181
>>Your ‘vibrating rasengan’ may be a halfway step to several possible techniques. You wanna investigate it together?
>>
>>5272181
>>Your ‘vibrating rasengan’ may be a halfway step to several possible techniques. You wanna investigate it together?
>>
>>5272181
“So yeah, I hear you made a rasengan vibrate?” you muse. “Show me.”

Shiki-kun performs the technique for you – good power and containment, good shape manipulation, no spin, done with one hand as Minato-han intended. It’s exactly what you’d hoped it would be. Sumire-kun watches it in obvious surprise, as does Wasabi-kun who actually sits up in bed.

“Whoa.”

“Would you mind taking this outside?” Karin asks you, glancing over her shoulder at you from where she and Sakura have been doing some paperwork and examining charts.

“Of course,” you smile. “Hey, Wasabi-kun?”

Shiki-kun’s teammate looks at you in confusion from having been directly addressed. “Ma’am?”

“So yeah, I know being laid up like this is gonna gnaw at you,” you clarify your intent, “but don’t worry too much. Karin-han, Sakura-han, I trust if I brought a training and physiotherapy plan for your patient that reintroduces physical exercise gradually you wouldn’t mind?”

“I think we’re bound to disagree somewhat,” Sakura-han admits. “I always favor light conditioning before any serious training.”

Karin nods in agreement. “And I’d favor letting her resume training under strict supervision. Otherwise Naori-san’s right – especially with a promising young genin like Wasabi-kun here, getting stuck on the sideline will create lasting problems too.”

“Remember how that made Sasuke feel?”

Sakura-han flinches ever so slightly. “I do now. Thanks, Karin.”

“... what’s this got to do with Sarada’s dad?” Wasabi-kun whispers loudly to Shiki-kun.

Your son shakes his head. “I’ll explain later.”

...

You teleport Shiki-kun and his teammate into Naruto’s office. “Yeah no, I’m taking one of your genin.”

“That’s fine,” he replies without looking up from his mountain of paperwork. “Wait, what-”

Then you’re in Kusagakure, on the lake island you once used as a hideout.

“This should suffice,” you declare.

“It’s beautiful,” Sumire-kun muses in self-evident delight.

“Alright, so tell me something, Shiki-kun: why is sound like fire?”

There’s a long pause while your son considers his answer. “Well, sound is just vibrations... so they both happen when energy is released?”
>1/2
>>
>>5272828
“That’s right,” you nod. “Now, to complete the Kongō Fūsa what you need to do is create chains instead of a compressed vibrating sphere, without allowing the chakra to rotate at all. Then you’ll need to do so while activating a fūinjutsu – in theory, the Tenrō should work.”

“Have you ever done what you’re suggesting?” your son asks you curiously.

You shake your head. “I use hiraishin as the basis for my Kongō Fūsa, which is... specifically tailored, I guess. It can stop an enemy from moving through spacetime ninjutsu.”

“Why would such a thing be beneficial?” Sumire-kun wonders aloud.

“Yeah no, most of the time it isn’t,” you admit. “But the sort of situations where it’d be useful are situations where I want every possible advantage. Anyway I can’t show you how to do this, Shiki-kun – I don’t have the natural talent for fire release the same way you do, so using the Tenrō for it would actually be harder than using the hiraishin.”

“And so how does sound being heat fit in with that?” your son frowns.

“You can vibrate your chakra while doing other things with it and keeping it spin-neutral,” you shrug, “so transforming the chains with fire should be possible as well. You just need to apply what I know you already know.”

“Ah,” Shiki-kun nods.

“So yeah, I also think you can add vibration to your fire release,” you continue. “Increase the heat.”

“Enough to melt iron sand?” Sumire-kun wonders aloud.

You shake your head. “Yeah no, I’m not sure. I’ve never done it before.”

“Iron melts at about fifteen-hundred degrees,” your son observes. “I’ve never recorded it, but based on the color of my own fire release techniques I’d say mine tops out at around twelve hundred.”

“Most shinobi sit around eight hundred to a thousand,” you muse. “But if you can really get this down, I think it could serve as the springboard to your first unique kengen technique.”

“Do you think I could use it against Shinki?” Shiki-kun asks you. “His technique does mix in wind nature. That could lower the melting point, or make it more prone to rapid heat transfer?”

>It’s possible. We’ll have to see how bright you can burn, then fill the rest in with educated guesses.
>His technique functions over a wide area – the answer may actually be a water technique I know.
>From what I’ve seen you have more than one strong opponent. Don’t focus too much on either one.
>Other?
>>
>>5273378
>>From what I’ve seen you have more than one strong opponent. Don’t focus too much on either one.
Don't become to specialized, its a trap many shinobi fall into. But also don't spread out to much, otherwise you fail to play to your strenghts. I know that sounds complicated, but don't worry you can always ask for help from someone.

something along those lines
>>
>>5273378
>His technique functions over a wide area – the answer may actually be a water technique I know.
>>
>>5273378
>>From what I’ve seen you have more than one strong opponent. Don’t focus too much on either one.
>>
>>5273378
>>His technique functions over a wide area – the answer may actually be a water technique I know.
>>
How can a Rasengan have no spin? That's antithetical to the concept.

And is there some missing link between the Rasengan and Kongo Fusa that's implied here?
>>
>>5273583
What is spinning, if not vibrating consistently in one way?

In quest canon the rubber baloon training was made by the Uzumaki to practice spinning chakra. The Kongo Fusa works by counter-spinning the opponents chakra, so learning the Rasengan gets you closer to using KF. Or at least that's what I understood, Queen might explain it better,
>>
>>5273378
>It’s possible. We’ll have to see how bright you can burn, then fill the rest in with educated guesses.
>>
>>5273646
Nah, you basically got it.

>>5273583
Basically, I had to make up some way for a much younger Naori to learn the Kongo Fusa that was internally consistent and decided to link Minato's rasengan training and the Uzumaki clan's Kongo Fusa training. Learning to spin the Uzumaki clan's vaguely-defined "special" chakra in either common direction to help seal a target's chakra or block their attack when used as a barrier seemed as good a way as any to do that (it's not like anything about it is explained in canon at any great detail).

Shiki's happy little accident came from a misunderstanding of the point of the training, where he tried to shortcut the process and directed the chakra to push energy outwards in a series of high-frequency pulses while maintaining containment. While the resulting technique is a dead end, it both demonstrated the required level of control and a potential application to fire release techniques to increase their temperature (at the cost of using more chakra, which for simpler techniques Shiki can already afford to do). For the Kongo Fusa he demonstrated that he can already do a powerful shaping-only technique that doesn't spin, so all he needs to do is add a sealing formula and prepare it so the chakra can spin in either direction as needed. The hard part is done, but there's still more work to be done.
>>
>>5273378
“Yeah no, I wouldn’t focus too heavily on one opponent,” you muse. “After all, there are at least two who could definitely prove to be a challenge. That said, I do have one idea for how to beat Shinki – and honestly, you were pretty close before.”

“When I was talking about heating it?” your son frowns. “Okay, so if that isn’t it, how was it similar?”

“Right idea, wrong mechanic,” you clarify. “I know a fairly simple suiton technique that absorbs chakra, which should work nicely against an attack with such a large surface area. Only problem is it’s usually a cooperation ninjutsu.”

“How do you use it then, Naori-sama?” Sumire-kun asks you curiously.

“So yeah, one of my summons is Nyoka-han, a giant shrike,” you explain. “She can control the weather to cause thunderstorms.”

“That’s amazing!” Sumire-kun’s eyes widen. “But... that means your idea involves having Shiki-kun control the weather?”

You nod. “Sasuke-kun did it once using fire release to create updrafts. Between the summer heat and the crowd there should already be an updraft in the arena.”

“And with a hotter fire release to speed up the evaporation...” your son realize. “Actually, that might just work.”

- Shiki -

... so that’s how your mother, a truly powerful shinobi of the age of constant warfare, approaches her battles. Reading the terrain in detail, analyzing her enemy’s strengths and weaknesses, considering what she needs to capitalize on those factors, and coming up with a plan based on what she has at her disposal in mere moments, even based on secondhand information and intuition born of decades of experience.

She clearly expects you to get there some day – but gaining the experience you need is a challenge in and of itself in this time of peace. One which you and your mother would probably agree is worth it over all, but a challenge regardless.

“Alright,” you nod. “This technique... it’s called Uramiame, right?”

“That’s right,” your mother nods in confirmation. “And yeah, I think you should absolutely learn it too, Sumire-kun.”
>1d6, best three of four
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5274164
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5274164
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5274164
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5274164
>>
>>5274164
Your mother was right – the Uramiame technique does prove to be deceptively simple to learn, so easy that a genin should be able to do it. It would definitely take a dozen “ordinary” genin to create the clouds and precipitation required to use it, making it feel more like some kind of dark ritual rather than a useful combat technique, but for your purposes it should be fine.

Then, for the rest of the first week, training continues in earnest. You start every morning in full-contact sparring with Sumire-kun, overseen either by Naori-ue, Hanabi-sensei, or Mirai-senpai, and you end the day in the same way before crashing in the safehouse, usually too tired to make much more than the simplest of meals before falling asleep face-first atop scrolls filled with technical theory on ninjutsu development.

During the days between your physical training you and Sumire-kun work separately. In your case you use vibration-based chakra shaping to increase the heat of your fire release – starting with the straightforward technique called the Ryūka-no-jutsu. Basically it just means breathing fire out of your mouth, and by the end of the week you find yourself able to stoke your own flames to a dazzling white-hot color. Using fire release with this technique, adding to perhaps the simplest possible shape transformation, proves somewhat more difficult.

You do however learn another technique that should be a little more flexible, the Hōsenka-no-jutsu which creates many smaller fireballs. All the while, either Naori-ue or Ryūzetsu-ue watches over your progress.

...

In the second week, Ryūzetsu-ue demonstrates one of her own fire release techniques – the Onidōrō-no-jutsu. In two days you have the technique mastered, but with your new, hotter flame manipulation you can only take the technique as far as creating white flaming orbs that float around you, rather than transforming them into the completed form of many floating demonic heads.

“You’ve done well,” she admits. “As well as I have ever seen... you have genuine talent.”

“Thanks,” you sigh, laying flat on the lakeshore and panting from the exertion. “I’ll put it to good use... mom.”

“You’d better not look uncool with the technique I gave you,” Ryūzetsu-ue muses. “Jeez, people’d start thinking all your talent came from Naorin.”

>Speaking of ‘sides of the family’, do you think I’ve come far enough to study the Ryūmei?
>I can only promise to try. But right now I’d like to push this fire release training a bit further.
>The way those floating lights shimmer... it’s really something, isn’t it? Can we use that?
>Other?
>>
>>5274240
>>Speaking of ‘sides of the family’, do you think I’ve come far enough to study the Ryūmei?
>>
>>5274240
>>I can only promise to try. But right now I’d like to push this fire release training a bit further.
>>
>>5274240
>>I can only promise to try. But right now I’d like to push this fire release training a bit further.
>>
>>5274240
>Speaking of ‘sides of the family’, do you think I’ve come far enough to study the Ryūmei?
>>
>>5274240
>The way those floating lights shimmer... it’s really something, isn’t it? Can we use that?
>>
>>5274240
>>Speaking of ‘sides of the family’, do you think I’ve come far enough to study the Ryūmei?
>>
>1d6 best three of four
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5274583
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5274583
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5274583
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5274583
>>
>>5274583
“Speaking of things coming from sides of the family,” you muse, “do you feel like I’m ready to start learning the Ryūmei techniques, Ryūzetsu-ue?”

She seems to consider your interest for a moment, before nodding. “Actually Naorin and I discussed it. Swear that you will be careful, until you get the hang of it.”

“... I promise,” you give her your word. “And I’m glad you’re here to walk me through it.”

...

It takes you the rest of the week to even begin to wrap your head around how to do it, but eventually you manage to separate half of your soul from your body and let it wander independently. With it goes a fraction of your awareness, not quite like seeing through a shadow clone’s eyes at all times – something ‘purer’ in a certain sense of the word. It’s almost like awareness without the distortions of your human senses, including an awareness of a fraction of Ryūzetsu-ue’s soul that guides you in this exercise.

“Returning to your body takes getting used-to,” she explains to you as you rest after your first real success at using the technique. There’s a trace of a proud smile there. “But you have taken the first step... congratulations. You should talk with Naorin about this – later, some time.”

“What does she have in mind?” you muse.

“She thinks it may help with gathering natural energy,” Ryūzetsu-ue offers. “Beyond that... who can say?”

...

At the end of the second week of intensive training, you’re joined by a new face.

“Wasabi-kun!” Sumire greets your third teammate warmly the morning Naori-ue brings her here. “Please, have some breakfast!”

“Thanks!” Wasabi-kun replies just as cheerfully, sitting down to eat with you. “Man, anything beats hospital food.”

“I see Naori-ue already set you up with the weighting seals?” you tell her, folding some omlette into two bowls to finish off four portions. “That’s good. How are you feeling otherwise?”

“Still aching a bit,” Wasabi-kun admits, “but Karin-san and Sakura-san both say I should be fine to start training again if I ease into it.”

“What news?” you ask.
>1/2
>>
>>5275132
“Well, so we pulled your sister and Gin-kun out of the exams for the smaller nations,” Naori-ue explains, “since we had a few – somewhat valid – complaints that their abilities were so far out of line as to make the participation of other candidates meaningless.”

“Well, my sister’s fighting style is a bit of a tough problem,” you admit. “So how did you test them?”

“We had them fight each other,” Naori-ue shrugs. “Makoto won, but it was close. Gin-kun had to attack kind of recklessly to counter your sister’s flight technique, and it almost worked. We decided to promote Makoto to chūnin, though Konoha’s still reviewing Gin-kun’s performance.”

“I was looking forward to watching her fight this weekend,” you sigh, “but send her my congratulations, would you?”

“I will. So yeah, what will you be working on this week?”

>I was thinking about devising my own kengen using fire release.
>I think the Kongō Fūsa would be extremely useful, so I’ll focus there.
>Change of pace, physical training with my teammates.
>Other?
>>
>>5275314
>>I was thinking about devising my own kengen using fire release.
>>
>>5275314
>>I was thinking about devising my own kengen using fire release.
>>
>>5275314
>Change of pace, physical training with my teammates.
>>
>>5275314
>I was thinking about devising my own kengen using fire release.
>>
>>5275314
>I was thinking about devising my own kengen using fire release.
>>
>>5275314
>1d6, best three of four
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5275543
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5275543
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5275543
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5275543
>>
>>5275543
For the rest of the week you choose to devote yourself to creating a new kengen-ryū technique based in the fire release that you have such an affinity for. Fire release... plus yin release... it proves extremely difficult to just ‘combine’ the two, but you already know from the existence of the raigen technique that it should be possible. There just needs to be something, anything really, to ‘carry’ the genjutsu – in the case of the raigen it’s a visible flash of light, in the case of other techniques it can even be the faint sound the sword makes as it passes through the air, as the Umekiri is designed to work.

Sound... vibrations...

Your Onidōrō variation was stalled halfway, but maybe that’s the key?

- Naori -

It’s into the fourth week of training. You’ve just finished critiquing Sumire-kun’s application of shadow clones in her swordplay – finding it adequate for the chūnin level – when you check in on your son’s progress. What you find is a stunning breakthrough in progress.

Heat shimmers and a thin wisp of steam rise from Shuki’s sword, which he has held in a low ready position at his side. All around him you see little flickering flames, dazzlingly white, like flower petals floating on an updraft. The dance for a few seconds each, their movements carrying a naturalistic unpredictability, before flickering out and being replaced on a continuous rotating basis.

But something bothers you... and even you have to quickly take action. There’s a faint hum, just on the edge of audibility, that serves as the basis for a sound-based genjutsu effect. The flames are creating that hum as a side effect of the vibration that gives them their heat and their white color, and the genjutsu they carry leaves you feeling certain physical side effects – light-headedness, a tinge of nausea, a dull ache in your skull, and dizziness. You recognize the symptoms as those of heat-related illnesses...

Shiki-kun raises his sword over his left shoulder and swings it down to his right hip, releasing a mass of flower petals that crash against the surface of the lake, hissing and boiling the surface and scattering in swirling confusion before dissipating.

Then he notices you. “So... what did that feel like?”

“Yeah no, not great,” you admit, releasing the genjutsu. “It felt like I was gonna pass out from heat exhaustion.”

“So that’s what the yin chakra does,” he gives you a tired smile. “You mind naming this one? I’m too tired to think clearly.”

“Yeah, sure,” you nod. “How about Hibana Shisshin (Fire-Flower Blackout)?”

After a moment, your son sheathes his sword – a Kotetsu from Hanzō’s personal collection. “I like that. Hibana Shisshin it is.”
>1/2
>>
>>5276457
“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you for six hours, ya know?”

“Yeah, so I was overseeing my son’s training,” you explain with a roll of your eyes. “You know, that thing you never seem to be able to find time to do because you’re bad at delegating?”

“Sasuke-kun’s in the hospital,” Naruto retorts, clearly unimpressed with your explanation. “Sakura-kun and Karin-san are seeing to his injuries.”

“Then he’s in good hands,” you insist. “Naruto-kun, I never thought I’d have to explain this to you – but I don’t simply come when called. But since I’m here, can we fast-forward to the part where you tell me what has you so bothered?”

“Sasuke-kun was ambushed in one of Kaguya’s dimensions by previously-unknown members of the Ōtsutsuki clan.”

You nod quietly. “Okay, so yeah. I understand why that would be a problem. First of all you might’ve led with that. Second, what other information do you have to share with me about this?”

“There were two of them,” Naruto-kun informs you.

There’s a pause. “And?”

“And I wasn’t there,” Naruto sighs wearily. “So all I can tell you is all Sasuke-kun told me before he went in.”

That’s... somewhat grim news. You knew that this could happen sooner or later, but this is neither ‘sooner’ nor ‘later’. Had they come sooner Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun could’ve been in prime shape for it, but by now they’ve gone too long without a proper challenge to keep them sharp so this is going to be harder. Had they come later your children’s generation might have produced a few true aces that could be ready to face them, but right now not even Shiki-kun and Makoto-kun are ready.

>Then we have to prepare, quietly. At least get some early detection in place.
>There’s nothing to do but wait. We have no idea if it will even be an immediate invasion.
>Once Sasuke-kun is ready I want him to take me on a little trip.
>Other?
>>
>>5277258
>Then we have to prepare, quietly. At least get some early detection in place.
>Naruto-kun, i'm afraid you're going to have to leave the paperwork to your clones. It's time to spar, whether you like it or not.
>>
>>5277258
>There’s nothing to do but wait. We have no idea if it will even be an immediate invasion.
>>
>>5277258
>Then we have to prepare, quietly. At least get some early detection in place.
>>
>>5277262
>>5277258
Supporting
>>
>>5277258
>>Once Sasuke-kun is ready I want him to take me on a little trip.
>>
>>5277262
support
>>
>>5277258
>>5277262
Quietly prep and beating Naruto up until he improves. What's not to like. I support this.
>>
>>5277258
“There must be some way to quietly prepare,” you muse. “To pre-empt their first move somehow.”

“If their motives are similar to Kaguya’s, wouldn’t they go after the jinchūriki first?” Naruto reasons.

“Good thinking,” you agree. “I’ll discuss it with Fū and Yugitō directly, you can take it through the Five Kages.”

Naruto nods in agreement. “That sounds good to me. We all acknowledge you have a personal stake when it comes to those two.”

“So yeah, how long has it been since you had a hard fight?” you muse.

“I spar with Sasuke-kun a few times a month,” Naruto insists.

“So you only spar with someone whose moves you know?” you sigh. “Naruto-kun, come on now.”

“What, are you trying to tell me you have the time to find new sparring partners to face off against?”

Your accusatory stare tells him the answer. “Wait, you’re serious?”

“Yeah no, it’s called ‘delegation’, cousin,” you roll your eyes. “Lemme introduce you around the ‘underground’ scene.”

“The Five Kages outlawed that sort of event,” Naruto frowns.

“Yeah, but that’s only true for your respective nations,” you observe. “In the Land of Storms it’s highly regulated. In some non-shinobi nations, it’s not regulated at all. So come on, I know some strong guys.”

“I have responsibilities here!” he insists.

“You have responsibilities everywhere,” you counter. “And Shikamaru-kun can handle this stuff, same as Ajisai can. So worry about the big picture this time instead of micromanaging everything like a neurotic.”

“Who knows, maybe you’ll have fun.”
>1/2
>>
>>5277813
- Shiki -

The day of the finals has arrived, and so far it’s just as predicted – a massive crowd in an open-air arena, on a hot summer day that could very well develop into afternoon thunderstorms on its own a little later. There are even misters running to keep the audience cool as they watch, adding to the rising moisture column you’re going to exploit.

The brackets you were given have you and Shinki at opposite ends – the first match will be Shinki versus Chōchō-kun, followed by Sumirin versus Makinami-kun, which you suppose in the semifinals means Sumirin will be fighting Shinki. Shikadai-kun will be fighting against Kōshū-kun in the third match, while you will be fighting against Araya in the fourth. The eight of you are assembled in a waiting area above the lockers, with a prime view of the action.

“Shiki-kun~! Sumire-kun!” Kōshū-kun greets you cheerfully. “Hope you’ve been training hard!”

“... we have,” Sumire replies warily. “You seem awfully cheerful about all this.”

Kōshū-kun shrugs. “Doesn’t cost me anything, and besides – I’m excited to show what I can do!”

She even throws a few jabs for emphasis.

“Rein it in,” Shinki insists quietly.
>1d6, first three
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5277886
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5277886
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5277886
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5277886
>>
>>5277886
>Shinki vs. Chocho
>>
>>5277886
“That girl,” Kōshū-kun muses thoughtfully as you watch Chōchō-kun proceeds to throw everything she has at Shinki. “She’s not bad. I wish she had better chances.”

“She’s giving it her best,” Sumire-kun frowns.

“And I appreciate that,” Kōshū-kun sighs, before pointing out the obvious. “But Shinki’s more than matching her blow for blow, and he hasn’t even taken a step yet.”

“But, you already knew that, didn’t you?”

After watching Chōchō-kun unleash her clan’s “human boulder” technique against Shinki, cracking the ground under the exertion but without any appreciable progress, Sumire-kun is forced to admit it. “Even if her chances weren’t good, I wish I could’ve cheered on my classmate from someplace she could hear it.”

“I wish I had a classmate I could cheer period,” Kōshū-kun mutters.

When Chōchō-kun falls flat on her back, her chakra spent and her head spinning, Shinki is declared the winner and there is a break of a few minutes to prepare for the next match. Sumirin glares at Shinki as they walk past each other, before Sumire is supposed to fight the last of the Senka trio.
>1d6, best three of four
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5277953
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5277953
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5277953
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5277953
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5277953
>>
>>5277953
As soon as the proctor, a member of the Hyūga clan who you think is Hanabi-sensei’s cousin starts the exam, Sumirin puts the plan into motion by leaping back and weaving the seals for a Suijinheki.

“Aw, that’s cute!” Makinami smirks. “Do you really think that – holy crap!”

He realizes mid-boast the volume of water coming his way, a raging torrent far beyond what a chūnin should be capable of – perhaps even well beyond the average jōnin even. Neji-san easily rides out the surge of water until it’s filled the whole base of the arena with at least a foot and a half of lake water. This arena is perfect for it – with the whole floor being paved, there’s essentially nowhere for all that water to go but up into the atmosphere.

“That’s a bit dirty,” Kōshū-kun muses. “I’m taking it you were the one who sealed all that away for her?”

“It was her idea,” you shrug. “And if your friend Araya there can use a puppet, I see no reason why other pre-prepared ninja tools should be any different.”

“Oh don’t get me wrong, I love it!” Kōshū-kun laughs. “It’s like you’re a real team that actually care about each other.”

Makinami comes up sputtering. “Where the hell did all that water come from!?”

Sumire doesn’t reply, instead charging him down with her tantō drawn and raised in front of her and her support hand held low at her side.

Makinami counter-charges with a pair of shadow clones, and Sumire demonstrates how ready she is for that exact strategy.

“Suiton: Suireiha!”

Two blasts hit the shadow clones and dispel them, and a third forces Makinami to abandon his attack and dodge. Meanwhile Sumire continues her assault, raising the seal of confrontation. “Oborozukiyo.”

She moves her blade in a slow circle... a hypnotizing movement that varies subtly in speed, making it difficult even for you to track her final attack. Makinami is completely perplexed, with Sumire’s speed making it impossible for him to determine how to defend himself.

It’s a clean hit.

Makinami lands on his knee, bobbing on top of the water. “Damn...”

“Senko Makinami is incapable of continuing,” Neji-san declares abruptly, seemingly surprising a lot of people including Makinami. “The winner is Nagao Sumire. Would medical personnel please deploy immediately.”

Ah... so Sumirin’s blade was poisoned. It’s good that Neji-san is treating this seriously.

Once Makinami-kun has been treated for the poisoning, several chunin come out to clear the water out of the bottom of the arena.
>1d6, best three of four
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5278018
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5278018
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5278018
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5278018
>>
>>5278018
“Shikadai-kun,” you catch your classmate’s attention. “Be careful, right?”

He shrugs. “Honestly I get the feeling this chick’s not going to do anything too crazy, but I’ll beep on my toes anyway. I’m not keen to have my team knocked out in the quarters.”

That fight must have gone more quickly than Sumire-kun anticipated – she probably expected a much closer fight between two similar fighting styles where her slight edge in kenjutsu and her experience would be the deciding factor. She definitely can’t have expected to totally overwhelm Makinami from the start – and she clearly realized that dragging the fight out any longer despite having the clear upper hand would be suspicious.

...

“Begin!”

“Suiton: Kirigakure!”

A cold mist closes in around Shikadai-kun and Kōshū-kun, not so much dense as it is palpably cold even at this distance. She manages to dodge Shikadai’s first attempt to trap her shadow, and then she goes on the offensive. “Hyōton: Tsubame Fubuki!”

The chilly mist starts to take the shape of flying swallows that crash all around Shikadai-kun who’s forced to use exploding tags to keep the assault at bay. Eventually the incoming swallows slow, giving Shikadai an opening to unseal a trio of explosive-tagged kunai and throw them at Kōshū-kun.

“Futon!” she yells, weaving a few quick seals. “Daitoppa!”

The massive blast of compressed air she blows towards Shikadai not only deflects the kunai, setting them off harmlessly, it actually blows away some of the mists for a moment to reveal Shikadai extending his shadow.

“Sorry to tell you this,” Kōshū-kun muses as she gets a little extra distance. “But my mom’s probably the top wind style user in the world – so unlike my teammate, I got good at the basics too. That means projectile weapons aren’t exactly the way to go.”

Shikadai retreats back into the mists as well, giving himself some time to rethink his approach. “Thanks for the advice,” he grumbles.

“Just making sure we’re on the same page,” she shrugs. “I promise I’m not trying to be patronizing, I’m actually really interested in your technique. I wanna see what more you can do.”

“Which is an attitude you can only indulge in because you think you’re going to win,” Shikadai accuses.

“You may have a point there,” she sighs. “It does make it easier. But I’m also super-excited to fight Shiki-kun assuming we both win our matches.”

“Ah, so you’re just that type,” Skhikadai realizes. “Jeez, what a pain.”
>1/2
>>
>>5278106
“Yeah, so what?” Kōshū-kun frowns. “I know how I look, and how I come off – people see the teeth and the assertiveness and think I’m some kinda murder-happy freak when really I just like testing myself. Sometimes I fall short and that’s fine too, so long as I can learn and improve.”

“So for real though, if you’ve got anything else you can do now’s the time, Shikadai-kun.”

After a moment, Shikadai nods. “Yeah... I think there’s one more thing I haven’t tried!”

“Good!” Kōshū-kun replies with a wide grin as she weaves a few hand seals and unseals a giant folding fan, readying it to defend herself. “That’s the spirit, Shikadai-kun!”

He charges forward, winding up for a powerful blow, and aims that blow towards the ground. The force of his punch spiderwebs the ground between himself and Kōshū-kun – into which he intends to run his shadow, using the dark gaps between the fragments of pavement to extend its reach. Kōshū-kun thinks quickly and throws a few smoke bombs, an old fashioned trick but a useful one... but when the smoke clears it appears that Shikadai has won.

“Got you,” he insists. “I drew my shadow unusually thin... so I ended up using all of the cracks to extend its reach in a spider’s web.”

“Kamaitachi!”

Kōshū-kun attacks from above, where she had been riding atop her fan supported by a cushion of wind-nature chakra.

When she lands, she stands over Shikadai where he fell under the massive crushing power of her wind-nature attack.

“Well, it was a good idea,” she muses. “But it seems like you forgot I could use water nature too...”

“Yeah,” Shikadai muses, rising to his feet as the expression on Kōshū-kun’s face changes. “I figured you’d pull something like this – so I was ready for it.”

“Y-you...” Kōshū-kun strains against the shadow paralysis.

“Gotcha,” Shikadai insists, putting a kunai to his opponent’s throat. “Why don’t we call this a...”

“Suiton: Suirō no jutsu.”

The water clone Shikadai had been holding a kunai to dissipates and swiftly envelops him – the real Kōshū-kun had allowed herself to be trapped knowing her water clone had escaped up into the fog and would be attacking downward anyway, releasing her from the trap.

“The winner is Kōshū-kun,” Neji-san declares. “The next match will be Uzumaki Shiki versus Araya.”
>1d6, best three of five
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5278367
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5278367
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5278367
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5278367
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5278367
>>
>>5278367
So he swapped out for the puppet again? You don’t really look around to figure out where the wires are coming from – instead, the logical step seems to be to turn this to your advantage right away, and in doing so advance your plan for beating Shinki later.

“Begin!” Neji-san declares.

“Suijinheki.”

You only ‘weave’ one hand seal, with one hand, before unleashing the torrent of water you have stored in one of the sealing tags that, like with Sumirin, floods the whole arena about ankle to knee-deep in lakewater. ‘Araya’ withstands the attack quite admirably... though his movements immediately afterwards seem clumsy.

“So,” you mutter under your breath, “you can’t balance your puppet on water, then... even your puppet-master jutsu has limitations.”

He can’t hear you at this distance either, and depending on the angle he can see behind his puppet – but he can’t necessarily see what you’re doing with your hands.

>Try your damnedest to destroy the puppet – no need to hold back now.
>The wires are connected to the puppet, and to Araya – make use of that.
>Hide your seals and drag this fight out a little longer, give the water time to evaporate.
>Other?
>>
>>5278699
>The wires are connected to the puppet, and to Araya – make use of that.
>>
>>5278699
>>The wires are connected to the puppet, and to Araya – make use of that.
>>
>>5278699
>>Hide your seals and drag this fight out a little longer, give the water time to evaporate.
>>The wires are connected to the puppet, and to Araya – make use of that.

Use fire techniques to flush him out, make it look like we don't know where he is, hit some of the water to get it evaporating.
>>
>>5278699
>>The wires are connected to the puppet, and to Araya – make use of that.
>>
>>5278699
>The wires are connected to the puppet, and to Araya – make use of that.
>>
>>5278699
>Hide your seals and drag this fight out a little longer, give the water time to evaporate.
>>
>>5278699
>1d6 in the thread
DC 9
SP: 2/4

Rangeban'd still
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5279162
i think best of three, but not sure since it wasn't mentioned by queen
>>
>>5279163
nvm, first three is what i meant, i am an idiot
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5279162
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5279162
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5279162
>>
>>5278699
You weave the signs for dog, horse, then tiger. “Katon: Onidōrō!”

All around you flames flicker into existence, flames that burn a bright orange and shape themselves into fearsome demonic visages with gaping mouths full of fangs. Ryūzetsu-ue’s technique is perfect for the ploy you’re going to use here, and you make it a point to make it look a little sloppy – but no sloppier than the movements of Araya’s puppet have become. The point after all isn’t to hit the puppet, it’s to evaporate as much water as you can while making it look like you’re trying to hit the puppet.

After a few moments you charge in, seeing that your objective has been achieved. You flow more fire than necessary through your wakizashi, charging low towards the puppet with your support hand tucked in close to your chest. Snake, dragon, tiger...

Just before your sword would have connected you feel it – your body has been momentarily stopped by the chakra threads Araya had been using to control his puppet. Big mistake.

You reach up with your left arm and feel the threads brush across the back of your wrist as you gather them into your hand, bringing them closer to your mouth.

“Katon: Ryūka-no-jutsu!”

The flames rapidly travel up the threads and straight towards the roof of the covered stands where the audience has been watching in rapt attention. He cuts the threads, but not before they put your attack on precisely the right trajectory. They hit the rooftop and balloon outwards, cracking a wide expanse of tiles and setting Araya’s coat on fire. He has to quickly strip it off, leaving him in a sleeveless black undershirt.

Thankfully the roof itself was fireproofed, probably for this exact reason, so nothing else catches fire – though it does steam menacingly for a while after your stream of fire dissipates.

“So,” you raise your voice so that you can be heard clearly. “You planning on coming down to join me, Araya-kun?”

“You... you knew that was a puppet?”

“I confirmed it when it couldn’t stand on top of the water I flooded the arena with,” you explain for dramatic effect, and to give the water vapor even more time to rise. “Then I used the steam to locate your chakra threads.”

“... the condensation?” he realizes only now.

You grin confidently back up at him. “A battle between shinobi is also a battle over information – you were too far away to see the water droplets condensing on your chakra threads, and from the angle you were at you couldn’t see me weave my hand seals. That’s why you failed.”
>1/2
>>
>>5279594
You pick up the puppet by its collar and toss it lightly into the air, before slashing it in half vertically. The two halves fall to the ground and lie motionless, exposing the puppet’s inner workings.

“So, Neji-san,” you muse. “What do the rules say about a contestant leaving the arena?”

Neji makes a quick call on his handset to confer with the observing Kages, who eventually come to an agreement. Hey, their argument just means more time for the water to evaporate.

“Since Araya-kun substituted his puppet in place of himself,” Neji-san eventually declares, “and the puppet is unable to continue, he has two choices by majority agreement between the Kages. He can either withdraw, or face Uzumaki Shiki-kun in person.”

“A-are you kidding me!?” Araya-kun cries from the rooftops. “I forfeit, I forfeit!”

“Then the winner of this match is Uzumaki Shiki-kun!” Neji-san declares to tumultuous applause – you can see a section of the stands where the loudest cheers are coming from and see many familiar faces – Fū-nee and Yugitō-nee, queen Seiryū-san from Rōran and her mother Sāra-dono, Ryūzetsu-ue and Makoto, and among them several of your classmates, including Wasabi-kun, Boruto-kun (who is clapping rather than cheering), Sarada-kun, and their parents.

On your way back up to the participants’ room, you cross paths with Naori-ue – who offers her fist.

“Good job, Shiki-kun,” she tells you with a smile as you return the fist-bump. “Yeah, that was a clever way to handle things.”

“Thanks,” you smile back. “Glad you approve. How are the Kages enjoying themselves?”

“Kurotsuchi and Darui-han are a little put out that none of their kids made it to the finals,” Naori-ue admits, “but Gaara-kun seems quietly pleased with himself – actually it’s a little irritating. Chōjūrō and Temari are still holding out for Kōshū-kun’s match with you... honestly, I’m a little excited too. It should be good, better than any of the matches in my chūnin exams for sure.”

“I’m kind of looking forward to it too,” you admit.

“Well, best to let you get back to it,” Naori-ue waves once before disappearing – hiraishin, you realize.

...

When you step into the room, you offer a quick high-five to Sumire-kun – a shared sense of pride for having reached the semifinals without any real difficulty.

“Nice plan,” she nods. “You really reversed what Araya-kun thought was his advantage.”

“Good luck out there,” you tell her. “And try not to overdo it, okay?”

After a moment, she replies with a curt nod. “Right. I know.”
>2/3
>>
>>5279596
Once the arena has been properly cleared, Sumire-kun and Shinki-kun head down into it and Kōshū-kun joins you to watch their match. “It’s a good thing you beat Araya-kun the way you did... since I already knew his gimmick it wouldn’t have been as interesting a fight coming up next. And I’m glad you’ll still be feeling pretty fresh when it’s our turn.”

“You want to fight me at my best?” you muse.

She nods. “Yeah. Unlike with you and Shinki-kun, I have no problems with you, win or lose. I just want a good, clean match, you know?”

>Yeah. Honestly, I kind of feel the same way in spite of myself. If only it were the finals.
>I’d really rather be facing Shinki-kun at my best, but we can’t always have our preferences.
>So if you beat me, do you have a plan for taking down Shinki-kun in the finals?
>Other?
>>
>>5279607
>>Yeah. Honestly, I kind of feel the same way in spite of myself. If only it were the finals.
>>
>>5279607
>I’d really rather be facing Shinki-kun at my best, but we can’t always have our preferences.
>>
>>5279607
>So if you beat me, do you have a plan for taking down Shinki-kun in the finals?
>>
>>5279607
>>5279610
Swapping my vote to this:

>So if you beat me, do you have a plan for taking down Shinki-kun in the finals?

Just so we can at least try to reach consensus and move on.
>>
>>5279607
>So if you beat me, do you have a plan for taking down Shinki-kun in the finals?
>>
>>5279607
“So assuming you beat me,” you muse, “I assume you have a plan for beating Shinki-kun?”

“I’m not about to share it with you,” she chuckles.

“Worth a try.”

“Definitely,” she agrees. “But yeah, it gets a lot harder if you make me go all out – which I’m hoping for by the way – but I think I have a way to pull this off. You?”

“I honestly think you’ll be harder,” you confess.

“Aw,” she smiles. “That’s sweet of you to say.”

...

Sumire-kun again offers Shinki the traditional seal of confrontation, a formality which Shinki ignores.

“Begin!”

“How boring,” Shinki frowns after Sumire-kun again opens by unsealing a mass of water from the lake. “Do you really believe that this will work in your favor?”

“Stop looking down on us,” Sumire-kun replies before charging with her tantō, using its movement to carve out the surface of the water and raise a spray of water. Then she takes a step back and throws a kunai with an exploding tag – using that feint as a way to drench the iron sand. Her next move is to circle around Shinki, throwing a handful of tagged kunai here, and untagged kunai and a few senbon there, a trio of senbon with bells, and here and there either a pair or a trio of shuriken. Each attack is blocked easily, including when Sumirin bounces shuriken off each other mid-flight to attack from a higher angle, almost straight vertically.

“That’s good thinking, but it’s not going to work,” Kōshū-kun muses as you both watch Sumire test Shinki’s abilities. “The iron sand doesn’t soak up water the same way my uncle’s does.”

“She’s figured out that much herself,” you nod. “She’ll try something else now that she has an idea of how fast he can move that sand.”

Sumire-kun weaves a few hand seals. “Suiton: Suijinheki!”

Behind the wall of water she puts her next strategy into action, which sees four bodies attacking at once – two flank from the fronts while one rides over the top of the wave to get behind Shinki, who leaps into the air and uses his iron sand to counterattack them. All three are dispelled, leaving one Sumire attacking from above. Shinki blocks and counterattacks all at the same time using his iron sand... only to find the Sumire in front of him dissolve into water.

He sloughs the affected iron sand off, and barely manages to use the rest to defend himself as the real Sumire attacks him from behind with a trio of explosive-rigged kunai.
>1/2
>>
>>5279813
“Clever,” he admits, eyes widening slightly in a mad grin. “Your water clone used shadow clones to attack from three angles, forcing me to jump into what I thought was your real body’s line of attack when in reality the trap was on the opposite side from that.”

“Hey Shiki-kun,” Kōshū-kun muses in rapt fascination. “I had no idea your teammates were both completely nuts.”

“Wasabi-kun is our medic,” you admit.

“... no kidding?”

Meanwhile, it seems Sumire-kun is having trouble now that Shinki has decided she warrants an offensive response.
>1d6, high roll of the first three
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5279836
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5279836
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5279836
>>
>>5279836
It’s all Sumire-kun can do to keep the tendrils of iron sand at bay, while dodging and blocking the feather-shaped projectiles. Eventually she disengages and manages to weave hand seals to spread a fog all across the surface of the water – enough to hide her presence. For several minutes each takes potshots at where they think the other is.

Then Sumire-kun breaks the stalemate – from her left arm you see a trio of ominous snake-like masses of chakra, each a familiar violet, almost black color, like a seeping miasma given animation and a spark of life.

“Hiden: Sen’ei Yōkai!”

“That technique...” Kōshū-kun frowns. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

She draws a significant amount of chakra from the iron sand, weakening it enough to force her way through and swing her tantō in close – which Shinki parries with a sword made from compressed iron sand of his own creation. Iron sand wraps and traps Sumire-kun’s wrist.

That works for her, apparently, as she forms the seal of confrontation with her free hand. “Ninpō: Dokugiri!”

Shinki moves with alarming speed, slamming a mass of iron sand into Sumire-kun’s chest and sending her skipping off the surface of the water before she can put the point of her tantō into the ground to slow herself.

“That was a nasty trick,” Shinki muses. “Had I been an instant slower it may have turned ugly for me.”

“That’s an incredibly difficult technique,” Kōshū-kun acknowledges. “And really lethal when used by an expert.”

You don’t tell her that Sumire is by no means an expert – you know full well that the poison-breath technique can be instantly fatal if someone like Shizune or Tsunade-dono were to use it. But Sumire isn’t that talented a medical ninja – her poison isn’t lethal. But that’s fine – because at her level it’s also very, very slow to act.

It looks almost like Sumire-kun allows herself to be hit twice more, while putting up the appearance of a good fight with what seemed to be the last of her strength, before Neji-san calls an end to the match and declares Shinki-kun the winner. She had to wrap that up quickly, because if she didn’t there’d be a strong possibility that even a slow-acting poison would become noticeable before your match with Kōshū-kun ended.
>1/2
>>
>>5280030
After walking Sumire-kun out of the arena, she gives you a stern look. “Be careful... they’re both really strong, and while Kōshū-kun doesn’t seem like the type to try throwing you off balance, her enthusiasm is almost more intimidating if you assume it’s genuine.”

“I noticed what you did,” you admit. “Nice touch.”

“I figured Kōshū-kun will be a hard fight that will sap your strength,” she shrugs. “Only fitting I should do the same to Shinki, even things up.”

“Thank you,” you nod as the medics meet you to lead Sumire away to be checked over. “You were amazing.”

...

“You need a moment?” Kōshū-kun asks you – completely sincerely it seems.

“It’s fine,” you shake your head, offering the seal of confrontation – which she returns.

“That’s good,” she nods. “That’s what I want – both of us, here and nowhere else, one good, clean, honest fight.”

“Begin!” Neji-san calls out.

Unlike in previous matches you don’t flood the arena as your opening move – that could just serve as a source for Kōshū-kun’s ice release, which may otherwise be a little harder for her given the afternoon heat.

>Open with bell-senbon and the wave transmission to cast a genjutsu.
>Use exploding kunai as a distraction to summon Momo into the arena.
>Come out breathing fire. It may be your best plan against ice release.
>Other?
>>
>>5280052
>Use exploding kunai as a distraction to summon Momo into the arena.
Are the cleanup crew sick of getting rid of all that water yet?
Did the crowd shit themselves a little when the attacks started leaving the arena?
>>
>>5280052
>Open with bell-senbon and the wave transmission to cast a genjutsu.
>>
>>5280068
Yes to both.
>>
>>5280052
>>Use exploding kunai as a distraction to summon Momo into the arena.

Time for the world to see Hanzo's legacy I guess.
>>
>>5280052
>>Use exploding kunai as a distraction to summon Momo into the arena.
>>
>>5280052
>Come out breathing fire. It may be your best plan against ice release.
>>
>>5280052
>>Use exploding kunai as a distraction to summon Momo into the arena.
>summon best boy
YES PLEASE!

And are the jonin and kage impressed already by the general power level at play here?
>>
>>5280052
Message from Queen, cause range banned yada yada yada
>1d6 high roll taking the first three
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5280371
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5280371
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5280371
>>
>>5280371
>>5280052
I would like a multi-POV segment of the reactions of the Kages and the old-timers to seeing Shiki summon Momo and treat the salamander like an oversized beloved dog. I would imagine heads would be turning to give a pointed stare at Naori.
>>
>>5280371
You open with an unusual ploy for you – instead of going on the offensive you deploy a trio of smoke bombs to hide your preparations. Once inside the smoke you create a single shadow clone who waits for a beat before throwing a trio of explosive-tagged kunai to disrupt whatever it is Kōshū-kun is doing to take advantage of the disrupted sight lines. While he’s doing this you bite your thumb and weave the seals to summon Momo.

“Dig down and wait for my signal, boy,” you tell him as your clone transforms into a folding fūma shuriken that you pair with a ‘real’ copy of the same.

Momo-chan yaps and does as you order, and you throw the shuriken before charging out of the smoke yourself... where you notice a thick mist that doesn’t obscure your target, but does seem to make it impossible to see the stands.

Kōshū-kun effortlessly dodges the first shuriken, then spots the second hiding in the shadow of the first. She unseals the broad-headed staff you saw her use before in the preliminaries, and this time a trio of blades folds out of the head – it’s actually a jumonji-yari, with one ‘main’ head and two smaller blades that fold into and out of the fuller on each side of the head. This she uses to ‘catch’ the second fūma shuriken and sling it back at you – only for the first shuriken to burst to reveal your clone flanking her, weaving hand seals.

“Katon: Ryūka!”
“Suiton: Suijinheki!”

A wall of water from one side and a stream of fire from the other, leaving her nowhere to run.

Kōshū-kun drops her spear, then stamps her back foot and clasps her hands in a non-standard hand seal. “Hyōton: Makyō Hyōshō!”

Two mirror-polished sheets of ice emerge from the aftermath of your joint attack, which clearly protected Kōshū-kun – this is what she spread that water for, to have something to shortcut the process with. But you don’t see Kōshū-kun herself between the mirrors.

Instead you see several more mirrors appear all around the arena – six near the ground in a circle, three slightly higher and angled downward towards the center of the arena, and one directly above the center. The two that she used to defend herself dissolve back into water as her image appears mirrored in each of the panes of ice.

“I wish we could’ve worked our way up to this,” Kōshū-kun sighs, a look of genuine disappointment in the face of each of her reflections. “But I suspect your smoke was screening for something else that you haven’t shown yet. This Kōmu Kekkaijutsu will make sure nobody sees our techniques from the outside, so feel free to face me with everything you have – cause I’m planning to do just that.”

“That’s helpful,” you admit with a wry grin, “though I suppose I shouldn’t thank you – it helps both of us.”

“I do wanna get a good fight going,” she admits. “But a good shinobi should show some discretion, don’t you think?”
>1/2
>>
>>5280939
You see her move – or rather, you can tell she moved, but even with your eyes you can’t quite respond quickly enough for it to matter. It’s like she left one of the mirrors and moved into another, throwing senbon at you along the way. Then she does it again, from a different angle. Then it’s a trio of kunai with explosive tags.

Then she emerges from a mirror and strikes with her spear, an attack you barely manage to parry, before she turns in place and strikes for the back of your head with the haft of her weapon. You duck low and sweep at her but she’s already gone, having returned to one of the mirrors, then bounced to another one with a trio of senbon that very nearly hit you in the shoulder.

Next she takes potshots at you with the Tsubame Fubuki, one of which hits you, before returning to one of the mirrors.

She’s mixing in all sorts of attacks, moving in unpredictable directions, and using very different timings. It’s hard to even decide on a way to counter her attacks because her attacks are so different each time.

>Try to hit one of those mirrors with your white flames, see if they can be destroyed.
>Use an area-saturation attack, like a trap for when Kōshū-kun moves between mirrors.
>This may be a good time to try out the Hibana Shisshin, which can be used in an area.
>Other?
>>
>>5280952
>>This may be a good time to try out the Hibana Shisshin, which can be used in an area.
>>
>>5280952
>This may be a good time to try out the Hibana Shisshin, which can be used in an area.
>>
>>5280952
>>This may be a good time to try out the Hibana Shisshin, which can be used in an area.
>>
>>5280952
>>This may be a good time to try out the Hibana Shisshin, which can be used in an area.
>>
>>5280952
>Try to hit one of those mirrors with your white flames, see if they can be destroyed.
>>
>>5280952
>1d6, DC 11
>SP: 2/4
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5281231
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5281231
I thought our SP recharged every couple of posts? Is that only in combat?
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5281231
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5281231
>>
>>5281239
Typically for dubs, so I'll burn 1SP to pass and recharge you to 4/4SP for the dub 3s.
>>
>>5281256
Based, thanks boss
>>
>>5281256
The next few times Kōshū-kun makes a jump it’s just from mirror to mirror, without making an attack, which gives you the time you need to make preparations. You hold your sword firmly in chūdan-no-kamae, the middle ready stance, and shape your chakra carefully. White petals of flame flicker into existence all around you, rising lazily on their own updrafts. When Kōshū-kun attacks again she throws a fistful of ice senbon. “Hyōton: Mangekyō!”

You bring your sword down and block the needles, while the girl who threw them is forced to pivot and evade several of your petals before withdrawing into a different mirror.

“Strange,” she muses. “That’s a new one... the formidable kengen-ryū?”

“Why don’t you come out here and we’ll find out together?” you reply with a smirk.

“That’s a kind offer,” she replies. “I think I’ll do exactly that!”

She’s suddenly right in front of you with her spear ready, thrusting forward then swinging it after you when you dodge, which you parry. You turn and swing again, and Kōshū-kun leaps back to avoid it, taking a slight stagger as she does so before swinging her spear and sharpening the windy wake as she does so to a razor’s edge. You block it with suiton chakra flow, the crash breaking up both attacks at a medium open spacing. Then she steps in close as you make your counterattack, spitting blood in your eye.

“Now I... damn!” she cries out as she realizes that even after biting her own cheek to counter whatever genjutsu it was you must be using the white-hot petals remained.... well, white-hot. Your aim is off, but you still sense a glancing hit, and you take a poorly-aimed spear haft across the back of your head.

There are several moments where you both have to gather yourselves, and you re-ready yourself.

“Those flames... I’ve never seen fire release that’s white-hot,” she muses from one of her mirrors, grasping her arm as it steams slightly. “I thought that was part of the genjutsu. If I hadn’t used my breath as a buffer against the heat that would’ve been even worse.”

“You have good aim,” you commend her, wiping some of the blood away from your eyes. “And that mirror technique... you made it so I can’t get used to it.”

“I’m glad you get it, Shiki-kun,” she smiles, twirling her spear and readying herself to resume.

“Get what?” you demand, parrying her attack as she leaps between her mirrors again.

“Beat me and I’ll tell you later!” she insists

>Continue using the Hibana Shisshin liberally, focusing on area denial.
>Switch over to discrete attacks using the Hibana Shisshin. You have a feel for her timing.
>Surprise salamander flail.
>Other?
>>
>>5281479
>>Surprise salamander flail.
dual wield?
>>
>>5281479
>Surprise salamander flail.
>>
>>5281479
>Surprise salamander flail.
>>
>>5281479
>>Surprise salamander flail.
how could we not?
>>
>>5281479
>>Surprise salamander flail.
>>
>>5281479
>>Surprise salamander flail.
>>
>>5281479
1d6 for the momochucks, DC 12, SP: 4/4
Taking the first three.
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5281704
come on, we are invoking best boy here!
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5281704
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5281704
>>
>>5281704
“Alright,” you muse, “let’s wrap things up then. I’d hate to keep the audience waiting too long for the results.”

You take a moment to slam your foot into the ground and transmit waves through it for Momo to hear. [Come.]

“Fair,” she admits. “I’d definitely prefer to have some chakra left in case I have to fight Shinki-kun.”

The first jump is a feint. The second is an attack with ice senbon again, which you parry. The third is also a feint, as is the fourth. But on the fifth jump Kōshū-kun commits to a powerful sweeping swing of her spear, which embeds itself in the ground to your right as you duck under it, then place your foot against the joint where the blades emerge from the haft to lock it down. But your own swing, Kōshū-kun simply reaches out to catch – having expected it after a swing from her spear that missed.

“Hibana Shisshin!”

“Hyōton: Saihyōken!”

She encased her left hand in ice? With that she can catch and trap your sword, which starts to melt the ice but much too slowly to matter. She also exhales, a powerful gust of chilly wind from her lungs taking some of the heat out of your attack. The frost burns you almost as bad as the flames sear her, all of it superficial, as you both execute the third stages of your attacks.

“Hyōken!”

A blade of ice pierces through your shoulder from behind – Kōshū-kun must have used her chilly breath to condense an ice sword in the air behind your back and ‘pull’ it in her direction with her chakra. But your own attack catches her totally off-guard as you pull Momo-chan out of the ground by his tail, like a bright-red turnip covered in bony spikes. You slam him into her, and while she manages to block his body while avoiding most of his spikes she can’t avoid them all.

“Pyah!” Momo-chan barks in mad delight, before you release his tail and have him chomp down on Kōshū-kun’s leg from behind.

In the next few seconds you release your sword and trade a rapid series of chakra-enhanced blows with Kōshū-kun – her leg bound by Momo-chan and your arm bound by her ice blade. Eventually you find yourselves resorting to head-butting each other, which you actually manage to do not once but twice.

Your headbands clink against each other a third time as both of you are left out of breath and in obvious pain, blood dripping down your foreheads.
>1/?
>>
>>5281914
You can see behind Kōshū-kun that the mirrors have melted away, and soon the fog lifts as well to reveal your state to the audience. There are audible gasps as your opponent gives you a wry grin from very close-up, looking surprisingly satisfied.

“Alright then,” she admits, finally straightening her back. “I yield. I can already feel the venom going to work – I can’t win like this.”

“You’re certain?” Neji-san inquires. “Just to ensure there are no misunderstandings, could you please repeat that louder?”

“I withdraw!” she raises her voice.

“In that case,” Neji-san declares, “the winner is Uzumaki Shiki by withdrawal of his opponent. There will be a fifteen minute pause for emergency medical treatment.”

You offer Kōshū-kun the seal of reconciliation with your good arm, which she happily accepts.

...

Both Sumire-kun and Wasabi-kun insert themselves into the situation as you and Kōshū-kun are being treated down in the arena, but notably absent is Shinki.

“I lost,” Kōshū-kun shrugs, “so Shinki-kun lost interest. Which is fine... I’ll be interested to see what you have planned.”

“There doesn’t seem to be any love lost between you and your teammates,” Wasabi-kun frowns.

“That’s just how he is,” Kōshū-kun admits. “He never loses, so he’s never had a loss to learn from. He dismisses anyone else who loses, so he never learns from victories either.”

“Then what meaning is there in any of this for him?” Sumirin wonders aloud, placing a strange jellyfish-like blob of water against the back of your wounded shoulder. “Suiton: Mizukurage.”

Ah, much better.
>2/3
>>
>>5281916
“All he cares about is proving he’s strong,” Kōshū-kun sighs wearily, “because he thinks that reflects better on his village and his father.”

“Because he was adopted,” you guess. “He feels like he has to establish his place.”

“I can get the pressure,” she admits. “His ties to the Kazekage clan aren’t blood ties, which almost makes him more of an outcast than he would be otherwise. What the village elders and the daimyō really wanna see is for that adopted son to marry into the clan.”

“... so, you then,” you realize.

Kōshū-kun nods curtly. “So you get it. People see your parents, your looks, your tangled pile of bloodlines, and they make assumptions. People see my parents, my bloodlines, my marriage potential, and they start making plans. Or they see my teeth and my kekkei genkai and don’t even wanna talk to me.”

>So mastering the shinobi arts is your way to find respect and be valued without being bartered.
>So I assume that’s not happening if you have anything to say about it. Just a feeling I get.
>We’re thirteen. A lot can change in the next few years before we need to worry about that stuff.
>Other?
>>
>>5281918
>>So I assume that’s not happening if you have anything to say about it. Just a feeling I get.
>>We’re thirteen. A lot can change in the next few years before we need to worry about that stuff.
Those old fats can go fuck themselves
>>
>>5281918
>We’re thirteen. A lot can change in the next few years before we need to worry about that stuff.
>>
>>5281918
>We’re thirteen. A lot can change in the next few years before we need to worry about that stuff.
>"Besides, those old farts can go fuck themselves with a fuma shuriken."
>>
>>5281918
>So I assume that’s not happening if you have anything to say about it. Just a feeling I get.
>>
>>5281918
>>So I assume that’s not happening if you have anything to say about it. Just a feeling I get.
>>
>>5281918
>>So I assume that’s not happening if you have anything to say about it. Just a feeling I get.
>>
>>5281918
>Who cares what they think? They aren't our friends. They're not our family either. They aren't even good people, they just want to use us.
>Those kinds of people aren't even worth your time to think about, so just ignore them.
>>
>>5281918
>So mastering the shinobi arts is your way to find respect and be valued without being bartered.
>>
>>5281918
“... are we supposed to care about that?” you grumble

Kōshū-kun stares at you in mild surprise. “Um... I think so, yeah.”

“Why?” you press, finally getting back to your feet after having your wounds bandaged. “Shinobi are neither tools nor property, so as far as I’m concerned those old farts don’t get to have an opinion.”

You tie off your ruined shirt around your waist. “You’re the same way, right?”

After a moment, Kōshū-kun shrugs and smiles. “Yeah, guess you’ve got a point. Thanks, Shiki-kun.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Hey, Shiki-kun!” Wasabi gets your attention before you can leave.

“Yeah?”

“Good luck,” Sumire-kun nods with a faint smile.

“Kick his butt,” Wasabi-kun adds.

Kūshū-kun shakes her head. “I don’t think it’d be appropriate to say it out loud... but just know I’ll be [i]thinking[/i] it real hard.”

...

You soon find yourself facing Shinki-kun in the arena, under a noticeably darkened sky. He still looks more or less fresh since his bout with Sumire-kun, and you know that you must look rough even though your wounds have already started to heal. From out of a small case you take two small pills, popping one into your mouth and offering the other to your opponent. “Ration pills.”

“I brought my own,” he insists curtly, doing the same as you just did. That’s fine – the increase in his metabolic rate, triggered by the caffeine content and the concentrated cardamom extracts, will spread Sumire’s poison faster now.

“Then let’s get this show on the road,” you offer the seal of confrontation... which again, he refuses to match. “You know, the samurai have a saying I like – in disrespecting others, you dishonor yourself.”

“You could’ve at least come to check on Kōshū-kun.”

“Why?” Shinki-kun asks you.

“Because you should care about your teammates,” you frown, still waiting for him to return your gesture of respect. “It’s a fundamental part of being a shinobi. You work as a team. You value your teammates. You trust your lives to each other.”
>1/?
>>
>>5283251
“Then you haven’t considered the dichotomy,” Shinki insists.

“What dichotomy is that?” you frown.

“That while those in charge preach the value of ‘teamwork’ and ‘unity’, what really matters is simply power.”

“Clarify,” you demand. “What kind of power are you referring to?”

“Political authority, of the kind exerted by daimyō,” Shinki replies, his tone stern but even. “Combat assets, in the sense villages mean when they compare their relative strengths through tests like this one. Personal strength, which is what the Kages, your parents, and the village jōnin have that guarantees their positions in society. In each of these, what determines the course of events comes down to differences in power.”

“Thaaat’s a bit simplistic, don’tcha think?” you finally lower your hand and folding your arms. “I thought we were supposed to have outgrown childish things by now?”

Neji-san coughs into his hand. “While it seems you’ve already started in a certain sense, I should remind you that you’re expected to fight at some point today. Typically, that’s expected to involve hitting each other?”

“I guess it’s going to come down to that,” you sigh wearily, shifting your weight to prepare for a draw-cut.

“On that, I think we can agree,” Shinki declares, drawing his iron sand in around him.

... just a little more before you can use it.

>Use the hottest, most powerful fire-nature techniques you can to further agitate the air while fighting Shinki. Let it be a surprise
>Forget about attacking Shinki. Just concentrate on triggering the natural rainfall as quickly as you possibly can.
>Draw this out a little. Wait until you can see evidence that Sumirin’s poison has worked before springing your own trap.
>Other?
>>
>>5283252
>>Use the hottest, most powerful fire-nature techniques you can to further agitate the air while fighting Shinki. Let it be a surprise

Surprises are fun.
>>
>>5283252
>>Use the hottest, most powerful fire-nature techniques you can to further agitate the air while fighting Shinki. Let it be a surprise

we can spin it like we are trying to melt his iron sand to make it harder to control, that way he would lose focus on the water part of the plan
>>
>>5283252
>>Use the hottest, most powerful fire-nature techniques you can to further agitate the air while fighting Shinki. Let it be a surprise
>>
>>5283252
>>Use the hottest, most powerful fire-nature techniques you can to further agitate the air while fighting Shinki. Let it be a surprise
>>
>>5283252
>1d6, best three of four, DC 10
>SP: 4/4
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5283411
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5283411
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5283411
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5283411
>>
>>5283411
You seize the initiative, unsealing your last mass of lake water, which Shinki easily deals with – having seen the technique several times already.

“This trick again...” he grumbles with a sharp glare. “Fine.”

You start by dashing in and drawing your sword, leading with taijutsu and kenjutsu. Sweeping sword slashes, roundhouse kicks, darting acrobatic moves to evade the movements of the iron sand. But you make very little progress... and unfortunately, with your speed averaging out to about the same as Sumire-kun’s you can’t really say that you expected much different. And just like with her, despite the ferocity you’re bringing to the fight it’s Shinki who seems like he’s in total control over the spacing and tempo of the match.

“Is that all?” Shinki demands with a frown. “Surely you couldn’t have beaten Kōshū-kun with this level of taijutsu alone.”

“Well, I did use some ninjutsu,” you admit, feeling a twinge in your wounded shoulder. “But to be fair, she did stab me a bit. So I’m feeling a little stiff... right here.”

“Quit playing around and bring everything you have,” Shinki demands, forcing you to spring away in a pirouette to avoid a wave of iron sand and slash away a few tendrils while in midair. “Or else beating you will have no meaning.”

“Well, I guess that was enough to get a feel for you,” you muse, forming the seal of confrontation with an impish grin tugging at your cheeks. “In that case, I’ll start fighting you seriously now.”

“... release!

- Kōshū -

“Those red beads around his wrists and ankles,” you notice the change immediately as the accessories seem to disappear. “They’re gone?”

“Ah, so he finally committed,” Izuno Wasabi smirks... you and Araya have joined Konoha’s Team 15 to watch your respective teammates fight. “About time.”

The speed Shiki-kun moves with next is astonishing – not as fast as you can move between your ice-mirrors, not by a long shot, but definitely faster than you can normally move without that technique. It also seems like the shunshin technique is just a natural part of his footwork, meaning that for brief moments it becomes difficult even for you to track him.

“Wait, he was keeping his limbs weighted with a seal during our fight?” you realize. “That’s a technique the Uzumaki clan uses, isn’t it? Don’t tell me...”

“It was a surprise he was holding in reserve for Shinki-kun,” Sumire-kun acknowledges. “Even during his match with you, he preferred to take injuries and keep information hidden than meet you on more of an even footing.”
>1/?
>>
>>5283607
It may not have changed the outcome of your bout earlier, but he could’ve definitely come away with fewer injuries, instead of coming off looking even worse than you despite pulling off a technical win.

“That’s reckless,” Araya declares. You like it, but you also have to agree with Araya-kun.

“He can get away with it,” Wasabi-kun assures you. “It’s because his injuries heal freakishly fast. That’s the Uzumaki clan for ya.”

“His shoulder...” you realize. “He took off his shirt to make it look like it was worse than it was?”

“That’s right,” Sumire-kun smiles. “And there’s more. So just watch a little while longer – this isn’t even ‘the plan’ yet.”

... at this rate, he... no, they might really do this!

- Shiki -

Shinki-kun compresses some of his iron sand into blades and faces you in close combat, though the advantage seems to have shifted into your favor. The fire chakra flow, your significantly improved speed and strength, and your superior skill and experience in this form of combat ensure that. But after a few exchanges Shinki begins to find his rhythm again with the same technique that he used to beat Wasabi-kun in the preliminaries.

He forms wings of iron sand that let him float on the air, improving his mobility, while his feathers put the pressure back on you.

In-between swings of your Kotetsu blade, you weave signs with your left hand.

“Katon: Ryūka-no-jutsu!”

The white-hot stream of fire hits an ablative wall of iron sand, and heats it to an angry glowing orange in seconds – Shinki has to actually withdraw the affected sand and splash it through the water to cool it down, preparing it to absorb the heat of your next attack.

“Katon: Onidōrō!” you launch the next attack already, flaming demonic skulls hitting water and iron sand alike, producing bursts of scalding steam all around. It works for your objectives of course, and makes for one heck of a show.

It feels like Shinki-kun’s aim is starting to falter, and his responses are getting slower. Now might be the perfect time.

You weave seals again, evading all the while. This one’s gonna be a good one.

“Katon: Gōryūka-no-jutsu!”
>2/3
>>
>>5283673
This time the stream of fire is a bright orange, shaped in the bearded and fanged image of a serpentine dragon. Shinki is quick to position his iron sand, and the dragon twists and turns upwards towards the clouds after a glancing blow.

“... what a waste of chakra,” Shinki-kun stares at you, breathing as heavily as you are now.

“Was it?” you pant as you hear the payoff – a rolling peal of thunder – and allow yourself a smirk. “Was it really, Shinki-kun?”

Your opponent’s eyes widen slightly as he starts to realize that he’s been set up.

“You’re starting to feel it now, right?” you continue. “You thought Sumire-kun had missed with her poison attack, and never gave it a second thought – but in reality, Wasabi-kun helped devise a nonlethal poison that acts slowly. I goaded you into taking a ration pill to increase your metabolic rate, then pressured you into demanding physical combat.”

“Then Sumire-kun and I started working together on this,” you declare as the rain starts to fall. “During our previous fights our secondary goal was always to create a thunderstorm without anyone noticing.”

You raise your left hand towards the boiling skies. "My teammates, my classmates, my loved ones, are behind me even now. So I'm not gonna lose to an idiot like you who's obsessed with his own power."

>1d6, best three of four
>will continue tomorrow
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5283682
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5283682
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5283682
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5283682
>>
How does Konan's wind release compare to Temari's?

I assume Koushu was just going off what she knows, but Konan was Akatsuki without a bloodline. Wind release might not be her signature, but she is still leagues above Temari to the point where it might not matter. Depends how you quantify it, too.

And I doubt Konan has been idle since her Akatsuki days: Naori's influence seems to have helped her diverge from her fatalistic, stagnant, canon self.

So who is the real wind queen at this time I wonder?
>>
>>5283916
In a one v one, konan wins, hands down no contest, i mean Konan is a monster capable to convert her own body into paper that she can control as easily as breathing.

In terms of pure wind release, i'd give the win to Temari, she is consistently portrait as THE wind user in the great nations which says a lot by sheer numbers alone. Konan can use wind release but its by no means her primary weapon or what she would focus on when fighting evenly, if you gave her time to train she might be able to beat out temari, but as it is, its Temari.
Especially since its been hinted by queen that Temari has kept up her training after she came to Kirigakure so she would still be fighting fit.
>>
>>5283682
... you lower your hand, sensing something distinctly ‘off’ about this situation.

In an instant you find yourself back in the stands along with a bewildered Shinki and one of Naori-ue’s shadow clones.

“What was that I was feeling?” you ask aloud.

Naori-ue points you towards a pair of what you’re going to say are people, hovering above the middle of the arena. One is built like a wrecking ball, the other much smaller, both incredibly pale-skinned with white hair and what you think from this distance are byakugan.

“What is it, sensei?” Hanabi-sensei asks, having swiftly joined her team from the VIP box.

“Ōtsutsuki,” Naori-ue growls. “Yeah, we were afraid this might happen. With so many jinchūriki here it paints an awfully pretty target for them.”

“Yugitō-anee and Fū-nee are withdrawing?” you press.

Naori-ue nods curtly. “That’s part of the plan, yeah. The real body is escorting them.”

Naruto-san, Sasuke-san, and the four other Kages have all gone into action, ready to fight off the new threat almost instantly.

“Shiki, Makoto,” Naori-ue’s clone addresses you even as she watches the invaders warily. “I want you and your teams to help evacuate civilians. You’re not ready to face an Ōtsutsuki yet, so I want you to focus on what you can do, okay?”

“Ryūrin, Hanabi-kun, you and the other jōnin help them, and watch over them. I’ll deal with these bastards.”

Ryūzetsu nods in immediate agreement. “Knock ‘em dead, Naorin.”

- Naori -

Your hiraishin step puts you right in the middle of an ongoing fight, joining Yugitō and Fū. Their escorts, a pair of jōnin from Takigakure and a pair of ANBU from Kumo, are already dead or badly wounded, and both jinchūriki have already released their tailed states. You parry a red weapon, thin, almost like a switch, and narrowly avoid a hook attached to a line that pulls back past you as the Ōtsutsuki breaks the spacing with a light shuffle-step back a few feet.

“Whoops!” he muses. “Seems like I missed the first opportunity... now it’s not gonna be a surprise attack. That’s a bit annoying.”
>1/?
>>
>>5284656
“Watch out, Nakkun,” Fū warns you with an uncharacteristic frown. You can also see she’s panting. “This guy’s definitely not best friend material.”

“I’m crushed,” the Ōtsutsuki feigns disappointment. Really you gather that he couldn’t possibly care less what she or any other human thinks.

“That hook can steal chakra,” Yugitō clarifies the purpose of the surprise attack.

“And it would’ve too, had you not appeared already using such a dangerous technique,” the invader muses aloud. “Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, pleased to meet you, stranger.”

“Uzumaki Naori,” you reply. “Yeah no, you do a good job pretending to be polite at least.”

“Who’s pretending?” Urashiki smirks. “Unlike these other two you’ve already explained a great deal... who knew that stuck-up Kaguya was such a dirty girl? With a human like that? I mean, damn.”

“It’s your clan who are the parasites here,” you observe. “So maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to look down on others.”

“I mean technically yes,” Urashiki admits. “But there’s no rule that says a parasite has to be a lower order of being.”

... also technically true.

“Why are you here?” you demand.

“To finish what should’ve been done centuries before you were even born,” Urashiki informs you. “Gather the chakra from these ‘tailed beasts’ of yours, reform the Ten-Tails, harvest this world’s chakra, and devour it.”

>Kaguya knew you would come here, eventually. I think she wanted me to kill you.
>This world has its problems, buy my friends live here. So go eat some other world.
>The only reason you’d talk to me is if you were stalling. The question is for what.
>Other?
>>
>>5284657
>>The only reason you’d talk to me is if you were stalling. The question is for what.

On one hand this is exciting. On the other god dammit Shiki didn't get to properly finish his dabbing on the "power is all" nerd. Though I guess anyone with sense is aware he was gonna be the winner. Straight up setting the seeds for victory with his team over the course of the 3rd round, god damn that was cool as fuck.
>>
>>5284657
>>The only reason you’d talk to me is if you were stalling. The question is for what.
>>
>>5284657
>>Kaguya knew you would come here, eventually. I think she wanted me to kill you.
>>
>>5284657
>He's stalling. Don't let him.
>>
>>5284657
>>The only reason you’d talk to me is if you were stalling. The question is for what.
>>
>>5284657
>1d6, best three of four
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5284787
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5284787
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5284787
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5284787
>>
>>5284787
“Yeah no, you’re obviously stalling,” you frown. “What I can’t figure quite yet is why.”

“You’re right,” Urashiki admits. “It’s out of character, but I’m trying to think about this and like you there’s something I can’t quite figure.”

“Which is?” you growl.

“There’s something kinda... Ōtsutsuki-ish about you,” Urashiki admits. “Did you and that Kaguya... do anything weird?”

“Define weird,” you frown.

“Well, I’ve only really got two rules I’m working under here,” Urashiki shrugs. “Rule one – catch these ‘tailed beasts’. Rule two – don’t kill any clansmen. And depending on how bad a girl Kaguya’s been you may or may not be a ‘rule two’ sorta situation.”

“And how will you define whether I’m a ‘clansman’ of yours, exactly?” you demand.

“By prying that information out of you a little at a time,” Urashiki smirks.

You clash, carefully avoiding the chakra hook each exchange. As you fight against Urashiki you use the wave transmission method to share your thoughts.

[This guy can steal chakra, so we have to be careful. Has he absorbed any ninjutsu?]

[Not yet,] Fū tells you.

[But that doesn’t mean he can’t,] Yugitō adds.

[Well then,] you decide, parrying Urashiki’s weapon and spying an opening, [we need to figure out his abilities first. We’ll start with Formation A.]

[Agreed.]
[A-okay!]

Formation A, of course, is part of the standard that everyone in your inner circle of close friends and confidantes knows – everyone does their own thing however they feel is best. Formation B is you take the lead and the others support, while Formation C is you support while the others take the lead. Beyond that, you’d have to ask for a specific technique to land any particular combos, since there are too many possible combinations between yourself and your companions to even keep track of.
>1/2
>>
>>5285693
This time you lead by unsealing and throwing about a dozen folding shuriken and kunai which Urashiki dodges in quick succession, only to find that Fū has attached razor-thin silken threads to them to use Sōshūjin. Fū skillfully manipulates them to attack Urashiki again, trapping him in a cat’s-cradle of silk so that Yugitō can act. “Katon: Ryūka-no-jutsu!”

When the flames engulf the spot at the center of the web, Urashiki isn’t there at all... spacetime technique. In an instant you spot the distortion, and aim well.

“Seiryūsen!”

The storm-nature chakra hits perfectly...

...

This time you lead by unsealing and throwing about a dozen folding shuriken and kunai which Urashiki dodges in quick succession, only to find that Fū has attached razor-thin silken threads to them to use Sōshūjin. Fū skillfully manipulates them to attack Urashiki again, trapping him in a cat’s-cradle of silk so that Yugitō can act. “Katon: Ryūka-no-jutsu!”

When the flames engulf the spot at the center of the web, Urashiki isn’t there at all... spacetime technique. In an instant you spot the distortion, and aim well.

“Seiryūsen!”

The storm-nature chakra hits perfectly...

“What was that!?” Urashiki demands angrily... wait, it almost looks like you hit him twice, when you’re sure you only attacked once... or was it twice after all?

He glares at you, then seems to come to a realization. “Jōgan... so it’s like that, huh?”

He has the rinnegan in both eyes... so that dōjutsu can awaken in a byakugan too? And what’s more, it seems he has not one but two nasty spacetime techniques.

You move quickly, forming three golden nails in your hand and hurling them at Urashiki with a pair of kunai to draw his attention. He dodges the kunai and notices the glowing senbon as well... but isn’t ready when you teleport to the hiraishin marking on one of the kunai to attack from behind. And with the rinnegan active instead of the byakugan...

- Shiki -

“Damn it all!”

Things went sideways almost the moment Naori-ue left you and your team to your task. Falling debris and stray blasts of raw chakra pose a massive hazard to the civilians trying to flee the arena grounds, but even worse are the puppets. They have no strings, and use weird abilities – they never seem to suffer for any of the damage you inflict on them. Cut off a limb and it grows right back, and they keep fighting even when there’s damage to most of their bodies. Their movements are swift and their weapons deadly, loaded with flowing chakra.
>2/3
>>
>>5285771
You can see that Ryūzetsu-ue is handling things herself, fighting back to back with Temari-san, the latter’s wind nature attacks combining with your mom’s fire to increase the power and intensity. Hanabi-sensei and the kind of grungy-looking jōnin in charge of the Sunagakure team are working together nearby as well, while their team itself fight as a trio like your own team is doing.

“This is getting ridiculous!” Wasabi-kun complains as another puppet sprouts extra arms in place of the ones she just ripped off thanks to a timely distraction courtesy of Sumirin. “Where the heck’d these things even come from!?”

“You have a point, young miss,” a voice interjects, as the puppet you’ve been fighting stops in place.

“Chakra threads?” you spot the faint lines connecting to the puppet’s limbs and head. “But who... Araya-kun is...”

The user is a young-looking man, with messy red hair and a worn-looking cloak with long sleeves that fit loose around his arms. One hand... he lifts the puppet with just five chakra threads connecting to the fingertips of his left hand, and with his right hand he releases a slicing line of water, so tightly-controlled that it severs all four of the puppet’s arms and slices through its body like he’s scribbling with a pen.

The pieces fall to the ground, totally inert, and a beam of sunlight manages to penetrate the hole he left in the gathered stormclouds above.
>1d6, best three of four
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5285806
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5285806
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5285806
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5285806
>>
>>5285806
“You’re...” you realize as the trio from Suna regroup near you. “Sasori-san... right?”

“Sasori?” Kōshū-kun stares in shock. “You mean, Sasori of the Red Sand? The S-class wanted shinobi who was once part of Akatsuki? What’s a guy like that doing here?”

“Watching my old partner’s brat fight,” Sasori-san shrugs. “Same as everyone else who came here.”

“Well, that’s fair,” Kōshū-kun frowns. “But also, how?”

“I’d be interested to know as well,” Shinki-kun growls, gathering in enough iron sand to reform his cloak.

“Konohagakure has gotten lazy,” Sasori-san rolls his eyes. “Do you really have time to be asking me foolish questions?”

“No, we don’t,” you declare.

You quickly take stock of the situation – Makoto is doing better than okay, since she can use her paper tags to swarm and seal the puppets in a way that you can’t, but Konan-san, Kakashi-sensei, and Gin-kun aren’t at the stadium today, having elected to watch from home as a family. But she’s strayed a little from mom and Temari-san.

“Sasori-san,” you address the infamous ninja directly. “My sister Makoto is fighting alone – you know what my mom and Konan-san’s style looks like so you’ll know which one she is.”

“You want me to protect her,” Sasori-san realizes with a slight frown. “Me, of all people.”

“Please.”

After a moment, his expression softens. “Ah, what the hell. I’ll try being the nice guy this time.”

>Stick close to Shinki and Kōshū’s team – many of your members are already worn down.
>Look around for any teams that are struggling, suggest that Kōshū and Shinki do the same.
>This isn’t all you’re capable of. You have teammates to rely on, so try to push yourself a bit.
>Other?
>>
>>5285966

>Stick close to Shinki and Kōshū’s team – many of your members are already worn down.
>This isn’t all you’re capable of. You have teammates to rely on, so try to push yourself a bit.

Let's go until we can't no more
>>
>>5285966
>>Look around for any teams that are struggling, suggest that Kōshū and Shinki do the same.
>>This isn’t all you’re capable of. You have teammates to rely on, so try to push yourself a bit.
>>
>>5285966
>>Look around for any teams that are struggling, suggest that Kōshū and Shinki do the same.
>>This isn’t all you’re capable of. You have teammates to rely on, so try to push yourself a bit.
>>
>>5285966
>Look around for any teams that are struggling, suggest that Kōshū and Shinki do the same.
>This isn’t all you’re capable of. You have teammates to rely on, so try to push yourself a bit.
>>
>>5285966
>1d6, best three of four
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=793zs4V5Sbs
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5286269
>>
Rolled 3, 5, 5 = 13 (3d10)

>>5286269
Best 3 incoming
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5286269
I was only kidding with these last ones
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5286269
Let’s see
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5286269
>>
>>5286269
You feel distinctly like there’s something more you can be doing, something left incomplete from your training – and you’re right, of course. Combining the Tenrō technique passed on to you by Ryūzetsu-ue with the Kongō Fūsa entrusted to you by Naori-ue is something you never learned how to do, since both are high-level techniques in their own right. And with your teammates close at hand, and what’s more with Kōshū-kun’s team, Ryūzetsu-ue, and Temari-san all nearby as well, now would actually be a perfect time to push yourself just that little bit further.

Instead of the Tenrō you decide to use the Isshi Tōjin – not particularly impressive as far as fūinjutsu go, since basically everyone who graduated in your class can do it at least passably well. That being said, fewer among your class are actually any good at it – that list is mostly limited to yourself, Sarada, Wasabi, and Sumire. You’d hazard a guess that the way those three use it would be satisfactory at the chūnin level, while yours may be sufficient to restrain a typical jōnin. So for the purposes of creating a Kongō Fūsa strong enough to deal with these puppets, this should be enough.

“Back me up, Sumirin, Wasabi-chan,” you insist. “Just this once... I feel like doing something a little reckless.”

“... ‘reckless’, how?” Wasabi-chan frowns.

“Just watch, and be ready to cover for me if it doesn’t work,” you reply. “Sumirin, do me a favor and pop one of those jellyfish on my back?”

Sumire steps forward, weaving the hand seals with the realization that trying to change your mind is probably pointless. “Suiton: Mizukurage!”

“Now then,” you muse, holding your left arm across your body and building up chakra as you face off against two of the Ōtsutsuki puppets, “let’s try something new!”

You sweep your left arm in a wide arc, and you see two golden chains lash out – having emerged from your sleeve and following the arc of your arm.

- Ryūzetsu -

“No way,” Temari-san gasps slightly at your son’s offensive. “When did Nakkun teach him that technique?”

“She didn’t,” you admit, recognizing the unmistakable golden chains of the Kongō Fūsa – a technique almost anyone who survived the great war would now recognize. “At least, he never finished it.”

“That’s an A-rank technique,” Temari-san mutters, as you both observe the effects those chains have on the puppets that get in Shiki-kun’s way. “You’re telling me he finished it on his own – in just a month?”

“Your daughter can teleport between ice mirrors,” you shrug. “When did you teach her that?”

“... you know what, fair point.”
>1/2
>>
>>5286508
- Naori -

“So yeah, I’m the one that’s gonna kill you,” you smile pleasantly at Urashiki.

He’s been hit twice by your chakra flow attack, and he knows that you can sense when he uses spacetime techniques – you’d be willing to guess that he can roll back time for just a few seconds at most, allowing him to both evade a potentially fatal blow and ‘scout ahead’ to see what his enemy’s plans might be. He’s also taken several of your Kongō Fūkugi, which he’s learned prevent him from escaping

“And by the way,” you muse, “Madara-han did it first.”

“Madara?”

You nod. “A shinobi who turned back time with his sharingan,” you explain. “I killed him too.”

“You... you aren’t even the slightest bit intimidated, are you?” Urashiki realizes.

You shake your head. “Yeah no... because for the last fifteen years I’ve been refining my battle style specifically to take out enemies like you.”

Urashiki grimaces, that calm expression having disappeared. He grasps his left arm, right below the shoulder – the remaining nails keeping him from using his spacetime ninjutsu are lodged below that spot.

This will be decided in an instant.
>1d6, first three, high roll
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5286608
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5286608
Alright that 1 isnt the best start but hopefully we can only go up from here
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5286608
Dice gods giveth, dice gods taketh away
>>
>>5286611
>>5286612
>>5286613
I'm just glad that Queen isn't a hack like the writer of Boruto, because this would almost be prime "the old guard is dumb and gets boned like morons" material.
>>
>>5286608
... not quite deep enough, huh?

All that’s left of Urashiki is a pool of blood and the arm he tore off so that he could use his Yomotsu Hirasaka to escape. You’d teleported to the Kongō Fūkugi that use your Hiraishin formula as their sealing technique, but it seems that as Urashiki shut his eyes he reverted them to the byakugan, and anticipated the strike from behind. The blade didn’t quite manage to sever his spine as you’d intended, and so once he’d ripped off the offending limb he was free to escape.

“... to go to those lengths,” Yugitō muses.

Fū shakes her head. “I don’t like it.”

Yugitō is quick to agree. “He must be planning something... he’ll be back.”

- Shiki -

The few remaining puppets that had been fighting outside the arena all drop to the ground unceremoniously, as though their nonexistant strings had been abruptly cut.

“That’s it!” Ryūzetsu-ue informs you. “That’s the last of the civilians evacuated!”

Temari-san has joined her daughter’s team and their jōnin, while your mom and Hanabi-sensei have joined your team. And Hanabi-sensei has bad news.

“So there’s a big mass of chakra in there!” she tells you, “Lord Seventh is going to try to contain it!”

Sure enough, a mass of glowing chakra envelops the arena – Kurama-dono’s chakra, you recognize the weight and the character of it. Once you’ve felt a tailed beast’s chakra it’s kind of hard to forget, after all.

>You need to double down, make absolutely sure that your team and family are protected.
>Boruto and Sarada’s team doesn’t have anything like that. Where are they even?
>Naruto-san has this under control. You need to be ready for what happens after this.
>Other?
>>
>>5286638
>You need to double down, make absolutely sure that your team and family are protected
Family first. Gotta focus on what we can protect, and it ain't gonna be everyone.
>>
>>5286638
>Naruto-san has this under control. You need to be ready for what happens after this.
>>
>>5286638
>>Naruto-san has this under control. You need to be ready for what happens after this.
>>
>>5286638
>>You need to double down, make absolutely sure that your team and family are protected.
>>
>>5286638
>>Naruto-san has this under control. You need to be ready for what happens after this.
>>
>>5286638
>1d6, first three
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5287085
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5287085
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5287085
>>
>>5287085
“Either Naruto-san has this or he doesn’t,” you observe… it sounded more astute in your head. “Our job now is just to be prepared for either outcome… mom, what about sis and Sasori-san?”

“I’ve heard from a shadow clone,” Ryūzetsu-ue replies. “They’ll be fine.”

Six Kongō Fūsa chains emerge from your back and form a protective dome around you, your team, and your mother. “Kōshū-chan, Shinki-kun, do the same!”

“Hyōton: Suishōheki!” Kōshū-chan cries, raising an icy barrier which Shinki-kun further coats in a thick layer of his iron sand, providing an ablative layer of defense over the hard ice dome.

And it’s a good thing too… rubble from the explosion that happens a few moments later showers the area around the arena and crashes off the barriers you’ve raised - thankfully the civilians and most of the regular forces were evacuated much further, because most of them don’t have techniques like these to rely on.

- Naori -

The arena is empty, except for one man.

Uchiha Sasuke stands in the middle of the ruins. No Naruto, no Ōtsutsuki, just destruction where they once were. “They captured Naruto-kun.”

The other four Kages are the next to turn up, followed by the others you might anticipate - your wife and kids, Sasori-han, the two genin teams whose members made up all of the semi-finalists. What you didn’t expect was for another Konoha team to be here, having been sheltered close to the blast by Karin - Uzumaki Boruto, Uchiha Sarada, and the samurai girl Kurogane Tsubaki.

“... what happened?” Boruto-kun eventually works up the nerve to demand. Quietly at first, then louder. “What happened to my dad!?”

“He’s been captured,” you observe. “I can track him for sure… are you up for a little trip, Sasuke-kun?”

“I drained a fair amount of my chakra,” he admits.

You flick him a ration pill. “Yeah no, if my kid can deal with it so can you.”

“We can afford to wait and recover some of our strength,” Sasuke counters.

“What are you saying!?” Boruto demands angrily.

“It will take a while to even start extracting Kurama’s chakra,” Sasuke correctly observes. “You know that better than anyone, Naori-san.”

>Yeah, and I know that the longer we wait the weaker Naruto gets, and the stronger those other guys will be.
>You may have a point. We can use this time to build a strategy to take those bastards down in one shot.
>We have numbers and teamwork. Those guys have nothing like that. We use that to our advantage.
>Other?
>>
>>5287693
>We have numbers and teamwork. Those guys have nothing like that. We use that to our advantage.
>>
>>5287693
>>You may have a point. We can use this time to build a strategy to take those bastards down in one shot.
>>We have numbers and teamwork. Those guys have nothing like that. We use that to our advantage.
Fine, but we have to be quick about this planning phase.
>>
>>5287693
>>Yeah, and I know that the longer we wait the weaker Naruto gets, and the stronger those other guys will be.
No offense, but if it's a choice between a stronger Naruto and a stronger Sasuke I'd prefer the one who's a Sage/Jinchuriki
>>
>>5287693
>It's not my problem if you've grown weak over the years, Sasuke. I'm going, so are you going to join me or not?
>>
>>5287693
>>We have numbers and teamwork. Those guys have nothing like that. We use that to our advantage.
>>
>>5287693
>Yeah, and I know that the longer we wait the weaker Naruto gets, and the stronger those other guys will be.
>You may have a point. We can use this time to build a strategy to take those bastards down in one shot.
>>
>>5287693
>1d6
>best three of four
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5288185
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5288185
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5288185
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5288185
Oh God damn it
>>
>>5288185
“Yeah no, we have numbers and teamwork on our side,” you counter. “Not to mention that even half a Kurama is more Kurama than I feel like fighting when we get there. Especially when we don’t have to.”

“She has a point, Sasuke-san,” Gaara agrees with you. “The time to have planned this was the last fifteen years… if we’re not ready now, what good will allowing the enemy more time to prepare do us?”

After a moment, Sasuke relents. “Alright. If everyone’s in agreement, I’ll start making preparations.”

“I’m going with you,” Boruto-kun insists. “I can’t just sit around and do nothing, ya know? This is my idiot dad we’re talking about here!”

“You absolutely can and you’re going to,” you glare sharply at him… a response so immediate and draconian even Boruto-kun seems taken aback. “Don’t get me wrong, one of these days your generation will have to take over for ours. But you can’t do that if you’re dead - never forget that as a shinobi, your life isn’t your own to waste.”

As Sasuke finishes preparing an interspatial portal, you pass by your family - the reason you’d go to such lengths. Maybe it’s selfish, maybe you should be looking out for every family and not just your own. But you’ve understood it since you first saw your own kids as infants, the special sort of madness that can take hold in a parent’s heart. You don’t just want to give Shiki and Makoto the world, you want to give them the best version of the world you can, and right now that means eliminating the Ōtsutsuki who would rob you all of your future together.

You offer them a smile. “Yeah, I’ll be back soon.”

“You better,” Ryūzetsu smiles back confidently. “Your turn to cook.”
>1/2
>>
>>5289047
Your arrival doesn’t go unnoticed, unfortunately, despite the fact that Sasuke’s portal dumped you out into the new dimension well above the target - an immature Shinju-tree, probably prepared in advance. With a toss of a hiraishin kunai you teleport to where Naruto-kun’s been bound to the tree, the two Ōtsutsuki having just moved away to intercept Sasuke and the other kages, and cut Naruto free.

“Thanks for coming so soon,” Naruto nods appreciatively. “I was certain Sasuke-kun was going to make you all wait or something.”

“No chill,” you reply curtly, already focused on your next task. “Only violence now.”

Sasuke has already engaged with the small one together with Darui-han, and Naruto heads that way as well. In the mean time that leaves Kurotsuchi and Chōjūrō to fight the big guy. Gaara-kun is doing his best to support both groups at the same time, but it’s clear there’s about to be an imbalance.

“Yeah no, save some for me,” you muse as you join Kurotsuchi and Chōjūrō.

“Noisy insects,” the Ōtsutsuki grumbles.

“Yeah no, I didn’t get your name,” you muse, “big guy.”

“Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki,” the large, pale man introduces himself, producing an oversized axe out of red chakra. “I suppose it is only correct to give your name to those who you are about to kill.”

“Uzumaki Naori,” you smirk. “Same.”

>Focus on close combat, tie up his weapon and let the others strike freely.
>Hang back, wait for an opening, and aim for a single lethal strike.
>Load him up with sealing needles and cover him in exploding tags.
>Other?
>>
>>5289237
>Load him up with sealing needles and cover him in exploding tags.
Can we also mix in a few hiraishin-infused needles, then teleport to him and stab him in the back either before or after the explosion goes off?
>>
>>5289237
>>Load him up with sealing needles and cover him in exploding tags.
>>
>>5289237
>>Load him up with sealing needles and cover him in exploding tags.
>>
>>5289237
>>Load him up with sealing needles and cover him in exploding tags.
>>
>>5289237
>Load him up with sealing needles and cover him in exploding tags.
>>
>>5289237
from Queen, you now why:
>Roll me 1d6, I'll take best three of four
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5289633
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5289633
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5289633
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5289633
>>
>>5289633
[I’ll make the first move,] you tell the two kages through the wave transmission method. [You’ll know what to do.]

You start by unsealing a handful of paper tags, which fold themselves into the shape of shuriken and start spinning towards Kinshiki who blocks them with the enormous flat side of his weapon.

“Kiyō Shibaku Fūda!”

The number of explosions quickly gets out of hand as they chain together, starting at ten, then fifty, then two hundred and fifty, then twelve hundred and fifty… up to seven thousand, eight hundred and ten explosions in the span of just a couple of seconds.

“Khh…” Kinshiki grunts as he escapes the concentration of explosions… only to find a handful of golden-glowing senbon streaking past him as he continues to evade. To be fair he’s much faster than a guy his size has any right to be, but not fast enough to dodge your second attack - teleporting to the first set of Kongō Fūkugi and catching them, you double the number and attack from even closer. Too close for him to avoid their cone-like spread, Kinshiki takes the senbon in his shoulders and torso.

“Now!” you shout.

“Chigiri Tōhō: Honenuki!”

Chōjūrō is the first to act, flinging dozens of shard-like blue bolts of chakra off the Hiramekarei’s blade that impale Kinshiki multiple times - Kinshiki of course only realizing at the last second that the Kongō Fūkugi make it impossible for him to outright escape the barrage. Next comes Kurotsuchi’s attack, which she started weaving signs for even as her fellow kage attacked before her.

“Yōton: Kaisekifū-no-jutsu!”

Kurotsuchi uses flowing, almost fluid-like ash to wrap around Kinshiki and physically restrain him, leaving him totally helpless.

“So yeah, how does it feel,” you ask calmly, plunging Umekiri’s blade through Kinshiki’s heart, “to be stung to death by ‘noisy insects’ like us?”
>1/3
>>
>>5290352
It’s strange. You know that your physical body is right where it was, stabbing Kinshiki to death, but that’s not where you are, just for a moment. Instead you figure that this is something like the ‘plane’ that exists within the shared subconscious of the tailed beasts, a place you’ve found yourself on occasion if not recently. Except in this case, it’s Kinshiki’s subconscious you’ve been dragged into.

“It’s hard to believe that I could be defeated so swiftly, even when outnumbered,” Kinshiki grumbles. “It’s an embarrassment.”

“You picked a fight at a time when multiple kages, jinchūriki, and sages were assembled,” you point out. “This was simple arrogance on your part.”

At this, Kinshiki laughs heartily. “You may have defeated me, but killing a god is hardly so easy a feat, as you will soon…”

His voice falters. “As you will soon…”

“... failure to perform?” you smirk. “It’s okay, it happens to everyone sometimes.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Kinshiki demands angrily. “No… that Kaguya marked you with a Shirokāma?”

“A shirowhatnow?” you frown.

“That eye… your jōgan… it was created by Kaguya?” Kinshiki’s eyes widen in surprise. “Would she truly sink so low as to give such a thing to a mere human deliberately?”

“A ‘kāma’, huh?” you muse, fingertips lightly tracing the scar over your transplanted eye… well, the transplanted eye in question that is. “She mentioned a practice like this, so that’s what it’s called… I assume from your reaction that you can’t place one in me because I already have one from Kaguya-hime, correct?”

"Yeah no, I'm really starting to think she wanted me to kill you."
>2/3
>>
>>5290352
>“So yeah, how does it feel,” you ask calmly, plunging Umekiri’s blade through Kinshiki’s heart, “to be stung to death by ‘noisy insects’ like us?”

Holy shit what a fucking scene. Absolutely beautiful. Now this is what having over a decade to train and prepare for an alien invasion should look like.
>>
>>5280429
>Kurotsuchi: Honestly, changing the weather? I don’t know what I expected - that girl from Konoha and the Kazekage’s brats are all a cut above too. They all seem unusually mature for rookies... wait, did Shiki-kun really just summon a freaking giant salamander?
>Chōjūrō: Well, the Senka trio turned out to be a bit disappointing, but Konoha’s got some good kids this year. Kōshū-kun seems pretty happy too… normally she hates losing. I wonder if it has something to do with her opponent... who just smacked her with a salamander. So it's going to be that kind of day.
>Gaara: It turned out to be more than worthwhile to use the third eye to watch that match. Shiki versus Kōshū-kun was a match I would hate to have missed… especially since my niece’s growth has become partly my responsibility... and she just got smacked with a giant salamander on my watch. Hm.
>Darui: Thunderstorm, huh? Like mother like son I guess… it’s troublesome but maybe for the best. ‘Interesting’ tricks with bubblegum wouldn’t cut it this time, and learning that the hard way’s part of their development too. Wait... Naori-san, what did you do this time?
>Naruto: I remember when I lost my match… let’s see how the losing candidates handle their losses. That’ll almost tell us more about their suitability to be chūnin than if they’d won, which honestly makes guys like Shiki-kun and Shinki-kun harder to assess. Also, why are the other kages all freaked out about that... oh. Oh, granny Tsunade's gonna be upset.
>Naori: So, aside from Shiki, how many of these candidates chose to help develop their teammates’ skills, and think strategically throughout the exam? That will shape my thinking, and so far… it doesn’t look good for most of those kids.
>>
>>5290360
I love that none of the Kage are really surprised that Naori's kid did something crazy. They all just sound a bit exhausted to be honest
>>
>>5290354
“Momoshiki-sama, do it!” Kinshiki shouts, blood flying from his lips. “Do it now!”

You sense a disturbance… you’re forced to swing at an attack that comes almost out of nowhere, as Momoshiki uses the Yomotsu Hirasaka to attack from your blind spot, however you notice too late that his other hand has reached through another rift to grab Kinshiki by the head and pull him through. As he wrenches free of the bindings his body glows an angry red, and before you know it Momoshiki is munching on a glowing red fruit about the size of a grapefruit.

There’s a massive, palpable increase in Momoshiki’s already impressive chakra, along with an equally dramatic change in his appearance. He looks much more feral, with wild and tangled hair and dark markings around his clawed digits, and his once-aristocratic clothing has been left in tatters more like a prisoner’s rags.

“Behold, the legacy of our clan!” he cackles. “The transfer of power, the ultimate law!”

While the others seem taken aback by the fact that Momoshiki literally just ate his own clansman, you’re not all that surprised. In fact, it makes sense - this is what Kaguya-hime was concerned about. Not the individual strengths of the rest of her clan, but what they can do by consuming each other’s chakra and adding it to their own essence.

Momoshiki’s wild gaze falls firmly on you. “Ah, so that’s what happened to Kinshiki - that crafty witch. But that being said, there’s an opportunity here too… the birth of a new Ōtsutsuki!”

“Yeah no, what do you mean?” you frown. “I was under the impression the kāma I got from Kaguya-hime was inactive - a dud, if you will.”

“That isn’t quite true,” Momoshiki admits. “There can be no transfer of Kaguya’s genetic template onto you, however that’s not to say there can be no transformation. The bearer of a ‘white’ kāma may still ascend to godhood.”

“Sounds great,” you grin, albeit somewhat nervously. “But there has to be a catch, so just tell me what that is.”

“No catch,” Momoshiki assures you. “All you need to do is consume the fruit of a fully-matured shinju-tree, which fortunately for you is exactly the goal I had in mind anyway.”

“So, all I have to do is betray everything and everyone I’ve ever cared about,” you muse, “and help destroy the only home I’ve ever known, and in exchange, one day I can be eaten by another Ōtsutsuki to get a last-minute power boost that’s not gonna end up making a difference anyway?”
>3/4
>>
>>5291507
“Am I to infer from your tone that you’re refusing?”

“Oh my violently so,” you insist.

>Hang back and wait for Momoshiki to use his spacetime technique again, use it to get close.
>Use as strong a fire release attack as you can, prepare to counter his counter with storm release.
>Momoshiki can’t absorb attacks that don’t use chakra - like fire, or natural lightning.
>Other?
>>
>>5291509
>>Momoshiki can’t absorb attacks that don’t use chakra - like fire, or natural lightning.

I CAN NOT get enough of altering the natural environment and using indirect effects like this. Like son like mother.
>>
>>5291509
>>Momoshiki can’t absorb attacks that don’t use chakra - like fire, or natural lightning.
>>
>>5291509
>>Momoshiki can’t absorb attacks that don’t use chakra - like fire, or natural lightning.
>>
>>5291509
>Momoshiki can’t absorb attacks that don’t use chakra - like fire, or natural lightning.
>>
>>5291509
>Momoshiki can’t absorb attacks that don’t use chakra - like fire, or natural lightning.
>>
>>5291509
>Momoshiki can’t absorb attacks that don’t use chakra - like fire, or natural lightning.
>>
>>5291509
>Hang back and wait for Momoshiki to use his spacetime technique again, use it to get close.
>>
>>5291509
Gimme 1d6 while I'm at home to post this, first three of four, high roll. You basically voted to go for the fucking jugular on this one.
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5291793
I mean, that fits the mood.
>>
>>5291795
damn, my rolls have been awful this thread
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5291793
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5291793
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5291793
>>
>>5291793
You have to wait for a moment to counterattack, in the midst of the ensuing battle - Momoshiki’s newfound strength is more than the respective Kages can keep up with. A brutal kick to the ribs there, a couple of quick blows to the head there, and pretty much everyone is out of the fight except for you, Naruto, and Sasuke.

[Sasuke - switch with me!]

It’s only when Momoshiki tries to attack Sasuke through a yomotsu hirasaka portal that you see your chance.

[Now!]

He swaps places with you using his rinnegan, just in time for you to launch your counterattack, throwing a hiraishin-marked kunai through the portal going the other way and teleporting instantly to where Momoshiki is floating to slap a sealing tag on him before you reach the side of the massive tree.

There you weave a seal with your left hand. “Kai: Tenchū Shihō’in! (Divine Judgment Death-flame Seal)”

The results are instantaneous. Beforehand you sealed into this tag a particular flame, in this case one that’s not entirely ‘natural’ so much as it is simply devoid of chakra. This flame comes from an industrial furnace in Amegakure, where a mechanically-stoked charcoal flame is used to create two and a half tons of traditional swordmaking steel at a time. It’s enough to match a large-scale fire release ninjutsu, without consuming any chakra or having any chakra within it to be absorbed.

It takes a moment for Momoshiki to realize that he’s not able to absorb the flames, and in that moment of confusion you quickly summon Nyoka-han and have her fly high above.

[Do me a favor, would you?]

[Of course, Naori-dono.]

“How primitive!” Momoshiki accuses you angrily. “What are you going to do next, hurl rocks at me?”

“The thought had crossed my mind,” you reply calmly.
>1/?
>>
>>5292739
The next few minutes remind you a lot of your fight with Madara-han, after he proclaimed that his rampant abuse of the rinnegan paths would make for a “more sophisticated battle” - complete with ridicoulous shouting. In fact the only thing “sophisticated” you’ve seen since Kinshiki got eaten has been your use of the connected portals created by the yomotsu hirasaku to position a hiraishin kunai. Unlike slinging around massive chakra avatars and absorbing then reusing incoming attacks that at least took a little bit of thought and creativity.

“... I miss Madara-han,” you admit as it starts to rain.

“What was that?” Momoshiki laughs as though it was some kind of joke… despite the fact that facing Naruto and Sasuke’s. “Have you lost your mind or something?”

“Yeah no,” you shake your head. “Absorbing our stuff and throwing it back at us with some kind of little gimmicky twist… it’s boring. You’re boring me. This is like fighting Pain but dumb.”

“D-dumb!?” Momoshiki shouts back at you before regaining his composure. “I see, so you really have lost your mind then. How pitiful.”

>Use the same trick with a two-step series of sealing nails to position, then use the lightning.
>Step things up to your Seiran Sage Mode form, show him your true sophistication.
>Prove the point, play ping-pong with chakra absorbing attacks. It’s a game you think you’ll win.
>Other?
>>
>>5292815
>>Prove the point, play ping-pong with chakra absorbing attacks. It’s a game you think you’ll win.
Classic boss fight mechanics, next we gotta hit his weakpoint three times
>>
>>5292815
>Use the same trick with a two-step series of sealing nails to position, then use the lightning.
>>
>>5292815
>>Use the same trick with a two-step series of sealing nails to position, then use the lightning.
>>
>>5292815
>Prove the point, play ping-pong with chakra absorbing attacks. It’s a game you think you’ll win.
>>
>>5292815
>Use the same trick with a two-step series of sealing nails to position, then use the lightning.
>>
>>5292815
>>Prove the point, play ping-pong with chakra absorbing attacks. It’s a game you think you’ll win.
why not, lets have some fun
>>
>>5292815
>>Prove the point, play ping-pong with chakra absorbing attacks. It’s a game you think you’ll win.
>>
>>5292815
>1d6, best three of four, higher is better
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5293314
And here we go
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5293314
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5293314
>>5293315
>>5293317
you ruined it
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5293314
>>
Well there's always ES and SP right?
>>
>>5293593
No, not on high rolls
>>
>>5293314
You decide to prove your point in a rather dramatic fashion, starting with the setup. You flow chakra into Umekiri’s blade and form a single sign in your left hand to finish shaping the technique. “Karyūsen!”

The dragon flame strike erupts from your blade and swiftly bears down on Momoshiki, who reaches out with one hand - a rinnegan in the palm of his right hand, into which he absorbs the incoming attack. Then, after a moment, he forms a much more powerful attack that manifests through a rinnegan in the palm of his left hand. He releases it towards you, as you anticipated he would, and quickly learns that you used that moment well.

“Senpō: Seiryūsen!”

Your storm-chakra dragon meets the fire dragon - which you chose specifically for this purpose - and after a brief clash begins to rapidly absorb and convert it into more storm chakra.

“What!?”

“See?” you muse as the storm dragon overtakes Momoshiki. “Even I can do things like this.”

Momoshiki starts to absorb your return - telling you that unlike with Pain there’s no real interval to speak of between use of his rinnegan abilities - and unleashes the stored chakra for a second time. You teleport away from where you were stood against the side of the tree, predicting that this attack won’t endanger any of the recovering Kages, and allow the tree to be all but annihilated along with a wide cone of devastation trailing off into the distance beyond the tree… or rather where the tree used to be.

“Well that’s no good,” you frown.

“Seems like I’m still better at this than you are,” Momoshiki smirks.

“Granted,” you muse, observing the effects of your exchange. “But I did learn something from that. I learned that the interval between times you can use that ability is either nonexistent or too short to take advantage of. I learned that it takes you a little longer to convert and reuse more powerful attacks. And based on the burns on your arm, there’s a certain maximum rate you can absorb chakra. But that’s not the biggest thing I learned.”

“And what might that be?”
>1/?
>>
>>5293605
“Based on the fact that you didn’t hesitate to fire that attack off at me that you’re getting desperate. The tree was the only possible collateral there - you didn’t even aim it to try and force me to protect my friends and comrades.”

“And what about you?” Momoshiki counters. “You seem to be tiring out yourself… I suppose I couldn’t have hoped for much better. You are after all a mere mortal.”

“Knock it off with that nonsense, would you?” you frown.

>This won’t end without hiraishin. Use that as your avenue for attack.
>He has a point. Rest a moment and let Naruto and Sasuke take the lead.
>If you can bind Momoshiki’s left hand even for a moment, you win.
>Other?
>>
>>5293671
>This won’t end without hiraishin. Use that as your avenue for attack.
>Just go full on sword mode, seal away any flesh you shave off
>>
>>5293671
>>He has a point. Rest a moment and let Naruto and Sasuke take the lead.

Let the knuckleheads occupy him, then we gank and gg no re.
>>
>>5293671
>>He has a point. Rest a moment and let Naruto and Sasuke take the lead.

Trust our allies to not fuck up.
>>
>>5293671
>>This won’t end without hiraishin. Use that as your avenue for attack.
>>
>>5293671
>If you can bind Momoshiki’s left hand even for a moment, you win.
>>
>>5293671
>He has a point. Rest a moment and let Naruto and Sasuke take the lead.

Might as well let the guy with insane amounts of chakra take the brunt for a while
>>
>1d6, best three of four, high roll
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5294337
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5294337
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5294337
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5294337
>>
>>5294344
>>5294347
>>5294360
Momoshiki in shambles, how will the Otsutsuki ever recover?
>>
>>5294344
>>5294347
>>5294360
Well now.
>>
>new threads tomorrow evening Pacific time
>>
>>5296476
New thread



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