>>4306138
“… until elements of your village’s ANBU cooperated with Hanzō of the Salamander to eliminate them. It was a secret mission, one that the elder council even hid from Tsuna-han until I told her earlier today.”

Naruto takes several seconds to process what you’re saying. “But that means… oh.”

“Yeah,” you agree with a wry grin. “In a sense all this is Konoha’s own fault. Pain became the de facto leader, and relied on an outsider to help refill his ranks with S-rank criminals. That became the Akatsuki that you know, the one that I left.”

“Pain… was Jiraiya-sensei’s student...”

“That’s right.”

“And he killed him?” Naruto shakes his head. “I can’t understand that, how could he?”

“Konoha fought a war across the Land of Storms,” you reiterate. “Not once but twice. And Jiraiya had been a soldier in that war… I can only guess at what’s going through Pain’s mind but his relationship with Jiraiya-sensei can’t be that simple. And Konan-sensei was concerned about him when I left.”

“Concerned?”

“That he himself was being used by another member of Akatsuki,” you explain. “The man I mentioned before who came to them after Hanzō and the Leaf destroyed the original Akatsuki.”

“It doesn’t excuse what Pain did, but I hope it explains some of his anger… the problem’s right there in his name after all.”

“What, ‘Pain’?”

You nod in agreement. “Seriously, that can’t be the name his mother gave him.”

“So what’ve you been doing?” Naruto eventually asks. “Now that you’ve left Akatsuki and all. I heard something about the samurai?”

“I offered to hold a meeting in the Land of Iron,” you clarify. “Shikamaru was there, and Gaara sent Temari. A friend of mine was there from Iwagakure, Kurotsuchi, and since so many villages had sent people it forced Kiri and Kumo to send people too.”

“All five of the great nations,” Naruto realizes. “But they wouldn’t send their Kage, like Gaara’s been complaining about?”

You shake your head. “I could’ve gotten Gaara and Tsunade, and I may get to meet Terumi-han, the current Mizukage. But no, the Tsuchikage and Raikage have been… a problem.”

“Why’s that?” Naruto wonders. “Why can’t they even just talk like regular people? That’s just dumb, ya know?”

>Terumi-tono, Gaara-kun, and Tsuna-han are all still fairly new at this. They haven’t had time to become stubborn, and I hope they never do.
>There’s a lot of bad blood. For example, this is the same Tsuchikage who Minato thoroughly embarrassed during the war.
>It’s dumb, yeah. But a lot of it has to do with the daimyō and the elder councils more than the Kages themselves.
>Other?

>>4306140
>>Terumi-tono, Gaara-kun, and Tsuna-han are all still fairly new at this. They haven’t had time to become stubborn, and I hope they never do.
>>It’s dumb, yeah. But a lot of it has to do with the daimyō and the elder councils more than the Kages themselves.

combo. Fresh Kages *and* obstinate councils and daimyos

>>4306140
>>Terumi-tono, Gaara-kun, and Tsuna-han are all still fairly new at this. They haven’t had time to become stubborn, and I hope they never do.
>>There’s a lot of bad blood. For example, this is the same Tsuchikage who Minato thoroughly embarrassed during the war.
>>It’s dumb, yeah. But a lot of it has to do with the daimyō and the elder councils more than the Kages themselves.
all of it, this isn't a simple problem
this is a layered clusterfuck of stupidity, rigid thinking and arrogance

>>4306140
>Terumi-tono, Gaara-kun, and Tsuna-han are all still fairly new at this. They haven’t had time to become stubborn, and I hope they never do.
>There’s a lot of bad blood. For example, this is the same Tsuchikage who Minato thoroughly embarrassed during the war.
>It’s dumb, yeah. But a lot of it has to do with the daimyō and the elder councils more than the Kages themselves.

>>4306140
>>Terumi-tono, Gaara-kun, and Tsuna-han are all still fairly new at this. They haven’t had time to become stubborn, and I hope they never do.
>>It’s dumb, yeah. But a lot of it has to do with the daimyō and the elder councils more than the Kages themselves.
Old fucks need to stand down and just drink their damn prune juice.

>>4306140
>Terumi-tono, Gaara-kun, and Tsuna-han are all still fairly new at this. They haven’t had time to become stubborn, and I hope they never do.
>There’s a lot of bad blood. For example, this is the same Tsuchikage who Minato thoroughly embarrassed during the war.
>It’s dumb, yeah. But a lot of it has to do with the daimyō and the elder councils more than the Kages themselves.

What others have said. Combination of older Kages being stubborn and there being a lot bad blood. While newer Kages could cooperate, their councils wouldn't like it at all.

>>4306140
>>It’s dumb, yeah. But a lot of it has to do with the daimyō and the elder councils more than the Kages themselves.
>>Terumi-tono, Gaara-kun, and Tsuna-han are all still fairly new at this. They haven’t had time to become stubborn, and I hope they never do.

>>4306140
>"If you want it all in a nutshell, all of it is just dumb childish stupidity layered on top of one another in a giant pile."
>"The more complicated answer is that while Temari-tono, Garra-hun, and Tsuna-han are new to this game of politics, there are plenty of cranky old men and women who still bear grudges and bad blood, and use the Kages and the political system to game out their grudges and start wars."

>>4306140
“Yeah, it’s dumb,” you agree. “But it’s not entirely their fault. The Raikage and Tsuchikage have been in their positions long enough to have gotten stubborn, but Gaara, Tsunade, and Mei haven’t. Instead they’re more hindered by their elder councils and the daimyō, who see change as scary.”

“So they get tied down until they start getting old,” Naruto grumbles. “That’s great.”

“Not just old so much,” you point out. “Tsunade’s already as old as Jiraiya was when he died. Makes her about fifty-five I think?”

“Ah, you’re right!” Naruto admits. “I just kinda forget sometimes, ya know?”

“It’s easy,” you shrug. “She’d probably be flattered.”

“Maybe I should mention it next time she gets mad at me?”

“It’d just go to her head,” you insist. “Better not.”

“They can’t just ‘talk’ because the entire role of the Kages frames them as enemies from the start,” you eventually continue to declare. “It’s all just down to whether they think that way themselves or not. Gaara and Tsunade don’t. Whoever replaces them, hopefully many years from now, might.”

“It’s not a simple problem with a simple solution.”

“It was the problem Jiraiya-sensei was tryin’ to solve when he was killed,” Naruto recounts. “He said there was too much hate in the world.”

“Too much pain,” you correct him. “It’s the pain left to fester that turns into hate, that’s what I think at least.”

“How the heck am I supposed to fight that now?” Naruto wonders aloud. “I never took him seriously when he used to talk about it. I guess I always kinda figured he’d be around long enough to see it through.”

>Think hard about what he would do. He trained you personally, he must have left you with something to go on.
>It’s entirely up to you. He chose you because he saw something in you that he didn’t see in anyone else, not even me.
>”Plans” are just things that can go wrong. All you can do is the best you can do, with the best people you can find, for as long as you can.
>Other?

>>4306757
>>Think hard about what he would do. He trained you personally, he must have left you with something to go on.

>>4306757
>>Think hard about what he would do. He trained you personally, he must have left you with something to go on.

>>4306757
>Think hard about what he would do. He trained you personally, he must have left you with something to go on.

>>4306757
>>Think hard about what he would do. He trained you personally, he must have left you with something to go on.

>>4306757
>>It’s entirely up to you. He chose you because he saw something in you that he didn’t see in anyone else, not even me.

>>4306757
>It’s entirely up to you. He chose you because he saw something in you that he didn’t see in anyone else, not even me.

>>4306757
>It’s entirely up to you. He chose you because he saw something in you that he didn’t see in anyone else, not even me.

>>4306757
>>It’s entirely up to you. He chose you because he saw something in you that he didn’t see in anyone else, not even me.

>>4306757
>It’s entirely up to you. He chose you because he saw something in you that he didn’t see in anyone else, not even me.

>>4306757
“I know this won’t sound helpful,” you admit, “but seriously… Jiraiya-sensei chose you as his student. He chose you because he saw something in you that he didn’t see in anyone else, including me.”

“You’re better at pretty much everything I’m good at,” Naruto counters. “I can’t even do genjutsu, and that comes naturally to you. I’m only okay at taijutsu, and you’re a kenjutsu master. You barely ever use nature releases and I’ve got one technique in one nature.”

“So the reason he chose you wasn’t based on your skills,” you insist. “No, it certainly wasn’t your skills. And if you can realize what that is, you’ll know what Jiraiya intended you to do.”

“So how do I train that?”

You cock your head at him. “What?”

“I learn by training my butt off,” Naruto clarifies. “I know I’m not really clever, so instead I find ways to train my butt off and push myself until I figure it out, like using shadow clones to train like ten times faster.”

“So you want to know how you can do the same for self-realization?” you nod thoughtfully. “Nope.”

“Nope?”

“Nope,” you repeat. “You can’t use brute force on something like this.”

“Then… how?”

“It’s called meditation,” you tell him. “I can teach you tomorrow morning, if you’d like.”

“Sure,” he agrees. “When and where?”

“Dawn,” you insist, unsealing a special kunai and marking it. “Hang this outside the door to your apartment, I’ll collect it.”

…

Tenten was kind enough to deal with Hinata after that… and she seemed more than willing to do so once you explained it will mean seeing Neji again. After that you go home to sleep, careful not to wake anyone since it’s already late by the time you’re ready to return. You find that difficult, since Yugito, Fū, and Karin have all rolled out their futons in the room you’ve typically claimed for yourself. But someone was thoughtful enough to set out your own futon as well, meaning at least you don’t have to do that work in total silence.

Still, you might otherwise have set up in the next room had they given you the option.
>1/2

>>4307445
The next morning an alarm goes off, and amid significant complaining you escape from your room to get re-dressed before teleporting yourself to the marked kunai you left with Naruto last night. In the morning gloom you knock at the door to his apartment.

It takes a while, but a visibly-exhausted Naruto eventually comes to the door.

“Ah,” he grumbles wearily. “Right.”

When you basically push your way past Naruto into his apartment you find that it’s definitely messy… but actually not as bad as you might have imagined if for no other reason than a lack of ‘stuff’ to clutter it. Still, that being said, you wouldn’t want to imagine what horrors lurk inside his fridge.

“So pay attention,” you tell him curtly. “I’ll only go over this once.”

“Got it,” he mutters, “I’m listening.”

“There are three common ways to sit when you do it,” you explain, “based mostly on either tradition or comfort. As a swordsman I use seiza, but lotus or ‘padmasana’ is also fairly traditional. There’s also a half-lotus variation.”

“Try them out.”

After a while Naruto eventually settles on a half-lotus position, which you can’t say surprises you. Next you correct the posture of his back to promote focus and ease of breathing, pushing his shoulders out of his habitual slouch in the process.

“What you do with your hands isn’t all that important,” you admit. “Some people who practice the padmasana or half-lotus insist on holding old hand positions called the mudrās… a spiritual equivalent to the hand seals used in ninjutsu. It’s said that they come from the same ancient tradition, but I don’t think anyone alive ca prove that.”

“I don’t use any when I meditate, since I sit in seiza,” you continue, “but you might find dhyāna or some variation useful in half-lotus… the mudrā associated with meditation. Place your hands in your lap, palms-up, with the tips of your thumbs touching and your left fingers atop your right.”

“The variation is mida no jōin, where the fingers are curled upwards so the second digits are touching. The only real differentiation is that it’s meant to distinguish the Amitābha buddha from the Vairocana buddha in statues and paintings. But I always felt an affinity for the mida no jōin.”

“How do you know all this?” Naruto demands. “All this religious talk is just confusing. I could never keep it straight.”

“I used to live in a large shrine,” you explain. “The monks taught me the basics after my mom died… a gift to help me deal with the grief.”

“… oh.”

“Don’t get mopey about it,” you chastise your student. “Now, this is the most important part. Settle into your position and listen to what I’m about to tell you.”
>2/3

>>4307473
Once Naruto has resumed his proper half-lotus sitting position, now using the regular dhyāna mudrā with his hands resting calmly in his lap, you continue.

“The important part of the process is what goes on inside your head,” you explain, “and that depends on what you want to get out of it. When I was learning I was taught to empty my thoughts, to achieve a state of total peace and awareness without unwanted thoughts or feelings straying into my mind. This helped me become a master of kenjutsu, because once in that state you can fight with that same comprehensive awareness and focus. That way your mind is totally free to examine what your eyes are seeing.”

“But for you, directing your thoughts is the goal.”

“Directing my thoughts,” Naruto repeats with a frown, squeezing his eyes shut. “Directing my thoughts… directing…”

“… this isn’t working.”

“Pay attention to your breathing,” you direct him. “The cycle of it… in, hold, out, hold, in, hold, out.”

You wait for several seconds until it seems like Naruto’s not trying so hard. “Now, think about the idea or the feeling you want to meditate on… it can be anything, but maybe it’s best not to start on Jiraiya.”

“You have it?”

Eventually, Naruto nods.

“Good,” you tell him. “Very good. Now, anything else has no place in your mind right now. Only the subject of your focus. If your mind strays, if you start losing your focus and control, return to your breathing, clear your mind, and start fresh.”

“Do it twice a day for twenty minutes,” you leave him with the final thought. “Make it a routine, like any other. Don’t be too rigid, or force it too hard, but also try never to skip.”

“Eventually, you should start to become more self-aware. You may even find some answers this way. If you get used to achieving meditative focus you can start doing what I do, and actually do stuff within that same contemplative, aware state. Chores are one thing, but I even practice kenjutsu kata while meditating.”

>Stay here for a while and meditate, be on hand if anything goes wrong with Naruto.
>Excuse yourself for a morning training session of your own here in Konoha.
>Return back to the hideout.
>Other?

>>4307481
>Stay here for a while and meditate, be on hand if anything goes wrong with Naruto.
Meditating with kurama around might cause an issue, so maybe we should stick around for a bit.

>>4307481
>Stay here for a while and meditate, be on hand if anything goes wrong with Naruto.

>>4307481
>>Stay here for a while and meditate, be on hand if anything goes wrong with Naruto.

>>4307481
>Stay here for a while and meditate, be on hand if anything goes wrong with Naruto.

>Stay here for a while and meditate, be on hand if anything goes wrong with Naruto.

>>4307481
>>Stay here for a while and meditate, be on hand if anything goes wrong with Naruto.

>>4307481
>Stay here for a while and meditate, be on hand if anything goes wrong with Naruto.

Doesn't hurt and if he has anything to ask when we finish, we have some time to answer.

When all finished, we should continue our work on Hiraishin. It is bullshit super strong skill to know.

>>4307481
>1d6, DC 10
>taking the first three

>SP: 6/6
>ES: 0/2 (0T)

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4307659

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4307659

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4307659

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4307659

>>4307659
“Oh, and one thing that should go without saying,” you add. “Don’t meditate on Kurama’s presence. Just… don’t. I don’t wanna have to fight a tailed beast today.”

“Oh,” Naruto realizes, “I never thought of that.”

“Well don’t think about it again,” you insist before stepping out. “Come on. We’ll find someplace a bit nicer for this sorta thing.”

…

That nicer place turns out to be the top of a roof nearby, flat and wide with a view of the village in panorama. Nice and quiet and calm at this hour in the morning, it allows even you a chance to clear your mind and bend all thought to a single subject: hiraishin.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfOCyyjnJYQ

You take Umekiri and her hilt out of your obi and place her at your side, seating yourself in seiza with your hands resting atop your lap. Then you begin, remembering what Tsunade told you.

The formula for your version of the hiraishin would, at this point, cover a significant portion of the roof, and with your mind clear of any other concerns you can basically envision the entire thing spread out around you. Tsunade’s point was that you should be able to do the complex spatio-temporal manipulations using nothing but long lines of sealing script that duplicate the role of the thirteen initial hand seals you once used to perform those manipulations.

And so you begin working through possible permutations, tracking how the formula would have to change to accommodate the new lines of script. Every single change you make sends proverbial ripples through the whole formula, disturbing the carefully crafted functionality of the whole.

But eventually, after an hour or so of meditation on that sole topic and nothing else, you have in your mind a new formula… you just don’t yet know how to compress it into a string of four characters the way you had done for the previous version. And doing so is going to prove even more difficult than it was before, since you’re making that formula do more different things all in the correct sequence as efficiently as possible.

You spread a large scroll out in front of yourself and begin placing the ‘ink’ onto it using your chakra, scrawling entire lines of characters onto the paper at a single stroke of your fingertip, separated here and connected there by the archaic sealing script used so often in the summoning technique and in older-style fūinjutsu formulae. Their pattern seems to your eye less chaotic, and more organic somehow, as though your work were encoding the essence of some living being into black and white.

After a few minutes of this you’re aware of Naruto staring at you as you work.

“Can I help you?”
>1/2

>>4307751
“What is all this?” he asks you, staring at what to him must be incomprehensible gibberish.

“This is our clan’s legacy,” you admit, continuing your work. “The skill that got our entire nation wiped out before you or I were even born… an exceptional, nearly instinctive talent for fūinjutsu.”

You pause. “Wait a minute.”

“Fine, okay,” Naruto replies, still watching you curiously. “I hadn’t caught up with you yet anyway, ya know, so take your time.”

“Everything about our clan is related to our unusual chakra,” you muse thoughtfully. “The Kagura Shingan, the Kongō Fūsa, the rapid healing. Even the Rasengan has roots in the way our chakra spins. So maybe I can somehow apply that knowledge to spatio-temporal manipulation.”

“And you lost me,” Naruto admits. “Again.”

“That’s fine,” you shrug. “All you need to know is that our chakra has weird properties that let us do weird things with it, and this may be one of them.”

“… but how to harness those properties...”

“Well, I’ll leave you to that?” he asks tentatively.

“Oh yeah,” you reply. “Just do it again later today, like after dinner or something.”

“Cool.”

How to do that thing you were talking about… it’s a strange question, since it’s not really a question of chakra shaping nor really a fūinjutsu in the literal sense despite relying on a lot of the same principles.

>Try to join the shrike clan for a little while, see if you can convince them to let you see their reverse-summoning formula.
>It may be possible to learn a little more about the original Uzumaki sealing style. Check out Konoha’s library.
>It’s a WILD idea, but you might be able to crack this problem by using Tensa Jōdo Tensei.
>You thought you heard something about a bastardized version of the technique only usable by a team of jōnin.
>There’s an example of the Fourth Hokage’s work in the ruins of Roran.
>Other?

>>4307812
>Try to join the shrike clan for a little while, see if you can convince them to let you see their reverse-summoning formula.

The birds must have a information that could help us from far longer timeperiod than Konohas library. While Tensa Jodo Tensei interest me purely due to MYSTERY BOX, I would save it for the last.

>>4307812
>>Try to join the shrike clan for a little while, see if you can convince them to let you see their reverse-summoning formula.

>>4307812
>Other?
Try talking with your sword about it.

>>4307812
>>Try to join the shrike clan for a little while, see if you can convince them to let you see their reverse-summoning formula.

>>4307812
>Try to join the shrike clan for a little while, see if you can convince them to let you see their reverse-summoning formula.

>>4307812
>>It’s a WILD idea, but you might be able to crack this problem by using Tensa Jōdo Tensei.

Because somebody has to be insane enough to vote for this.

>>4307812
>>4307870
My man, I'm with you.

>It’s a WILD idea, but you might be able to crack this problem by using Tensa Jōdo Tensei.

>>It’s a WILD idea, but you might be able to crack this problem by using Tensa Jōdo Tensei.

>>4307812
>>It’s a WILD idea, but you might be able to crack this problem by using Tensa Jōdo Tensei.

>>4308317
try linking to it or it won't count

>>4307812
>>It’s a WILD idea, but you might be able to crack this problem by using Tensa Jōdo Tensei.

>>4307812
>1d6, high roll
>best of three
Degrees of success here folks.

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4308584

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4308584

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4308584

>>4308584
You have the beginnings of an absolutely wild idea: if you need to know about the hiraishin the best person to ask is someone who also knows the technique in its full, and you have a way to actually do that in the Tensa Jōdo Tensei. All you need is a sample of one of two individuals: either Senju Tobirama or Namikaze Minato. Tobirama was killed outside the village and many decades ago, meaning you’re not absolutely certain that you’ll be able to get a sample of his blood to use the technique on, but with a little bit of work you should still be able to find a piece of Minato to use.

It’s a wild idea, and not one that leaves a particularly good taste in your mouth, but it is the single most effective solution to your problem. And since Orochimaru is dead and nobody knows about your abilities, his grave won’t be guarded.

Still, you’d prefer to do it some other way if possible.

“I’d like to see records related to the previous Hokages,” you tell the librarian at the Konoha main library. “I’m trying to figure out some details about a mission Namikaze Minato went on that intersected with one of my own, in Roran.”

It’s not entirely a lie, you’d be very interested to see more information about that mission if possible, or even to confirm when it might have taken place. A line of thinking that becomes immediately relevant.

“I’m sorry, but many of lord Fourth’s mission records are sealed,” the young man replies. “Particularly his S-rank missions.”

“Even if I can figure out when he might’ve been there it’d help,” you explain. “Please, it’s important that I at least try.”

After a few moments, the man gestures towards a small, boxy computer. “Let’s see what I have here.”

He types in a few command strings, and the amber text on its black field returns a few lines of kanji.

“Seems like we do have some records,” he admits. “Some materials in special collections, with the rest being in local history. Second floor, section H, aisle twelve. Special collections is in the basement.”

“I’ll go to the local history section first,” you suggest, “so can you have someone pull the records and have them waiting for me downstairs?”

“Of course.”

…

The local history section of course tells you where Namikaze Minato’s street address was when he was serving as Kage, which gives you a lead: his home was never sold off, most of his possessions are still there, and nobody lives there currently. So there’s a chance that if you go there, you might find a sample to work with.

Downstairs, you find that breaking into his home won’t be necessary.
>1/2

>>4308620
Included in the material is a stack of documents, most of which are marked as either “declassified” or “not classified”, detailing some seven hundred official missions marked lower than S-rank. The majority, well more than half, are marked as B or A-rank, with more of the latter than his D and C-rank files put together. Flipping through the A-rank listings you find a likely gap not long before the war destroyed Roran that seems likely, which gives you something to pursue on that angle if the situation there ever becomes relevant again.

But the jackpot is an off-white cloak trimmed in a red flame pattern, with a foot-wide hole through it right in the middle of the phrase “Fourth Fire Shadow” written in wide kanji. Around that hole is dried blood, having soaked into the material.

It’s the cloak he was wearing on the day Kurama killed him.

…

“Sobering,” you admit to the librarian upstairs after you’ve finished your work, having taken a small amount of the blood-stained cloak with you pulled from the edges of the hole. It’s now imperceptibly wider around than it was before. “I had no idea you kept his outfit.”

“Of course,” the librarian replies sadly. “The whole village was in mourning… I don’t think many people could have thrown it away after what happened.”

“Did it help you answer your question?”

You nod. “There’s a gap in his mission records right around when I suspected he was in Roran. So now I know a little more about the context… and that the records of that mission definitely exist.”

“Sorry they’re sealed,” the librarian tells you. “Lady Tsunade’s office would still have them, but you’d have to convince both her and the elder council to unseal them.”

“Just knowing they exist is enough for now,” you insist. “Though if it ever becomes a problem again in the future I’ll know where to go.”

“Glad to help.”

…

You set up your operation in the currently unoccupied safehouse in Kusagakure, to which you teleport straight away after leaving the library.

A mass of living natural energy, shaped into an earthen vessel roughly the shape and size of an average adult male, the dried blood from Namikaze Minato’s cloak, the scroll which will contain his summoning contract… it’s all here.

But when you perform the Tensa Jōdo Tensei, nothing happens. The natural energy dissipates back into the atmosphere, the vessel crumbles away… there’s a glow, and then nothing. It’s never failed before.

>Try it on the traces that Konan-sensei gave you. Make sure the technique still works.
>Other?

>>4308623
>>Try it on the traces that Konan-sensei gave you. Make sure the technique still works.

>>4308623
>>Try it on the traces that Konan-sensei gave you. Make sure the technique still works.

all of this feels very rude and tasteless, i don't like it personally. we're disturbing the dead just to improve a technique that we can already use at a high level, when there are other options.

>>4308646
That would be the
>other

>>4308623
>>4308646
>>4308648
>Stop fucking around with corpses and just go ask the shrike clan about their technique instead

>>4308623
>Try to join the shrike clan for a little while, see if you can convince them to let you see their reverse-summoning formula.

Clearly we didn't have enough of the material available. And I would leave the traces Konan-sensei gave us for the actual later use

>>4308623
>>4308650
Good idea, maybe also ask if nyoka or their sage have an idea why it didn't work this time?

Did we ever release the hokage souls with the mask?

>>4308659
Nope, but we also don't know the are trapped, that the mask can free them or that either is even possible

>>4308623
shrike time

>>4308623
>1d6, high roll
>best three of four

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4308890

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4308890

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4308890

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4308890

File: yakushima-japan-view-from(...).jpg (60 KB, 800x500)

60 KB JPG

>>4308890
You decide not to push it.

Bringing somebody back from the Pure Land without needing a living human sacrifice is an extremely powerful technique, which has a lot of potential. It trades the exploitative aspect of the original, the ability to force an unwilling soul to fight for you against its former comrades and homeland, for some relief from the moral issues. And by bringing back only the handful of people likely to welcome a chance to help you, at least in some small way, you can achieve powerful results despite not being able to exploit the dead in the same ways.

But it still involves ripping the dead away from the afterlife and forcing them into a hollow shell of an existence, which is why you were willing to allow your mother and your closest childhood friend to ‘die’ again when you ended the technique. And when you consider it more closely, it’s not something you particularly want to do to the former Hokage unless it’s absolutely necessary.

So while it would have been helpful had it worked this time, and you’re certain that you could conduct it respectfully and conscientiously, it may not be the worst thing in the world that it didn’t work. You’re just a little confused as to why it failed, and that’s not a question pressing enough to try summoning Konan’s former lover into the world just to answer.

The next best thing you can think of is to call Kijani, and have him reverse summon you to Nyoka’s eyrie high above the primordial sage forest.

“Thank you, Kijani-han,” you tell the bird politely. “I appreciate your assistance as ever.”

“Of course,” Kijani bows politely before flying off.

“Nyoka-han,” you greet the great shrike.

She inclines her head. “This one is surprised to receive you. To what does she owe the pleasure?”

“I have a problem I’m working on,” you admit. “Well, two related problems.”

“Tell this one the story,” Nyoka replies patiently.

“I’ve been revising my hiraishin formula, and was looking for advice on how to reduce it to a marking that can go onto a small object like a kunai handle or a paper shuriken.”

“And where did you look first?”

You sigh, seating yourself on a nearby branch. “The Fourth Hokage.”

“Who is dead.”

“That’s right.”

“A reanimation technique,” Nyoka muses politely. “It failed?”

“It did,” you confirm. “First time that’s ever happened.”
>1/2

>>4308930
“This one can think of only one reason,” Nyoka replies calmly. “That the soul you seek does not currently reside in the Pure Land, which the Second Hokage’s technique was designed to call a soul from. This could be because it has not moved on yet from purgatory, and still restlessly wanders the world in parallel, or because it has been sealed into the belly of the Shinigami by the Uzumaki clan’s sealing technique.”

“I’ve heard of that one,” you admit. “You think that Namikaze Minato may have used it?”

“It is possible” Nyoka admits. “It may prove beneficial to discern whether the soul of the Fourth Hokage may have been sealed as such… if so, this one recalls that the Uzumaki clan were said to possess a mask that could allow a wearer to see and interact with the Shinigami, potentially releasing those souls from the Shinigami’s belly.”

“But so far as this one is aware that is merely a rumor.”

>Well, setting that aside, would it be possible to examine my contract’s reverse summoning formula for inspiration?
>If someone were to find this mask, say, in a shrine outside Konohagakure, how would one go about using it, hypothetically speaking?
>You mean this mask right here?
>Other?

>>4308936
>>You mean this mask right here?

>>4308936
>You mean this mask right here?

>>4308936
>>You mean this mask right here?
it would explain why guren was sent by orochimaru. Although i wonder what he wanted back?
>Well, setting that aside, would it be possible to examine my contract’s reverse summoning formula for inspiration?

>>4308936
>You mean this mask right here?
>Well, setting that aside, would it be possible to examine my contract’s reverse summoning formula for inspiration?

Oh oh! That mask! Now I remember when we got it.

>>4308936
>You mean this mask right here?

>>4308936
>You mean this mask right here?

Wonder if Naori's mom would be able to instruct her daughter in any of the Uzumaki sealing techniques so that the tradition carries on. Even if she can't, she's at least got to have some ideas where to look, right?

Failing that, still curious about making our own sealing techniques using senjutsu.

>>4308936
>>You mean this mask right here?

>>4308936
“You mean like this mask right here?”

Nyoka stares at you in avian shock. “You have it? How? When?”

“Orochimaru was after it,” you explain, “but I got to it first. Then the agent he sent surrendered to Konohagakure and Orochimaru himself died, so it never seemed immediately relevant.”

“You could use that mask to free any souls that are trapped inside the Shinigami,” Nyoka reiterates. “Keep it secret. Never show it to anyone else unless you absolutely must use it.”

“I understand,” you nod in agreement, resealing the mask. “What I wanted to do was see if I could study the reverse summoning formula included as part of my contract with you. That might give me some inspiration into how to improve my hiraishin.”

“After all, the two techniques are actually pretty similar.”

“That is true,” Nyoka admits. “This one would suggest that Zenkibo would be the best to ask about this matter.”

“Then I’ll go see him,” you agree. “Thanks, Nyoka-han.”

“Of course,” she bows politely. “Just remember what this one has said.”

…

Zenkibo’s temple is quiet as usual, with nothing to be heard but the burbling of a distant creek and the chirping of the odd mundane bird. The old tengu is waiting for you, perched atop a pillar where in a normal shrine or temple a statue of some animal guardian might rest.

“Welcome, young one,” he greets you with a croak. “You have come to see me for a reason I take it?”

“I want to see the details of my contract,” you explain, “specifically the formula for your reverse-summoning technique. Nyoka-han suggested I ask you.”

“Nyoka is wise,” Zenkibo muses. “Indeed, you will need my help to dissect the finer points of the reverse summoning technique in spite of it being written on a scroll kept by Kijani. And Kijani would have told you as much.”

“So you will help?” you ask.

He nods. “Yes. I will summon Kijani here. In the mean time, I suggest you make whatever preparations will help you with constructing a sealing formula.”

That means… the Uzumaki sealing style.

>You can do this yourself.
>Call on your mother for advice.
>Call on your former rival Ajisai for advice.
>Call them both in. It might be nice for them to meet.
>Other?

>>4309044
>>Call them both in. It might be nice for them to meet.

>>4309044
>>Call on your mother for advice.

>>4309044
>Try to do it ourself first, and only call on mother if we fail hard

>>4309044
>>Call on your mother for advice.

>>4309044
>>Call them both in. It might be nice for them to meet.

>>4309044
>>Call them both in. It might be nice for them to meet.

>>4309044
>>Call them both in. It might be nice for them to meet.
Reunion time for sealing science!

>>4309044
>Call them both in. It might be nice for them to meet.

>>4309044
Unsealing your Pure Land contract scroll and opening it, you start preparations for a double-summoning. Gathering natural energy into two vessels this time, you call the souls of both your mother and your childhood friend to inhabit them.

Ajisai looks around uncertainly, while your mother just seems somewhat surprised.

“Naori?” she asks you. “Why are we in the middle of a forest?”

“This is where my summoning clan lives,” you explain. “The shrikes.”

“Excellent!” Ajisai replies cheerfully. “If only I were still alive to form a contract with them.”

“I would be very interested to know why you have brought us here,” your mother muses. “As always I am happy to be of assistance, but you must admit the scenery is a bit unusual… it hints at an equally unusual problem.”

“You’re right of course,” you admit, “I’m trying to use my summoning contract’s reverse-summoning formula to improve my hiraishin formula, a teleportation technique created by the Second Hokage.”

“Well, that is quite the tall order,” your mother muses. Then she turns to Ajisai. “You… you would be Ajisai-kun?”

“Ah, yes,” Ajisai realizes abruptly that she and your mother haven’t ever been properly introduced.

“I am sad to see that you died so young,” your mother offers, her expression downcast. “Allow me to introduce myself properly, I am Uzumaki Makoto. In life, when you knew me only as Naori’s mother, I went by the name Tenran of the Storm.”

“And I’m Ajisai,” Ajisai returns the courtesy with a polite bow. “Naori-kun and I were friends, for a while.”

This time it’s Makoto’s turn to bow in gratitude. “Thank you for helping take care of my daughter after my passing.”

“It was nothing,” Ajisai insists curtly.

Before the humble-off can continue any further, Zenkibo returns to renewed confusion and surprise from your friend and mother.

“A tengu?” Makoto wonders aloud. “How fantastic!”

“Who are these two unfortunate souls?” Zenkibo asks you directly.

“My mother, Makoto, and my childhood friend, Ajisai.”

“And they are here willingly?” Zenkibo wonders aloud. “How very peculiar. The technique you have clearly based this on was never intended to summon and bind willing souls back into this world.”
>1/2

>>4309660
“Well I wasn’t intended to be a jerk,” you counter with a dismissive shrug. “So I adapted the technique.”

“Well, I suppose that makes sense,” Zenkibo admits. “So I will agree to overlook the moral implications of this… most peculiar method of yours.”

Zenkibo leads you into the shrine’s outer hall, with Kijani perched calmly on his shoulder. At his instruction Kijani extends his neck, laying the scroll out in front of Zenkibo who sweeps it open with one of his wings.

“Here is the contract in full detail,” he tells you, tapping one section of borderline illegible text with one talon. “This is the segment relating to reverse-summoning.”

“Fantastic,” Ajisai muses, mesmerized at what’s just been unfurled in front of her. “I’ve never seen such a complex series of derived spacetime formulae.”

>1d6, DC 12
>best three of four

>SP: 6/6
>ES: 0/2 (0T)

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4309672

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4309672
>zenkibo didn't try to lecture us, only to get chewed out himself by mom
i'm a little sad

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4309672
Rip rolls

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4309672

>>4309672
Spend 4 SP and take 2 ES to pass?
>Y
>N

>>4309687
Y

>>4309687
>>Y
Fuuuuuu- I promised myself I wouldn’t do this again but I’m a liar so fuck it.

>>4309687
>Y

>>4309687
Nope

>>4309687
>Y

>>4309672
>Y

>>4309687
>SP: 2/6
>ES: 2/2 (4T)
Will update this evening.

>>4309687
“Derived?” you muse. “Where do you see evidence of that?”

“Here,” she points out a few passages that, if you really squint, look like they could in fact have been derived from a common element. “See?”

“I wouldn’t have,” you admit, activating your Mangekyō sharingan and feeling a slight trickle of warm wetness from the corner of that eye. “I see… you’re right.”

“You okay?” Ajisai asks.

“Hm?”

“You are bleeding from your left eye,” your mother tells you, dabbing at the corner of your eye with the end of her sleeve.

“It’ll be fine,” you insist, closing the eye and forming the seal of confrontation to manually restrict the chakra flow to it. “The Mangekyō is tough on the eye that its powers originate from… so long as I don’t do this often it’ll recover quickly enough.”

“That said, when I get home I’m going to want to use some medicine on it for the eyestrain.”

“Well, please be sure that you take care of yourself,” Makoto tells you sternly. “I taught you at least that well.”

“And even if you hadn’t Karin and Fū would probably hound me over it,” you shrug.

“They sound like good friends,” your mother smiles.

“Karin is,” Ajisai replies. “I only met Fū briefly, and not under good circumstances.”

“We captured her,” you admit. “She came with me when I left Akatsuki… or rather, when I took it back.”

“I see,” Makoto sighs, while Ajisai seems stunned at the news of your defection.

“What about Tenshi-sama?” she protests.

“Konan-sensei gave it her blessing,” you explain. “She knew it was coming, but she stayed. She still has some hope of convincing Pain not to go too far, but I couldn’t trust to that hope. So I had to take matters into my own hands.”

“Well, I’m dead,” Ajisai admits. “So it’s not my place to decide.”

“If I could’ve stayed in good conscience I would have,” you insist. “But I couldn’t. You know me, Ajisai. You know what that means.”

After a moment, she nods curtly. “Yeah. I do.”

“Now… the topic at hand...”
>1/2

>>4309942
For a few hours the three of you piece together a coherent picture of how this contract actually works, with you and Ajisai doing most of the work to decompile the script relating to spacetime manipulation and your mother helping you to puzzle out exactly how the structure of the sealing script was developed and employed. With your own hiraishin formula laid out nearby, you and Makoto refine several key passages and begin the long, difficult work of reducing the entire formula to a usable sealing mark.

“My own mother only taught me the basics of the Uzumaki sealing style, so this is as far as I think I can help you,” she eventually admits… that being said you have two characters pretty much ‘locked in’.

Those are the two characters for ‘Kongō’, which can either mean diamond or relate to the ritualistic ‘vajra’ implement thought to evoke lightning. It has also been used in ancient contexts to mean any number of fantastical materials reputed to have been indestructible. The first of these characters carries meaning related to value: either in the sense of a financial instrument or in the sense of being treasured. The second of these typically means strength or rigidity.

“We’re basically half-way there,” you admit, “in just the span of two days. Good work, go team.”

“Happy to have been of help,” your mother bows politely.

>Ask Zenkibo if there are any other sources of inspiration that you can use around here. The Shrike clan is after all ancient in the extreme, and there’s a lot of wisdom nested away around here.
>Offer to take your ‘guests’ to see how you live. It’d certainly let your mother rest a little easier knowing how well you’ve been doing for yourself.
>This has come to its logical, reasonable end. You should let the dead rest now, and honor them by doing the rest of the work yourself.
>Other?

>>4309987
>Offer to take your ‘guests’ to see how you live. It’d certainly let your mother rest a little easier knowing how well you’ve been doing for yourself.

File: Naori_Kongo.png (3 KB, 95x182)

3 KB PNG

>>4309987
Forgot the image.

>>4309987
>>Offer to take your ‘guests’ to see how you live. It’d certainly let your mother rest a little easier knowing how well you’ve been doing for yourself.

>>4309987
>Offer to take your ‘guests’ to see how you live. It’d certainly let your mother rest a little easier knowing how well you’ve been doing for yourself.

>>4309987
>>Offer to take your ‘guests’ to see how you live. It’d certainly let your mother rest a little easier knowing how well you’ve been doing for yourself.

>>4309987
>Offer to take your ‘guests’ to see how you live. It’d certainly let your mother rest a little easier knowing how well you’ve been doing for yourself.

After this short rest, come back to murder birds.

>Ask Zenkibo if there are any other sources of inspiration that you can use around here. The Shrike clan is after all ancient in the extreme, and there’s a lot of wisdom nested away around here

>>4309987
>Offer to take your ‘guests’ to see how you live. It’d certainly let your mother rest a little easier knowing how well you’ve been doing for yourself

>>4309987
>>Ask Zenkibo if there are any other sources of inspiration that you can use around here. The Shrike clan is after all ancient in the extreme, and there’s a lot of wisdom nested away around here.

>>4309987
“Zenkibo-han,” you bow politely, “thanks for accommodating me again. I’ll absolutely be back later to learn more from your clan.”

“Of course,” Zenkibo inclines his feathery head. “Welcome guest though you may be you are of the world, and to the world you must return.”

“Zenkibo-han,” your mother adds, addressing him with an effortless grace you can only try to emulate. “I thank you as well, now that I can, for your clan taking my daughter under your wings. I can see she has been very fortunate.”

Zenkibo bows a little lower to your mother. “The feeling is mutual, Uzumaki Makoto-san.”

“Now, hands on my shoulders,” you instruct, before forming the hand seals that for the time being are still required.

…

“This is a hideout?” Ajisai asks, clearly amused at the mental discrepancy between the word and what it’s being applied to.

“I find it wonderful,” Makoto insists with a smile. “I see I taught you well. Your aesthetic sense has become quite refined… you moved these buildings using sealing techniques to place them into pre-excavated slots.”

“And then ran the wiring to a chakra battery,” you confirm. “Speaking of which, give me a second here. I need to swap the tag out for a fresh one.”

After attending to that rather dull detail, you return to find that your living and dead guests have taken notice of each other. None are more completely levelled than Karin, who knows that Ajisai has been dead for some time.

“How is this even possible!?” she demands.

“Yes,” Yugito-han presses, her eyes locked with your mother’s. “I would be interested to know.”

“It’s a reanimation technique,” you explain. “Senjutsu-based.”

“And the victims?” she demands.

“None,” you shrug. “Senju Tobirama didn’t have natural energy to cheat with, but I do. It’s still not something to be used lightly or often… now that I think of it I don’t actually know what happens to the natural energy once it’s been ‘sacrificed’. Although all the physical laws we know of say it shouldn’t just disappear it may not be infinitely sustainable.”

“You have a point of course,” your mother agrees with you. “After you have ‘shown us around’, you should probably avoid using the Tensa Jōdo Tensei in the future except at the extreme ends of need.”

“I’ll continue to refine it in theory,” you tell your mother, “in case I have to use it in battle for some reason. But seriously, I agree… it’s not something to be misused.”
>1/2

>>4311011
That being said… it has given you a chance to introduce your mother to Karin, her distant niece, and to Fū, a completely unrelated ray of sunshine for her to delight in. It also puts into perspective for both her and Ajisai the reasons you left Akatsuki, when they meet Yugito-han and hear the story of how she came to be here with you. You can also show them the gardens you’ve planted here, and the view from the mountaintop, and the island you chose for your Grass hideout. You finally head for the teahouse in the Land of Grass, sitting with them on the edge of the veranda in the middle of a stand of dense bamboo.

“You’ve been busy,” Ajisai admits with a wistful sigh, laying sprawled out across the deck with her feet hanging off the edge. “I’m a bit jealous.”

“It does not become you, dear,” Makoto chides her. “Though… it is somewhat frustrating that I cannot have a cup of tea here, in such a place that calls for it so.”

“Sorry,” you apologize. “If I sacrificed someone for the technique maybe you could use their taste buds, but that’s… not going to happen.”

“I could not recognize you if it did,” your mother agrees. “I do not think I can say it enough, and I do not know when I will get to say it again, so humor me while I say it now… I am so very proud of you, my daughter.”

Left speechless, you simply bow politely as Uzumaki Makoto’s body glows brightly, then crumbles away like dust onto the wind as you release the technique binding her into the world. After a few awkward seconds of silence, you sigh.

“It’s always been harder with you,” you admit. “Seriously, Ajisai… you shouldn’t be dead right now. And no, it’s not okay.”

Ajisai nods quietly. “I… can only guess how you feel right now.”

“Not great.”

“But I do think you’re right,” she insists. “Go be you, Naori. Don’t worry about us.”

“If I can find a way to put what was done to you right, I will,” you promise. “I haven’t given you up for dead just yet.”

Ajisai suppresses a snort of laughter. “That’s definitely you being you, never a step back. You’re stubborn. I always liked that.”

You can’t help but crack a smile as you release her too. “Thanks. See you later.”

It would have been a better goodbye had your forced smiles not started to fade just before Ajisai disappeared.
>1d6, taking the third roll

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4311053

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4311053
And that is another reason to not use it often, wouldn't be surprised if a part of Naori regrets creating and using the technique

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4311053

File: 0741ddb7307e532145ec11790(...).jpg (45 KB, 520x769)

45 KB JPG

>>4311053
It’s only a few calm days later that you find yourself abruptly summoned to Kijani’s side into a scene of utter devastation… storm clouds are gathered high above, and black flames surround you on all sides, hissing in the distance as the rain falls on them. Broken chunks of old walls lie all around, the dust from their collapse kept low by the same rain that falls on you now as well.

Before you, Uchiha Sasuke lies slumped against what little wall remains standing, and in front of him, at your feet, lies his brother. Both young men are covered in blood and bruises, and Sasuke stares at you in shock as you appear so abruptly.

You knock a weighted chain out of the air with Umekiri’s edge to protect Kijani, swiftly creating a trio of shadow clones even before the chain retracts to the man in the orange mask who launched it at you.

“I should have guessed,” Tobi muses, his usually playful tone replaced by one that can only be described as grim. “Of course he would rely on you in the end. I’ve underestimated you, Itachi.”

One shadow clone takes Sasuke by his arm and lifts him over her shoulder, and the second scoops Itachi up off the ground. The third raises a barrier sphere with the Kongō Fūsa, while you yourself draw in natural energy through Umekiri’s blade.

“Take them,” you order Kijani.

“Immediately,” he replies.

He disappears just as, to your shock, Tobi simply steps through the Kongō Fūsa barrier. Your own sage mode is ready at the last possible second, and you raise your sword to slash through his body as he charges… straight through you as well. His body passes clean through you, like some sort of black ghost, though you realize that the chains he’s left behind him are still very much tangible. At the last second before they start to close around you, there’s a puff of smoke.

…

“Thanks, Kijani-han,” you gasp, releasing all the tension in an instant as you realize that you, Sasuke, Itachi, and all your clones made it. One clone, the one who raised the barrier, dissipates. “I’m gonna have to finish off that hiraishin formula fast.”

“I owe you big this time, birdie. You name your prize.”

“I will have to simply be surprised,” Kijani replies, amused at your outburst of gratitude.

Weaving the seals, you return to your safehouse.

…

“Give me a hand here,” you order Karin sharply. “I can’t get a pulse.”

Karin gives Itachi the briefest examination, before shaking her head. “That’s because he’s dead, Naori.”

Yugito-han stares in shock at the fallen Akatsuki, who lies motionless and bloody in your courtyard. Then, she stares at his little brother, who stares at the same scene without seeing it.
>1/2

>>4311105
After taking a few moments to let the adrenaline from your seconds-long encounter with Tobi, you start to get a handle on what needs to be done.

“You, Karin,” you order one of your clones and your cousin, “take Sasuke to the shower room. Get him cleaned up and take him to the small guest room.”

“I’ll deal with things out here.”

“Will you be okay?” Karin asks hesitantly. “I… know that you knew him.”

“I’ll deal with it,” you repeat bluntly. “Please.”

Karin nods curtly, before helping your clone lead a barely-functional Sasuke away.

You sigh, kneeling over Itachi’s body, soaking wet from the rain. First, you deal with that using your basic water shaping ability, pulling the rainwater and most of the blood out of his clothing and sending it in a high arc over the roof and out onto the scraggly pines which top your little mountain. His ring you carefully remove and store in a small scroll. He has no other possessions, aside from the contents of his belt pouch. A few shuriken, and nothing else… seems he wasn’t planning on a long fight.

Then you take his eyes, putting them into a small vial and sealing them along with his ring. Onto this scroll you write a contract formula in his own blood, for later. Last, after placing a few aromatic herbs here and there on the body, you seal what remains of Uchiha Itachi into a scroll of his own, and put the scrolls away.

All the while, Fū and Yugito watch quietly. It’s Fū who eventually breaks the silence.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Nakkun?”

>I owed this many my life. So I’m filling his last requests of me. That’s all.
>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.
>I think I loved him. It went nowhere of course, he already knew he was dying when we met.
>Other?

>>4311128
>>I owed this many my life. So I’m filling his last requests of me.
>>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.

>>4311128
>I owed this man my life. So I’m filling his last requests of me. That’s all.
>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.

A lot of respect from Naori towards Itachi.

>>4311128
>I owed this many my life. So I’m filling his last requests of me. That’s all.
>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.
>I think I loved him. It went nowhere of course, he already knew he was dying when we met.

>>4311128
>I owed this man my life. So I’m filling his last requests of me.
>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.

>>4311128
>I owed this many my life. So I’m filling his last requests of me. That’s all.
>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.

>>4311155
>>4311128

>I owed this man my life. So I’m filling his last requests of me. That’s all.
>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.

Yeah, definitely. He's kind of us, through a mirror darkly. He was always doing everything he could to find the right path, with limited time, resources, and the weight of his own actions.

The difference is he chose to do it alone, and I think Naori is always going to hate that part. He could have accomplished so much more if he had asked anyone for real help. Means a lot that he asked Naori though.

>>4311128
>I owed this many my life. So I’m filling his last requests of me. That’s all.
>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.

>>4311128
>I owed this man my life. So I’m filling his last requests of me. That’s all.
>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.

>>4311128
>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.
>I think I loved him. It went nowhere of course, he already knew he was dying when we met.
If nobody else will admit it than I'll play Devils Advocate, we loved him in our own way and that deserves to be acknowledged

>>4311442
i think it was a crush that had the potential to become love, but didn't due to A LOT of factors

>>4311128
>>I owed this many my life. So I’m filling his last requests of me. That’s all.
>>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.

>>4311128
>I owed this man my life. So I’m filling his last requests of me. That’s all.
>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.

Please don't mistake a simple crush for true love.

>>4311128
>>I owed this many my life. So I’m filling his last requests of me. That’s all.
>>Itachi was a complicated man. But I think, in the end, too kind for his own good.

>yfw Naori will never have the god-child with Itachi

Fuck you Hiashi

>>4311128
“I owed him my life,” you admit, “and at one point I even had a bit of a crush on him. But he was complicated… he took the weight of a lot of things onto his own shoulders for the sake of others, most of whom see him now as an irredeemable villain, and never complained about it. He never begrudged the ones who demanded far too much of a preteen.”

“And now, because I made a promise to him before he went to his death, I have a decision to make. I have to either do what he would have wanted me to despite disagreeing with his terminal martyr complex, or do what I believe to be right in the spirit of how he lived and died.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Yugito-han presses you.

“I can’t tell you exactly,” you sigh, “but Sasuke seems to have lost his sense of purpose in Itachi’s death. All he has left is the lie Itachi wanted him to believe. But if I told him the truth, I don’t know what would happen… and neither did Itachi. Because for all his preparation and consideration he didn’t seem to consider what would happen to his little brother after this point.”

“So that’s another thing I disagreed with Itachi on, in addition to his stubborn determination to martyr himself.”

“I would tell him the truth,” Fū declares.

“I don’t know,” Yugito admits. “I don’t know what ‘the truth’ actually means.”

>I’ll tell him when he wakes up, then see what happens from there.
>I’ll take him back to Konohagakure, and that will be that.
>I’ll make a decision AFTER speaking with Sasuke, some time tomorrow.
>Other?

>>4311658
>>I’ll make a decision AFTER speaking with Sasuke, some time tomorrow.

>>4311658
>I’ll make a decision AFTER speaking with Sasuke, some time tomorrow

>>4311658
>I’ll make a decision AFTER speaking with Sasuke, some time tomorrow.

>>4311658
>>I’ll make a decision AFTER speaking with Sasuke, some time tomorrow.

>>4311658
>>I’ll make a decision AFTER speaking with Sasuke, some time tomorrow.

>>4311658
>>I’ll make a decision AFTER speaking with Sasuke, some time tomorrow.

>>4311658
>>I’ll make a decision AFTER speaking with Sasuke, some time tomorrow.

>>4311658
Well, i wasn't here in time for the vote, but i would have voted to speak with both sasuke and itachi before deciding.

>>4311826
Itachi decided to take the truth to his grave, it’s pretty clear how he feel about this.

>>4312240
Itachi is retarded. I don't want to ask him how he feels about it, i want to explain how retarded he is and change his mind.

>>4311826
>>4312243
Not only are you being a jackass, our character explicitly doesn't want to revive people outside of emergencies.
Swerving on it just like that would be silly.

>>4311658
“I’ll make a decision after speaking with Sasuke,” you decide. “And that will have to be tomorrow at the earliest.”

“Tomorrow?” Fū repeats.

Yugito-han seems to understand immediately. “That makes sense. Give him some time to rest… it seemed like he could use it.”

…

When the evening gloom gives way to night, you don’t go into your own room. Instead you find yourself sitting upright in the guest room where Sasuke is sleeping off his deathmatch with Itachi. He’s been washed and bandaged, and Karin has given him basic treatment using the mystical palm technique, but he’s still in rough shape. That being said, if you were in his condition you could probably find yourself waking up in the middle of the night and making a run for it, so you have to take certain precautions.

That’s why you end up resting through the night propped up against the wall, with Umekiri and her sheath to lean on.

…

It’s early in the morning when you hear a sharp hiss of pain that wakes you from your light sleep.

“I see you’re already awake,” you muse. “Karin’s very skilled. You should thank her when you get the chance.”

“Who…” he begins, before realizing the answer to his own unfinished question. “Raishō Naori… what is this?”

“It is what it looks like,” you shrug, as his eyes finally manage to meet yours, tired though he obviously is. “When Itachi dies I was summoned to...”

The words catch in your throat as one of Sasuke’s eyes activates, not just the sharingan but the familiar pinwheel pattern of a Mangekyō… Itachi’s Mangekyō. You feel your own left eye doing the same, blood trickling from both your eye and his as you cough violently.

“What’s happening?” Sasuke demands, wincing as he tries to move but finds his wounds still in the process of healing.

You double over, gagging as something comes up from your throat… so this is what it feels like?

When the small scroll finally pops out, you take a moment to massage your throat and catch your breath.

“Gross,” you muse. “Itachi, you jerk… putting a delayed-trigger seal on me like that. Now I know how Kijani feels.”

Sasuke stares at you in total confusion. “I… have no idea what’s happening.”
>1/2

>>4312646
“It’s all Itachi’s fault,” you grumble. “He must’ve created a programmed sealing technique using his Mangekyō that would activate when our eyes met, but only after he died. He guessed that we’d meet like this… now that I think about it I even know when he probably did it.”

“Itachi… did that?” Sasuke demands. “Why? What was your connection to him? Why did you capture me like this, and why did you...”

“Keep it down,” you insist curtly. “No need to get hysterical. My friends are trying to sleep a few doors down.”

“Answer the question!” Sasuke presses, albeit after lowering his voice.

“He saved my life years ago, before I joined Akatsuki,” you explain. “And in exchange, I became someone he could open up to, at least a little. This scroll is probably a message to both of us.”

“What kind of message?” Sasuke demands curtly.

“I don’t know,” you admit, still in the process of unrolling it. “I haven’t opened the thing yet.”

“It could be a trap.”

You snort, trying to hold back a laugh. “As if… it’s a tatami floor.”

“What?” Sasuke asks bluntly.

“Look,” you insist, laying the scroll out in front of him and kneeling beside him. “The organization of these blocks follows the same rules for organizing tatami in an auspicious layout… a shrine floor.”

“How can you tell that?”

“Most honden follow certain architectural rules,” you explain. “I recognize the proportions. One tatami mat is marked.”

“This is the Naka shrine,” Sasuke realizes. “This marked tatami mat is where the entrance to the Uchiha clan’s meeting place is hidden.”

“Then I think he intended for us to go there,” you suggest.

“And you’re just… going to?” Sasuke demands.

>I think he meant for you to come with me. We can be discreet about it if you like.
>It may be time for you to go home anyway, Sasuke-kun. You’ve been sorely missed there.
>I’ll go by myself if you’re more comfortable that way. But Itachi planned this for a reason.
>Other?

>>4312647
>I think he meant for you to come with me. We can be discreet about it if you like.

>>4312647
>>I think he meant for you to come with me. We can be discreet about it if you like.

>>4312647
>I think he meant for you to come with me. We can be discreet about it if you like.

>>4312647
>I think he meant for you to come with me. We can be discreet about it if you like.

>>4312647
>>I think he meant for you to come with me. We can be discreet about it if you like.

>>4312647
>I think he meant for you to come with me. We can be discreet about it if you like.

>>4312647
>>I think he meant for you to come with me. We can be discreet about it if you like.

>>4312647
>I think he meant for you to come with me. We can be discreet about it if you like.

>>4312647
>>I think he meant for you to come with me. We can be discreet about it if you like.

>>4312647
>>I think he meant for you to come with me. We can be discreet about it if you like.

>>4312647
>I think he meant for you to come with me. We can be discreet about it if you like.

>>4312647
>1d6, best three of four
>high roll

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4313021

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4313021

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4313021

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4313021

>>4313021
“We can go discreetly,” you offer. “But Itachi-han intended for us both to find something at this shrine of yours. I’m going, without you if I must.”

“You won’t be getting in without me,” Sasuke tells you, laying back. “There’s a special technique required to open the entryway. So if I’m going that far anyway, it makes sense to go with you the rest of the way.”

“Can you move?”

“With some difficulty,” Sasuke admits. “Just don’t count on me for anything beyond walking.”

“I’ll fetch you some fresh clothes,” you offer.

“A cloak would be fine,” he counters. “We can… no, perhaps my old clothes wouldn’t fit.”

“I have another idea,” you offer.

…

“So you want me to dress him,” Ryūzetsu summarizes.

You nod politely. “Please.”

“You’ve made some strange requests over the time we’ve known each other,” she muses, before punching a button on her desk. “Get me some clothing for a male, average build, around a hundred and sixty-five to a hundred and seventy centimetres and maybe fifty, fifty-one kilograms?”

“Fifty-two,” Sasuke corrects her.

“Fifty-two,” Ryūzetsu relays the message. “And no sass this time?”

Several minutes later an attendant delivers ankle-length drawstring trousers, a simple black top with short sleeves, and a loose-fitting top like a dōgi. It doesn’t make any real sense together as an ensemble, but it’ll have to do.

“I look like an idiot,” Sasuke grumbles.

“So nothing changed,” you snark back. “Come on, all it has to do is serve the purpose.”

“She has a point,” Ryūzetsu agrees. “Say ‘thank you’.”

“… thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Ryūzetsu replies with a placid smile. “A friend of Naori’s is a friend of mine.”

“We’re not friends,” Sasuke insists.

“Then get out of my office.”
>1/2

>>4313079
“I don’t think I could ever get used to that,” Sasuke admits after you use the hiraishin to take him to a still-closed Ichiraku. “I’m surprised someone in such a position of authority got out of bed for you so… eagerly.”

“Friends are good,” you shrug. “Now, where’s this shrine of yours?”

“Follow me.”

…

The Uchiha district… an abandoned section of Konoha near the defensive walls, more or less a walled village within the village. It seems that after its previous occupants were wiped out, no one was keen to move in to replace them. The buildings remain empty, windows remain boarded up, and doors have been locked with heavy chains and padlocks.

There’s a dusty, disused shrine deep within the district, just a few blocks from the main wall of Konohagakure’s formidable defenses. Inside the honden, under the tatami mat Itachi’s note specified, you find a heavy stone slab with a three-dot tomoe pattern at the center… the sharingan.

“Here,” Sasuke insists, kneeling at the edge of the slab and performing a series of hand seals. The edges of the slab rise up for a moment as hidden mechanisms slowly engage, and with your foot you can push the slab off the top tread of a staircase beneth it and nudge it into a hidden tunnel, where it first lowers into position before sliding forwards and out of the way.

Down those stairs you find several lanterns and candles, which Sasuke effortlessly lights as he passes, until you reach an open room that was once closed off by sliding doors and floored with tatami. In the back of that room is an alcove with two firepits, which Sasuke places flames in using his fire release.

“What’s this?” you ask him, pointing out the stone tablet set up in the decorated alcove. “Some sort of tablet?”

You can’t read it… how strange, it’s no language you’ve ever even heard of, though it seems like it should be familiar.

“It has been in the Clan for generations,” Sasuke explains. “Only a sharingan can decipher it.”

“Then let’s try that,” you suggest, unsealing Izumi’s sharingan as Sasuke activates his own, before turning to you in surprise.

“You have one?” he demands. “Given to you by Itachi?”

You nod in admission. “It belonged to Uchiha Izumi. He entrusted me with her eyes.”

“I knew her,” Sasuke replies sternly. “She was Itachi’s friend… I always thought she had a crush on him, like a girlfriend. He killed her.”

“Yes,” you agree. “All of that is true. Focus on the tablet.”
>2/3

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

208 KB PNG

>>4313110
“Only some of it is readable,” Sasuke confirms what you can already see. “This is information about the Mangekyō sharingan.”

“There’s also a few lines here from some sort of religious history,” you add. “Seeking stability, one god was divided into yin and yang, these opposing two acting together obtain all things in creation… it’s the ending of the story of the Sage of Six Paths.”

“What?” Sasuke demands. “How can you tell?”

“I’ve seen him referred to before in ancient texts,” you explain. “Here. The language is seriously florid by modern standards, but it mentions a Rabbit Goddess eating fruit from… a ‘God Tree’, and gaining chakra. She shared that chakra with her children before becoming a power-mad dictator herself. Her two sons cooperated to seal her away in what would become the moon.”

Sasuke stares at you in suspicion. “How’d you get all that from it? Half of it is gibberish to me even if I can read the words.”

“Like I said,” you shrug, “it’s linguistically archaic.”

“The Mangekyō is awakened by being the one responsible for the death of one’s best friend,” Sasuke muses, turning his attention back to the more practical aspects of what you can now read. “Someone you love. I see, so that’s what Itachi meant...”

“… and something about a Curse of Hatred.”

“I see,” you sigh gloomily. “The sharingan is awakened by chakra flow across the optic nerve. The new chakra that activates it may have a risk of changing how an Uchiha thinks and acts.”

“I never knew,” Sasuke admits. “But why can’t I read more of this?”

“Perhaps it’s locked behind another level of dōjutsu,” you suggest. “The parts we can read explain the Mangekyō, so maybe the Mangekyō can be used to read it all.”

“Too bad,” Sasuke sighs, defeated. “Neither of us has it. I suppose we could ask Kakashi-san… yeah, right. That’s a conversation I want to have today.”

>Why not. Let’s go ask Kakashi.
>Actually, I have the Mangekyō.
>Don’t look and don’t ask.
>Other?

>>4313128
>Actually, I have the Mangekyō.

>>4313128
>>Actually, I have the Mangekyō.
>But it awoke from the death of my friend not of my hand, I'm a Uzumaki not a Uchiha so the rules may be different.

>>4313128
>>Actually, I have the Mangekyō.

Might as well since we’re here.

>>4313128
>actually I have the mangekyo

Also sauce didn’t get his mangekyo after killing itachi?

>>4313194
I think the trigger was him realizing Itachi still loved him. Without Tobi spilling the beans, it's the catharsis of a lifelong mission, not murdering his only remaining family.

>>4313128
>Actually, I have the Mangekyō.
>>4313201
Yeah pretty much, it also took some time to develop for some reason if I know the lore correctly? Correct me if I'm wrong on that

>>4313201
>>4313225
gotcha. Well maybe Tobi will still pull it off or we find a good reason to tell him ourselves.

>>4313128
>>Actually, I have the Mangekyō.

>>4313128
>Actually, I have the Mangekyō.
>"If you want to ask. My best friend died for me on a mission against a tailed beast that resulted in her death. I didn't know about her death until Itachi showed me her corpse."

>>4313128
>Actually, I have the Mangekyō.

>>4313128
“Actually,” you admit, cautiously at first to gauge his response. “One of us does have the Mangekyō.”

It takes Sasuke a couple of seconds to understand what you mean. “You?”

You nod, taking a moment to slowly blink. When your left eye opens, your ‘five-petalled’ Mangekyō is visible there. “Something else Itachi-han saw to, was making sure I saw the body of my closest childhood friend… after a mission Akatsuki sent her on killed her.”

“You blamed yourself for her death,” Sasuke guesses.

“Of course I did,” you reply, before turning your attention back to the stone tablet. “I can read much more of the stone now.”

It’s… fairly grim reading. The Uchiha gain great power by awakening the sharingan, a power descended from the days of the Sage of Six Paths, but at the same time that power changes them. And the more Uchiha possess the sharingan, the more their fate becomes sealed by that power that others fear, and which makes them fear and hate others in turn. This ‘Curse of Hate’ will grow stronger, make the clan behave irrationally, and eventually lead them to self-destruction if its leaders weren’t careful. That explains the coup attempt… Uchiha Fugaku must have read this part of the tablet and thought that placing the Uchiha at the top of Konohagakure’s leadership was the only way to ease their hatred and resentment towards the village that sought to marginalize them, thereby preserving the Uchiha for the future.

The tablet however has other ideas, suggesting that something called an ‘Infinite Tsukuyomi’ is the only way to save the Uchiha… but the part of the text that says what that is still isn’t legible.

Less important in your eyes is the passage which states that a user of the Mangekyō who overuses their eyes can take those of a close relative as a transplant… in theory, swapping eyes like this can preserve their use indefinitely. An ‘eternal’ Mangekyō, so to speak. So that’s what Itachi wanted you to do with his eyes… only trouble is...

“So what does it say?”

>Tell Sasuke everything, including the context this places the coup into, as well as Itachi’s own actions. He deserves to know the truth.
>Tell Sasuke it’s a warning about what will happen if the Uchiha failed to control their Curse of Hatred and leave it at that, at least for now.
>Tell Sasuke you can’t read it all. There must be something beyond a Mangekyō sharingan, and that portion of the tablet is meant for its users.
>Other?

>>4313801
>Tell Sasuke everything, including the context this places the coup into, as well as Itachi’s own actions. He deserves to know the truth.

>>4313801
>>Tell Sasuke everything, including the context this places the coup into, as well as Itachi’s own actions. He deserves to know the truth.

>>4313801
>tell him everything

>>4313801
>>Tell Sasuke everything, including the context this places the coup into, as well as Itachi’s own actions. He deserves to know the truth.

If there was anyone who deserved an explanation for why their life was full of shit, it’s Sasuke. Especially with Naori able, willing, and present to if need be forcibly make him stop and take a damn second to calm down and think things through.

>>4313801
start with
>>Tell Sasuke it’s a warning about what will happen if the Uchiha failed to control their Curse of Hatred
then
>tell him everything

also maybe
>Most likely, the person Itachi hated the most was himself

>>4313801
>>Tell Sasuke everything, including the context this places the coup into, as well as Itachi’s own actions. He deserves to know the truth.

>>4313801
>>Tell Sasuke everything, including the context this places the coup into, as well as Itachi’s own actions. He deserves to know the truth.

>>4313801
>>Tell Sasuke everything, including the context this places the coup into, as well as Itachi’s own actions. He deserves to know the truth.

>>4313801
“It makes a lot of sense actually,” you admit. “The two less significant portions explain how to counteract the long-term drawbacks to overusing the Mangekyō by trading eyes with a close relative, ideally a sibling. I also know how to use the sharingan to control a tailed beast now. It seems you need the Mangekyō, but unlike the Susano’o you can do it with just one eye.”

“And the more ‘significant’ portion?” Sasuke presses. “What have you learned?”

“It’s a warning about the Curse of Hatred,” you explain, “predicting that the more Uchiha who possess the sharingan the more likely that the Curse will drive the clan to its own destruction. Those who awaken the Mangekyō and can begin to learn the truth about the Curse were meant to be the leaders, who could possibly keep the clan from that fate.”

“That didn’t seem to work,” Sasuke grumbles, before it seems to click. “Wait a minute, what did you mean it made sense?”

“Your father and Itachi both had the Mangekyō,” you explain, “so both were aware of what the tablet said about the Curse of Hatred. So it explains why the situation evolved so that Itachi felt no alternative existed to killing his own family.”

“… explain,” he demands.

“Your clan had been planning a coup,” you explain. “Your father probably understood that replacing the Third Hokage would be the only way to alleviate the clan’s hatred and mistrust of Konohagakure, so he lent his authority to support it.”

“Itachi was a member of ANBU at the time,” you continue to explain. “So when Shimura Danzō took action to try making the coup an inevitability, Itachi was left two options: allow a civil war to cause thousands of innocent deaths and leave the village vulnerable to the other four great nations, or...”

“… to kill his own family,” Sasuke completes the thought, wide-eyed in horror at the implication.

“Which he did,” you continue. “I saw his own memories. Your parents understood and acknowledged the position they’d put him in. They refused to fight back… all your father insisted on was that Itachi look after you, because the clan had kept the whole coup plan a secret from you. You were totally innocent.”

“There’s no way,” Sasuke insists. “Itachi murdered my whole family! He hated them! He told me himself, he only left me alive because I wasn’t worth killing!”

“He left you alive because out of the whole clan you were the only one he couldn’t bring himself to kill,” you correct him. “And he left you to be the one to pass judgment on him later. Because the only person he ever hated was himself!”

“That can’t...” Sasuke gasps, falling to his knees as he struggles to breathe. “But if it is… then I...”
>1d6, best three of four
>high roll

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4313921

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4313921

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4313921

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4313921
ohoho, this is getting juicy

>>4313924
>>4313931
>>4313936
Promising.

So, how do we pitch to sauce he should join our Akatsuki, an organization dedicated to making sure tragedies like the Uchiha Massacre and the Shinobi World Wars never happen again?

I feel like bringing up that we've already made moves to unseat Danzo, and that the current Konoha leadership is on our side would probably help, yeah? We gotta press home that it's not Konoha that's to blame, it's people like Danzo.

>>4313921
Sasuke’s train of thought can only carry him to one logical destination, one grim realization. And when he reaches it he cries out in sudden grief and guilt, doubling over and screaming all of his emotions straight into the floor. The only time you’ve ever heard something like this was when you saw Ajisai’s body lying lifeless in front of you.

You wait for him to scream himself hoarse, and when he raises his head you can see that his eyes have changed patterns. Of course this is why you left him alone, to let him process what he felt. And now you can interfere, nudge him away from the path that you now know is called the ‘Curse of Hate’.

“Sasuke,” you begin calmly. “What are you feeling right now?”

“… anger,” he admits. “A lot of anger… and I don’t know what to do with it.”

“Listen to me,” you insist sternly. “Take a step away from it. Don’t judge yourself for it, don’t direct it at all: understand it.”

“What are you angry at?”

“Everything!” he snaps. “I’m mad at Itachi for keeping this from me, I’m mad at my father for not stopping my clan, I’m angry at my clan for being such fools, I’m mad at the Third for failing to stop it peacefully, I’m mad at the village elders for ordering Itachi to do it… I’m mad at myself for spending years hating my brother for something I couldn’t possibly understand!”

“I’m even mad at you for telling me about it! How can I possibly go back to the village after learning the truth!?”

“Most of your village don’t know this either,” you clarify. “In fact only a very few know the truth… the elder council and Shimura Danzō kept it from Tsunade-han too. I only told her a few days ago, against Itachi’s wishes.”

“Why!?”

“Because she needed to know,” you assert. “Danzō was rapidly becoming a problem for the village again… and Itachi’s actions were all for his village. Same as now, to honor his intentions I had to do what I thought to be right, not what I thought he might want.”

“Then what do I do now?” Sasuke demands. “If the Fifth is dealing with it already what am I supposed to do? Everyone directly responsible now is either dead or in power in the same village my brother gave his life and soul to protect.”

“And the villagers don’t even know about it… they don’t even know that their happiness is built on the deaths of my clan!”
>1/2

>>4314395
“And the village finding out now might undo everything Itachi strove for,” you counter. “Tsunade-han is in the same compromised position herself.”

>I can’t tell you what to do now. All I can do is warn you about Tobi and the rest of Akatsuki.
>I’d suggest staying here in Konohagakure until you can sort out how you feel towards what Itachi gave everything to protect. I’ll be in touch.
>You can stay with me until you’re ready to move on. I won’t force you to stay, or kick you out.
>Other?

>>4314397
>I’d suggest staying here in Konohagakure until you can sort out how you feel towards what Itachi gave everything to protect. I’ll be in touch.

>>4314397
>>You can stay with me until you’re ready to move on. I won’t force you to stay, or kick you out.

>>4314397
>You can stay with me until you’re ready to move on. I won’t force you to stay, or kick you out.

Let's take care of the poor idiot for a while, so he can get his shit together.
He's got nowhere else to go.

>>4314397
>>You can stay with me until you’re ready to move on. I won’t force you to stay, or kick you out.

>>4314397
>>You can stay with me until you’re ready to move on. I won’t force you to stay, or kick you out.

One way or another, Sasuke needs to decide his own path in life without undue manipulation steering him. The least we can do is give him a quiet space to think in.

>>4314397
>>You can stay with me until you’re ready to move on. I won’t force you to stay, or kick you out.

>>4314397
>>You can stay with me until you’re ready to move on. I won’t force you to stay, or kick you out.
but also warn him about the Akatsuki and Tobi. Should we let him tag along on our diplomacy things?

>>4314397
>You can stay with me until you’re ready to move on. I won’t force you to stay, or kick you out.
I definitely wouldn't keep the obvious threat that Tobi represents a secret, but until he makes a decision on what he wants to do then he needs somewhere to stay.

>>4314397
>you can stay with me, until you make up your mind
But
>I have to warn you of tobi and akatsuki

>>4314397
“You can stay with me for a while,” you suggest. “I won’t force you to, and I won’t force you to leave either. Just treat it as a place to collect your thoughts for a while, at least until your wounds fully heal.”

After considering your proposal for a few moments, Sasuke eventually nods in agreement. “Fine. Just don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“Nope,” you agree. “It’s your life, your decision to make. All I’m here to do is make sure you get to make it for yourself.”

Sasuke’s eyes narrow slightly. “Why the concern?”

“There are those in Akatsuki who would try to take advantage of your… position,” you explain. “Especially Tobi, who I had to fight to get you and Itachi back to my hideout.”

“Tobi...” Sasuke repeats. “He was partnered with Deidara.”

“So that’s who it was...” you muse. “I was there shortly after your fight. But I thought the one that got away must’ve been Zetsu. Now that you mention it though it does explain what happened when we fought.”

“Like a ghost?” Sasuke asks.

You nod curtly. “Except no ghost should be able to slip through a Kongō Fūsa barrier. That technique could only have been one of three things: an advanced application of genjutsu, space-time manipulation on a similar level as the hiraishin, or manipulation of light.”

“Light?” Sasuke repeats.

“Light can pass through the barrier I used,” you explain. “It can also be bent using ninjutsu.”

“So there’s too many things it could be to say for sure what it is,” Sasuke summarizes.

“It’s a common problem with Akatsuki,” you admit. “Seriously, half of ‘em even I don’t know how their abilities work. Or worked, in some cases.”

“Nice work beating Deidara by the way. Did you figure out how to counter his bombs using lightning release?”

Sasuke nods curtly. “Only I didn’t kill him in the end. He blew himself up.”

“I suspected,” you admit. “Still. Nice work.”

“… thanks,” Sasuke grumbles. “I haven’t been looking forward to this, but there’s something else I should do while I’m here.”

You sigh. “I think I know where this is going.”
>1/2

>>4315393
Thankfully it’s still pretty early, and Sasuke has a wide, deep-brimmed travelling hat like the one you wore in Akatsuki to hide his face from the few people who are out this morning. And just as thankfully it seems none of the shinobi around your ages are out either. They’re probably eating breakfast. That means the way to the Hokage office is clear of obstacles, you can walk right in through the front door like regular people.

Tsunade doesn’t look like she’s slept much, and probably hasn’t had her first coffee yet. Despite that, several shinobi from Kumogakure are in her office already: one fair skinned kunoichi with a blonde bob, one darker-skinned kunoichi with messy red hair behind a bandanna-style headband, and the third is a dark-skinned young man with a short crop of white hair.

“Sorry,” you apologize as Sasuke hangs back, keeping his face hidden in front of the foreign shinobi. “Am I interrupting?”

“Why you…” the dark-skinned kunoichi growls, before spotting the red cloud on your obi. “Akatsuki!”

She moves to draw the sword from her back… only to find your right palm pressed against her elbow. Her upper arm immobilized in place, she can’t move her lower arm enough to finish the draw.

“Stop it,” you insist curtly. “You’re being rude to our host.”

“She’s right, Karui,” the blonde, who you realize now has one hell of a figure, agrees with you. “Knock it off.”

“If you tried to fight Akatsuki here half the village could be wiped out,” the young swordsman insists. “The Boss would probably have us knocked back to genin for an embarrassment like that, if we survived that is.”

“Um...” you begin, “hang on...”

“You’d really threaten to take it out on Konoha like that!?” Karui demands angrily. “That’s cold, even from you, Akatsuki.”

“I didn’t...”

“Karui,” the jōnin insists. “I told you to knock it off.”

“You can’t be serious!” Karui counters. “She’s the one who...”

“I could come back...” you offer, tilting your head to speak past the Kumo-nin and straight to Tsunade at her desk. She looks even more exhausted now than when you first let yourselves in.

“As if I’d let you...” Karui strains against your grip.

You push up on her elbow, forcing her to sheath her own sword against her will.

“Shut. Up.” you growl. “If you really want to fight me we can do that outside, when I’m finished here. Until then, just keep your idiot mouth shut for like five minutes while the grown-ups talk.”
>2/3

>>4315401
For a few seconds after you release her elbow you’re not sure if Karui is going to draw or not, but eventually she lowers her arm.

“Sorry about that,” you bow politely to the jōnin and to Tsunade. “But seriously, even my patience has limits.”

“They were just leaving,” Tsunade replies. “Samui-san, wasn’t it? Tell the Raikage exactly what I said to you. Verbatim. Understand?”

“He’s not going to like that,” ‘Samui’ admits. “But I will. Thanks for agreeing to meet with us.”

“Of course,” she inclines her head politely.

“Now, what’ve you brought here, Naori-kun?”

Samui pauses. “Raishō Naori-kun?”

“The same,” you reply.

The blonde sighs, grabbing Karui by her collar as she passes on her way to the door. “Karui, you really went and did it this time.”

“Meet you downstairs in a few minutes, dummy,” you taunt the chūnin. “You and the shy guy can both have a go if you like. I can spare the extra thirty seconds.”

“You...” Karui protests even as her senior drags her off.

Once the Kumo-nin are out of the way, Sasuke removes his hat. “Finally. I thought they’d never shut up.”

Tsunade’s eyes widen as she realizes who’s standing behind you. “Uchiha… Sasuke?”

“Ma’am,” he replies curtly, but with a polite bow. “I’ve… done what I left the village to do.”

“Just like that?” she demands.

“Yes,” Sasuke replies. “I don’t expect things to be simple, but both Orochimaru and Uchiha Itachi are dead. Whether Konohagakure will become my home again… I can’t say. It all depends.”

“On what?” Tsunade demands.

“On how you as the Hokage deal with the three surviving elders responsible for the extinction of my clan,” Sasuke explains. “Harboring them insults my family’s memories, and while it doesn’t mean we’re enemies it doesn’t exactly make this place seem like the welcoming home I once knew.”

“It also depends on what the Daimyō knew of the Uchiha massacre, if anything.”

“That I can tell you,” Tsunade admits. “The Daimyō wasn’t informed.”

“Good,” Sasuke admits. “That would’ve been a problem.”
>3/4

>>4315406
“But it also depends on how I feel about it once it’s not fresh in my mind,” Sasuke continues. “I just found out the truth, and I have a lot to think about from looking at my own clan’s records. There’s a lot about the Uchiha clan that I didn’t know before, or only thought I knew but never understood. It’s going to take some time to come to terms.”

“Where will you go?” Tsunade asks politely. “With Naori-kun? You could have a worse plan than that.”

Sasuke nods. “She made that offer, and I accepted.”

“Good,” Tsunade sighs wearily, turning in her seat to look out the window. “Like I said, it could be worse. Will you want to speak with your team while you’re here?”

“If I wanted to I’d have gone to them first,” Sasuke insists. “Naori-san went to some lengths to ensure I could decide things for myself, without interference… and she was right. I need time to myself right now.”

“But when you tell them I was here, would you mind also telling them something for me?”

“Of course not,” Tsunade replies.

“An apology would just be hollow,” he admits. “Instead I want you to tell them what happens when an Uchiha awakens the sharingan.”

…

When Sasuke has finished his explanation, Tsunade’s expression is unusually grave. “To think such a thing was so widespread… but not all Uchiha seem to have fallen victim to it. Uncle Tobirama used to speak fondly of Kagami, a student of his, and there were others too. Like one-eyed Naori, who was around when the village was founded, and ‘Shunshin’ Shisui.”

“Itachi never fell victim either,” you add. “Nor did Izumi.”

“Izumi?” Sasuke repeats.

“So I’m told,” you lie, omitting the fact that you learned as much from Izumi herself long after her death.

“So it’s not a certainty,” Tsunade summarizes. “Or else it’s something that can be broken with the proper mindset?”

“It seems so,” Sasuke agrees. “And I intend to try. Like I said though, I’ll need time.”

“You’ll have it,” Tsunade agrees. “You have my word.”

After a moment, Sasuke bows politely. “Thank you.”

>Unless you expect Sasuke to wear womens’ underwear from now on, we need to buy some clothes in privacy. Can you help ensure we have that?
>We’ll be leaving after I throw those Kumo idiots around for a while. Thanks for your understanding.
>It’d be pretty mean to leave Karui waiting for me out there. But I’m feeling pretty mean right now.
>Other?

>>4315417
>>Unless you expect Sasuke to wear womens’ underwear from now on, we need to buy some clothes in privacy. Can you help ensure we have that?
>>We’ll be leaving after I throw those Kumo idiots around for a while. Thanks for your understanding.

>>4315417
>>Unless you expect Sasuke to wear womens’ underwear from now on, we need to buy some clothes in privacy. Can you help ensure we have that?
>>We’ll be leaving after I throw those Kumo idiots around for a while. Thanks for your understanding.

>>4315417
>>Unless you expect Sasuke to wear womens’ underwear from now on, we need to buy some clothes in privacy. Can you help ensure we have that?
>>We’ll be leaving after I throw those Kumo idiots around for a while. Thanks for your understanding.
i also wouldn't mind keeping them waiting indefinetly
or shaking for that matter

>>4315417
Think Tsunade can get Shizune or someone trustworthy to accompany Sasuke shopping as we beat up the Kumo-nin?

>Unless you expect Sasuke to wear womens’ underwear from now on, we need to buy some clothes in privacy. Can you help ensure we have that?
>We’ll be leaving after I throw those Kumo idiots around for a while. Thanks for your understanding.

>>4315417
>Unless you expect Sasuke to wear womens’ underwear from now on, we need to buy some clothes in privacy. Can you help ensure we have that?
>We’ll be leaving after I throw those Kumo idiots around for a while. Thanks for your understanding.

>>4315417
>Unless you expect Sasuke to wear womens’ underwear from now on, we need to buy some clothes in privacy. Can you help ensure we have that?
>We’ll be leaving after I throw those Kumo idiots around for a while. Thanks for your understanding.

>>4315417
>1d6 high roll for trolling the Kumo-nin
>best three of five cause they're way out of their depth

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4315467

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4315467

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4315467
Yikes

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4315467

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4315467

>>4315467
“Unless you particularly like the idea of Sasuke walking around in womens’ underwear for the foreseeable future,” you muse, “we kind of need to go shopping. Could you ensure that we can do that without anyone knowing?”

“Please,” Sasuke insists quietly. “She has a point.”

“I can,” Tsunade agrees. “It’s the least I could do. But it’ll take some time to arrange.”

“That’s fine,” you shrug, creating a shadow clone. “I’ll use the time to teach those Kumo chūnin some humility.”

“You were serious about that?” Tsunade wonders aloud. “I’d have thought that would be a waste of time.”

“I won’t turn down some morning exercise,” you admit with a shrug. “If you’ll excuse me.”

“Sure.”

…

Downstairs you walk out into the little grassy park outside the building, which you’re vaguely aware is where academy students will often play during their breaks. Now the first few students to arrive in the morning are giving the Kumo team quite a bit of room.

“Took you long enough,” Karui smirks. “I was starting to think you wouldn’t show up.”

“It was ten minutes tops,” you sigh. “So that sounds like wishful thinking to me.”

“As if!” she replies, this time drawing her sword from a distance first. And this time, you let her. Instead you quietly open the first gate, the Gate of Opening. But instead of immediately making use of that power, you hold back for now.

“I’m looking forward to teaching you some respect!”

“And I’m looking forward to teaching you humility,” you counter. “It’ll be a good lesson for the kids.”

She raises her sword, obviously psyching herself up. “Omoi, back me up!”

“I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Omoi replies thoughtfully. “If you’re not right about this...”

“Oh, enough of your crap!” Karui barks. “I’m going, either back me up or don’t!”

As she charges, you start to draw on your strength, preparing to surpass your usual self-imposed limits. You duck under the swing at the last second, sliding one foot a few inches to widen your stance and maintain your balance, then the instant the sword is past you your body is back in the same posture it was in before you dodged.

Karui pauses, having stepped past you, and Omoi stares at you in surprise.

“Well that’s not right,” he muses.
>1/2

>>4315483
Samui, their jōnin team leader, is staring at you in wordless horror as you do the same thing to attack after attack… of the three of them she’s the only one who seems to realize what just happened. Had you been a bit better at utilizing the advantage of your first released gate she might not have even caught it, which goes to show how much room for improvement you still have. But in terms of potentially using the Eight Gates together with Sage Mode, this still seems promising. The shorter you can get the interval in which you exceed your physical limitations down to, the better the two enhanced states will mesh.

Even Omoi joins in, attacking more tactically with shadow clones summoned mid-attack. You reply to these by throwing senbon at unimaginable speeds while dodging, before returning each time to your original position. These senbon, to a keen observer, would seemingly appear stuck almost their entire length into trees or walls nearby, and again Samui seems to be the only such observer nearby.

“Huh,” you hear one of the academy brats watching in the little crowd by the door muse. “Maybe they’re not as scary as we thought.”

“You’re wrong,” a brown-haired girl next to her insists quietly. “She’s like… so cool.”

Wait… does she actually know what’s happening right now?

“Damn it!” Karui curses as her blade slides through your afterimage again. “Where are you!? Quit using genjutsu you coward, get out here and face me!”

“Karui, enough!” Samui barks. “That’s not genjutsu, you fool! Look at her feet!”

Karui glances down at your feet, and her eyes widen in realization as she notices the trampled grass from where you’ve been shifting your stance.

“She’s been dodging each of your attacks and moving back before you noticed that you were looking at her afterimage!” Samui explains. “She tracked Omoi’s clones too and dispersed them with senbon.”

“What a load!” Karui shouts. “Nobody’s that fast!”

“I said enough!” Samui insists, louder this time. “I don’t know if she’s as fast as Lord A, but even if she’s not she’s close enough that neither of you can even touch her.”

Karui stares at you, lowering her sword. “I don’t believe it.”

>Listen, we may not be FRIENDS but I’d appreciate if you wouldn’t start trouble for no reason.
>Insist to Samui that you have nothing against them, so they have nothing to be concerned about.
>Forget these losers. You’re more interested in that Academy brat watching your fight.
>Other?

>>4315497
>Insist to Samui that you have nothing against them, so they have nothing to be concerned about.
>Forget these losers. You’re more interested in that Academy brat watching your fight.

>>4315497
>I'm not even using sage mode, you know. This isn't even close to my top speed.
>Insist to Samui that you have nothing against them, so they have nothing to be concerned about.
>Forget these losers. You’re more interested in that Academy brat watching your fight.

>>4315497
>>Forget these losers. You’re more interested in that Academy brat watching your fight.

>>4315503
>>4315497
Supporting this

>>4315497
>>4315503
this

>>4315503
>This isn't even my final form!

>>4315497
>Insist to Samui that you have nothing against them, so they have nothing to be concerned about.
>Forget these losers. You’re more interested in that Academy brat watching your fight.

>>4315503
this

>>4315554
>>4315567
Please link to queens post to easier identify votes, thank you

>>4315497
>Other?: Prove your speed by snatching her forehead protector, then return it to her.
>Insist to Samui that you have nothing against them, so they have nothing to be concerned about.
>Forget these losers. You’re more interested in that Academy brat watching your fight.

>>4315607
That forehead protector thing is extremely rude, let's not.

>>4315497
>I’m sandbagging pretty badly right now. Amongst the Akatsuki before I left I was 3rd to fourth amongst them, and anyone in the group could destroy a village with ease bordering on contempt. Please keep trying if you think I’m lying, but I’ll stop holding back.

>>4315497
>Insist to Samui that you have nothing against them, so they have nothing to be concerned about.
>Forget these losers. You’re more interested in that Academy brat watching your fight.

>>4315417
>Like one-eyed Naori, who was around when the village was founded
I just caught up from last night, but Queen's done Time Shit before...

>>4315646
there is a Naori Uchiha in canon, our Naori is named after her
Queen is good enough a writer to not do the same trick twice in as many quests

>>4315649
Fair enough. I really don't know canon that well beyond the major strokes.

>>4315650
i don't either, i just heard her mentioned and googled to confirm it

>>4315646
>>4315649
Actually, I DID steal the name, though IC they're totally unrelated. Also, 'one-eyed' is referring to the fact that Uchiha Naori used one of her clan's kinjutsu that leaves you blind in one eye.

>>4315497
>>Forget these losers. You’re more interested in that Academy brat watching your fight.

>>4315497
>>4315503
supporting.
kohai, get?

>>4315497
>>4315629