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>>4501914
But also, you tell them about the people you’ve chosen to surround yourself with since your mother’s death. You tell them about Karin and Fū, about Yugitō, Naruto, and their tailed beasts, about Sasuke and Tsunade and Kurotsuchi and Temari and even Ayame. Yes, you even tell them about the ramen-shop girl who always welcomes you so warmly when you visit.

All the while, they listen quietly, and patiently. Then when you’re done, your father is the first to speak.

“Shimura Danzō was killed in the Second Shinobi World War,” he informs you. “By lord Hanzō. Amegakure largely avoided the worst of the Third war.”

“And with Obito dead in this version of events...” you realize. “Your generation of Akatsuki succeeded?”

He nods gently. “That’s right. About the time you say you remember your mother dying I stepped away from Akatsuki to focus on my family… I had tried to stay relevant with their new powerhouses coming in one at a time, but my storm release could only carry me so far.”

“And when we had you I retired as a courtesan,” your mother tells you. “I became a fashion designer, but I always wanted to nurture your love of the arts… which honestly were the only aspect of my previous vocation I earnestly enjoyed until meeting your father.”

“Naori… I am so very sorry that you had to endure the life you’ve spoken of without us.”

You pause for a few moments, struggling to find the right words to express the feeling. “I… wanted this, but I never allowed myself to think about it. So I’m not crying because it was hard, but because I don’t know what to feel right now.”

“In some ways, it’s harder than when I had to let you go the second time, mother.”

Your father tilts his head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I… can use senjutsu chakra and summoning to temporarily call a soul into the living world,” you explain as carefully and thoroughly as you can. “But yeah, no, it would be wrong to bind a soul to the living world indefinitely.”

“Letting go is hard… but sometimes it’s right.”

There’s a long silence after that.

“I see that you raised quite a young woman, Makoto,” your father smiles.

Your mother, for her part, gestures for you to sit near her on the couch she chose when they first welcomed you into their home. When you oblige her, she pulls you in close.

“You may not be the daughter we know,” she tells you quietly, “and we may not be the parents you know, but that does not change how I feel about you. I am certain your father feels the same way.”
>2/3

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>>4501916
You only vaguely remember crying, your head in your mother’s lap, until you’d exhausted yourself. Rather than wake you your father puts a blanket over you, leaves the room, and turns out the lights.

…

The next morning you wake to the smell of bacon, pulling off your armor and setting it aside before heading to the table. Umekiri-maru and the Rai Tenryushi you seal into the Raikō Kenka markings on your left palm before sitting down at the table where Uzumaki Rai is already sipping at a cup of coffee.

“You prefer coffee?” you ask, for lack of anything better to say.

He nods. “Better suited to drinking it in the mud than tea.”

“True enough,” you agree. “So, yeah, thanks for letting me sleep.”

“I figured you’d be a bit overwhelmed,” he admits. “Hell, it hit me hard and I wasn’t talking to the dead.”

You can’t help but chuckle. “All this time I’ve never once thought of what I’d say to you if I could, so now that I can I’m at a loss. I’m sorry.”

“You never tried to revive me?” he wonders.

“No one ever found your bodies,” you admit. “The only survivors from the original Akatsuki in my time were Konan-sensei and Nagato-han.”

“And Konan-san was the one who took care of you?” he asks. “Completed your training?”

You shake your head. “It’s more like we took care of each other. We’re still close, even though I’m no longer her student.”

“That’s gratifying to hear,” Rai admits with a smile. “Though I have to say it’s a little deflating.”

“How so?”

“It means my parenting isn’t responsible for my Naori growing up into such a wonderful young woman.”

“Speaking of whom,” Makoto asks you as she puts breakfast on the table and sits, with two cups of tea for you and for herself. “What does this mean about our own Naori?”

>When I return to my own world, things should go back to normal… whatever ‘normal’ means.
>It’s possible we traded places… if that’s the case, MY Konan-sensei will care for her.
>One of my friends who got stuck with me also exists in this world… I’ll help you find your Naori.
>Other?

>>4501917
>>It’s possible we traded places… if that’s the case, MY Konan-sensei will care for her.
>>One of my friends who got stuck with me also exists in this world… I’ll help you find your Naori.

>>4501917
>It’s possible we traded places… if that’s the case, MY Konan-sensei will care for her.
but
>One of my friends who got stuck with me also exists in this world… I’ll help you find your Naori.
>Honestly, i'm not really sure how all this works. I've dealt with temporal shenanigans before, but never alternate realities.

>Naori is a musician in this world
>Hence there shouldn't be much of a reason to arrest her in the first place.
...Well shit.

>>4501917
>>It’s possible we traded places… if that’s the case, MY Konan-sensei will care for her.
>>One of my friends who got stuck with me also exists in this world… I’ll help you find your Naori.

>>4501917
>One of my friends who got stuck with me also exists in this world… I’ll help you find your Naori.

>>4501917
Alright, after thinking things through I think this is the most appropriate response.
>..:I didn't get stuck with Deidara in this world did I?

>>4501917
>When I return to my own world, things should go back to normal… whatever ‘normal’ means.
>It’s possible we traded places… if that’s the case, MY Konan-sensei will care for her.

>>4501917
>>One of my friends who got stuck with me also exists in this world… I’ll help you find your Naori.

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>>4501917
“If ‘your’ Naori is in ‘my’ world, Konan-sensei will take care of her,” you insist. “And if she’s just somewhere else in this world, I can at least try to help you find her. Who currently leads Akatsuki and the village?”

“The village head is lord Hanzō,” Makoto tells you.

“And Akatsuki is led by Yahiko-san,” Rai adds. “They agreed to lead the village together, so that lord Hanzō will pass responsibility to Yahiko-san when he is no longer able.”

“And where are they right now?”

“Now?” Makoto repeats.

You nod with a sad smile. “Yeah no, I promised to tell help find your Naori… I think the first step has to be going to Hanzō-tono and Yahiko-han.”

“Yes, I suppose that is true,” Makoto admits quietly.

…

After the dishes have been washed your… no. That’s not right. The other Naori’s parents lead you to a high tower, which if you remember correctly used to be where Hanzō’s apartments and office were located. And in this world, that’s still what they are.

…

“Rai-san, Makoto-san!” Yahiko-han greets the pair cheerfully after you’ve been ushered into the reception room. He and Hanzō are both present… the latter seems somewhat less imposing than you’d built him up in your mind.

“This is rare… and you’ve brought Naori-kun! In… armor, for some reason?”

“Go on,” Rai suggests. “Show him.”

You produce a handful of sealing tags, and fold them into origami butterflies in midair. “Yeah no, I need your permission to search the village for… well, for myself.”

Both men stare in confusion.

“When did you learn that?” Yahiko-han asks you.

“As strange as it may seem to both of you, this girl is not the Uzumaki Naori you may be familiar with,” Makoto insists. “Seriously, what we are about to tell you will sound outlandish, but we believe it to be completely true.”

“So please, just listen to what she has to say.”
>1/3

>>4502314
“I do believe that something like that is conceivable,” Hanzō admits. “And I can also tell just the same as Rai-san here that the Umekiri-maru Naori-kun is carrying is genuine, which means that not only is it conceivable, but it appears to have happened.”

“So… what do we do about this?” Yahiko-han wonders aloud.

That’s when you produce the scroll. “Tsunade-hime has requested Akatsuki’s help, this is the initial contact. Aside from that I wanted permission to use my origami butterflies to search the village for myself.”

“Very well,” Hanzō nods curtly. “And if you do not find her?”

“Then yeah, no, my assumption has to become that she and I traded places.”

…

After thoroughly searching not just the village but its immediate surroundings, you determine that the other you isn’t anywhere to be found… you’re forced to call off the search.

“Well, that settles it,” you sigh. “She’s not here, so it’s most likely that she’s with my version of Konan-sensei.”

“Hey, tell me something,” Yahiko-han muses thoughtfully. “In this world you say you’re from, are you part of Akatsuki?”

“I was,” you admit. “The obi, right?”

He nods once. “Yeah, your obi. You still display it proudly?”

“Yeah no, I won’t hide who I am,” you shake your head. “Even though my leaving led to the organization’s collapse, I still believe in many of the things it originally stood for.”

Hanzō, meanwhile, appears to have fallen deep into thought, looking all the while at Umekiri and Tenryushi where they sit at your side.

“You consider yourself a kenjutsu expert?” he asks you.

You nod. “For sure. In my world Umekiri-maru helped me create a style of kenjutsu that hybridizes the samurai Sōkō school with momentary genjutsu, cast through the blade as a medium.”

“Tell me this then,” he continues. “How familiar are you with the Seven Swords of the Mist?”

“I’ve faced two of them,” you recount, “Kiba having left the scar on my eye. I also know Kisame-han has Samehada.”

“And like your father, your affinity is for the storm release?”

“That’s right. What are you getting at, Hanzō-dono?”
>2/3

>>4502317
“If someone is menacing two entire worlds,” Hanzō declares, “and you can potentially stop them, then it would be an act of negligence not to give you the best chance possible. And if you are a sage and an Uzumaki, then you certainly do have that potential.”

“You’re talking about giving me the Kiba?” you realize. “Aren’t you?”

“Lend,” Hanzō insists. “Along with the Kubikiribōchō. I would say those would be a sufficiently nasty surprise for anyone who thinks they already know your abilities.”

“… you’re offering to let me carry two of the Shichiken.”

He nods curtly. “If you have truly mastered the Umekiri Ichimonji then these should be no problem for you.”

“I… I’m flattered,” you muse, still somewhat shocked at the direction this has taken. “Are you certain?”

Hanzō nods. “Oh, and be careful with the Kubikiribōchō… I made some modifications of my own, back when I was a bit closer to my prime.”

“How so?”

“I deliberately damaged the edge, and used blood laced with the salamander poison within my own body to rebuild it. You know of the Seversword’s properties?”

“I do,” you nod. “Seriously creepy stuff.”

“And very effective,” Hanzō muses. “The blade is now poisonous to the touch from hamon line to hasaki. Anyone cut with the blade will suffer paralysis, with death occurring within two days.”

>I… I can’t accept these. I have a fighting style that I’d prefer to stick to.
>I think I can work these into my fighting style, with shadow clones and hiraishin.
>Why are you doing this?
>Other?

>>4502320
>>I think I can work these into my fighting style, with shadow clones and hiraishin.
>Why are you doing this?

>>4502320
>>I think I can work these into my fighting style, with shadow clones and hiraishin.
>>Why are you doing this?

>>4502320
>>I think I can work these into my fighting style, with shadow clones and hiraishin.
>>Why are you doing this?

>>4502320
>>I think I can work these into my fighting style, with shadow clones and hiraishin.
>>Why are you doing this?

Could Naori get a sample to revive her father once she gets back?

>>4502320
>I think I can work these into my fighting style, with shadow clones and hiraishin.
>Why are you doing this?

>>4502320
>Ask if this version of Akatsuki remember the fight in our world from the previous thread.
Could reveal something how this world swapping works.

>>4502372
I was under the impression we did that when fighting the beast path

>>4502320
>>I think I can work these into my fighting style, with shadow clones and hiraishin.

>>4502320
>I… I can’t accept these. I have a fighting style that I’d prefer to stick to.

>>4502320
>Why are you doing this?

I was hoping we'd make more progress on sage mode combined with the 8 gates before going too ham with weapons. There seemed to be a lot of potential left there. Remember when we did the meditation thing and flabbergasted Sasuke? Good times.

>>4502679
I mean, we are not getting that training before the fight with the coolest guys and we likely won't be getting the chance to try some legendary weapons in a while so might as well. We can already use gates sage mode in short bursts which is plenty enough.

Does anyone remember what happened to Kiba in the first place?

>>4502795
Itachi snagged them iirc

>>4502320
>>I think I can work these into my fighting style, with shadow clones and hiraishin.
>>Why are you doing this?

>I think I can work these into my fighting style, with shadow clones and hiraishin.
>Why are you doing this?

>>4502372
This version of Rai, Naori would be fairly certain IC doesn't actually exist, and nobody she knows has any idea where his body is in her own world.

>>4502795
Itachi and Kisame had them at one point. Where they are now, Naori has never asked.

>>4502679
>>4502707
Eight Gates Sage Mode is basically stacking Kaio-ken on top of Sage Mode, complete with the risk of backlash damage at higher multiplications. It's an imperfect but very powerful combination.

Any higher than the Second Gate would never be worth the consequences.

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>>4502320
“Why are you doing this?”

Your question seems to come as no surprise to Hanzō, who replies immediately. “The adults of this village have worked hard to create peace and stability, and I think it’s time to start entrusting that to the children we created it for. Besides, better that than to let these swords rust away in my possession, wouldn’t you agree?”

“You… aren’t how I imagined, Hanzō-dono,” you admit. “But yeah, no, I’ll accept these swords for now. Between shadow clones and the hiraishin I can probably put them all to good use.”

“So you know the technique of the Nidaime Hokage and the Yellow Flash?” Hanzō muses. “Fascinating if true.”

“Yeah, that one you’re going to have to...” Yahiko begins, only for you to teleport to a hiraishin-marked origami butterfly fluttering behind him, reappearing with the kashira at the end of Umekiri’s hilt pressed lightly against his back.

“… let’s say I believe you now,” Yahiko continues.

You return to a hirashin marking across the room, returning Umekiri and her saya to your hip where they belong. “As I was saying, I think I can make use of what you’ve offered to lend me, Hanzō-dono.”

“I see that,” Hanzō chuckles, evidently amused at this development. “I almost feel sorry for whatever poor bastard will have to fight you now.”

…

You’re led by a chūnin to a guarded room, in which is an extensive collection of blades… mostly mounted in shirasaya marked with calligraphic inscriptions. Three saya stand out: two are obviously shaped to allow for the prongs of the Kiba blades, and one is large enough to be Kubikiribōchō. So those are the ones you take off the wall.

“So you do know them on sight?” Rai frowns. “I suppose that means the story of you getting your eye cut out is also true… I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It helped define who I am,” you admit, unsheathing the very same blades which in your world did it to you. “The balance feels a bit strange.”

You swing the two swords, first one at a time, then in unison, in specific combinations and movements to strike specific targets and block specific threats. Then you cross the swords and perform the shadow clone, with the clone taking Kubikiribōchō off the wall and drawing it. Your clone hefts the massive cleaver, swinging it with two hands, then with one hand. Then she begins to test various ways of making use of its mass.

She actually goes so far as to make upward swings by kicking the spine of the blade, and by moving her body around the stationary blade instead of the other way around.
>1/2

>>4503118
When you step outside you begin channelling lightning chakra through the Kiba swords, you find that they’re a whole different level of responsiveness from Umekiri… for lack of a better way to describe it, you’re much more aware of the fact that the sword you’re more used to is actually resistant to your own chakra, while the Kiba feel almost like they’re drawing your chakra in of their own accord.

You toss one blade into the air, and catch it. Then you do the same thing with the other, observing how they tend to turn in the air when left to their own devices. What you begin to notice is that while the fang-like projections that give the blades their name look and feel somewhat awkward in your hand, they’re ideal for throwing. And you also find very quickly that these weapons in particular hold a ‘charge’ extraordinarily well when they’re separated from you.

As the ghosts of your parents watch, you begin to use the same principles of control that you use on your paper tags to suspend the Kiba blades in midair, spinning like tops until you snatch them by their grips and throw them both through the air. Then you stop them, directing them in wide arcs back to hover next to you. Finally you let them drop into your hands, and lower them.

“Yeah, feels good,” you muse, satisfied at the experience. Then you place one Kiba blade into each Raikō Kenka on your palm, and place Kubikiribōchō into a marking on your right shoulder, where it would be slung were you carrying it normally.

“Your fūinjutsu seems very advanced,” Makoto smiles. “This is… quite different from what I expect from my daughter.”

“It’s one of my strengths,” you admit. “From my mother’s side, as the ranton chakra transformation is a strength from my father’s side. The paper ninjutsu is what my sensei gave to me.”

>I have to go back to Konohagakure now. However this turns out… I’ll be sure to come back before it’s over.
>I can stay a little longer, if you’d like.
>I’d like to speak to some other people here in the village, if you’ll indulge me.
>Other?

>>4503183
>>I have to go back to Konohagakure now. However this turns out… I’ll be sure to come back before it’s over.

>>4503183
>I can stay a little longer, if you’d like.

>>4503183
>I have to go back to Konohagakure now. However this turns out… I’ll be sure to come back before it’s over.
We've had our break, and we don't know the time difference between worlds.
Better solve it ASAP.

>>4503183
>I have to go back to Konohagakure now. However this turns out… I’ll be sure to come back before it’s over

>>4503183
>I have to go back to Konohagakure now. However this turns out… I’ll be sure to come back before it’s over.

>>4503183
>>I have to go back to Konohagakure now. However this turns out… I’ll be sure to come back before it’s over.

>>4503183
>>I’d like to speak to some other people here in the village, if you’ll indulge me.
Wanna meet alt-Ajisai

>>4502986
Fair enough. I shall instead direct my interest towards other far-fetched goals like elemental-nature. Could even partner up with Konan to work on those.

As an aside: imagine what sort of Kekkei Tota Konan might have with her 3 elements. I can dream.

>>4503183
“I have to go back to Konohagakure now,” you admit quietly, not really sure what to do now. “Seriously, I wish I could stay… but your daughter and my friends need my help.”

“Just promise us one thing,” your father insists, shutting his eyes.

“What is it?”

“At least come back to see us before you go… assuming you can.”

“I would like that too,” your mother agrees. “At very least, to say a proper goodbye to my daughter.”

Silently, you draw a kunai marked with your hiraishin, and hand it ring-first to your mother.

“I can only promise to try,” you tell her. “And I do promise.”

After an all-too-brief hug, you teleport back to the marking you left in Tsunade’s office.

…

“Is something the matter?” Tsunade asks you with a frown. “You look like you’ve been crying.”

“Yeah no, it’s personal,” you insist bluntly. “Are Minato-han and the others back yet?”

“They will be this afternoon,” Tsunade replies.

“And Kurotsuchi-han?”

“Still here,” Tsunade informs you. “I’ve had her under watch since you left abruptly. I think you’ll find her at Ichiraku’s.”

…

“Hey, you know this girl in the real world?” Kurotsuchi asks you discreetly over a bowl of bone broth ramen.

“Yeah,” you admit. “Why?”

“Is she supposed to be… well, like this?”

You shake your head. “Ayame-han is warm, and friendly, and very open.”

“She’s...” Kurotsuchi struggles with the words. “Not that. At all.”

You glance up at Ayame, who seems to be working silently in back, avoiding all eye contact with any customers she meets and generally keeping her distance. Any time the cooking fires flare at all it seems to startle her.

“This world’s loss,” you shrug. “Personally I’ve seen enough of these little reversals.”
>1/2

>>4504301
Eventually Naruto comes to join you, slumping over the counter.

“I’m not cut out for this kinda stuff,” he grumbles, “ya know?”

“Yeah, no, you’re not the only one who’s had a rough time with it,” you frown.

“Yeah?” he turns to glare at you. “That so?”

“In this world my parents are both alive, too,” you tell him. “So yeah, that’s so.”

“… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“It’s just that I know this isn’t real,” Naruto insists, “but they seem so… so much like what I expected them to be. It feels real, and I can’t shake it.”

“My ‘parents’ in this world know I’m not ‘their’ daughter,” you admit quietly. “But they were kind to me, welcomed me into their home, and comforted me. They understood what I told them, and backed me when I took that information to Hanzō.”

“But they’re not real,” you remind him. “For sure they’re not. My parents died, a long time ago, and left me as their legacy. So even if part of me wants to stay here, I can’t. I’m sure you know that too.”

“Yeah,” Naruto admits. “You’re right. But it’s not easy.”

“So what’s this big mission the Fourth took you all on?” Kurotsuchi presses to change the subject.

“Some scroll involved in this toad geezer’s prophecies,” Naruto sighs.

“A prophecy… by a toad?” Kurotsuchi wonders.

“A senile toad,” you add. “But evidently one who’s usually right.”

“Great,” Kurotsuchi grumbles. “You’re really selling me on this.”

>So we’re expected to just sit tight until the conditions of this ‘prophecy’ are in place?
>I think we can keep taking action on our own to prepare for a battle. Let’s go over what we know.
>Where’s Sakura, anyway? I’d understand if YOU wanted to live in this world a little, but her?
>Other?

>>4504311
>>I think we can keep taking action on our own to prepare for a battle. Let’s go over what we know.
>>Where’s Sakura, anyway? I’d understand if YOU wanted to live in this world a little, but her

>>4504311
>>I think we can keep taking action on our own to prepare for a battle. Let’s go over what we know.
>>Where’s Sakura, anyway? I’d understand if YOU wanted to live in this world a little, but her?
character development for the pinky? lets hope so

>>4504311
>I think we can keep taking action on our own to prepare for a battle. Let’s go over what we know.
>Where’s Sakura, anyway? I’d understand if YOU wanted to live in this world a little, but her?

>>4504311
>Where’s Sakura, anyway? I’d understand if YOU wanted to live in this world a little, but her?

>>4504311
>>I think we can keep taking action on our own to prepare for a battle. Let’s go over what we know.
>>Where’s Sakura, anyway? I’d understand if YOU wanted to live in this world a little, but her?

>>4504311
>Where’s Sakura, anyway? I’d understand if YOU wanted to live in this world a little, but her?

>>4504311
>>I think we can keep taking action on our own to prepare for a battle. Let’s go over what we know.

>>4504311
“We should go over what we know so far,” you suggest. “Hey, Naruto… where’s Sakura? Seriously, between the two of you I wouldn’t bet on her being the one to wander off.”

“I don’t actually know,” he admits. “We… kinda had an argument.”

“Really?” Kurotsuchi frowns. “I wouldn’ta thunk it. What’d the two of you end up arguing about anyway?”

“I think… this is all starting to bug her,” Naruto admits. “I don’t wanna think about it this way, but I think she feels like maybe I’m not giving it my all cause I have parents in this world.”

“Are you?” you ask him. “Giving it your all I mean?”

There’s a long pause. “I was.”

“… I think I understand,” you nod. “Though I also think you need handle that feeling if we’re going to get out of this.”

…

You use your paper butterflies again to search the village, as well as set up a few stations at varying distances outside the village. You don’t really suspect that Sakura has run off or anything like that, but it sounds as if Minato-han and his team have brought home something really troublesome and it remains a frustration to you that all of the markings you should have available are gone.

After a brief search you find Sakura’s chakra signature at the Konoha hospital, one of the few buildings that looks the same as when you left its ‘real’ counterpart back in your own world. She’s inside one of the wings, treating Tenten for what you presume is a series of self-inflicted kunai wounds.

“This is so surreal,” Tenten muses as she watches Sakura work. “Since when do you know healing techniques?”

“Since when do you fumble kunai?” Sakura sighs. “Okay, done. And if you want my advice? Take the rest of the day off.”

As she leaves the room, Tenten pauses. “Hey Menma-kun, you know Hinata was looking for you?”

Naruto looks visibly worried. “Please don’t tell her you saw me.”

“Are you having a fight or something?”

“Somethin’ like that.”

“Well, best of luck to you!” Tenten smirks.

There’s a prolonged silence as the four of you stand in the now otherwise-empty hospital room, as though each of you is waiting for someone else to say something first.
>1/3

>>4505807
“Yeah no, I’ll go first then,” you declare. “What we already know is that in this world personalities have been drastically changed. So just because we have Tsunade-han and Minato-han on our side doesn’t mean we’re in any stronger a position, because both of them are weaker than we’d expect.”

“Why do you say that?” Sakura asks with a frown.

“I suspect it’s because in this world Minato-han declined the position of Hokage,” you guess, “out of a sense of guilt for what happened to his students during the war. I’ve also learned that the ‘masked man’ we’ll be facing is most likely Menma.”

“Wait, it’s this version of me?” Naruto demands. “How the hell do you figure THAT?”

“I fought him briefly,” you explain. “He used a rasengan with tailed beast chakra… so it’s pretty clearly you. I do have some good news though, when I went to Amegakure Hanzō lent me two of the Seven Swords of the Mist… the Kiba and the Kubikiribōchō.”

Kurotsuchi whistles in appreciation. “Wow, really?”

“The what and the what?” Naruto squints.

“Kubikiribōchō was Zabuza’s sword,” Sakura reminds him.

“Wow, really? But how’re you gonna use all four...”

“Five,” you interrupt. “Kiba is a pair of swords.”

“All five of those swords at once?”

“Shadow clones,” you shrug. “Though to be honest I can probably use the Kiba blades remotely… it’s just a lot to focus on all at once.”

“So with all that and the scroll,” Sakura muses, “this should go in our favor.”

“The one thing I’d be cautious of is Obito,” you point out.

“That’s right,” Sakura agrees, “I’d almost forgotten, since we haven’t seen him so far.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Kurotsuchi and Naruto ask almost in unison, before glaring at each other.

“It’s possible that if he’s not in the genjutsu he can’t take physical form,” Sakura suggests.

“For sure,” you agree curtly. “But yeah, even if he can’t that doesn’t make him powerless.”
>2/3

>>4505808
“So how do we fight him?” Kurotsuchi wonders.

“Yeah no, I suspect I’m here because I’m right,” you allow yourself to speculate a little. “If he is the same Obito who gave his left eye to Kakashi-han, then it makes sense that his right eye would work on similar principles. So instead of pulling targets into a separate dimension at a range he can only do it to himself or things he’s touching. That’s totally consistent with both of the times I’ve fought him.”

“So how does he go intangible like that?” Naruto asks curiously.

“He doesn’t,” you shake your head. “Only the parts of him that would normally have been struck are affected, and those are simply transported to the same dimension as Kakashi-han’s Kamui.”

“So he has to switch modes to attack,” Sakura realizes the implication immediately. “Leaving him vulnerable… the timing must be especially tight.”

“My hiraishin is faster,” you nod curtly. “I’ve confirmed it in combat. So if he tried to pull me into that dimension I’d simply teleport and leave a Shiyō Kubaku tag behind to get drawn in. Then I’d teleport back and use a hiraishingiri… even if he could evade it...”

“… he’d be teleporting his body into a series of explosions,” Sakura completes your thought. “So he can’t use that technique on you.”

Naruto and Kurotsuchi simply stare with increasingly vacant looks as you pick up from there. “Yeah, no, it’s worse for him… either by using Uchiha Shisui’s technique, the Kotoamatsukami, or by using Kakashi-han’s Kamui, I don’t even need him to try it.”

“Are you getting any of this?” Naruto asks Kurotsuchi.

Kurotsuchi frowns. “Let’s call it half?”

“So if we fight him,” Sakura muses, “you can kill him?”

>He may not even physically be here with us, remember?
>It’s possible, but I’d prefer not to show my hand until it’s sure to work.
>I doubt he’ll act directly. We need to consider dealing with ‘Menma’ first.
>Other?

>>4505831
>>He may not even physically be here with us, remember?
so >I doubt he’ll act directly. We need to consider dealing with ‘Menma’ first.

>>4505831
>I doubt he’ll act directly. We need to consider dealing with ‘Menma’ first.

>>4505831
>He may not even physically be here with us, remember?
So
>I doubt he’ll act directly. We need to consider dealing with ‘Menma’ first.

>>4505831
>It’s possible, but I’d prefer not to show my hand until it’s sure to work.

>>4505831
>1d6
>High roll, taking the first three

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4506056

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4506056

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4506056

>>4506056
Working on an update but it'll probably be tomorrow.

>>4505831
It’s kind of impressive that Sakura can follow Naori’s techniques to that extent.
>He may not even physically be here with us, remember?

>>4506177
“We’ll need to deal with this masked man first,” you decide. “And Obito himself may not even be physically here… you can come in at any point.”

After a few seconds, Namikaze Minato steps into the room with a slight bow. “My apologies for eavesdropping. I know it’s not very gentlemanly.”

“I did offer to share information,” you sigh. “You wanted to know about Uchiha Obito?”

“That’s right.”

“Yeah no, in our world he is a terrorist,” you explain. “We haven’t verified his identity, but his Mangekyō abilities are very similar to Kakashi-han’s.”

“Is that so?” Minato-han frowns. “I find that hard to believe… he wasn’t the brightest student I had, or the hardest worker, but he was always sincere and he cared deeply for his comrades.”

“Something changed,” you shrug. “I don’t know the details of what happened next.”

“What happened next is that Nohara Rin was killed,” Minato-han explains. “After Kirigakure kidnapped her and put one of their tailed beasts inside her… she died at Kakashi-kun’s hand.”

Seeing that nobody in the room is able to put their thoughts on that into words, Minato continues. “It was her choice. In stepping in front of Kakashi’s chidori like that, she saved our village.”

“For sure… that may be the reason,” you admit. “I know a little about the sharingan. If the Uchiha Obito in our world awakened his Mangekyō at that point, he’d be a different person than he was before.”

“Wait, explain that to us,” Sakura insists.

“The sharingan’s development involves changes in the brain,” you clarify. “The Uchiha clan knew about the risk for generations… some have been better at dealing with those changes than others.”

“Yeah no, I thought Sasuke-kun would’ve told you about this?”

“Nothing like that,” Naruto admits. “Just that he needed space, ya know?”

“That I guess shouldn’t surprise me,” you shake your head, before turning to Minato-han. “So there’s your explanation.”

You deliberately omit the fact that your enemy here, in this world, is actually his son and the version of Kurama sealed inside him. Because in this world, you don’t know for sure what will happen if he and Kushina-han find out about that… it could send them into a panic, and that wouldn’t be helpful to anyone themselves included. It feels strange having to micromanage the emotional states of two grown adults like this, especially given how highly they’re regarded in your world.
>1/2

>>4507035
Minato-han frowns at you. “I can tell you’re hiding something from me, but I can’t tell what. I suppose I’ll just have to trust in your intentions.”

“Menma,” Minato-han greets what he still thinks must be his son, “we’re having dinner at six, so be sure not to be late, okay?”

Naruto looks awkwardly at the floor. “Right. Sure.”

…

You, Sakura, and Kurotsuchi all end up having dinner together, having no one to invite you into their home… though you suppose your own parents in this world might offer, that would just hurt more in the long run. You think that they understand that.

So instead you find a barbecue place and sit down at a booth… it’s still a weird way to eat to you, but you’re not in the mood to see what this genjutsu has done to Ayame meaning that noodles are out.

“Don’t look now,” Kurotsuchi mutters, “but that crazy white-eyes chick is here, and she looks pissed.”

“So I hear you’ve been spending a lot of time with Menma,” this world’s version of Hinata growls.

“Who’re you talking to?” Kurotsuchi glares back.

“You, the redhead with the gross scar,” Hinata declares. “You’d better...”

>He and I are cousins, you moron. Now leave me alone.
>She can see your chakra, right? Sage mode it is then.
>You can leave voluntarily, or with my fist in your face.
>Other.

>>4507044
>He and I are cousins, you moron. Now leave me alone.
>She can see your chakra, right? Sage mode it is then.

Nonchalantly slip into Sage mode while eating

>>4507044
>>She can see your chakra, right? Sage mode it is then.
And then as a parting shot:
>He and I are cousins, you moron. Now leave me alone.

>>4507044
>He and I are cousins, you moron. Now leave me alone.
>She can see your chakra, right? Sage mode it is then.

>>4507049
>>4507044
agreed, that should get her of our back

>>4507049
>>4507044
>supporting

>>4507044
>"Yeah, no. My hair isn't just red, it's the exact same shade as his mother's. Because he and I are cousins. Or maybe you aren't actually close enough to Menma to have met his family?
>Also, while I understand the Hyugas have some 'strange traditions' when it comes to family, let me assure you that such things do not extend to the Uzumakis. I have less than no interest in him romantically.
>Lastly, and this is the really important part." Sage mode, "Fuck off."

>>4507044
>He and I are cousins, you moron. Now leave me alone.
If she doesn’t
>She can see your chakra, right? Sage mode it is then.

>>4507044
>>4507253
>>"Yeah, no. My hair isn't just red, it's the exact same shade as his mother's. Because he and I are cousins. Or maybe you aren't actually close enough to Menma to have met his family?
>>Also, while I understand the Hyugas have some 'strange traditions' when it comes to family, let me assure you that such things do not extend to the Uzumakis. I have less than no interest in him romantically.
>>Lastly, and this is the really important part." Sage mode, "Fuck off."

Naori had just about enough of genjutsu-land.

>>4507044
“Sit down.”

“I’d rather...” Hinata begins, only for you to interrupt as you enter sage mode… it was her mistake for thinking that she could intimidate you by using the byakugan from the start.

“Yeah no, that wasn’t a suggestion.”

After a few moments of silence, Hinata takes a seat diagonally across from you.

“So yeah, listen,” you insist, staring straight into the eyes. “I’m only going to say this once: ‘Menma’ and I are cousins on our respective mothers’ sides. Sakura and ‘Menma’ are teammates. Kurotsuchi-han met ‘Menma’ two days ago.”

“Your insecurity is your own problem. Not mine.”

“… insecurity?” she repeats.

You nod. “For sure. It’s because your spoiled-princess ego couldn’t survive it if he turned you down. Am I wrong?”

The way her face twitches tells you that you’re not.

“Now, do yourself and the rest of us a favor,” you declare. “Go home.”

“I...”

“Again, that wasn’t a suggestion.”

…

After Hinata has slunk off, Sakura sighs dramatically. “Would it kill you to at least try playing nice?”

“It’d kill someone,” you frown.

Sakura seems at a loss for words, but eventually decides to simply move on. “To be fair it’ll be a lot nicer to live here without a crazy version of Hinata breathing down our necks.”

“No kidding,” Kurotsuchi grumbles. “I’m actually really glad I never went back to Iwagakure, I don’t think I could handle this if it was all people I knew.”

“Yeah no, it doesn’t speak well to Obito’s ability to get his genjutsu to work on everyone that he can’t get it to work on just four of us,” you admit. “Does it?”

Sakura cradles her head in her hands. “Oh for the love of...”

“Who is it this time?” you grumble.

“It’s Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji,” she informs you.

“Hey guys!” Shikamaru greets you. “Sakura, and… the two of you that aren’t Sakura. It’s been so long since...”
>1/2

>>4507333
“We’ve never been introduced,” Choji interrupts.

“Ah,” he grins stupidly. “That’d explain it! Whew, that’s way less awkward!”

“I’m starting to hate this,” Sakura grumbles mutinously.

“I don’t see anything different,” you quip.

“That’s not fair and you know it.”

“So, Sakura-kun,” Ino muses. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your new friends?”

“Well, the one with the dark hair is Kurotsuchi-san,” Sakura-kun begins, and Kurotsuchi raises a hand to offer a brief wave.

“And the one with the red hair is Naori-san, from Amegakure,” she continues, and you offer a slow nod.

…

After a mercifully short conversation with the alternate version of Team Asuma, you and the others manage to meet up with an unusually quiet Naruto on a residential street.

“This was… nice,” Naruto admits quietly.

“We’ve just had a run-in with Hinata and Shikamaru’s team,” Sakura shakes her head. “This place… I can only guess how you feel right now, but we can’t stay here. It’s nothing but a really weird dream, that’s all.”

“You’re right,” Naruto nods. “I just wish...”

The sound of an explosion in the direction of the Hokage’s office cuts his thoughts short, destroying the origami butterfly you left there.

“Can you use hiraishin?” Sakura asks you immediately.

You shake your head. “Not anymore.”

“Then let’s go!” Naruto declares.

…

When you arrive, you find that several jōnin and Tsunade are facing off against Menma and a number of masked figures… most with animal-like features to them. Clearly not humans.

>Charge in and try to kill Menma in a single shot. It’s the quickest, easiest, but also dirtiest solution.
>Charge Menma and try to catch him in a full paralysis genjutsu. No one here knows about your sharingan.
>The more of those masked figures you can take out the better your chances are. Shift the odds a bit.
>Other?

>>4507354
>>Charge Menma and try to catch him in a full paralysis genjutsu. No one here knows about your sharingan.

>>4507354
>>The more of those masked figures you can take out the better your chances are. Shift the odds a bit.

>>4507354
>Charge in and try to kill Menma in a single shot. It’s the quickest, easiest, but also dirtiest solution.

>>4507354
>>Charge Menma and try to catch him in a full paralysis genjutsu. No one here knows about your sharingan.

>>4507354
>>Charge Menma and try to catch him in a full paralysis genjutsu. No one here knows about your sharingan.

>>4507354
>Charge Menma and try to catch him in a full paralysis genjutsu. No one here knows about your sharingan

>>4507354
>Charge Menma and try to catch him in a full paralysis genjutsu. No one here knows about your sharingan.

>>4507354
>1d6, best three of four
>high roll

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4508456

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4508456

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4508456

File: 2019-02-06_23-26-06.jpg (76 KB, 961x1031)

76 KB JPG

>>4508459
>>4508465
>>4508470

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4508456

>>4508456
You decide that the quickest and easiest way to end this fight is to put ‘Menma’ under a sharingan genjutsu, something that in this fake world only you are capable of doing… since this world’s Sasuke is apparently useless, and Itachi-han isn’t here.

So you throw a handful of hiraishin-marked origami shuriken at him, which thread their way between the bodies of his summons in a way only sharingan-guided weaponry could, until one passes right in front of him.

You catch him completely off-guard, as you suspected you would: nobody in this world even knows that you have a sharingan, so of course Menma wasn’t on guard expecting it. You see that for a moment his eyes lose focus.

“Gotcha,” you smirk, only for Menma to abruptly reawaken and smash you across the face with his arm, almost too quickly for you to raise your hand in self-defense. The blow sends you flying through a wall, which while admittedly an unpleasant experience is merely enough to disorient you for a moment.

He must have much better control over his version of Kurama than Naruto does… what a pain.

“Shadow clone!”

When you burst back out from your improvised cover there are three of you… one armed with Umekiri and Tenryushi, one armed with the Kiba, and the third armed with the Kubikiribōchō. Even as Minato-han and Kushina-han shout for Naruto to run and save himself, you begin the slow process of stealing back some momentum, not willing to tip your hand yet.

Each of the masked summons seems pretty strong… but not strong enough to be a match for any of the Akatsuki, let alone for the level you’re at now. A humanoid with a skull-mask and a wicked scythe tries to match against your clone with the Kubikiribōchō, but it struggles to keep up with the speed she can show with her acrobatic half-swording techniques. A serpentine, almost puppet-like creature tries and fails to capture the clone carrying the Kiba, only to be diced into several pieces by the lightning-sharp blades.

In sage mode, you blast a masked white tiger back with a trio of Shiyō Kibaku shuriken, and as a dragon-masked beast tries to attack you from behind the afterimage melts away just as the ranton-enhanced edge of Umekiri’s blade to take its head off.

“Ranton: Rekuyemu!”

To your surprise the dragon and the snake disappear into bursts of smoke, which clear to reveal a pair of black-tailed foxes, each of which has had a mask strapped on over its head. These then fade into a black chakra that rejoins with Menma.

“So that’s how your technique works,” you muse as your Kubikiribōchō-wielding clone dispatches the reaper-like summons with a momentary illusion.

>SP: 6/6
>ES: 1/2 (2T)
>1/2

>>4508511
“He warned me not to take you lightly,” Menma growls from behind his mask while Naruto, Sakura, and Kurotsuchi fight the remaining beasts… these seem to be giving them more trouble, particularly Sakura whose movements are obviously powerful enough to demolish buildings but far too slow to land. “Those swords of yours are trouble… and that sage mode is even better than Jiraiya’s.”

He rises into the air as the various summons that are still fighting revert to chakra and re-enter his body. “I’ll need to take care of you first and foremost. I’ll kill you and seize the Red Moon Scroll with a single technique.”

Then he starts to gather a tremendous amount of chakra into his hands, forming a rasengan with a sort of chakra that feels different to you. Even from here you can tell that this is a technique powerful enough to level an entire city, and he intends to drop it right on your heads.

>Catch it using a Kongō Fūsa barrier and teleport it to one of your markings outside the village, where it’ll go off harmlessly.
>Catch it using a Kongō Fūsa barrier and teleport it back to the marking you left on Menma when he smacked you. Return to sender.
>Catch it using a Kongō Fūsa barrier and try to seal it into a tag for later. If transferring a tailed beast without killing its host is possible here anything is.
>Other?

>>4508512
>>Catch it using a Kongō Fūsa barrier and try to seal it into a tag for later. If transferring a tailed beast without killing its host is possible here anything is.

>>4508512
>>Catch it using a Kongō Fūsa barrier and teleport it back to the marking you left on Menma when he smacked you. Return to sender.

>>4508512
>Catch it using a Kongō Fūsa barrier and try to seal it into a tag for later. If transferring a tailed beast without killing its host is possible here anything is.
felt like stealing chakra from an alternate universe, might set up a zero point energy device later

>>4508512
>Catch it using a Kongō Fūsa barrier and try to seal it into a tag for later. If transferring a tailed beast without killing its host is possible here anything is.

>>4508512
>>Catch it using a Kongō Fūsa barrier and try to seal it into a tag for later. If transferring a tailed beast without killing its host is possible here anything is.

>>4508512
>>Catch it using a Kongō Fūsa barrier and try to seal it into a tag for later. If transferring a tailed beast without killing its host is possible here anything is.

>>4508512
>Catch it using a Kongō Fūsa barrier and try to seal it into a tag for later. If transferring a tailed beast without killing its host is possible here anything is.

>>4508512
>Catch it using a Kongō Fūsa barrier and teleport it back to the marking you left on Menma when he smacked you. Return to sender.

>>4508512
After sending some extra chakra to your legs you leap into the air, and as you hit peak forward movement you hurl a hiraishin shuriken ahead of you. Then you release your Kongō Fūsa from your outstretched left hand and teleport to the hiraishin marking to close the distance even faster.

You create a barrier ahead of you that the mass of dark, dense chakra collides with, and produce a sealing tag from your Raikō Kenka seal on your left palm. If you’re right, and this thing is infused with tailed beast chakra, at least in this world this should work. The chakra is pulled across your Kongō Fūsa barrier and into the tag, before you teleport back to the ground.

In that time Menma manages to escape, but then again you’re simply allowing that for the moment anyway. He’s been marked with your hiraishin formula, so your fight is essentially over already. You could kill him at any point… but you’re not entirely sure that’s how this should go.

“What happened to that attack?” Minato-han demands.

“I sealed it into a tag,” you explain. “So yeah, I figure it may come in handy later.”

“What was that guy?” Kurotsuchi wonders aloud. “That technique was so strange.”

Naruto remains silent, clearly deep in thought about what he just had to fight against… a version of himself with unusual powers and no qualms about destroying all of Konohagakure for basically no other reason than to show off.

“I believe the time is right to explain the situation...” Tsunade-han coughs into her hand, having taken a bad hit in the melee. “Minato-san, Kushina-san… that was Menma-kun.”

“There’s no way...” Kushina tries to insist, before turning to her husband. “Right, Minato?”

Minato-han’s frown tells you what he thinks. “I’m not so sure. Those fox summons, his age, that chakra, and the attack based on a rasengan… I don’t want it to be true, but all evidence suggests that it probably is.”

“I marked him,” you admit. “I could probably kill him right now… but I don’t feel that’d be doing it the right way.”

“What do you mean, kill him?” Kushina demands, and you raise your hands to defend yourself.

“Yeah no, it’s just like I said,” you sigh. “The last thing I want is to become judge, jury, and executioner. But that option's on the table.”

Kushina starts to say something, only to stop when Minato-han puts a hand on her shoulder.

“I appreciate your position,” Minato-han informs you. “But if you decided to kill our son I’d be forced to stop you, with whatever means are at my disposal.”

Then you notice the markings at the corners of his eyes… Namikaze Minato is a toad sage, like his master was before him and his son is after him.

“Whoa, wait a minute,” Naruto realizes what his father has done. “Since when are you a sage?”
>1/2

>>4510093
“I hardly use it,” Minato-han admits, “because I’m honestly not that good at it.”

“But you’re as good as I am, ya know!” Naruto protests.

You chuckle. “Oh, the implications… but for real, Naruto, your father is the type to play himself down.”

“Thanks,” he mutters.

“Though you could use a bit of practice to do it faster.”

There’s a short pause. “Thanks.”

“Any time, cousin.”

“So what is your decision?” Minato-han presses impatiently.

“It’s a prophecy made in your world,” you admit. “I’m inclined to do things your way… and besides, I don’t see how Naruto having parents would turn him into a psychopath. Something here doesn’t add up.”

“It’s a pain,” Kurotsuchi admits, “but I’m not keen to make an enemy out of the Yellow Flash in this or any other world.”

>Naruto, there’s one thing that I need to do… I need you to let me talk to Kurama.
>Sakura? Naruto? Will you agree to just do this their way?
>You don’t really need Naruto’s permission, and you don’t want the others to know, so you can just talk to Kurama using the sharingan.
>Other?

>>4510095
>>Naruto, there’s one thing that I need to do… I need you to let me talk to Kurama.

>>4510095
>>Naruto, there’s one thing that I need to do… I need you to let me talk to Kurama.

>>4510095
>>Naruto, there’s one thing that I need to do… I need you to let me talk to Kurama.

>>4510095
>Naruto, there’s one thing that I need to do… I need you to let me talk to Kurama.

>>4510095
>Naruto, there’s one thing that I need to do… I need you to let me talk to Kurama.

>>4510095
>>Naruto, there’s one thing that I need to do… I need you to let me talk to Kurama.

>>4510095
“Naruto,” you muse, “I need to speak with Kurama for a moment.”

“… why?” he demands warily.

“You’ll see in a moment,” you promise. “Just look into my eyes.”

…

The inside of Naruto’s seal is still vaguely familiar to you… dry this time, and not quite so dark, but with the same locked bars and the same gargantuan fox behind them. And he does not look happy to see you.

“You, devil woman,” he grumbles. “What do you want?”

“Yeah,” Naruto agrees. “What do you want?”

“Seriously, same as you,” you insist bluntly. “Not to get stuck in this genjutsu.”

There’s a long pause. “You have my attention.”

“Yeah, so Sakura-kun is just this side of useless if it comes to a fight against the other Kurama in this world,” you explain. “Kurotsuchi-han can probably look after herself, but won’t do much else. And you know as well as I do Naruto-kun won’t be fighting at full when he has to look after Sakura-kun.”

“That’s not...” Naruto begins to argue only for Kurama to interrupt.

“I hate you, Naruto,” Kurama insists curtly. “And I hate this Uzumaki woman, perhaps as much as Minato. But those words would convince me even coming from his mouth.”

“To avoid being trapped here inside a dead host, waiting for that Uchiha whelp to come back for me, I will cooperate with you… once.”

“Wait, are you serious!?” Naruto demands. “You’re not gonna try taking over like you always do?”

“The enemy of my enemy may not be my friend,” Kurama growls angrily, “but it does pay to be clear on your priorities. And right now mine is escaping this genjutsu. On that you have my word.”

After considering it for a few moments, Naruto nods once. “Alright. Just this once, I’ll put some trust in you when the time comes.”
>1/2

>>4511369
“We’ll have Kurama’s cooperation,” you declare upon releasing your genjutsu. “So yeah, that’s good news.”

“You’re on first-name terms with the nine tails?” Kushina asks you skeptically. “I don’t understand that, even I don’t call him by name.”

“Maybe you should’ve,” you shrug. “Either way, we’re probably ready to go.”

“I want you to take us with you,” Kushina declares.

>No. That’s a bad idea.
>Sure, but stay out of it.
>Why?
>Other?

>>4511380
>Sure, but stay out of it.
>That being said though, why?

>>4511380
>sure, but stay out of it.
That said, are you certain you want to see this?
Its not gonna be easy

>>4511380
>Sure, but stay out of it.
>That being said though, why?

>>4511380
>>Sure, but stay out of it.

>>4511380
>Sure, but stay out of it.

File: c591c4df14d6c6ccb106c58e7(...).gif (512 KB, 500x281)

512 KB GIF

>>4511380
“… okay,” you quietly agree. “But stay out of it.”

Again Kushina looks like she wants to argue with you, but Minato stops her. “May we hear your reason for that demand?”

It takes you a moment to consider your reply. “I had the privilege of fighting alongside the Namikaze Minato my history remembers. The man before me has his face, his voice, and his skills. But I can tell that you don’t have his heart.”

Minato-han seems to be completely at a loss for words, but you get the impression that Naruto doesn’t disagree. Whatever else he knows, he at very least is aware of the fact that his parents gave their lives not just for the village, but for his future.

“If you agree to those terms,” you declare, “we can go at any time. But yeah, no, don’t expect me to land an immediate attack… teleporting all of you will take some focus.”

“Shall we?”

After a moment, Minato-han nods curtly. “Kushina?”

“I agree too,” Kushina-han agrees.

…

The first few seconds after you teleport onto the gently-arching bridge are extraordinarily confusing, and turn entirely on instinct and liberal application of the shunshin technique. Naruto is almost immediately ready to attack Menma, who moves to place their mother between them as a defense and throws a handful of kunai at her. Minato uses the regular body flicker at this range to grab Kushina and dive off the bridge, which places Sakura in the path of the kunai, which are deflected by a handful of shuriken which you throw past her from behind.

“Move it!” Kurotsuchi shouts, having leapt up by kicking off the bridge’s railing, still weaving hand signs. “Yōton: Sekkaigyō!”

Menma creates a rasengan in one hand… meaning even this world’s version of Naruto is better than Naruto at it… at the same time as you draw Umekiri and Tenryushi. It’s the Tenryushi you attack with, slipping to the left to get clear of Naruto and Sakura.

“Kasukēda!”

The water you launch hits Kurotsuchi’s quicklime, hardening it like cement only for Menma to use his rasengan on the bridge under his feet, dropping through the hole it creates.

“Shit!” Kurotsuchi hisses. “Sorry Naori, but that was my shot… don’t figure he’ll give me another.”

“This isn’t over yet!” you counter, jumping over the railing to land on a crescent-shaped lake at the foot of a cliff. So this is where his hideout was?

Naruto follows you, already in sage mode, and Kurotsuchi floats down to hover a few feet above the water’s surface.
>1/3

File: 84820912_p0.png (3.05 MB, 4500x1800)

3.05 MB PNG

>>4512776
Several explosions raise pillars of water, behind which Menma hides for a moment as he unseals his summons again… so this fight has gone from three against one to ten against three, assuming Sakura does the smart thing and stays out of it. You can tell even from here that it’s taking everything Minato has to stop himself or his wife from charging in recklessly and making the situation worse.

“You’re outnumbered three to one,” Menma observes curtly. “Hand over the scroll and only one of you will have to die!”

“Yeah, no, I don’t think so,” you sigh, sheathing your swords for a moment to unseal and charge the Kiba blades before throwing them at the masked summons and going to work.

You quite simply lose track of the number of times you use hiraishin in the ensuing fight. Explosions from your Shiyō Kibaku technique, the whirling windmill blades of the Kiba swords, flickering illusions created through Umekiri… to an observer it must seem as if you’re everywhere at once. The proximity of the water lets you create geysers using your exploding tags, which when you line one up under one of the masked summons Kurotsuchi can use her quicklime on to encase the offender in a concrete block that immediately sinks into the lake.

Meanwhile Menma retreats into the training caves, with Naruto in pursuit.

“This is getting to be annoying,” you grumble, as Kiba’s edge splits through the mask of another of Menma’s summons.

“Then let us handle it,” you hear a familiar voice.

Kurotsuchi stares in wide-eyed shock. “What the hell is Akatsuki doing here!?”

“We were sent by the Hokage,” Itachi-han informs you, jumping down from the ruined bridge to meet you face-to-face as you reseal Kiba. “I see Yahiko-san’s reports were acc...”

His words are cut short as you smack him across the face.

“… I can only assume I did something to deserve that?”

“You, maybe not,” you grumble. “But the you I knew, yes.”

The rest of the organization goes to work immediately… Sasori-han uses his three old puppets in this world, the ones that Kankuro now owns, though everyone else is pretty much the same as you remember them. Hidan is a loud idiot who immediately goes after the masked beast with the scythe, and Deidara summons a bird made from his explosive clay to take to the skies.

“Even Deidara-nii is here?” Kurotsuchi muses.

“Will you be okay out here?” you ask no one in particular.

“The others will be safe with us here,” Itachi-han insists. “Go on and fight the other one who went inside… that is what you want, or am I mistaken?”
>2/3

>>4512779
You nod curtly. “No, you’re right.”

“Then good luck,” he bows his head politely. “And one more thing… I assume based on your obi and your eye that you and I were close where you come from?”

“… maybe not as close as I’d have liked,” you admit. “But for my part at least, yes.”

“Then I should apologize on his behalf,” Itachi-han insists. “I can’t see any version of me making friends or getting close to anyone easily, so if what I’ve inferred is correct… he did care about you, in his own way, even if he wasn’t able to express it clearly.”

…

With that thought in your mind, you head deep into the training caves. The machinery inside is complex, with multiple training dummies on mechanized tracks, each moving through basic variations of taijutsu movements with the appearance of randomness. Or at least, some of them are. A substantial amount of the training area has been ruined by Menma and Naruto’s fight as they passed through, for example a gap in the line of dummies about thirteen long where all you see is their ‘feet’ at most.

Down below, you find a cavern… a large cave room with a lake inside it. And in that cavern, Naruto is fighting a losing battle against a black version of Kurama, with Menma riding atop its head.

Umekiri-maru is your single greatest treasure. You’re convinced that it’s low-key the greatest sword ever forged for Kirigakure, even if it was foolishly rejected by them for being ‘too subtle’. But it may not be the right tool for this job.

>Use Umekiri-maru together with Kongō Fūsa. Your role here is control and suppression.
>Use Umekiri-maru together with the Kubikiribōchō. Combine those two styles into one.
>Rely solely on the Kubikiribōchō. It was designed with giant summons like this in mind.
>Other?

>>4512796
>Use Umekiri-maru together with Kongō Fūsa. Your role here is control and suppression.

Let's do what naori does best, and take down that tailed beast.

>>4512805
>>4512796
What he said

>>4512796
>>Use Umekiri-maru together with the Kubikiribōchō. Combine those two styles into one.

>>4512796
>>Use Umekiri-maru together with Kongō Fūsa. Your role here is control and suppression.

>>4512796
>>Use Umekiri-maru together with the Kubikiribōchō. Combine those two styles into one.

>>4512796
>Use Umekiri-maru together with Kongō Fūsa. Your role here is control and suppression.

Kongo Fusa is the main thing. Other than controlling a bijuu with the sharingan, there isn't a quicker I-win button against a jinchuuriki in the entire setting afaik.

>>4512796
>Use Umekiri-maru together with the Kubikiribōchō. Combine those two styles into one.

We're missing out on pottery here.

>>4512796
>Use Umekiri-maru together with the Kubikiribōchō. Combine those two styles into one.

>>4512796
>Use Umekiri-maru together with Kongō Fūsa. Your role here is control and suppression.

>>4512796
>Use Umekiri-maru together with the Kubikiribōchō. Combine those two styles into one.

>>4512796
>1d6, DC 10
>taking the first three
>SP: 6/6
>ES: 0/2

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4513353

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4513353
ROLL HIGH!

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4513353

>>4513353
>Spend 2 SP to pass
>Spend 1 SP and take 1 ES to pass
>Take 2 ES to pass
>Fail

>>4513363
>>Spend 2 SP to pass

>>4513363
>>Spend 1 SP and take 1 ES to pass

>>4513363
>>Spend 1 SP and take 1 ES to pass

>>4513363
>Spend 2 SP to pass

>>4513363
>>Spend 2 SP to pass

>>4513363
>>Spend 1 SP and take 1 ES to pass

>>4513363
>Spend 2 SP to pass

>>4513363
>SP: 4/6
>ES: 0/2

Will continue tomorrow, it's already past midnight.

>>4513363
You quickly create a shadow clone and toss her Kubikiribōchō. “You’ll know when to use this.”

“Well yeah,” she replies sarcastically. “I’m you, remember?”

“Hey. None of your sass.”

…

Once you’ve left your clone behind, you take Umekiri in your right hand and charge headlong into the fray. A trio of Kongō Fūsa chains burst from your sleeve, lashing at the black nine tails at a distance as you close, keeping it from crushing you as you approach. Unfortunately what you find is that its physical strength is greater than yours, which means if you wrap your chains around one of its limbs it can still sling you around even if you’re in sage mode. But that being said, you feel like you fare much better than most shinobi would have any right to expect, tripping the black nine tails up, evading its attacks, and even landing a few deep slashes across its flanks and limbs. Little more than harrying cuts, but still much better than you get in return.

You hold out well until Naruto returns to the surface of the lake with the Kurama you’re more familiar with, making that two nine-tailed beasts now fighting in the same place. Massive blasts of chakra tear the entire mountain apart from the inside, and cause small tsunamis within the cave that cause the walls to start to crumble. The two beasts dart about at unreasonable speeds that occasionally bring them close enough to bite and claw frantically at each others’ hides. Alarmingly, it feels like the black Kurama is stronger… and significantly so.

…

Meanwhile, outside the cave, your fight is being watched from a healthy distance.

“This is a bit too flashy, hm,” Deidara mutters disapprovingly as another blast of chakra bursts through the ground.

Kisame shakes his head, Samehada now propped against one shoulder. “Does seem like something smart people’d do better to stay away from… I want a piece of that personally, but I know I’m not smart. So it makes sense coming from me.”

“You and I are simple men,” Kakuzu muses. “Even if we’re different in all other regards.”

“I just can’t believe that girl was evidently my student,” Konan shakes her head in surprise. “How did things really differ in her world, I wonder?”

“It makes little sense to speculate,” Itachi decides. “All we need to know is to stay out of it.”

“We’re definitely not getting paid enough for this,” Kakuzu agrees curtly. “Though I am curious to see how it ends.”
>1/2

>>4514215
As the mountain finally crumbles away and the battle takes to the surface, with the same intensity as before, the spectators watch as a lone figure emerges from the devastation alongside the two tailed beasts. Armed with a sword and trailing three golden chains from her left arm, she’s carried aloft on white wings of paper.

Powerful clusters of explosions complement the single blasts from the tailed beasts, the chains continually pressure the black nine tails whenever the red one is too far away, and her movements don’t seem to be entirely possible as she flickers from one spot to the other, always one step ahead of the tailed beast’s attacks.

“There has to be something we can do!” Sakura protests.

“Not right now,” Itachi admits. “That girl… is strong. And the craziest thing is she’s smiling right now. She’s enjoying this.”

A powerful clash of two tailed beast balls fired into each other at point-blank range illuminates the land for miles around, and by the time the light fades you’re standing on a tree branch just next to Kurotsuchi.

“That was close,” you admit, and Kurotsuchi lets out a surprised yelp.

“Naori!” she gasps. “The actual hell is wrong with you!?”

“Good to see you too,” you grumble.

Both Naruto and Menma are now falling to earth, their respective tailed beasts having been blasted backwards hard enough to dispel each other. The moon glows red, perhaps by some trick of the atmosphere after it was disturbed by such a powerful explosion.

>Now is the time to teleport to Menma and make sure he stays down.
>Catch Naruto, make sure he can stay on his feet.
>Wait and see what happens next.
>Other?

>>4514217
>>Catch Naruto, make sure he can stay on his feet.
family first

>>4514217
>>Catch Naruto, make sure he can stay on his feet.

>>4514217
>Catch Naruto, make sure he can stay on his feet.

>>4514217
>Use a shadow clone and catch them both
>Bind Menma with the Kongō Fūsa

>>4514217
>Catch Naruto, make sure he can stay on his feet.

>>4514217
>>Wait and see what happens next.

>>4514217
>>Wait and see what happens next.

>>4514217
You leap from your perch, paper wings carrying you to meet Naruto on his way down so that you can slow his descent. The strong feeling you have in your heart is that he still has some role to play in this before you can escape, and so you need him in as good a condition as possible for whatever may happen next.

By the time you land Menma has already hit the ground.

“You can put me down now, ya know,” Naruto observes after a few seconds of being princess-held.

You quickly drop him the rest of the way. “Okay yeah, sorry. I was already thinking ahead.”

Then you reach down to help him to his feet. “Whaddya mean, thinking ahead?”

“I mean...”

What you mean is exactly what happens in that moment: Menma rolls to his feet and charges with one last burst of speed, creating a large black rasengan along the way that carves a deep furrow into the ground as he moves.

It’s not clear to you why, but Naruto’s immediate response is to take out the Red Moon scroll, the thing Minato-han risked his neck to procure and which Menma was ready to destroy Konoha to take. When Menma gets too close Naruto throws the scroll at him in desperation, taking a leap backwards… and in the very instant when Menma’s vision is covered you use the hiraishin marking you left on his body.

Your own Tenrangiri, this one not enhanced by senjutsu, hits Menma’s rasengan, completely overwhelming it and blasting Menma backwards. The scroll simply disappears, and after skipping twice across the ground Menma rolls to a stop.

This time he doesn’t get back up.

He’s not dead, you can tell that much from here. But as his parents hold him his black hair starts to fade, returning to the familiar messy blonde.

“I guess that phony geezer’s prophecy had something to it after all,” Naruto muses. “The scroll did help.”

“I have a promise to keep,” you insist curtly. “I’ll see you soon.”

…

When you teleport to the hiraishin tag you left with Makoto-han and Rai-han, you already know that your body – your physical, tangible presence in this world – has started to fade away into nothingness. It’s clear that you don’t have any time to spare, so you keep it brief.

With a sudden embrace, while you still have something left to do it with, you say what you need to.

“I have to wake up now,” you explain to them both quietly, “but at least it was a lovely dream while it lasted. Goodbye father. Goodbye again, mother.”

They can no longer embrace you back, so they hold each other in your last moments.

“Good luck, my sweet,” your mother wishes you.

“I can’t imagine a world,” you father tells you, “where we wouldn’t both be proud of you.”
>1/2

File: 82876702_p0.jpg (5.77 MB, 4096x4096)

5.77 MB JPG

>>4515342
The Kubikiribōchō once held by your clone is embedded in the ground a few feet away from you when you come to, standing together with Kurotsuchi-han in the streets of Konoha’s newly-rebuilt hot springs district. It slowly fades away on the breeze, attracting only a few confused stares from passersby who don’t understand what they’re looking at. You can tell that the tag you’d sealed the first black rasengan into is gone now too, as are the Kiba swords.

Like the last memories of a half-forgotten dream, melting away with the morning light.

You silently flip Umekiri’s hanaseki saya into the air with your toe from where it’s fallen to the ground, performing the sheathing and returning both to your hip with a single smooth motion of your right arm.

“Are you okay?” Kurotsuchi asks you. “You’re crying.”

“It’s fine,” you insist curtly. Then to make sure you’re in the right place, you reach out to your hiraishin network with your senses… and find something alarming. So alarming in fact that you teleport there without even saying anything to Kurotsuchi-han first.

…

What you find sends you into a near-panic. Konan-sensei is floating face-down in the shallows of the lake outside Amegakure, with little wisps of diffused blood surrounding her in the water. You instantly grab her and teleport her to the floor of Tsunade-han’s office in a wet mess, turning her on her side and using water manipulation to pull the water out of her lungs. You manage to find a pulse, and she starts breathing again, but you can tell that she’s badly hurt.

“What happened?” Tsunade demands, already crouched next to you. You’re not even sure when she got here, or if she was in the room when you arrived.

“Obito happened,” you growl angrily. “He was here, in the village… he put myself, Kurotsuchi-han, Sakura-kun, and Naruto-kun under a powerful genjutsu that created an alternate world. This must’ve been why he did it to me too… to give him a chance to attack my sensei.”

“To what end?” Tsunade-han presses.

“To get Nagato’s body,” you realize. “Damn.”

“Then he would’ve used an interrogation genjutsu similar to the Tsukuyomi,” Tsunade-han informs you, standing up and putting a hand on your shoulder. “Let me handle things from here. I’m the only one with the skill necessary to help a patient recover from mental damage on this level… I did the same for Kakashi when Uchiha Itachi left him nearly catatonic.”

“She’ll be in good hands, I promise.”

It… takes you some time to let go of her, and even then you linger in her room for a while after Tsunade takes her to the hospital.

That’s where the others eventually find you, probably after having met Tsunade-han and given her a report on what happened.
>2/3

>>4515352
“… go home,” Kurotsuchi tells you after a few minutes. “There’s nothing more you can do here.”

“That’s not true,” you counter quietly, unsealing some paper and creating stemmed flowers with them in whites and blacks. These you place into an empty flower vase, and place by your sense’s bed. You also leave a hiraishin mark on the back of her hand, just to be extra certain.

“Now there’s not much else I can do here.”

…

You take Kurotsuchi home first, and essentially collapse into bed in your Grass hideout. For the first time since your mother died, you find yourself literally crying yourself to sleep. The others, perhaps sensing that something is very wrong, give you a certain amount of respectful space. They don’t try to talk to you that night.

…

The next morning you slink into the kitchen, still completely downcast but now looking forward to what needs to be done now.

>Someone needs to take over in Amegakure, and that someone is you.
>You have other duties. Amegakure should be run by the council of elders.
>There IS your old sensei, Yao, who runs the academy. He’d be a good choice.
>Other?

>>4515356
>>There IS your old sensei, Yao, who runs the academy. He’d be a good choice.

>>4515356
>There IS your old sensei, Yao, who runs the academy. He’d be a good choice.

>>4515356
>There IS your old sensei, Yao, who runs the academy. He’d be a good choice.

>>4515356
>Someone needs to take over in Amegakure, and that someone is you.
>There IS your old sensei, Yao, who runs the academy. He’d be a good choice.

Every able leader requires a firm second in command. Yao could run the daily operations and do the paperwork as he has more experience with it, while Naori as the strongest shinobi in the village handles the diplomacy and protecting the village.

>>4515356
>>Someone needs to take over in Amegakure, and that someone is you.

>>4515356
>There IS your old sensei, Yao, who runs the academy. He’d be a good choice.

>>4515356
>>4515458
supporting this.

>>4515356
>You have other duties. Amegakure should be run by the council of elders.
>There IS your old sensei, Yao, who runs the academy. He’d be a good choice.

>>4515356
>There IS your old sensei, Yao, who runs the academy. He’d be a good choice.

Considering our current duties and Naori's emotional state, I'm thinking you guys are biting off way more then you can chew.

>>4515356
>Someone needs to take over in Amegakure, and that someone is you.

>>4515356
>>There IS your old sensei, Yao, who runs the academy. He’d be a good choice.

>>4515356
>>Someone needs to take over in Amegakure, and that someone is you.

>>4515356

>>There IS your old sensei, Yao, who runs the academy. He’d be a good choice

>>4515356
>There IS your old sensei, Yao, who runs the academy. He’d be a good choice.

>>4515356
You decide to find Yao-sensei at the academy, who is so far as you’re concerned the best remaining candidate to do what you know has to happen next. He seems shocked by your sudden appearance at his office door, but quickly recovers and offers you a seat.

“It’s been a long time,” he muses, “since well before you joined Akatsuki. What brings you here today?”

“Konan-sensei was attacked last night,” you explain curtly. “I took her to the hospital in Konohagakure where lady Fifth will be looking after her. While I’m confident she will recover, it may take a while.”

“Until then you will lead the village. I’ll continue representing us outside the village.”

“Why aren’t you intending to lead?” Yao-sensei wonders with a frown. “You’re the strongest in Amegakure without question, and you already command respect from the other villages.”

“Yeah no,” you sigh, “part of that recognition is for my neutrality. If I take the role of village head in Amegakure I risk losing the recognition of the Lands of Grass and Waterfalls. For the sake of our new alliance I can’t allow that to happen.”

“I see your point,” he nods once. “I agree to take over until Tenshi-sama returns.”

“Thank you,” you bow politely. “I assume you’re up to date on her plans for the war?”

“I am,” he replies calmly. “I can pick up right where she left off if you’d like.”

“No, yeah, that’d be best,” you agree. “Good luck, Yao-sensei.”

“And to you, Naori-sama.”

…

That having been dealt with to the degree it can be, you finally return home to take some deep breaths. Eventually Fū pokes her head into your room, warily, like a cat who thinks she’s getting into someplace she really shouldn’t be.

“… hey Nakkun, you okay?”

“Come in,” you insist. “I’ve had some time to calm down a bit.”

“What happened?”

“My sensei was attacked,” you explain. “She was hurt badly. I had to take her to Konoha for treatment… and she may not wake up again for a while.”

“That Obito guy did it?” she asks.

You nod. “While he had me under a genjutsu. Gave him just enough time.”

“She’ll be okay, right?” she asks. “And you did everything you could as soon as you could?”
>1/2

>>4517185
“As much as I was allowed,” you nod. “Yes.”

“Then I’m sure she won’t hold it against you,” Fū insists. “It’s okay.”

“You’re right,” you admit. “But it still bothers me that I couldn’t be there when she needed me.”

“You’ll just have to beat that Obito jerk twice as hard then,” Fū smiles, “right, Nakkun?”

“Yeah,” you nod in agreement. “Thanks.”

“Hey, don’t mention it! That’s what friends are for, right?”

…

“So how are your preparations going?” you ask all three of them at the table over lunch.

“Well,” Karin replies thoughtfully. “Though the medical relief teams haven’t actually met yet.”

“I’ve been meditating a lot,” Yugito offers. “I expect to be sent off someplace with B and that Naruto kid, so keeping calm is going to be a challenge.”

“I’ll just be guarding the medical unit,” Fū shrugs, “so if they haven’t met yet I’ve got nothing to do either.”

>If you want to spar a little I’d be happy to oblige you both.
>I need to speak with the members of my unit, so I’ll be leaving for a while.
>I haven’t been to Suna in a while. I wonder how preparations are going?
>Other?

>>4517223
>>I haven’t been to Suna in a while. I wonder how preparations are going?

>>4517223
>I haven’t been to Suna in a while. I wonder how preparations are going?
>offer to spar with them when we get back, along with our unit

>>4517223
>>If you want to spar a little I’d be happy to oblige you both.

>>4517223
>>If you want to spar a little I’d be happy to oblige you both.

>>4517223
>>If you want to spar a little I’d be happy to oblige you both.

>>4517223
>>If you want to spar a little I’d be happy to oblige you both.

>>4517223
>1d6
>taking the best three of four

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4518124

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4518124

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4518124

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4518124

>>4518124
“If the two of you wanted to spar a little I’d be happy to oblige,” you offer.

“Well this is rare,” Yugito-han muses. “Mind if I watch?”

“Not at all,” you shrug.

…

You teleport the four of you to Rōran, and after politely greeting the Queen and princess you head outside to find some open space in the warm sunshine that will be suitable for taijutsu practice. After starting with the traditional seal of confrontation, the match begins: two-on-one, with techniques like sage mode and the inner gates being prohibited.

Fū is exactly as you’d imagine her, a dynamo of limitless energy that comes at you chaotically, seeming to follow no cohesive plan or obvious structure. But no matter how the two of you are spaced she always seems to find a couple of different ways to attack, choosing her strategy one moment at a time depending on the distance and relative positioning between you. And in contrast to her total lack of strategy, her discrete movements show a much higher degree of technical polish than you remember.

It’s almost like watching a drunken boxer. She actually gets you pretty good a few times, though there are also a few times where you can pretty easily toss her around… once nearly straight into Karin.

Speaking of whom, you can’t say whether you’re especially happy with where Karin is in terms of taijutsu. She reacts well enough, but she also keeps her space much more diligently, hanging on the very edge of what she’s calculated to be your reach. It means she has enough time to react, but that her own attacks are laughably simple for you to block or evade.

What becomes clearer after a few exchanges is that she’s using a particular style focusing almost solely on positioning herself with her footwork and attacking and blocking with her hands, which are open with the fingers extended. If she’s been practicing her medical ninjutsu you reason that she could be working on a taijutsu style that relies on the chakra scalpel technique… an attacker would be exposing themselves to cuts to their ligaments and muscles every time they throw a punch, and every kick would risk crippling their footwork.

…

Once Karin is tired enough that her movements become sloppy, and Fū is left panting from exertion, you call an end to the match and make the traditional reconciliations.
>1/2

>>4518247
“Yeah, so I’m absolutely happy with what you’ve shown me,” you admit. “Great job, you two!”

“Really?” Karin replies from her knees.

You nod and smile. “Though you will have to be careful not to show your hand too early… the first time you use the chakra scalpel you’ll have to land a crippling blow.”

“Ooh, whadja think of me!?” Fū demands excitedly.

“I’ve never seen anyone use drunken boxing like that before,” you admit. “It’s actually really impressive!”

“Thanks!” she replies. “That means… hey, wait a minute, whaddya mean ‘drunken’ boxing?”

“It’s one of the imitative styles,” you clarify, “pretty rare these days and never really seen as a stand-alone style. Most schools only include one set or stance. It’s meant to be unpredictable and unconventional… you’d do better if you learned to move your waist a little more.”

“Try working some flexibility training into your schedule.”

>Now then, Fū, let’s see how you’ve progressed with your pseudo-jinchūriki abilities.
>Yugito-han, do you want to get in on some of this? I’m in a good mood right now.
>Karin, have you given any thought to the Kongō Fūsa? It’s a very useful technique to know.
>Other?

>>4518256
>Now then, Fū, let’s see how you’ve progressed with your pseudo-jinchūriki abilities.

>>4518256
>>Karin, have you given any thought to the Kongō Fūsa? It’s a very useful technique to know.

>>4518256
>>Now then, Fū, let’s see how you’ve progressed with your pseudo-jinchūriki abilities.

>>4518256
>Karin, have you given any thought to the Kongō Fūsa? It’s a very useful technique to know.

>>4518256
>>Now then, Fū, let’s see how you’ve progressed with your pseudo-jinchūriki abilities.
>Karin, have you given any thought to the Kongō Fūsa? It’s a very useful technique to know.

>>4518256
>>Karin, have you given any thought to the Kongō Fūsa? It’s a very useful technique to know.

>>4518256
>>Yugito-han, do you want to get in on some of this? I’m in a good mood right now.

>>4518256
>>Now then, Fū, let’s see how you’ve progressed with your pseudo-jinchūriki abilities.

File: Fuu(Naruto).jpg (55 KB, 435x600)

55 KB JPG

>>4518256
“So have you worked towards the Kongō Fūsa at all?” you ask Karin as she sits to take a breather.

“It’s strange,” Karin admits, “I’m just not very good at fūinjutsu, even though I can create the chains.”

“Really?”

She nods slowly. “It’s a bit disappointing, really. But I guess my chakra is just different from yours. Or maybe you just have talent that I don’t?”

“You can use the enclosing technique,” you point out.

“And you know that’s not strong enough to be useful with the Kongō Fūsa,” Karin counters… and quite correctly. “It can’t disrupt a target’s chakra.”

“Well how about the Isshi Tōjin?”

“I learned nothing in Kusagakure,” Karin reminds you quietly. “Since you took me in I’ve been working hard just to get my basic abilities up to the level of a chūnin. And if I’m honest… learning the Isshi Tōjin won’t let me use the Kongō Fūsa either.”

You can’t help but frown. “Karin… you’re almost talking like you think you’re a waste of my time or something.”

“Sorry, I should have known you’d hear it that way,” she admits, “and that’s not it. I know what you’d say next, that we all have different skills and talents. I’ve just had to accept that fūinjutsu isn’t one of mine.”

“I’d be happy to work on it with you… after this war is over. But until then there are other things I should be doing.”

“So… am I right in thinking you’re saying no?” you muse.

After a moment Karin nods. “Sorry, Naori-san.”

“Don’t apologize,” you insist with a smile. “I’m actually glad… you’ve come a long way from begging me for help.”

“I trust your judgment.”

After a moment, Karin nods in acknowledgement. “Thanks, Naori.”

A few moments later, Yugito-han coughs into her fist to get your attention. “I think Fū has something she’d like to show you?”

When you turn your attention back to Fū you can see she’s practically bouncing with nervous excitement. “For real? How could you tell?”
>1/2

>>4518552
“So, Fū,” you muse. “I take it you’ve been working on your pseudo-jinchūriki abilities?”

She nods emphatically. “Yup!”

“Well let’s see it then,” you smile. “Show me what you’ve got!”

Her transformation is as swift as it is dramatic: not only does she sprout the wings you’ve seen her use on plenty of occasions, but her forearms are transformed as well. Insectile plates cover from her wrists to points a bit past her elbows, and connected to those by a very biological-looking joint near the wrist are two blades… like the claws of a mantis. Her entire body is surrounded by a thin cloak of orange chakra, coming to a horn-like point at her head and forming two tails behind her.

“Still tickles,” she admits. “I can only use the first version, cause the second would burn my skin off, but it’s still pretty cool, right?”

“Very,” you admit, closing your eyes and focusing on Umekiri and her sheath. “Yeah, no, so I’d be willing to bet you want to test it out?”

“Totally!”

>Restrain yourself significantly, fight from a slight disadvantage.
>Only pull your punches a little, but give her a ‘real’ fight.
>Give her an honest, fair match.
>Other?

>>4518607
Only pull your punches a little

>>4518607
>Restrain yourself significantly, fight from a slight disadvantage
The best way to hone your skills is by not relying on power boosts as a crutch

>>4518607
>>Only pull your punches a little, but give her a ‘real’ fight.

>>4518607
>Restrain yourself significantly, fight from a slight disadvantage.

>>4518607
>Only pull your punches a little, but give her a ‘real’ fight.

>>4518607
>>Restrain yourself significantly, fight from a slight disadvantage.
amp it up later

>>4518607
>Only pull your punches a little, but give her a ‘real’ fight.

>>4518607
“Then let’s give it a real test, shall we?” you muse, entering sage mode and taking Umekiri off your obi. However, you don’t draw her from the saya, instead channelling your chakra into a blunt form around it.

Fū seems to instinctively take a half-step back… can she sense your senjutsu chakra that well? But just as you start to think she’s ready to quit, she steels herself.

“Yeah,” she replies. “Let’s do it!”

…

That being said, she remains still for a few seconds, as if she’s actually trying to work out in her mind how you’ll respond to various plans of attack. She takes a slow circle to your side, watching how you shift your posture to match, eventually working her way around a hundred and eighty degrees before stopping again.

A sudden gust blows loose desert sand across the flat you’ve selected as a sparring area, and in an instant Fū comes to you.

Her speed is nothing like what it was before, adding to the difficulty in fighting against her chaotic and improvisational style of taijutsu. Even harder now, you have to quickly learn how these ‘claws’ she’s grown work… at first it’s almost like she has two new arms to deal with.

But as you parry her quick jabs and scything cuts you start to get the hang of it, and turn in close after a parry to quickly hit her twice, once with your elbow to her sternum, then with the back of your fist to her cheek.

She loses her balance, but manages to land a counterblow to your backwards kick… the force you meet turns your body as you push off with your right foot, turning you to face Fū as her own force actually corrects her balance. The next time you try to get in that close she tucks her arms in and strikes with the backs of her claws, tightening her guard while still attacking.

But while her strength in this form is phenomenal and her speed is totally respectable, it’s still not on the level of sage mode. Eventually she’s forced purely on the defensive, and that’s when you start fighting her for real.

“Tsubamegiri!”

You attack with a charge in tonbo-no-kamae, Umekiri held high over your right shoulder. And just after Fū commits to a defense, that’s when the genjutsu takes effect, for a moment you dull her awareness of the passage of time, shifting your posture and lowering your arms to strike instead in a rising arc from waki-gamae.

To Karin and Yugito-han it must seem like Fū simply blanked for just a moment, but to Fū… there was an instant where she could probably see both attacks, both being equally ‘real’ to her.

She clutches her side for a moment as she takes a leaping step back to reassess her situation, but you don’t let up. The illusory afterimage you left fades to show Fū that you’ve stuck with her. She watches intently…

“Dōjigiri Raigen!”
>1/2

>>4519288
The bright flash forces her to raise her arms to defend against the attack she thinks is coming, a downward slash to her right shoulder, only for your attack to instead come as a kick to her upper left arm that sends her crashing across the desert sand.

A rain of blows pummels her guard, which protects her above and to the sides but keeps her on her knees. Eventually she seizes what she thinks is an opportunity, only to find that you’ve rolled back with her momentum, throwing her calmly over your shoulder and hitting her with Umekiri’s hilt in midair. This time she catches herself on her wings before she hits the ground, and for a few moments manages to take the offensive again with a series of slashes and jabs.

You put a stop to that by driving Umekiri’s porcelain saya into her gut, then smacking her in the chin with it as she doubles over.

“That sage mode of yours… it’s really something, isn’t it?” she pants, having fallen to her knees and lost her chakra cloak. “Just can’t seem to catch up to it!”

“Yeah no, look at it another way,” you insist, offering her a hand that she doesn’t immediately take. “I haven’t had to take that many people seriously lately. Pain, Danzō, Obito… just now, that was me taking you seriously.”

After thinking about it for a moment, Fū smiles and takes your hand.

>These three are going to be just fine. See if you can’t get in touch with Suna.
>Yugito mentioned making her own preparations. Does she know something you don’t?
>You could do worse than collecting your unit and conducting some kind of training.
>Other?

>>4519289
Yugito now too, fair is fair.
After we can think of our own unit

>>4519289
>>Yugito mentioned making her own preparations. Does she know something you don’t?

>>4519289
>Yugito mentioned making her own preparations. Does she know something you don’t?

>>4519289
>Yugito mentioned making her own preparations. Does she know something you don’t?

>>4519289
>>You could do worse than collecting your unit and conducting some kind of training.

>>4519289
>Yugito mentioned making her own preparations. Does she know something you don’t?

>>4519289
You all head back to the hideout, since it doesn’t seem that sparring is what’s on Yugito’s mind right now. Inside you take a seat in an old-style floor chair, with Karin and Yugito both sitting across the low table from you. Fū flops down immediately and almost seems to fall asleep with her head in your lap.

“You didn’t come out with us,” you observe as Ajisai comes out of the kitchen to join you with a plate of dumplings. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she insists. “Still thinking about what you said to me before, about joining your team.”

“So yeah, we can talk after lunch if you’d like,” you muse, resting your hand on Fū’s head. “Yugito-han, you said before that you were making your own preparations?”

“That’s right,” she confirms. “You may not have noticed this about me, but I don’t like being cooped up. I mind it a lot less if it’s with pleasant… and quiet… company. But B isn’t that, and I gather Uzumaki Naruto isn’t either.”

“Tell me about B,” you wonder. “All I know is he likes to rhyme?”

“Consider Fū’s energy,” Yugito muses, “but without any of the things that make her endearing. That’s B.”

“And I suspect you know where you might be sent for ‘safety’?”

Yugito nods slowly. “There are a few places. The hardest of them to find would be Genbu.”

“Genbu?” Karin repeats.

“The island turtle,” Yugito clarifies. “Basically, a moving island… even I couldn’t tell you where it is right now. It’s where I was trained.”

>…can I ask you about that? Matatabi seemed to have some pretty strong feelings.
>Let that one go, at least for the time being. Try to change the subject.
>Finish eating, and take Ajisai to meet with Maki. There’s a point you’d like to make.
>Other?

>>4519630
Can I ask about that? ...

>>4519630
>…can I ask you about that? Matatabi seemed to have some pretty strong feelings.

>>4519630
>>…can I ask you about that? Matatabi seemed to have some pretty strong feelings.

>>4519630
>…can I ask you about that? Matatabi seemed to have some pretty strong feelings.

>>4519630
>>…can I ask you about that? Matatabi seemed to have some pretty strong feelings.
Ajisai after maybe

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>>4519630
“…would it be okay if I asked you about that? Matatabi-dono seemed to have some pretty strong feelings.”

Yugito-han doesn’t respond right away, which just makes the curiosity more obvious. Even Fū seems to be listening closely, a little like a lazy dog perking its ears up. Eventually Yugito does begin to offer an account.

“It wasn’t what you’d call a positive experience,” Yugito explains. “I was selected at the age of two after extensive testing… I don’t remember any of that, but I’m told that several candidates died at that stage. What I do remember is the survival training on Genbu, the mandatory isolation from other children my age, the strictly controlled diet and exercise regimes. I remember the first time I was told to kill at the age of seven.”

“I spent three years in seclusion at the Falls of Truth… confronting all the fears and insecurities and self-loathing of a child thrust into something so far outside her control. At the age of ten I fought against Matatabi for her acknowledgement, and earned it. By training myself relentlessly I began harnessing the tailed beast transformations, pushing my body so hard I routinely spent weeks at a time in the hospital.”

“Having burned your skin,” you sigh quietly.

“Or broken my bones,” Yugito-han adds. “Matatabi’s power is a lot to handle for a ten-year-old, and the pressure to excel was… rather oppressive.”

“You ended up succeeding,” Karin observes. “What has your relationship been like with your village since then? Did they ever really acknowledge what they put you through?”

Yugito-han frowns. “It wasn’t always good. It took me several years to figure out how to even talk to people again, and by that time my heart had already hardened. If I can be honest with you for a moment I envy people like Fū, who can still be so kindhearted.”

“That’s not right.”

There’s a short pause after Fū’s interruption before Yugito pursues it. “How do you mean?”

“We’re supposed to be enemies, right?” Fū continues, almost sounding half-asleep. “You, me, that Naruto guy, Gaara-kun?”

“On paper,” Yugito-han admits. “We’re meant to balance each other’s power and give our villages an edge in battle.”

“But we’re friends now, right?” Fū smiles, rolling onto her back before settling back in. “It’s ‘cause you know what we’ve all been through. Doesn’t sound ‘hardened’ to me, nope. Not one bit.”

“Yeah, so for what it’s worth Fū’s got you pegged,” you agree. “You’re not as hardened as you seem to think you are, Yugito-han. I think you should embrace that more.”

Yugito-han stares at you in surprise for a few seconds, before eventually nodding quietly. “Yeah… maybe.”
>1/?

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>>4520386
“Lord A would say that would make me weak,” Yugito-han admits.

“Yeah no, if I buried my ‘weakness’ like that,” you muse, “you’d be dead, Konohagakure would be gone, and Akatsuki would probably be ruling the world right now.”

“You really think so?” Ajisai muses.

You nod curtly. “Oh for sure. I’d never have let Kakuzu die...”

“What about that Hidan guy?” Fū wonders.

“What about Hidan?” you roll your eyes. “Anyway, between me and Pain Konoha would’ve been wiped off the map and we’d have captured Naruto-kun. Then we’d have done the same to B, and that’d be that.”

“You seem confident,” Yugito-han observes.

You shrug. “No yeah, with Kongō Fūsa, sage mode, and even a single Mangekyō, wouldn’t you be?”

“Probably,” Yugito-han admits. “So by ‘embracing’ your kindhearted side, you basically saved the world is what you’re trying to say?”

“I think that would be overstating it,” you shake your head. “But it saved both of us, and that certainly has to count for something.”

There’s a short silence before Yugito-han chuckles. “Alright, you have me at a loss there.”

…

After eating you slip out from under Fū, and create a shadow clone to help with the cleaning. Your ‘real’ body grabs Ajisai by the shoulder.

>Take her to train with Maki, your team’s fūinjutsu specialist in Suna. That'll help Ajisai understand that she IS exceptional.
>Take her back to Rōran, practice sealing with her personally. Try and build her confidence.
>Offer to help her seal some elemental ninjutsu into scrolls to prepare. That suits her style well.
>Other?

>>4520406
>Take her to train with Maki, your team’s fūinjutsu specialist in Suna. That'll help Ajisai understand that she IS exceptional.

>>4520406
>Take her to train with Maki, your team’s fūinjutsu specialist in Suna. That'll help Ajisai understand that she IS exceptional.

>>4520406
>Take her to train with Maki, your team’s fūinjutsu specialist in Suna. That'll help Ajisai understand that she IS exceptional.
>Also train with her personally, because we're still more experienced

She just has some catching up to do.

>>4520406
>>4520436
This

>>4520406
>>Take her to train with Maki, your team’s fūinjutsu specialist in Suna. That'll help Ajisai understand that she IS exceptional.

>>4520406
You teleport Ajisai to the hiraishin marking outside Gaara’s office, and wait for a moment to step inside. “Do you have a moment?”

“I do,” Gaara confirms. “Did you need something?”

“I’d like to ask you to summon Maki-han here,” you request.

Gaara frowns slightly. “You are her commanding officer. Did you not give her a hiraishin marking?”

“I did,” you admit. “But yeah, no, Maki-han could be taking a shower or something.”

“I see your point. In that case feel free to use the jōnin standby station,” Gaara offers.

…

“So how well do you know Gaara?” Ajisai asks you as you wait.

“There was that time I nearly killed him,” you muse. Then you notice someone arriving… it’s Baki, Gaara and Temari’s former sensei. Something’s different about him…

“Someone has a new arm,” you muse. “Baki-han. Have you been keeping well?”

“I have,” he nods curtly. “Yourself?”

“Not bad, for sure,” you reply calmly. “Is that hanaseki porcelain?”

“It is.”

“Very nice. So… how are things going here otherwise?”

“Gaara-dono has been very busy, of course,” Baki explains curtly. “Temari-san has been stubbornly training in kenjutsu to better wield the Hishō Shōken, and Kankuro-san received a strange gift a few days ago… a new puppet. Highly advanced.”

“A new puppet?” you repeat.

“Yes,” Baki nods. “Bearing the mark of Sasori of the Red Sand.”

“Well… have a nice day,” Baki-han tells you rather blankly.

“You too,” you incline your head politely.

“What was that about?” Ajisai asks after Baki leaves. “It was tense.”

“I’m the one who cut that arm off,” you explain.

“Ah,” Ajisai nods in realization. “I see how that could be awkward.”

“He was doing his job,” you sigh, “and I was following my own convictions.”
>1/?

>>4521470
“Apologies, Naori-san,” Maki eventually apologizes as she arrives at the standby station. “I was in the shower.”

“Ajisai, this is Maki-han,” you gesture. “Maki-han, this is my friend Ajisai. Maki-han is a master of the Nunoshibari technique. Ajisai, have you ever used cloth-binding?”

Ajisai shakes her head. “That’s a Suna technique.”

“Maki-han,” you nod curtly. “I’d like you to teach that technique to Ajisai.”

“I’m… not much of a teacher,” Maki admits.

“Then both of you will learn something from this,” you smile. “Oh, and I want it done by noon tomorrow.”

“You’re crazy,” Ajisai insists immediately.

“Yes,” you agree. “But not about this. Tomorrow afternoon we’ll work on creating your own modified version.”

“Naori-san, a moment?” Maki gestures to you, wanting to speak in something approaching confidence. “Naori-san… the Nunoshibari can’t be taught in a day.”

“Show me,” you insist.

…

“This is how it’s performed,” Maki-han tells you, unsealing a roll of plain, naturally-colored cloth and unrolling it at high speed, where it wraps around a volunteer she brought in for the purpose. It’s another man from Sunagakure, with odd tattoos on his cheeks, who looks like he knows Maki-han somehow. She only introduced him as ‘Nonota’.

After being wrapped up thoroughly, Maki-han loosens the cloth and forces it to roll back up on itself. “Once it’s wrapped the target you can place a sealing tag onto it.”

“So like this?” you unroll the cloth yourself, wrapping a visibly-panicked Nonota with it almost exactly like Maki-han did moments before.

Maki stares at you in surprise. “How did you… from having seen it once?”

“So yeah, watch closely,” you insist, “both of you.”

You unseal twelve black paper tags, marking each with the appropriate components of the sealing formula in white, and let them hang in midair for Ajisai and Maki to watch as you fold them two at a time into six paper shuriken. Then you seal five into the sixth, let it drop into your hand, and throw it at the wall. As it flies the other five unseal, and all six embed themselves about an inch and a half into the outer wall of the building.
>2/3

>>4521487
“So what you’re saying,” Maki-han realizes as Ajisai pulls one of the paper shuriken out of the wall, “is that you learned the Nunoshibari method because it’s easier than things you can already do?”

“Yeah no, not in as many words,” you shrug. “But yes. And it’s my judgment that the same is true for Ajisai… who should really have more confidence in herself.”

>You’ve been told that Temari is struggling with kenjutsu. This piques your interest as a way to pass some time.
>Kankuro evidently got a ‘gift’ from Sasori… you’d be curious to know more about that situation, if he’ll tell you.
>You kind of want to do both of those things. There’s absolutely a way to pull that off without SEEMING like a busybody.
>Other?

>>4521489
>>Kankuro evidently got a ‘gift’ from Sasori… you’d be curious to know more about that situation, if he’ll tell you.

>>4521489
>You kind of want to do both of those things. There’s absolutely a way to pull that off without SEEMING like a busybody.

>>4521489
You kind of want to do both of those things

>>4521489
>>You kind of want to do both of those things. There’s absolutely a way to pull that off without SEEMING like a busybody.

>>4521489
>>You kind of want to do both of those things. There’s absolutely a way to pull that off without SEEMING like a busybody.

I know the obvious answer here is shadowc clones, but I'm imagining hiraishin hijinks where Naori teleports whenever Temari or Kankuro aren't looking

>>4521489
>Kankuro evidently got a ‘gift’ from Sasori… you’d be curious to know more about that situation, if he’ll tell you.

Stop being a busybody.

>>4521489
>You REALLY want to do both of those things. There’s absolutely a way to pull that off without SEEMING like a busybody.

>>4521489
>Kankuro evidently got a ‘gift’ from Sasori… you’d be curious to know more about that situation, if he’ll tell you.

>>4521489
>>You kind of want to do both of those things. There’s absolutely a way to pull that off without SEEMING like a busybody.

Ours clan is showing with this pick.

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>>4521489
Some interesting things have happened in Sunagakure from the sound of it, and you’re curious enough about them to get involved in both of those interesting things. But you can already predict how things will go if you get too involved… if Temari wanted a few pointers in how to use a sword properly she need only have asked you, but she hasn’t.

Ajisai needed your encouragement. Unlike the ninja of Konohagakure who Nagato killed and then revived on the same day, she was dead enough for the people she knew to grieve, to come to terms with the loss, and to reconstruct their lives without her in them. And tomorrow, after she’s learned the cloth-binding method you’re going to teach her how to use the paper tags she keeps sealed away on her person to do her own version of it… not just because it could prove very effective, but because it’s a way to rekindle a relationship. To show that you can still learn from each other, and push each other to be better, like you did at the academy.

To show that you do want her in your life again.

Temari on the other hand doesn’t need any encouragement from you. She’s too proud to cast herself in the role of kōhai, and romantic or not, your fondness towards her would make you seem like a rather patronizing sensei. You’d be willing to bet that she knows that already, and that in refusing to ask for your help she’s avoiding a situation that might make her resent you.

Then there’s Kankurō, who basically has never liked you and probably never will. It’s possible that the guy knows his sister has a crush on you, and it’s also possible that as a natural puppet-user he’s just far more cautious than his other siblings. Or it could be that he’s still mad that you never apologized after taunting him for playing with toys in his pajamas… which to be fair, you haven’t retracted because it’s still substantively true.

But then again, if his new puppet really is Sasori-han’s work Kankurō is likely to have questions for you… your understanding is that Sasori-han left him for dead the one time they ever met, so he’d have very little reason to trust a gift from his senpai.

“Gaara-han,” you smile pleasantly upon returning to his office. “Could you do me a favor?”

“That depends entirely on the favor,” he admits.

“Could you offer to let me stay for dinner?”

Gaara looks at you in momentary confusion. “If you’d like to stay for dinner, you may?”

“Thank you,” you reply with a curt nod. “I think you’ll understand why.”
1/?