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>>4132656
The first team you come across is Team Ibuki, who have sheltered near a small oasis. The weather lifts thanks to Nyoka’s weather control ability, allowing them to come out from between a pile of rocks.

“You’re here?” Karin asks quizzically. “What’s happening?”

“What’s with this weather?” Harusame demands.

“Someone who’s not in the exams is causing this sandstorm,” you inform them, “so the proctors and jōnin are stepping in.”

“Thanks for that,” Arashi grins. “This was getting pretty miserable.”

You quickly unseal some emergency equipment for them: masks and cloaks to keep out the dust, fresh food and water, and a small domed shelter.

“I need to go find Ajisai’s team now,” you tell Karin. “So take care of yourselves, okay? We’ll take care of this, so then you can just focus on your own mission again.”

Before you go, Karin catches your attention. “Hey… thanks for coming out here after us.”

“Don’t mention it,” you reply. “Seriously… only Gaara knows I’m out here, so it might become a problem if anyone else heard.”
>2/3

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>>4132661
“Thanks, but we’re fine,” Ajisai greets you when you reach her next. She already had shelter sealed into a tag, which she and her team are making use of.

“Good to know,” you shrug. “But it cost me nothing to make sure.”

“Thank you,” Suiren bows politely. “But as Ajisai said, there’s no need to trouble yourself.”

“And I know that,” you insist, “but it’s no trouble, really. I just wanted to make sure… and to be honest with you, there’s a reason I went after Team Ibuki first and that reason’s leading your team.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Ajisai smiles calmly. “Good luck with the other teams.”

…

You’re not surprised when you find that Fū’s team was also having zero trouble with the weather.

“Hey~!” she greets you cheerfully. “Are you the one who stopped that sandstorm?”

“Yeah,” you admit. “I should’ve figured your team would be fine, but I wanted to make sure.”

“Oh yeah?” Fū asks. “Why’d you assume that?”

“Because you have two jōnin on your team,” you explain. “Come on now, it’s not like it’s that big of a secret.”

>Anyway, I’m off to go try and further counter this storm, give other teams some relief.
>I’m going to go join up with Gaara. See what he needs me to do.
>I’m going to try and find the Konoha jōnin, make sure they got into the desert.
>Other?

>>4132663
>Anyway, I'm off

>>4132663
>I’m going to try and find the Konoha jōnin, make sure they got into the desert.

>>4132663
>>I’m going to try and find the Konoha jōnin, make sure they got into the desert.

>>4132663
>I’m going to try and find the Konoha jōnin, make sure they got into the desert.

>>4132663
>1d6, high roll
>taking the best three of four

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4132980

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4132980

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4132980

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4132980

>>4132980
“I’m going to go find Konoha’s jōnin-senseis,” you declare. “It’d be best if we went our separate ways.”

“Awww, maaan!” Fū pouts. “That’s so lame.”

“It’s probably for the best,” Kegon observes. “Fū, we need to get moving.”

“Oh, alright...”

…

You continue searching the desert for the jōnin-senseis, and eventually allow Nyoka to return to the forest as the sandstorm subsides… it seems like whatever it was meant to do has been accomplished already, which is concerning. All the more reason to try and track the others down.

You find yourself out in the middle of the desert, a good distance away from where you met Fū, when you sense a change through your tracking tags.

“What the...”

You can sense that Gaara is in distress, and his chakra is fluctuating. Fū is heading there at top speed, her own chakra clearly agitated.

Something’s clearly going on here, and it’s exactly what you’ve been waiting for. There’s no time to waste, you’ve already been caught by surprise by this turn of events…

… you have the presence of mind to summon Kijani.

“I need you to fly ahead and summon me,” you tell him. “Take this sealing tag, I’ll guide you in.”

“With respect,” he replies calmly, “are you not faster than myself in Sage Mode?”

“I may not have time to stand still!” you reply. “That, and nobody here knows about that… so please don’t mention it so casually, Kijani-han.”

“Right, forgive me Naori-dono,” he apologizes as you throw a paper tag at him.

“Not a problem,” you admit. “My fault for not making that clear from the start.”
>1/2

>>4133168
When Kijani summons you before disappearing himself, the situation seems fairly grim.

A team of very green-looking Sunagakure genin are struggling alongside Team Guy, who are trying to deal with a lute-playing monk whose chest is connected to a giant cocoon of chakra threads. Chakra is being slowly drawn out from inside the cocoon and into the monk… the tracking markings are inside that cocoon.
>1d6, best three of four

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4133182

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4133182
Well this seems fucked

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4133182

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4133182

>>4133182
… the chakra being drawn from each is the same, confirming what you had suspected this whole time but didn’t want to think about: that Fū is a jinchūriki. You try to rationalize it away as being a trick of your imagination, but the chakra feels exactly alike to you. You even briefly unseal the Sharingan to try and disprove it to yourself, only to find that it has the same characteristics you remember from fighting Shukaku, and they’re almost exactly alike in that regard.

There’s absolutely no way to deny it.

Your guilt however is outweighed by the necessity of action. Regardless of what will happen to Gaara and Fū in the future, what Akatsuki has planned for them, they need your help in this moment.

>Try to meet up with Neji. Out of all of them he’s the most likely to be of assistance.
>Try to use your Kongō Fūsa to counter-seal the sealing chains this monk is using.
>No messing around… you could squash that monk like a bug if you used Sage Mode.
>Other?

>>4133249
>>Try to use your Kongō Fūsa to counter-seal the sealing chains this monk is using.
free fu

>>4133249
>>Try to meet up with Neji. Out of all of them he’s the most likely to be of assistance.

>>4133249
A clarification: no one would have to see direct evidence that Naori is using sage mode, as she's not going to just bust it out and start waving it around. But it WILL scare Neji shitless, as Naori would have IC reasons to assume.

>>4133249
>>Try to meet up with Neji. Out of all of them he’s the most likely to be of assistance.

>>4133249
>>Try to meet up with Neji. Out of all of them he’s the most likely to be of assistance.

>>4133249
>>Try to use your Kongō Fūsa to counter-seal the sealing chains this monk is using.

>>4133249
>Try to use your Kongō Fūsa to counter-seal the sealing chains this monk is using.

>>4133249
>Try to use your Kongō Fūsa to counter-seal the sealing chains this monk is using.

>>4133249
>1d6, DC 10
>taking the first three

>SP: 6/6
>ES: 0/0 (0T)

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4134087

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4134087

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4134087

>>4134087
This monk is using fūinjutsu… specifically, a fūinjutsu that requires use of both of his hands, and that requires him to stay perfectly still while using it. Why in the world would anyone use a technique like that in combat!?

But it’s a small blessing for you that your opponent is that idiotic, since it makes it fairly easy for you to know your next steps.

The shinobi gathered here begin to make their move, coordinating to get behind the monk without exposing themselves to his chains. The two Taki jōnin quickly take his back and line up for an assault with shadow-cloned shuriken and water shuriken. But the monk responds by raising a barrier around himself that forms over the chains, effectively sealing himself off. Next the tune changes again, and the glowing barrier starts spitting waves of senbon like rain at the shinobi as they try to get something going against the monk.

The girl from the Sand uses a spinning cord weapon to defend her teammates, and Tenten does the same for Lee with a kusarigama. Neji just spins in place releasing chakra to raise a barrier, and Kegon forms a shield of water that protects both himself and Yōrō.

This is your moment.

“Kongō Fūsa Midare!”

You give this new technique a name as you mainfest a golden chain to spin, shielding yourself through the senbon attack as you charge in. Once the senbon stop you add a second chain, before wrapping them around the monk’s chains.

The monk changes his tune… and suddenly finds that his own sealing technique has stopped working.

“That technique!” he demands. “What have you done!?”

“What comes naturally,” you reply with a smirk.

Where the cocoon had previously slowed the chakra flow out of Fū and Gaara’s bodies your fūinjutsu halts it altogether, and if you wanted to you could even direct the tailed beast chakra into yourself… though most likely not without consequences, the most obvious of which being Fū and Gaara would still probably die unless you performed your pseudo-jinchūriki seal on it.

You could also completely dispel the fūinjutsu by sealing the chakra chains you have tied up into a scroll.

What you can’t do is kill the monk himself, since there’s obvious parallel between his technique and the mutual-killing technique of the Fūma clan and you can’t completely discount the possibility.

While you consider the situation carefully, you notice that Neji has entered the cocoon.

“No!” the monk protests. “Can’t you see why we’re doing this? Those… those things are more of a threat to our own village than they ever were to our enemies in war!”

>Do you mean the tailed beasts, or Fū and Gaara?
>I understand, I just don’t agree.
>I agree. But ignoring Fū and Gaara in all this is wrong.
>Other?

>>4134135
>I understand, I just don’t agree.

>>4134135
>Do you mean the tailed beasts, or Fū and Gaara?

>>4134135
>>Do you mean the tailed beasts, or Fū and Gaara?

>>4134135
>>Do you mean the tailed beasts, or Fū and Gaara?

>>4134135
>head chop the monk in a boke and tsukomi routine.
>Then sass him, All the sass.
>"You people have been ignoring a crucial point. Specifically, ignoring Gaara and Fū."

>>4134135
>>Do you mean the tailed beasts, or Fū and Gaara?

>>4134135
>Do you mean the tailed beasts, or Fū and Gaara?

>>4134135
“Oh no, the child we sealed a chakra monster into as a baby and then treated like dirt for more than a decade had some emotional issues growing up!” you mock the monk, affecting a tone of surprise. “Who could have predicted such a turn of events? How could we have possibly anticipated… yeah no, shut your mouth.”

“You people are the ones who decided to start sealing away the tailed beasts as weapons,” you snarl back at him… this isn’t like you, but you can hardly help it. “And now just because you’re a little scared Fū and Gaara deserve to die?”

“And you!” you snap, knocking Kegon and Yōrō out of the air with another Kongō Fūsa chain, this time from your right shoulder, as they try to attack again. “Did you even stop to consider that this technique might be a mutual kill-type seal?”

“Or did you just see a jinchūriki at risk of capture and decide to risk killing her instead?”

The two Taki jōnin stare at you in surprise… it seems they hadn’t even considered the possibility that had you immediately worried, that killing the monk could also kill Fū and Gaara. They didn’t even stop to think about it. That tells you all you need to know.

“… you don’t even see them as people anymore, do you?” you muse, almost amused at the situation now. How truly foolish humanity can be, to create for itself this sort of world.

“There will always be people like that,” Gaara declares, emerging from the cocoon now free of the chakra chain that had him trapped. “It can’t be helped. What I have learned over the years is that this is the way of the world, but it need not be the way of people.”

“Gaara-san?” you hear Fū wonder, having also emerged from the now-disintegrating cocoon alongside Neji, who must have released the chains from their tenketsu.

“People can try to understand one another, and to acknowledge each other’s respective situations,” Gaara continues. “I can even understand the feelings of those who wish to kill me… it is the responsibility of a leader to eliminate threats to one’s village, so to an extent I even share his perspective.”

“But even “eliminating” a threat does not always mean killing them, or even necessarily resorting to violence at all.”

That actually sounds familiar… although, you realize, it means that you and Gaara will almost certainly find yourselves at crossed purposes at some point in the near future.

The sealing chains that you have counter-sealed with your Kongō Fūsa begin to strain, as though they have a will of their own that intends to turn on their creator. And so you simply allow that to happen.
>1/2

>>4134299
“What!?” the monk demands as the chains reduce themselves into sealing ink, like snakes whipping to and fro before collapsing back onto the barrier. They constrict and break the shimmering walls and slam against the monk, essentially binding him completely.

“You tried to absorb the chakra you stole,” you guess. “Partial chakra from two jinchūriki… why did you think that would work, again?”

Gaara soon approaches. “That was you who stopped the technique. Thank you.”

“Sure,” you nod politely. “I guess Neji sealed the tenketsu those chains targeted?”

“That is my understanding of the situation,” Gaara tells you.

“Well done,” you congratulate Neji as he and Fū join you as well.

“So what will be done with that monk?” Neji asks.

“He will be tried, as any other criminal within our village,” Gaara responds.

“I would recommend Hozuki Castle, in Kusagakure,” you suggest. “I’m sure you’ve heard they’ve had a change in leadership there… the new warden is an acquaintance of mine. She’s a good person.”

“I will take that into consideration,” Gaara agrees. “Now then, to resolve this situation...”

…

It turns out that Gaara’s solution is to end the exams prematurely, since the involvement of the Kazekage and multiple jōnin largely invalidates the results of the second stage. It’s also going to be impossible for the Sand to host the third stage as intended, now that Gaara needs to deal with cleanup for the failed coup attempt. He announces the next morning to the assembled candidates that the third stage has been cancelled, and that recommendations will be sent to each village head regarding performance.

“Gaara is busy at the moment,” Temari tells you in a private room in the center tower, “but he wanted me to ask your thoughts on who should be promoted.”

>Defer to the other jōnin’s judgments.
>Offer an honest assessment of the genin, based on what you've observed.
>Other?

>>4134317
>Offer an honest assessment of the genin, based on what you've observed.

>>4134317
>>Offer an honest assessment of the genin, based on what you've observed.
>Neji did well for example

>>4134317
>>Offer an honest assessment of the genin, based on what you've observed.

>>4134317
>Offer an honest assessment of the genin, based on what you've observed.

>>4134317
>Offer an honest assessment of the genin, based on what you've observed.

>>4134317
>Offer an honest assessment of the genin, based on what you've observed.
>Neji did well for example

>>4134317
>>Offer an honest assessment of the genin, based on what you've observed.

>>4134317
>>Offer an honest assessment of the genin, based on what you've observed.

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>>4134317
“I can only offer criticism of the shinobi who I’ve observed in action,” you admit, “most of whom were kinda unremarkable.”

“By all means,” Temari agrees.

“Haruno Sakura showed analytical abilities and leadership during the first stage,” you admit, “though she’s also prone to acting on emotion. She’s technically qualified but has a lot of room for improvement.”

“Tenten is qualified as a chūnin based on her cooperation with Ajisai,” you continue, “which suggests to me that she has her priorities straight and can think quickly in difficult situations.”

“Hyūga Neji is easily qualified as a chūnin,” you tell her, “based on his analytical skills alone. Arguments could be made for promotion to tokujō based on his combat prowess, which I wasn’t privy to.”

“Fū has more than adequate power, and an amazing person, but is still too sheltered to make a good combat team leader.”

“Gaara seems to think highly of her as a person as well,” Temari agrees. “Though he didn’t seem to share your assessment of her potential as a chūnin.”

“A tokujō assignment may be warranted,” you observe, “but for different reasons than usual. She’s doubtless got the skills for it, just not the mindset, so that rank might be useful to keep her out of situations that her heart is just too pure for.”

“I’ll make a note of that,” Temari agrees. “Anyone you didn’t think too highly of?”

You nod curtly. “Akimichi Chōji.”

“Why?”

“If he were an Ame-nin he would be on probation for placing his whole team at risk over a sandwich,” you explain flatly, referring to the events at the Demon Desert checkpoint. “If his judgment did not improve he’d be dropped from the shinobi program altogether.”

“That’s rather harsh,” Temari observes with a frown. “Don’t you think?”

“Harsher than letting him get his teammates killed in the field?” you respond with a shrug. “Ultimately it’s in the hands of Asuma-sensei and Tsunade-han, but I feel he needs a wake-up call.”
>1/2, will continue after tonight’s social events

>>4134461
As it happens, you get an update from Temari not long after you return home to Amegakure, and the news is actually more interesting than you’d anticipated. From Konohagakure comes the news that there has been an unusual measure taken: several candidates have been given the rank “tokubetsu chūnin”, which basically implies that they’re provisionally chūnin-ranked due to being otherwise ready but held back in some way.

Lee, Yamanaka Ino, Inazuka Kiba, and Hyūga Hinata have all been promoted to that rank, with the understanding that they’ll probably be made chūnin permanently when they establish themselves as a little more experienced and prepared to take on leadership roles. Sakura, Tenten, and the shady-looking guy on Team Kurenai who you had to be reminded is named Shino, were all promoted to full chūnin on a combination of your opinion, Gaara’s, and Shikamaru’s.

Passed over for promotion, but not placed on probation, was Akimichi Chōji. It seems Asuma was forced to admit that the indiscretion showed by his third student was absolutely consistent with his previous performances.

Your own two teams all passed though, with all six members being promoted to chūnin.

…

“Eat up!” you declare loudly at the table of an izakaya. “The whole tab’s on me this time, so don’t hold back!”

“Thanks,” Ajisai thanks you quietly as the rest of the newly-promoted chūnin throw themselves wholeheartedly into taking you up on your offer. “I take it after this you’ll return to your other duties?”

“Probably,” you admit, taking a sip out of your small cup of sake. “That’s just how things go.”

“It’s too bad,” she replies. “Normally I could look forward to working with you.”

“I’m sure we’ll have the occasion again,” you insist. “But maybe not for a while.”

“I wish it would end,” Ajisai sighs.

“It will,” you reply quietly, “some day. But it’s not worth doing if we can’t do it the right way.”

“After meeting Tenten, would you disagree?”

After a moment, she shakes her head. “No. And admitting that surprises me.”

“That just means you’ve grown,” you shrug. “It’s good that you can surprise yourself.”

“If you say so.”

After a moment, she makes an admission. “I told Tenshi-dono about your friend, Fū.”

>I know. I’ll see to it myself, but I have a plan to ensure her survival.
>And how do you feel about that, having met her?
>Other?

>>4134981
>I know. I’ll see to it myself, but I have a plan to ensure her survival.

>>4134981
>And how do you feel about that, having met her?
then
>I know. I’ll see to it myself, but I have a plan to ensure her survival.

>>4134981
>>4135017
this

>>4134981
>tokubetsu chūnin”,
The fuck is this clumsy face-saving strategy?

>>4134981
>And how do you feel about that, having met her?

>I know. I’ll see to it myself, but I have a plan to ensure her survival.

>>4135084
I think you just answered your own question. That and I think they have a bunch of dead chunin they need to replace sooner rather than later.

On a side note:

Honestly, Sakura is only a disappointment because the author just never bothered to develop her character or her abilities to the potential she was implied to have. The beginning of Shipuuden is the first and last time she appears to make any relevant progress at all.

Genjutsu type my foot.

>>4134981
Why no mention of Neji?

What I wouldn't give to hear Tsunade ripping into Choji over "the sandwich incident", Parent/Teacher conference style.

>>4134981
>I know. I’ll see to it myself, but I have a plan to ensure her survival.
>And how do you feel about that, having met her?

>>4135425
I must've accidentally deleted his line, but he's a tokubetsu jonin now. He didn't get the full promotion because neither his ninjutsu nor his genjutsu are quite developed enough for it.

His promotion in Part II is based on informed competence in fire release which he never showed in the exams that went back to explain how everyone got promoted.

Overall, I decided not to have Tsunade just give blanket promotions to all the Konoha 11 who participated. Because that was fucking stupid, since many of them didn't show the sort of maturity usually required of the rank until later in Part II.

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>>4134981
“And how do you feel about that, having met her?” you ask.

Ajisai doesn’t look at you. “I don’t know.”

“Yeah no, I’m not buying that,” you press. “Come on.”

“I don’t know why you want her,” Ajisai corrects herself. “Akatsuki, I mean.”

“We don’t,” you admit. “There’s something sealed inside her we’re interested in.”

“I’ll see to Fū’s safety in all this.”

“That’s good,” Ajisai breathes a small sigh of relief.

“Hey, listen to me,” you insist, cupping the side of her head with your palm and forcing her to meet your eyes. “You worry about you, okay? Start worrying about stuff like Akatsuki business when you make jōnin, until then you can leave it to me.”

After a moment Ajisai shakes her head. “It bugs me that we’re not rivals anymore, you know.”

This time it’s your turn to frown and look the other way. “Yeah… I’ve gotten a little out of control lately, haven’t I?”

“I just wonder if I’ll be able to catch up at this point...” she mutters.

After a moment, you offer your reply. “Like I said… you just worry about you. I’ll help if you want me to, but if you’re too busy thinking about what I can do then you’re not thinking enough about what you can do.”

She sighs. “Yeah… I guess.”

“Look, next time we get a chance I’ll help you work out a training regimen,” you suggest. “I’ll try and convince Konan-sensei to give you some time off to train too. Sound good?”

She nods curtly. “So long as I don’t have to call you sensei.”

You give her a playful push and tell her that won’t be necessary.

…

>1/2

>>4135893
Ajisai’s next mission comes up that same week, and so you say your goodbyes for now. Karin and Team Ibuki are likewise sent off on a border patrol mission, watching the border with Ishigakure for any signs that they intend to cross into Amegakure’s territory. You know they’re reeling from having been trounced by Iwagakure, so they may well be looking for an easier win against Ame or one of their other neighbors.

But soon, you’re faced with a more immediate concern: Kakuzu and Hidan have captured Fū.

You were somewhat less than pleased that these two in particular were sent after her and her jōnin escorts, but they were in the area already to follow up on Ajisai’s intel. So while you’re concerned that the Zombie duo would be too brutal with her, it’s also hard to make a logical argument why that should prevent Pain from seizing the opportunity presented to Akatsuki to grab its second tailed beast.

When you and Sasori meet with them outside the village of Amegakure itself, with their team having doubled back from where they intercepted Fū’s team in the Land of Grass, you’re reminded that you called this.

“She’s in even worse shape than Utakata was!” you protest after blacking Hidan’s eye with your fist.

“We subdued her, didn’t we?” Kakuzu counters gruffly. “We don’t complain about how you do your jobs.”

“Was torturing her a part of the job, then?” you shoot back.

“Hey!” Hidan shouts back. “Don’t you go dissing my religion, you filthy heathen!”

“Now now,” the holographic image of Pain interjects. “We will have plenty of time to air our grievances after the Seven Tails has been sealed. Get into your positions.”

You shoot Hidan a glare as he makes a face at you, but all four of you do as Pain instructs to begin the sealing ritual. Meanwhile, you unseal your Sharingan and prepare the Kongō Fūsa. You’ll only get one shot at this.
>1d6, high roll
>best three of four

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4135900

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4135900

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4135900

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4135900

>>4135900
>Hidan tortured Fu

Well now we have to kill everyone in this room and then ourselves.

>>4135900
Over the three days you make a long series of small interventions, making sure to regulate the flow of chakra out of Fū’s body with extreme care… you can also tell this way that she’s in pain, so you use a sound-based genjutsu and your specialized poison to heavily anaesthetize her through the experience. It makes you a little uneasy about what Utakata must have felt without your assistance. Her wounds also start to heal, albeit slowly, by the third day.

Eventually, it comes time to do the tricky part… you place a fūinjutsu over the one that had been holding her tailed beast within her chakra network, then let the original crumble under the strain of Pain’s technique. On the third day almost all the rest of the tailed beast is removed, and another “eye” on the statue Pain summons opens the same as it did for Utakata.

But you manage to seal a large amount of that tailed beast chakra back into Fū before setting your own fūinjutsu with a spiral-shaped marking.

Fū’s body falls back to the ground before you get the chance to stumble down to catch her, but when you check her condition she’s still breathing, slowly and regularly, and her heartbeat is still strong and even.

“Thank goodness...” you mutter wearily.

“It seems like it worked?” Hidan wonders aloud. “Man, Lord Jashin sure isn’t gonna like that… but I guess sometimes it can’t be helped. We mortals get this kinda trials sometimes.”

“Just keep her away from me if you want her to stay alive,” Kakuzu growls. “She may be an imbecile, but she’s still a Taki-nin. If she gets in my way again I might just have to kill her on general principle.”

“Now you’re talkin’ my language!” Hidan agrees as the two leave the abandoned building you’ve spent the last three days in.

“Don’t make it worse,” Kakuzu warns him.

“Okay, okay, just sayin’. Don’t get your tighties in a twist.”

“You should get some rest,” Sasori suggests. “You were the only one who did not take a rest besides Kisame.”

“I’m fine,” you insist, scooping Fū up off the ground. “I’ve got stuff to deal with.”
>2/3

>>4135917
>>4135900
KILL THESE MOTHERFUCKERS
I'LL SHOW YOU FUCKING BRUTAL, YOU'LL WISH IT WAS JUST METH SPIDERS

>>4135917
“Where am I?” Fū demands weakly when she awakens in a hospital bed three days later.

“In a hospital,” Karin replies. “You’re going to be fine...”

“… what is she doing here?”

“She hasn’t left your side in three days,” Karin explains quietly. “She only just fell asleep...”

“I’m not asleep,” you interrupt, your own eyes slowly opening. “Though I’ve taken a nap or two. Even I can’t go six days straight without any rest.”

“I’ll… leave you two to it then,” Karin replies uneasily. “I’ll just be outside.”

…

“You’re wearing that uniform,” Fū observes. “The same as the ones who attacked us.”

“We’re in the same organization,” you admit quietly.

“… why?”

“… it’s the responsibility of a leader to eliminate threats to one’s village,” you repeat Gaara’s words from before. “The tailed beast sealed inside you was a threat to everyone, so that’s why Akatsuki took it.”

“But I’m still alive!” Fū counters. “Nakkun, please explain what’s going on here!”

“I sealed part of the seven-tails back into you to save your life,” you clarify. “I’m sorry for what Kakuzu and Hidan did to you… I told our leader that would happen, but I got overruled.”

“Why did it need to happen at all?” Fū asks, staring at the ceiling. “Why did any of this...”

There’s a long, awkward pause.

>Let me show you something that will help you understand. It’s just outside the village. I can carry you there.
>You’re in Amegakure, where you’ll have to stay for the time being. But if you’re up to it I can show you around.
>If I were evil, or if I didn’t care about you, I wouldn’t have saved you. But something else is more important even than my own feelings.
>Other?

>>4135925
>Let me show you something that will help you understand. It’s just outside the village. I can carry you there.

>>4135925
>Let me show you something that will help you understand. It’s just outside the village. I can carry you there.
>If I were evil, or if I didn’t care about you, I wouldn’t have saved you. But something else is more important even than my own feelings.

>>4135925
>Let me show you something that will help you understand. It’s just outside the village. I can carry you there.

>>4135925
>>Let me show you something that will help you understand. It’s just outside the village. I can carry you there.

Words are cheap, show her the root cause of our resolve.

>>4135925
>>Let me show you something that will help you understand. It’s just outside the village. I can carry you there.
we've said words before. It is our actions that she needs to reconcile with

>>4135930
>>4135925
supporting this
we can explain along the way

>>4135930
>>4135925
this.

>>4135925
>>4135930
This

>>4135925
>Let me show you something that will help you understand. It’s just outside the village. I can carry you there.
>If I were evil, or if I didn’t care about you, I wouldn’t have saved you. But something else is more important even than my own feelings.

>>4135925
>>4135930

>>4135925
“We can understand one another,” you agree with Gaara’s sentiments from the Demon Desert. “But that’s easier said than done.”

You turn your back to Fū and kneel in front of her bed. “There’s something I want to show you. I’ll carry you there.”

After a few moments of silence, you can feel Fū roll herself out of bed and cling to your back, and you use your arms to support her from under her legs. As you pass through the door you feel her lean wearily into your shoulder.

“Karin, please come with us,” you address your distant cousin. “And I’ll need an extra coat for Fū.”

“I’d argue,” she frowns. “But I know you have a reason for this, so I’ll spare you the lecture and just skip to the part where I agree anyway.”

“Thanks for understanding,” you reply calmly. “I promise it’s worth it.”

…

The village of Murasaki isn’t too far from the urban area of Amegakure itself, and as you leave the dense tangle of spires and pipes you notice Fū marveling at them from your back.

“So that’s Amegakure,” she muses sadly over the rain. “It looks miserable… no offense.”

“None taken,” you assure her.

“I’ve never seen so many people packed into such a tiny place,” she continues.

“That’s because of what I’m going to show you,” you insist.

When you approach the village you have to hop a high wire fence, not unlike the one surrounding the Forest of Death except that this fence sits atop a low concrete wall set into a ditch made with earth release.

“This wall marks a permanent barrier,” you tell both Fū and Karin, who have never been here. “It extends underground.”

“Why’s it here?” Karin asks you.

“You’ll see,” you insist. “Concentrate chakra in your feet… you’ll want to tread lightly within this barrier. Treat it like you’re walking on water or quicksand.”

After several more minutes of walking past the withered trunks of dead trees, you reach the remains of the village of Murasaki: dozens of modern concrete buildings done in a style that imitates the less durable, more easily decayed traditional styles of architecture in less perishable materials that were intended to shed the rain more easily.
>1/2

>>4136135
“This was once a modern village, Murasaki-machi” you explain what the duo are looking at. “My mother lived here back when it was a ‘flower town’ full of restaurants, and hotels, and spas. It was also home to one of the most highly-regarded courtesan houses in the Land of Storms.”

“In the Third Shinobi World War it became a battleground between Sunagakure, Konohagakure, and Amegakure. Seven hundred shinobi or so died here in three days of combat where poison was used so heavily that their bodies were too contaminated to recover. Four hundred civilians were killed as well.”

“Their bodies were abandoned and sank into the muck, and the poison has persisted so strongly that the whole place will be uninhabitable for another few generations.”

“My mother was caught in one of the gas attacks here, and her lungs never fully healed. She died from those wounds when I was little.”

“I’m sorry,” Karin tells you quietly.

“It was a long time ago,” you admit, “and I had a chance to make my peace with her. But this was one battle in a much larger war, a battle that claimed eleven hundred lives. In this same war, the Fourth Hokage was said to have defeated a thousand shinobi on his own… and the Third Raikage was said to have fought an army of ten thousand shinobi for three days.”

“This is what war is like between shinobi,” you conclude. “Yes, I work with Akatsuki, but it’s to keep other places from ending up like this.”

“What does Chōmei have to do with that?” Fū asks you.

“The Tailed Beasts were distributed between the five great nations and Takigakure to be used as deterrence weapons,” you explain. “Which hasn’t worked at all… otherwise Murasaki-machi would still be a living town, and I’d probably be living here with my mother and father.”

“Akatsuki wants to become the one doing the deterring,” Karin realizes. “That’s the plan?”

You nod curtly. “The only way to stop it from happening again is to change the rules that allowed it to happen the first three times.”

>Feel free to disagree with me, either of you. I’m always open to suggestions.
>That’s why I’m with Akatsuki. You don’t have to forgive me, but please try to understand.
>Nine lives against even the eleven hundred who died here… what would you do?
>Other?

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>>4136135
>>4136165
Forgot the reference image again like an idiot.

>>4136165
>Feel free to disagree with me, either of you. I’m always open to suggestions.

>>4136165
>>That’s why I’m with Akatsuki. You don’t have to forgive me, but please try to understand.

>>4136165
>>That’s why I’m with Akatsuki. You don’t have to forgive me, but please try to understand.

>>4136165
>>That’s why I’m with Akatsuki. You don’t have to forgive me, but please try to understand.

>>4136165
>>Feel free to disagree with me, either of you. I’m always open to suggestions.

>>4136165
>Feel free to disagree with me, either of you. I’m always open to suggestions.
>No big idea is unopposed in some way.

>>4136165
>Feel free to disagree with me, either of you. I’m always open to suggestions.
>That’s why I’m with Akatsuki. You don’t have to forgive me, but please try to understand.

>>4136165
>>Feel free to disagree with me, either of you. I’m always open to suggestions.
>>That’s why I’m with Akatsuki. You don’t have to forgive me, but please try to understand.

>>4136165
>>That’s why I’m with Akatsuki. You don’t have to forgive me, but please try to understand.

>>4136165
>Feel free to disagree with me, either of you. I’m always open to suggestions.

>>4136165
>>Feel free to disagree with me, either of you. I’m always open to suggestions.

>>4136165
>That’s why I’m with Akatsuki. You don’t have to forgive me, but please try to understand.

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>>4136165
“I’m not going to ask you to forgive me,” you tell Fū as you return to Amegakure proper with her. “Because whether you do or not is entirely up to you. But please, try to understand… I’m not doing this because I don’t care about you. I’m doing this for a reason that’s more important than either of us, and all I can do is try to do it the least-bad way possible.”

“Murasaki-machi is what I wanted you to see, hoping that it would give you an understanding of where I’m coming from.”

There’s a long silence.

“Man, I just don’t know!” Fū admits loudly, her usual pep slowly creeping back into her tone. “At least I know you’re not evil or anything.”

“Oh?” you muse. “And how do you know that?”

“If you’d just been tricking me the whole time why keep up the act?” she observes. “I totally knew you were a good person. It just sucks that friends ended up having to do this to each other this time.”

Friends, huh? Even after all this…

“I’m just sorry I’ve been a lousy friend,” you admit.

“Knock it off,” Fū tells you quietly. “You saved my life, right?”

“After putting it in danger first,” you counter.

“Was it though?” Fū reverses the counter. “How long ago did you figure out a solution?”

“… months?” you reply.

“There you go.”

“That was… easier than I’d imagined,” Karin admits.
>1/2

>>4136628
You spend the day making arrangements for Fū.

She’ll have a room at the shrine for a while, so that she won’t just be able to go home to Takigakure and give away the fact that you and the Akatsuki are based out of Amegakure. You’re sure to drive that home, the fact that if it were known that Akatsuki had a major presence here all of your village would suffer. It’s likely that as your goals and work become more public the easy answer for the great villages would be to declare ware on Amegakure to get to you that way, which would be a total disaster in human terms.

You’re also sure to place a tracking seal on her back, as well as to arrange patrols and guards around the shrine so that Pain and Konan will be more confident in your ability to keep her here.

But you do show her around Amegakure, offering to let her go out on a few conditions: the first being that she go under guard, and the second being that she should store the Takigakure emblem she usually wears on her arm at the shrine when she goes out.

A few days later, she finally works up the nerve to answer the question: what is going to happen to Gaara?

>Same as her, except at that point you’ll no longer be hidden. So we’ll return him to Sunagakure.
>You’ll have to be more cautious, since he is after all a Kage. But there’s likely to be some time before then.
>He probably won’t be taken outside of Suna, since Fū is only here because she was caught nearby.
>Other?

>>4136647
>You’ll have to be more cautious, since he is after all a Kage. But there’s likely to be some time before then.

>>4136647
>>He probably won’t be taken outside of Suna, since Fū is only here because she was caught nearby.
As funny as it is, having ex-hosts be permanent houseguests would be annoying and difficult to deal with in the long term.

>>4136647
>>He probably won’t be taken outside of Suna, since Fū is only here because she was caught nearby.
>And frankly losing a tailed beast and their kage would kick off another war easily.

>>4136647
>>He probably won’t be taken outside of Suna, since Fū is only here because she was caught nearby.

>>4136647
>>You’ll have to be more cautious, since he is after all a Kage. But there’s likely to be some time before then.
>>He probably won’t be taken outside of Suna, since Fū is only here because she was caught nearby.

>>4136665
>>4136647
Adding this point pls

>>4136647
>He probably won’t be taken outside of Suna, since Fū is only here because she was caught nearby.

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>>4136647
“Yeah… you were only brought here cause you were captured near the border already,” you explain. “So we probably won’t be taking Gaara out of the Land of Wind at all.”

“He’ll probably only be gone from Sunagakure for a week maximum, which is good.”

“Why’s that?” Fū nudges you insistently. “Don’t just leave out the actual explanations from your explanations!”

“Sunagakure and Konohagakure are in an alliance,” you tell her. “Capturing Shūkaku, without killing Gaara, means Iwagakure still won’t have enough of an opening to try attacking Sunagakure. Next would come one of the bijū kept by Iwa, then one kept in Kumo.”

“So you’re trying to keep it in balance,” Fū realizes, nodding along in understanding.

“All this would be pointless if we just ended up being the cause of the next war,” you observe.

“And I guess that’s why you’re keeping me here?” Fū guesses.

You nod, confirming it as you sit next to her on the veranda to listen to the rain. “Again, we really can’t afford to do anything self-defeating.”

“And Shūkaku and Chōmei, and all the rest?” Fū asks. “What about them?”

You pause to consider your answer to that for a moment, before reaching a conclusion that you suppose from your own perspective is inevitable. “Nothing really changes for them. They’ve been prisoners for what… fifty, sixty years? And before that several of them were known to attack people?”

“Maybe I could try talking to Isobu, the Three-Tails, before sealing it,” you offer, “but much more than that isn’t a reasonable ask.”

Fū considers your points quietly for the rest of the evening.

…

It’s the next morning when Itachi finds you at the shrine.

“There is something I feel you need to see,” he insists quietly. “Come with me.”

…

Not to be deterred or denied, Itachi-han leads you to the base of Pain’s tower.

There are a pair of Amegakure genin there at an access doorway on the lower walkway level, carrying something by each end. They notice you and Pain and immediately make their respects, a difficult task without putting down their burden.

“Unzip it,” Itachi-han orders.
>1d6, best three of four

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4137925

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4137925

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4137925

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4137925

>>4137933
>>4137932
>>4137928
I don't think Naori took it well.

>>4137925
It’s hard to tell if you’re being choked, or if it’s just the anguished scream. Whether your ears have been covered, or if it’s just the rapid drumroll of your own pulse. Whether the rain has seeped under your cloak, or whether it’s your own cold sweat.

…

It takes two days to come to terms with the fact that Ajisai is gone.

At least when it was Ukemi you were there to see it, you knew what had happened. But Ajisai was killed somewhere far away and out of sight, so it still doesn’t feel quite real.

There was nothing you could have done differently. She was already dead when she was brought home. There’s no way for you to be with your friends every hour of every day, for every mission they’ll ever go on, but despite knowing that you still should have been there.

“… who did it?”

The words eventually escape your lips as Itachi-han sets a small plate of food in front of you… you vaguely recall him doing this before, and taking the plate away each time after you refused to even acknowledge its presence.

“It was supposed to be a simple mission,” Itachi-han informs you. “Pain wanted the Five-Tails jinchūriki, Han the Steam Ninja, observed.”

“They must have underestimated his sensory range. I’m sorry for your loss.”

>I’m going to speak with her.
>Where the hell is Pain?
>Where the hell is Konan?
>I’m going to capture Han myself.
>Other?

>>4137946
>>I’m going to speak with her.
rip Ajisai ;-;

>>4137946
>I’m going to speak with her.

>>4137946
>I’m going to capture Han myself.

>>4137946
>I'm going to speak with her.
Cue itachi being terrified

>>4137946
>>4137952

>I'm going to speak with her.

Changing my vote; 'speak with her' is pretty literal here, given we can raise the dead temporarily. All we need is a sample of their body, and that person's corpse certainly counts.

>>4137946
>Where the hell is Konan?
>I’m going to speak with her.

>>4137946
>I’m going to speak with her.

>>4137946
>I’m going to speak with her.
>Where the hell is Konan?

I mean, no reason not to have our best friend join our mom in the ranks of dead badasses we can summon. And what the hell was Pain thinking sending chunin to tail the most viciously isolationist jinchuuriki? Demand answers, but not from Pain himself because we probably wont get anything more than sanctimonious nonsense about duty and chains of hatred.

>>4137946
>I’m going to speak with her.
>Where the hell is Konan?

>>4137946
>Where the hell is Konan?
then
>I’m going to speak with her.

This will leave Itachi on edge and leave him thinking that we're going to speak with Konan when in fact we're rezzing our dead friend.

>>4137946
I'm assuming that if we rez Ajisai, we will have the opportunity to release her back into the Pure World after talking to her. I'd rather Naori avoid rezzing everyone she knows when they die.

>>4137946
>I’m going to speak with her.

>>4137980
that is something we can decide after we summoned her
in character Naori has to learn that she put an immense responsibilty on her shoulders, now that she knows the technique and improved on it
its makes actual growth necessary
you could say, she needs the wisdom of a sage

>There are a pair of Amegakure genin there at an access doorway on the lower walkway level, carrying something by each end. They notice you and Pain and immediately make their respects
>They notice you and Pain
>Pain

THAT MOTHERFUCKER DID THIS ON PURPOSE!
He sent her on a mission he knew she couldn't accomplish, so that we could "experience pain"!
THAT ABSOLUTE FAGGOT KILLED OUR FRIEND

>>4137996
That was a typo. I meant to say Itachi, but since it's at the base of Pain's tower Pain got mentioned one too many times.

>>4137997
It's fine, that one mention just reminded me that this is the kind of shit he does.
Whether he was watching it or not doesn't matter, i'm SURE he did it

>>4137946
“… I’m going to speak to her.”

Itachi-han stares at you in disbelief. “You’ve been catatonic for two days, so you may have forgotten… but she passed away.”

“As if that’s gonna stop me,” you assert, staggering to your feet. “Just shut up for a while and watch.”

…

You break into Ajisai’s apartment, which has always been a little sparse and is now missing the only thing in it of any importance, and switch on the light in her bathroom. Its not hard to collect hair samples, specifically looking for the roots, and transform the bulk of the hair so that it mimics the root. That should serve to amplify your sample of her remains, in case the sample you had to work with originally was too little.

“What are you...”

“I said shut up for a while,” you repeat yourself, taking the time required to go into Sage Mode before making the hand seals.

“Kuchiyose: Kijani!”

Kijani appears in Ajisai’s abandoned apartment, and you quickly add her biological samples to the scroll that has the key for your Tensa Jōdo Tensei technique written onto it.

“Kuchiyose: Tensa Jōdo Tensei!”

The familiar ash and dust generated as a part of this technique collect around the skeleton of natural energy, as your senjutsu chakra breathes life into the body it creates. The array that spreads across Ajisai’s floor serves to summon her from the afterlife, and the dust takes on her appearance.

When her eyes open, the sclerae are the familiar black color of a reanimation.

“What… this is...” Ajisai slowly comes to realize where she is. “I died… didn’t I?”

You nod slowly. “Yes… you did, Ajisai.”

“You’re not dead...” she realizes next. “Thank goodness… but then how...”

“A reanimation technique,” Itachi-han stares at you in legitimate shock. “When did you learn this?”

“Recently,” you reply tersely before turning back to Ajisai. “I need to know what happened to you, Ajisai. I can’t change it, but knowing will help me decide what to do next.”
>1/2

>>4138056
DONT FORGET TO SAY YOUR GOODBYES YOU FOOL!

>>4138056
“It was Han,” Ajisai explains. “We… we got careless. Took too long to abandon our hide and let him get too close.”

“It wasn’t even a fight. He slaughtered us… shuriken, senbon, exploding tags, summoned creatures. He didn’t even try to dodge… he didn’t have to.”

“Han, the Steam Ninja, is infamous for his nintaijutsu,” Itachi-han explains. “He uses the vapor release kekkei genkai to enhance speed and striking power.”

Ajisai nods in agreement. “It also enhances the battle armor he flows it through. We couldn’t even put a scratch on him.”

“It was like we were fighting a monster.”

“You shouldn’t have even been there,” you growl. “If I’d have known I’d at least have offered to go with you.”

“Tenshi-dono told us what the stakes were,” Ajisai admits. “We wanted to do this… we didn’t want to be babysat.”

You almost try to argue, but you realize that in the heat of the moment you might say something harsh that you don’t actually mean. So instead you remain silent.

“It was a mistake not to tell you,” Ajisai continues. “But it was all our own choices… so try not to blame yourself.”

You can’t help but embrace her. “Still… I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

Several minutes later, you take her to Kijani.

“You shouldn’t have died,” you insist quietly. “Not over something like this… so I’d like you to consider signing a contract.”

“A contract?” she repeats, before realizing what you’re showing her. “Uzumaki… Makoto? Is that someone you know?”

“My mother’s true name,” you explain. “She signed it in case I ever had need to summon her again, so that it’d be easier. And if I ever improve the technique, I might want to be able to contact her. That same logic applies to you.”

“Improvement?” Ajisai wonders, completely gobsmacked. “To improve on this?”

>There are still obvious flaws that could make this “life” miserable.
>There’s such a thing as “the Afterlife”. I won't keep anyone from it.
>I have no idea. This sort of technique is usually forbidden, and not without reason.
>I'll probably be fighting Han at some point. Would you be interested?
>Other?

>>4138104
>>There’s such a thing as “the Afterlife”. I won't keep anyone from it.
>>I have no idea. This sort of technique is usually forbidden, and not without reason.

>>4138104
>>There’s such a thing as “the Afterlife”. I won't keep anyone from it.
>>I have no idea. This sort of technique is usually forbidden, and not without reason.

>>4138104
>>There are still obvious flaws that could make this “life” miserable.
>>There’s such a thing as “the Afterlife”. I won't keep anyone from it.

>>4138104
>There’s such a thing as “the Afterlife”. I won't keep anyone from it.

>>4138104
>>I have no idea. This sort of technique is usually forbidden, and not without reason.

>>4138104
>>There’s such a thing as “the Afterlife”. I won't keep anyone from it.
>>I have no idea. This sort of technique is usually forbidden, and not without reason.

>>4138104
>>I have no idea. This sort of technique is usually forbidden, and not without reason.

>>4138104
>There’s such a thing as “the Afterlife”. I won't keep anyone from it.
>There are still obvious flaws that could make this “life” miserable.
>Whether you want to help me from time to time, or to simply rest, is up to you. It's not my decision to make.

>>4138056
Itachi over here like
>I...may have created a monster. And I am strangely ok with it.

>>4138141
He definitely wasn't expecting us to yank our friend back from the dead.

>>4138157
tbf, who even thinks of that as a possibility

>>4138160
Oro probably

>>4138163
ok that is true, but he isn't having all his marbles in the right order

>>4138104
>>There are still obvious flaws that could make this “life” miserable.
>>There’s such a thing as “the Afterlife”. I won't keep anyone from it.
>>I have no idea. This sort of technique is usually forbidden, and not without reason.

>>4138104
>There are still obvious flaws that could make this “life” miserable.
>There’s such a thing as “the Afterlife”. I won't keep anyone from it.
>Still, would you be interested in fighting Han at some point in the future?

>>4138104
You shake your head. “Yeah no, it means ripping you from the actual afterlife and shoving you into an unfeeling vessel made of dust and natural energy. There’s a lot about this that’s not right, and there’s absolutely a reason the technique it was based on is forbidden.”

“Right...” she mutters. “I guess I haven’t processed it yet.”

“That the soul is a literal thing that actually exists?” you chuckle. “No kidding. But same as with my mother, I’m not going to keep you here artificially.”

Without any argument, Ajisai signs her name in kana on your scroll. Then Kijani disappears back to the forest.

“This is the hardest part,” you admit. “I’ll keep in touch, okay?”

“Thanks...” Ajisai sighs. “And can you do me a favor?”

“Of course.”

“See to it that my teammates get a proper service,” she tells you sadly. “They deserve at least that much.”

“… of course,” you repeat… honestly, it feels a little bad that you haven’t even considered Fuyō or Suiren in all this, but then again you only knew them through Ajisai. They were never your friends or teammates. But since Ajisai asked, you can’t possibly refuse because they were important to her.

It’s on that somber note that you let Ajisai return to the Pure Land.
>1d6, best three of four

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4138432

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4138432
Big numbers please.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4138432
let's see

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4138432

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>>4138432
When you turn to face Itachi, he’s still staring at you… and you find yourself feeling bizarrely exhausted.

“For a moment, I saw it,” he explains… and when you look more carefully at him you notice that his Sharingan have changed… instead of the three dots of a mature Sharingan like yours, or rather Izumi’s, you see a black pinwheel at the center.

You watch him cautiously. “What are you doing, Itachi-han?”

“This is called the Mangekyō Sharingan,” Itachi explains. “A rare ability awakened by those among my clan. While the Sharingan may be awakened with any powerful emotion… I awakened mine after seeing a teammate die, and Izumi awakened hers after her father sacrificed himself to save her and her mother… the Mangekyō can only be awakened by the trauma of watching a close friend die.”

“For me, it was my close friend Shisui. For you, it was your friend Ajisai… more specifically, it was probably the trauma of seeing her dead followed by the pain of having to let her go.”

You quickly come to a realization. “That’s why you insisted that I see Ajisai in person… you wanted me to awaken this… this thing.”

After a moment, he nods curtly. “Yes.”

Your punch meets his face faster than you even realize that you’re throwing it. Itachi-han staggers for a moment, but catches himself.

He looks back at you, a bruise slowly appearing on his cheek. “Are you finished?”

You pant slightly. “Yeah. Yeah, I am… but seriously, what the hell is wrong with you!?”

“There are several things,” Itachi-han admits. “The most significant of which is my health.”

“Explain.”

“When I awakened my Mangekyō, my health became… unstable,” he admits. “An underlying disease, likely autoimmune. Using my Mangekyō has probably shortened my life… no, the true question should be ‘by how much’.”

“Why are you telling me this?” you demand.

“Because you would find out eventually,” he explains.

>So… what, you want a member of Akatsuki to have the Mangekyō if you die? Why?
>You’re planning something, aren’t you? And seeing what I can do in Sage Mode got me involved?
>I don’t get the first thing about you, Itachi. You’re the most thoughtful jackass I’ve ever met.
>Other?

>>4138494
>>I don’t get the first thing about you, Itachi. You’re the most thoughtful jackass I’ve ever met.
>it's also clear you've been planning having me involved in whatever you were planning for a long time now, you would not have given me this eye otherwise.

>>4138494
>So… what, you want a member of Akatsuki to have the Mangekyō if you die? Why?
>You’re planning something, aren’t you? And seeing what I can do in Sage Mode got me involved?
>I don’t get the first thing about you, Itachi. You’re the most thoughtful jackass I’ve ever met.

>>4138494
>I don’t get the first thing about you, Itachi. You’re the most thoughtful jackass I’ve ever met
>You’re planning something, aren’t you? And seeing what I can do in Sage Mode got me involved?

>>4138494
>>So… what, you want a member of Akatsuki to have the Mangekyō if you die? Why?
>>You’re planning something, aren’t you? And seeing what I can do in Sage Mode got me involved?

>>4138494
>>4138499
supporting
>>I don’t get the first thing about you, Itachi. You’re the most thoughtful jackass I’ve ever met.
>>it's also clear you've been planning having me involved in whatever you were planning for a long time now, you would not have given me this eye otherwise.

>>4138494
>>4138502

Supporting

>>4138494
>So… what, you want a member of Akatsuki to have the Mangekyō if you die? Why?
>You’re planning something, aren’t you? And seeing what I can do in Sage Mode got me involved?

>>4138494
>>I don’t get the first thing about you, Itachi. You’re the most thoughtful jackass I’ve ever met.
xD

>>4138535
pls no more of that emote crap

>>4138494
>>So… what, you want a member of Akatsuki to have the Mangekyō if you die? Why?
>>You’re planning something, aren’t you? And seeing what I can do in Sage Mode got me involved?
>>I don’t get the first thing about you, Itachi. You’re the most thoughtful jackass I’ve ever met.

>>4138520
>>4138494
This. in that order from top to bottom.

>>4138494
Itachi and Fu seem to be tied in the waifu wars, with our betrayal of Fu's smile and Itachi kicking the bucket soon.

>>4138494
>>I don’t get the first thing about you, Itachi. You’re the most thoughtful jackass I’ve ever met.

File: Mango_Five.png (208 KB, 894x894)

208 KB PNG

>>4138494
“I don’t understand any of this,” you admit. “I can’t even tell if you’re the kindest man I’ve met in years or a total jackass. Right now I’m leaning towards jackass… but at the same time I can't deny that you gave me this eye. I can’t shake the feeling that you have some bigger plan here.”

“You aren’t incorrect,” Itachi-han admits.

“Then what the hell are you planning?” you demand. “Why are you manipulating me like this?”

“My reasons are my own,” Itachi insists sternly. “However, what I am doing now could be considered “future-proofing”, if you will.”

“You believe that your condition is terminal?” you press.

He nods curtly. “I understand my own body.”

“… fine,” you reply testily. “I’ll keep giving you the benefit of the doubt, then. That being said, there’s still one question you haven’t answered.”

“Why you?” he posits his guess.

“Why me,” you confirm.

Itachi-han takes a moment. “Akatsuki is, for the most part, a practical organization. Even if Konan shares similar sentiments to yours, if Pain insisted upon it she would not have designed a technique to save the life of a jinchūriki. Most among us would not have made such intricate considerations regarding the resurrection technique either.”

“So what, you’re putting this on me ‘because I’m a nice girl’, is that it?”

“Not simply ‘nice’,” he corrects you. “Fundamentally decent… I recall being told once that leadership is hardest on ‘good men’. I believe you will continue to face hardship long after my body finally fails… so you will need power.”

>And if you’ve overestimated me? What then?
>Did you spare your brother with the same thought in mind?
>What’s done is done. How does one train to use the Mangekyō?
>Other?

>>4138932
>Did you spare your brother with the same thought in mind?

>>4138932
>>Did you spare your brother with the same thought in mind?
>>And if you’ve overestimated me? What then?

>>4138932
>Did you spare your brother with the same thought in mind?

>>4138932

>>>Did you spare your brother with the same thought in mind?
>>>And if you’ve overestimated me? What then?

>>4138932
>>What’s done is done. How does one train to use the Mangekyō?

>>4138932
>>Did you spare your brother with the same thought in mind?
>>And if you’ve overestimated me? What then?

>>4138932
>Did you spare your brother with the same thought in mind?
>And if you’ve overestimated me? What then?

>>4138932
>>And if you’ve overestimated me? What then?

>>4138932
>>Did you spare your brother with the same thought in mind?

>>4138537
>pls no more of that emote crap
What do you have against emoticons?

>>4139496
Enough people for it to stick seem to think that because this is an image board, they are unnecessary and cringy.

Like saying "ROFL" in a face to face conversation.

Personally, I think it's starting to come full circle and mainly oldfags do it anymore where as before they were the ones complaining that got the idea to stick in the first place . . .

>>4138932
>And if you’ve overestimated me? What then?

>>4138932
“When you left your little brother alive, did you have the same thing in mind?”

The words come out perhaps a little more accusatory than you intended… but then again, they are sort of an accusation just by their nature. It’s completely consistent with the same Itachi who made you see your friend’s corpse firsthand to try awakening Izumi’s Sharingan. But at the same time, your anger is tempered somewhat by the understanding that he’s not completely wrong: that in order to ‘use power wisely’ one has to first have power.

Itachi seems not to take offense. In fact, he considers his answer quietly for a moment.
>1d6, best three of four

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4139985

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4139985

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4139985

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4139985

>>4139985
“I considered that, of course,” Itachi-han admits.

Now he seems especially uncomfortable, and spends several long minutes silently grappling with whatever it is he’s considering telling you. Eventually, he seems to resolve his own doubts.

“But the real reason I spared him is because I love him. That’s all I can say on the subject.”

That throws a massive twist into your understanding of Itachi-han’s background, and of what happened to the Uchiha clan. It also confirms to you what you long suspected: that he had a specific, compelling reason to wipe out his clan, one which didn’t involve Sasuke. More than that, there must be some clear reason why he can’t even explain that to you explicitly… it’s probably still an ongoing issue, and you’d hazard a guess that someone in Konohagakure still knows the truth. In fact, it would be internally consistent to assume that Itachih-han is essentially blackmailing that person into leaving Sasuke alone.

“You’re still protecting him from someone,” you guess aloud. “Who?”

Itachi-han takes a long time to reply. “Shimura Danzō.”

There’s a familiar name.

>Has Konan ever told you the history of Akatsuki?
>What connection do you have with Danzō? You can consider this confidential.
>What happens if I figure out what it is you’re hiding?
>Other?

>>4140031
>Has Konan ever told you the history of Akatsuki?

>>4140031
>>Has Konan ever told you the history of Akatsuki?

>>4140031
>Has Konan ever told you the history of Akatsuki?

>>4140031
>>What happens if I figure out what it is you’re hiding?

>>4140031
>>Has Konan ever told you the history of Akatsuki?
>>What connection do you have with Danzō? You can consider this confidential.
>>What happens if I figure out what it is you’re hiding?

>>4140031
>Has Konan ever told you the history of Akatsuki?

>>4140031
>>Has Konan ever told you the history of Akatsuki?

Has konan ever told you the history of darth plagueis?

>>4140164
Dojutsu is a pathway that many abilities consider to be... unatural.

>>4140031
>>Has Konan ever told you the history of Akatsuki?

>>4140223
is it possible to learn this power?

>>4140277
... not from Konoha.

>>4140031
“Has Konan ever told you the history of Akatsuki?”

Itachi-han shakes his head. “No… so why don’t you?”

“As I already told you, Akatsuki was initially formed around three war orphans from my village,” you explain, “all three of whom studied under Jiraiya-sensei as children during the Second Shinobi World War. Their initial message was one of peace and optimism, which converted others to their way of thinking including my own father. But they were betrayed.”

“Hanzō of the Salamander viewed the group as subversive and a threat to his own power, so he joined forces with a faction of Konohagakure’s ANBU: the one led by our mutual friend, Shimura Danzō. It was this union which destroyed the original Akatsuki and killed my father, leaving Pain and Konan-sensei as the only survivors.”

“That is where we surmised that ‘Tobi’, as he calls himself, began to influence Pain’s decisionmaking,” Itachi-han recalls. “He brought in S-ranked criminals who have been unified by their disillusion with the world to replace the original members, and to elevate the organization to an unrecognised world power.”

“You seem to give us a lot of credit,” you muse.

“I suspect Pain alone could bring Konoha to its knees in a direct confrontation, Jiraiya-sensei and Tsunade-dono notwithstanding,” Itachi-han replies thoughtfully, “though I also suspect he has reasons for not simply doing so, rooted in his own individual thoughts and circumstances.”

“With the full organization working together, no single hidden village would stand for long in this age of relative peace.”

“Thus, the Tailed Beasts.”

Itachi-han nods in agreement. “Indeed.”

“In any event it seems we’ve found another thing we share in common,” you conclude. “Danzō.”

This time, Itachi disagrees. “I believe what you said before about him was correct… that while twisted, he still acts on behalf of Konohagakure.”

“You say that like it excuses him,” you counter. “Or more specifically, like you’re making excuses for the same man you have to protect your little brother from.”

“So what is it? I know what he did to me and to my village, but what did he do to you?”
>1/2

>>4140338
In an instant, Itachi-han’s eyes distort again into that pinwheel shape… the mangekyō.

And the next instant, the world around you is nothing but shadows cast under the blood-red light of a full moon. And in this instant, Itachi shows you a memory, or rather a series of memories carefully edited and strung together to form a horrific highlight reel of sorts.

A strange voice echoes through your mind…

I would like to use words before violence… the Third Hokage’s voice.

In order to protect Konohagakure, every possible step must be taken to avoid mayhem… a different voice, no less ragged from age, but very much distinct from the Third. Harsher, colder, merciless.

It begins in a forest, where a younger Itachi clad in the uniform of an ANBU operative asks an older man in a mask for his help in a task. The two come to an agreement: destroy the Uchiha clan, leaving Sasuke as the only survivor.

The sound of thunder.

There is no one else, Itachi…

Itachi spares only the slightest mercy for his first victim… a young girl, who recognizes him even with the mask. He places her under a genjutsu, the same genjutsu you realize you yourself are currently under, until she collapses from exhaustion. Strangely she dies thanking him… for showing her what you gather was a pleasant dream.

… will you accept this mission?

Itachi takes her eyes after she passes.

Tears… not all her own.

Many bodies fall from swift, almost supernaturally precise swings of a sword. There are no screams. Itachi leaves them no time.

I see… Sasuke, then.

A man who looks like an older version of Itachi with a square jaw and mangekyō of his own meets him in the streets with a shadow clone, inviting him into an aristocratic home. He assures Itachi that there are no traps.

Mother and father sit waiting in seiza, their backs turned to their eldest son.

I don’t want to have to fight my own son to the death…

Itachi hesitates, his resolve wavers. His mother assures him that they both understand why he has chosen the other side, his father reaffirms his pride in raising a son who can so firmly stick to his beliefs. A promise is exchanged, to take care of Sasuke, who is innocent in the affairs of the clan.

… you truly are a kind child…
>2/3

>>4140361
The instant ends, and you find your eyes wet and your stomach churning from the experience. Itachi himself is seemingly feeling the effects of what he’s done, wiping away a single bloody tear before allowing his eyes to return to their usual slate gray.

“Through the Tsukuyomi I can manipulate the fundamental aspects of an entire illusionary world,” Itachi-han explains. “In this case, to show you my memories. Not just what I saw, but what I felt, when I was ordered to exterminate my clan.”

“The guilt I carry has lessened somewhat, of course, so imagine that it was worse at the time.”

“… a coup?” you pant. “That’s why you were ordered to do it?”

Itachi-han nods curtly. “The alternative would have been worse. Hundreds, if not thousands dead in Konoha itself, with war against the other great nations a likely result. My father would have made a fine Hokage, I believe, but his tenure would have been short-lived.”

“Of the two futures I could envision, neither had my clan in it.”

>Write-in
>Don’t worry too much, I’ll take an amalgamation of the most popular results and fold ‘em together

>>4140370
>Give Itachi a hug. He is sorely overdue for one.

>>4140370
>While it will be painful to hear, this is definitely something that your brother should know.

>>4140370
>"No wonder you are the way you are. Now where does that leave us?"
>"And where does that leave Sasuke?"
He has gotten somewhat over this, and most things we can say or do will not lessen what time hasn't managed to. Being understanding is part of why he took pain to make sure Naori felt what he felt then, way better than feeling pity.
Ask about things to come, things that can be changed instead of dwelling too deeply on what was.

>>4140370
>Give itachi a hug
>"I'm still mad, though."
>"What have you been trying to do, then? Before you pass?"

>>4140378
>>4140370
I was about to suggest the same thing
Make it clear we havent forgiven him about his ajisai thing tho

>>4140370
>"Or so you were led to believe"
>"I admire your will... and I pity you"

>>4140370
"Are the other members of the Akatsuki as screwed up by the past as you and pain and konan? Regardless I admire your will, and pity the man who've you've been forced to be."

>>4140370
>"You have no true blame in this. Though your hand held the sword, it was a hand that was forced. There was no true choice for you there. Let go of your guilt and forgive yourself."

Fu is a good girl.

>>4140370
How 'bout let's not go with the hug. It feels cheap and out of character. Sure, Naori is a softy, but that's only compared to her peers who are almost all S-rank criminals. I feel she'd be able to express herself better than simply throwing herself at the dude who's already been dealing with the guilt for many years, this isnt something that just happened.

>>4140832
He really doesn't seem like a hugger.

>>4140370
>>4140832

Agreed with the no hug

>>4140832
I have to disagree. Itachi already escalated the emotional stakes by sharing not only the events themselves, but his own emotions during what was probably the most vulnerable and painful part of his life.

That's WAY more intimate than a hug. I feel like not showing any vulnerability in response is a little insulting.
If you don't want it to be a hug in particular, fine. But at least suggest an alternative rather than just anti-voting.

>>4140370
Give him the ol' pat on the back.
But miss and pat him on the butt instead.

>>4141155
I honestly wouldn't suggest anything more than a reassuring hand on his shoulder, Itachi doesnt strike me as the kind of guy who enjoys physical contact, he only ever poked his brother in the head to show affection and when he finally was saying goodbye for the last time, touched foreheads with him. Just cause the dude showed us his trauma button doesn't mean we need to suck his dick, his story is sad, but it's one among the many Naori's already experienced/heard.

>>4141191
If we try to hug him and he rather pushes her away, i am fine with that, we don't have to play it like we know everything about him

>>4141016
Agreed on this.

>>4141204
Hugging feels forced for both characters. That's my final thoughts on the matter.

>>4140370
“Yeah, no… I don’t know whether to admire your resolve or pity you.”

“You don’t intend to ever tell Sasuke, do you?”

Itachi-han shakes his head. “As I told you before, I know that I won’t live a long and happy life. That’s outside my control. But I am still in control of how I use the time I have left… and by taking the blame for my clan, I can preserve the reputation of the Uchiha.”

“And continue to protect Sasuke,” you realize. “Are you actually loyal to Akatsuki or not?”

Itachi gives you a look like you’ve hit the nail on the head.

“Explain. You. Now.”

“Akatsuki’s goals aren’t my primary concern,” Itachi-han admits. “And Pain himself must have told you that the individuals which make up Akatsuki as it is today all have different motivations?”

“He did,” you confirm.

“I originally joined Akatsuki as a double-agent,” Itachi continues. “As you must by now have realized, this is no different from my role as a triple-agent within Konoha’s ANBU… serving the village while letting my clan believe I was a double-agent working for the Uchiha. But as was the case where my intentions were not to serve Danzō, or even Lord Third, my intentions now are neither to betray Akatsuki nor serve it.”

“If you were to ask me, particularly with one such as yourself serving as a moral center, Akatsuki’s actions are neither incorrect nor unjustified.”

“Then it’s this ‘Tobi’ you mentioned?” you guess. “Stealing the Tailed Beasts maintains an isometric relationship between the villages while discouraging open conflict overall, so in the long run Akatsuki isn’t even a ‘threat’ in the sense that an Uchiha coup would have been”

“That’s right,” Itachi agrees. “Between myself, ‘Tobi’, and Pain, it is difficult to say who the strongest is. That means my presence here and Tobi’s awareness of my loyalties keeps him in check.”

“And when you die, that check is removed,” you complete the thought. “That’s why you’ve done all this… stuck me with Izumi’s eye, worked to awaken her mangekyō, told me all of this and shared your pain with someone you barely know.”

“When I’m gone, Tobi will push Akatsuki even further in the direction of his own goals,” Itachi declares. “Whatever those might be. It will no longer be the Akatsuki that you, your father, or your sensei believed in. I believe it will become a threat not only to Konoha, not only to the other nations, but to itself.”

“When Konan-san told me about you, I wanted to know if I could rely on the strength of your bonds to help ensure such a thing never happens.”
>1/2

>>4141370
“So?” Itachi-han asks you. “What is your answer?”

“You’re asking me to fight Akatsuki at some point in the future,” you reply, staring him dead in the eyes. “And you can’t even tell me when that will be. You know that, don’t you?”

“I’m asking you to make a decision based on principle,” Itachi insists. “I’m asking you to protect what’s most important regardless of how that looks from the outside.”

>I can do that.
>I can’t be you.
>I disagree with the premise.
>Other?

>>4141417
>I can do that.
A group fighting for it's ideals is not the same as it's ideals themselves.
When they no longer represent what we were fighting for, they will just be an enemy.

>>4141417
>I can do that.

>>4141417
>I've already started the fight.

>>4141417
>I can do that.
>If there is a time for me to seriously consider fighting Akatsuki’s then somthing has obiously gone wrong.

>>4141417
...Is there any reason we should accept that his condition is in fact terminal? We have access to a lot of esoteric knowledge and techniques. We should also say that if we agree to this, he isn't getting out of pulling his weight. He needs to give us a solid sample of his DNA for our technique, so we can resummon him at a critical moment even if he does die. 90% of Itachi is still a hell of a secret weapon.

That should be an acceptable deal in return for our assistance in his 4d hyperchess.

>>4141417
>>I can do that.

>>4141431
yeah kinda, we can at least ask if he thought about this, now that he has seen what it is

>>4141417
>>I can do that.
If Tobi twists the org for his own goals once Itachi dies, we really should be fighting against that.

>>4141417
>>4141431
Supporting this sentiment.

>>4141431
I can think of a few ways of getting Itachi’s DNA

>>4141417
>offer Itachi the contract

>>4141431
Hell, 90% of itachi is more than itachi's got right now.
Don't forget, when he gets summoned he'll have his strength back. No more sickness. Unlimited stamina, an unkillable body...

>>4141417
“I will,” you affirm, “however it would be best if you would sign a summoning contract… if your death truly is inevitable.”

“That’s right,” Itachi-han muses. “Your abilities do present both a problem and a solution. I have a counteroffer.”

“I’m listening.”

“When I do eventually die,” he explains, “my body will become a top-level asset to anyone who can claim it. I wish to ensure that someone like Tobi is not that ‘anyone’, much the same way as I protected Izumi’s eyes.”

“I’m still listening,” you nod along attentively.

“There is an aspect to the mangekyō that I must explain,” he continues, “and that is the fact that it has drawbacks to match its power. My mangekyō allow me two abilities: to manifest the inextinguishable black flames of Amaterasu with my right, and to cast the Tsukuyomi with my left. When both are together, it allows the bearer to manifest the Susano’o, essentially an avatar sculpted from chakra.”

“But overusing these abilities will cause an Uchiha to slowly go blind. My father and my friend Shisui both staved off that drawback, but with my constitution and my constant reliance on the mangekyō’s power since joining Akatsuki mean that my own eyes are in rough shape.”

“So what does that mean for me, in practical terms?” you press. “You wouldn’t have mentioned it without reason.”

“I will leave Izumi’s other eye with you,” Itachi-han tells you, “so that you will have a ‘backup’ in case something happens to the one you have. Be aware, it will not have the mangekyō… and even if you manage to awaken it a second time its ability may be different from the one you have now.”

“I understand,” you nod curtly.

“Now… the second point is that the mangekyō make it easier to set triggered or time-delayed techniques,” Itachi-han explains. “I would propose that you set one of your summoning seals inside my eyes, meant to trigger upon my death. It would act as a beacon for your scroll-bearing bird, who could reverse summon you to my body before it is taken by someone else.”

“The overuse of a mangekyō sharingan can be counteracted in just one way… the transfer of a second set of eyes that have awakened the mangekyō. This can only be done between close genetic matches, such as brothers.”

>Consider it done.
>Are you sure that you want Sasuke to have your eyes? It’s a little… how should I say this diplomatically… fucked up.
>Other?

>>4141730
>Consider it done.

>>4141730
>Are you sure that you want Sasuke to have your eyes? It’s a little… how should I say this diplomatically… fucked up.

>>4141730
>>Are you sure that you want Sasuke to have your eyes? It’s a little… how should I say this diplomatically… fucked up.
>But if you really want it that way, consider it done.

>>4141730
>I'll give Sasuke your eyes if I think he's earned them, but otherwise I'll keep them until the day he has.

>>4141730
"You are aware Sasuke is currently in league with Orochimaru right? What if he wants to destroy the Konoha you've worked so hard to protect? Would giving him your eyes really be the smart thing to do in such a situation?"

>>4141730
>Consider it done.

>>4141730
>Consider it done.
his will his choice, not ours

>>4141730
>>Are you sure that you want Sasuke to have your eyes? It’s a little… how should I say this diplomatically… fucked up.

>>4141756
>>4141730
supporting.

>>4141730
>>4141756
>> I'd also add the condition to have a real talk with Sasuke, to make sure he is mature enough to use responsibly the power that comes with the EMS.

Supporting.

>>4141730
>>Consider it done.
It’s his literal dying will, not a fan of setting conditions on it.

>>4141730
>>Consider it done.

>>4141730
>>Consider it done.
I'm not gaming this, sorry questers

File: 1584297936878.png (1.73 MB, 1101x955)

1.73 MB PNG

>>4141730
>this whole exchange

>>4141730
>>4141756
This

>>4141730
“I understand,” you agree, “though can I ask a few clarifying questions?”

Itachi-han gives his agreement by quietly nodding.

“Sasuke has joined Orochimaru,” you explain. “So I need to ask what you would want done with your eyes assuming Sasuke is… not how you remember him by the time you pass.”

“I leave it to your discretion,” Itachi-han replies. “But I will see to it that Orochimaru is not a problem… that should simplify your decisions.”

“Got it,” you nod curtly.

…

Itachi-han returns the next day with a small glass tube… inside that tube, preserved in some sort of medicinal fluid, is a single eyeball with a fully awakened sharingan.

“So this is her other eye...” you muse. “I appreciate how much trust you’re showing me by doing this.”

“There is one more thing I have to suggest...” he tells you before he lets go of the tube. “I cannot tell you what the mangekyō in your left eye might do… ordinarily it is instinctive to a ‘native user’, however you are not Izumi-kun. However, you now have a second piece of her in your hand...”

“You’re suggesting I use Tensa Jōdo Tensei to reincarnate her?” you realize.

Itachi-han eventually releases his grip, handing Izumi’s second eye over to you. “The remnants of the optic nerve will suffice… which means that it will cause some unintended complications if you try to replace your existing right eye with it. Though it will still serve as a replacement to your left, should anything happen to it.”

“And according to you, I would need to awaken this second eye separately anyway,” you recall. “Meaning emotional trauma like watching Ajisai die again.”

“Correct.”

>I intend to keep this eye intact, to preserve my long-term options.
>I’ll speak with Izumi, if for no other reason than to thank her and tell her about the person now using her eye.
>Other?

>>4142660
>I’ll speak with Izumi, if for no other reason than to thank her and tell her about the person now using her eye.

>>4142660
>I’ll speak with Izumi, if for no other reason than to thank her and tell her about the person now using her eye.
never hurt to make amends

>>4142660
>I’ll speak with Izumi, if for no other reason than to thank her and tell her about the person now using her eye.

>>4142660
>I’ll speak with Izumi, if for no other reason than to thank her and tell her about the person now using her eye.

>>4142660
>I intend to keep this eye intact, to preserve my long-term options.