>>4578946
“Still,” Tsunade muses, “it’s troubling on the eve of a war.”

“Danzō and his subordinates were a larger thorn in Konohagakure’s side for much longer,” you point out.

“That much is true,” Tsunade admits with a shrug. “I hope I’m simply being overly cautious.”

Gaara shakes his head quietly. “It’s a reasonable concern. This alliance has always stood on shaky foundations… we at the top may have reached an agreement, but for many even in our own two villages motivations are often much more personal.”

“And it’s personal motivations that are the hardest to overcome,” you admit with a frown.

Gaara nods once. “That’s exactly right.”

“Well, until the next batch of malcontents makes their move,” Tsunade muses thoughtfully, “it’s impossible to deal with their grievances… whatever they may be. At the very least I think we can hope that Ganryū’s failure to achieve anything meaningful will make anyone else who thinks as he did a little less eager to act.”

“With any luck,” Gaara frowns. “Now then, I believe you had information about Yakushi Kabuto?”

Tsunade nods in agreement, pulling a map out of her desk for you and Gaara to examine. “We had a team of ANBU that picked up Kabuto’s trail after the fight near the Hole. Mitarashi Anko led that team… they reported by messenger hawk that they had reached the region known as the Graveyard of the Mountains.”

“That’s well north of here,” you muse, finding the spot on the map. “But very isolated. A good place to mass forces that shouldn’t exist in this world.”

“That was our realization as well,” Tsunade concurs.

>1d6, DC 11
>best three of four

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4578949

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4578949

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4578949

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4578949

>>4578949
When you get the signal from Naruto you leave a shadow clone to wrap things up with Tsunade and Gaara, letting your real body teleport to where you can already tell you’re needed much more acutely. You know that, even at this distance, because you can sense the familiar chakra through both hiraishin tags: one on Naruto’s person, and the other with Yugito.

The latter has just smacked the intruder across the back of the island turtle, leaving a trail of destruction that carves its way through what looks like a mangrove forest growing out of bony plates covered in a thick layer of sediment and moss. The only indication that this is a turtle is the fact that Yugito’s attack has gouged away the layers of detritus and left only a long scar where the carapace underneath is visible.

“I see him,” you insist even before she or Naruto can explain.

“You already know why you’re here?” Yugito asks to confirm what she suspects.

You nod curtly. “He’s one of the few Akatsuki that I’ve never really seen fight… Hoshigaki Kirisame. You’ve brought me into something interesting.”

As Killer B and Naruto try to follow you, Yugito-han bars their way. “Wait… the three of us can’t fight him.”

“What does that mean, Yugito-neesan!?” Naruto demands.

…

Guy-sensei is fighting Kisame when you catch up to them, with the former having already opened several of the inner gates. You know of course why Yugito is having her fellow jinchūriki keep a distance: especially with Samehada in his hands, Kisame is probably one of the gravest threats to a jinchūriki. And even with just the chakra that he shaved off Yugito’s tailed beast cloak just before you arrived, he’s already gotten stronger.

In fact he’s probably closer to a tailed beast himself right now than anything else, which means that you’re the one best equipped to handle him.

“Ah, so that was you I sensed before!” Kisame greets you jovially. “I was hoping for this fight, if I’m being honest… practically itching for it in fact.”

“Have you now?” you reply, drawing Umekiri from your hip and taking a relaxed stance.

“Uzumaki Naori-san,” Guy tries to get your attention. “We’ll take him together...”

“Yeah no, I think not,” you admit with a sheepish grin. “Sorry ‘bout that, but I’d rather fight him solo.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it’s a duel he’s looking for,” you clarify.
>1/2

>>4579178
“If I win, I’ll have beaten the only kenjutsu master in the shinobi world worth beating,” he admits with a smirk. “And don’t try to tell me that brat Chōjūrō or Mangetsu’s half-baked little brother count. They’re children playing around with two of the most boring swords of the Seven.”

“And if I win it would’ve been a fight worth having,” you guess. “Is that what you’re thinking?”

“That, and it’d be delightfully ironic,” Kisame goes right on smirking back at you. “For a man with as much of his comrades’ blood on his hands as me to die at the hands of a former comrade… just seems appropriate, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Kisame-han,” you frown. “Don’t tell me you’re looking for an easy death?”

“Not at all,” he shrugs. “With my death or yours, this fight will fulfil me.”

“Alright then,” you nod curtly. “Here I come.”

“That’s great!” Kisame crows as he parries Umekiri’s edge, ripping the rest of the bandages off from around Samehada’s form. “Not even a hint of bloodlust to help anticipate… you’re good, very good.”

His physical strength, as well as the mass of his weapon, are both greater than yours, though you’re a bit faster on your feet… he clearly knows the method for ‘silent killing’ footwork at least as well as you do, but at this point he almost certainly realizes that there’s no point in either of you trying to use it against the other without some elaborate setup. You’d also estimate that you’re just a little better with a sword than Kisame is, though his taijutsu is probably a little more geared towards offensive and defensive power rather than ‘filling gaps’ like your own jūjutsu is meant to do.

That’s why he’s able to overwhelm you in zeriai, the moments where your blades halt against each other, why you’re forced to dance away and around him as you search for an opening. Even more difficult to work around at first is the fact that unlike a normal sword of its size Samehada can bend and change shapes, twisting in Kisame’s hands and extending spike-like scales as an additional hazard.

But eventually you find that you’ve gotten a good sense for the strengths and limitations of Kisame’s style of fencing, and so you make your move.

“Hiken: Tsubamegiri!”

From a zeriai you withdraw in an instant, turning to slash at Kisame’s side as he momentarily loses track of the passage of time. But to your surprise it’s Samehada itself that defends its wielder… so that’s how it is.

“Lucky you,” you muse after taking a step away from Kisame before he can kill you with a backward sweep of Samehada’s vast bulk. “Looks like your sword’s nervous system is too simple for genjutsu to work on it. You’ve got yourself a fine partner there.”
>2/3

>>4579189
Instead of approaching you he props Samehada against his shoulder and forms a single hand sign: snake.

“Suiton: Bakusui Shōha!”

He expels a torrent of water from his mouth, like a small ocean flowing forth seemingly from nowhere that threatens to wash you clean off the back of the island turtle. As you’re dodging, having leapt into the treetops even as many of their trunks are being cracked by the sheer volume of water hitting them, you catch sight of Kisame weaving more signs.

Tiger, snake, rat, snake, then tiger…

“Suiton: Daisuijinheki!”

In the distance, all around you, Kisame raises a circular wall of water, essentially creating a ‘bowl’ in which the water from his previous technique can pool several feet deep. So he’s using these two techniques to set the stage? It’s a lot of chakra, but you get the feeling that his reserves are even greater than your own… an intimidating thought.

“As a swordswoman...” Kisame muses as you crouch in a nearby tree, “I have to admit you have the edge. That deserves some praise.”

“I’m flattered,” you reply.

“But your kengen-ryū’s pretty limited against me,” he continues. “And I know both of us have other techniques to rely on.”

>Use the Shikigami no Mai: hiraishin and your exploding tags will more than match his water style.
>Focus on using your Storm Release flow: that’s your best chance for beating elemental attacks.
>You’re not convinced Samehada could be this unimpressive and still be so feared. Play it calm and cool.
>Other?

>>4579197
I assume we're already in sage mode?
>Use our paper wings to fly up and our of the water
>See if tying samehada down with our chains will work
>Either way, use exploding tags to either deal damage or make distance

>>4579197
>>Focus on using your Storm Release flow: that’s your best chance for beating elemental attacks.
>>4579208
Samehada absorbs chakra, our chains are made of chakra, I don't think that's a good match..

>>4579197
>>You’re not convinced Samehada could be this unimpressive and still be so feared. Play it calm and cool.

>>4579208
You assume incorrectly. At this point both fighters are still approaching each other with caution. This is as close to a totally blind fight as could ever have happened in this version of Akatsuki.

>>4579197
>>Focus on using your Storm Release flow: that’s your best chance for beating elemental attacks.
>>You’re not convinced Samehada could be this unimpressive and still be so feared. Play it calm and cool.

>>4579220
they are made of chakra, but they also seal chakra, so i'm not sure how it would work out...

>>4579197
>Focus on using your Storm Release flow: that’s your best chance for beating elemental attacks.

>>4579197
>You’re not convinced Samehada could be this unimpressive and still be so feared. Play it calm and cool.

>>4579197
>You’re not convinced Samehada could be this unimpressive and still be so feared. Play it calm and cool.
I want Samehada

>>4579197
>>You’re not convinced Samehada could be this unimpressive and still be so feared. Play it calm and cool.

>>4579197
>1d6, taking the first three
>DC 10
>SP: 5/6
>ES: 0/2 (0T)

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4580245
here comes the obligatory 1

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4580245

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4580245
Welp.

>>4580245
>Gain 2 SP, then Spend 2 SP, leaving you at 4 SP
>Gain 2 SP, Spend 1 SP and 1 ES, leaving you at 5SP and ES 1/2
>Gain 2 SP, then take 2 ES, leaving you at 6 SP and ES 2/2
>Take the Failure

>>4580260
>>Gain 2 SP, Spend 1 SP and 1 ES, leaving you at 5SP and ES 1/2

>>4580260
>>Gain 2 SP, then Spend 2 SP, leaving you at 4 SP

>>4580260
>Gain 2 SP, then Spend 2 SP, leaving you at 4 SP

>>4580260
>Gain 2 SP, then Spend 2 SP, leaving you at 4 SP

>>4580260
>>Gain 2 SP, Spend 1 SP and 1 ES, leaving you at 5SP and ES 1/2

>>4580260
>Gain 2 SP, then Spend 2 SP, leaving you at 4 SP

>>4580260
>SP: 4/6
>ES: 0/2 (0T)

This is the Samehada you know by reputation… a reputation that so far seems to be unearned.

It’s definitely an odd weapon, like any of the other Seven, but it hasn’t shown you anything to warrant the kind of horror so many people seem to view it with. Shibuki’s wielder becomes an explosion-fiend almost on your level, Nuibari’s becomes some sort of sicko that strings people together, Kubikiribōchō’s becomes a grim executioner. So whatever it is that makes Samehada’s wielder worse than that, you’d be willing to guess that Kisame-han hasn’t shown you yet.

Kisame-han creates two water clones, which set up for a cooperative series of sequential attacks. One clone claps and places a hand on the surface of the water beneath your feet, creating turbulance under the surface.

“Suiton: Goshokuzame!”

The second clone weaves hand signs of his own: tiger, ox, tiger, then rat. “Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!”

The water bullet forces you to evade, then the five sharks created in the water below from Kisame-han’s sculpted chakra begin to breach the surface. This serves in preventing you from attacking as the third, true body finishes his own signs: a much longer string of tiger, ox, dragon, hare, dog, bird, rat, dragon, and ram.

“Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu!”

That mass of water takes the form of a shark as well, with jaws lined with a full maw of razor-sharp fangs, and surrounds Kisame-han’s body as he charges you within it. You manage to lash back at him with your Kongō Fūsa chains to keep some spacing open, but it’s a very close thing. Samehada manages to break one of the chains, absorbing its chakra by shredding it loose as Kisame-han passes you: had it not been for his momentum it’s entirely possible you could have sealed his sword right there, and the fact that his real body gives you some healthy distance after that confirms that he knows it.

The first Kisame clone has been busy, and thrusts his hands forward in another powerful water-based technique. “Suiton: Daikōdan no Jutsu!”

This much larger shark hits your Kongō Fūsa… then, surprisingly, disintegrates the chains before they can find purchase and bind the mass of chakra-laden water in place. That was his game then, to get you to counter with a technique he can absorb using the Great Shark Bomb technique.

“Against someone without hiraishin that might’ve worked,” you admit, hanging upside-down from a tree limb nearby. “So yeah… seems like I’m not the only one with one ‘arrow’ that’s no good in this fight.”

“Very interesting!” Kisame muses delightedly. “It’s an old saying, that one about three arrows… how many arrows would you say that you have? Four? Five?”

“Five would be fair,” you reply calmly. “I’ve seen two of yours now. What’s your third?”
>1/2

>>4580578
“I guess I should’ve known it would come to this,” Kisame replies, letting his water clones create two more clones each to block your way as he sets up his next attack. You have no doubt that if you were to try to make your move now he’s use one of those clones as the raw material for a Water Prison technique.

“But you’re every bit as good as Itachi-san seemed to think you were,” Kisame grins wickedly. “Even Samehada here seems to like you… your chakra apparently tastes like honey, lime, and garlic.”

“I’d eat that,” you admit. “Its chakra absorption rate is absurd.”

“It can strip the tails right off a jinchūriki!” Kisame admits. “Six tails at once if it’s hungry, which I made sure it was before coming here.”

“Now, let’s give you something to try your skills against… our ultimate cooperation technique! Suirō: Sameodori no Jutsu!”

The water swirls around from the walls, quickly swallowing you and Kisame-han in a massive dome of water like a water prison but a thousand times stronger. All the while as you struggle to orient yourself amid the swirling torrents, you catch glimpses of a literal fusion of man and… of whatever Samehada counts as.

Kisame-han’s upper body is that of a slightly more anthropomorphic shark, complete with gills, claws, and fins. His movement will have been vastly enhanced like this, and his chakra level has reached that of a tailed beast like Isobu or Matatabi.

This technique… this one is dangerous. It’s given Kisame the home field advantage, and put you on a timer of sorts.

>Use your hiraishin and explosive tags to take control of the battlefield back from Kisame.
>Use your explosive tags to create pockets of lower pressure you can move through.
>Go into sage mode, then try releasing all of that senjutsu chakra in one massive burst. Push the water away.
>Other?

>>4580580
I'm not super into naruto, but wouldn't letting it absorb nature chakra turn it to stone like everything else that's tried so far?

>>4580581
That is generally what happens when something absorbs nature chakra, yes. Though you can never really predict what can and can't handle it without 'testing the waters' first.

>>4580580
>Use your explosive tags to create pockets of lower pressure you can move through.

>>4580580
>>Use your explosive tags to create pockets of lower pressure you can move through.

>>4580580
>Go into sage mode, then try releasing all of that senjutsu chakra in one massive burst. Push the water away.
I've always wanted to use this technique, and i think king probably feels the same way

>>4580580
>>Use your hiraishin and explosive tags to take control of the battlefield back from Kisame.

Alright let's make it a bullet hell, but with explosive tags and teleporting everywhere.

>>4580593
>Naori tastes like Honey, Lime, and Garlic
>Sweet
>Sour
>Spicy
Damn, Naori must be like a walking Sichuan dish.

>“But you’re every bit as good as Itachi-san seemed to think you were,” Kisame grins wickedly. “Even Samehada here seems to like you… your chakra apparently tastes like honey, lime, and garlic.”

>“I’d eat that,” you admit. “Its chakra absorption rate is absurd.”
Did...did Naori admit to wanting to eat herself?

>>4580612
Feel the ginger, taste the ginger

>>4580580
>Use your hiraishin and explosive tags to take control of the battlefield back from Kisame.

>>4580580
>Use your explosive tags to create pockets of lower pressure you can move through.

>>4580580
>>Use your explosive tags to create pockets of lower pressure you can move through.

>>4580580
Other:
>Go sage mode, use our mangekyo bs to counterpick and turn any and all elemental techniques he uses against him, and just beat the devil out of him with taijutsu and kenjutsu enhanced by sage+2gates. Keep him on the back foot.

Curses! If only we'd made a summoning contract with a clan of dolphins.

>>4580580
This water is clearly meant to slow you down in a way that Kisame-han can flatly ignore, giving him a solid advantage against you. Even as you mould your senjutsu chakra and enter into sage mode, it’s not clear that you can fight underwater at a level where your amplified abilities will even matter… ten times zero still being zero, you realize. But there is a principle that will let you fight him on more of an even level.

If you can reduce the pressure of the water you can reduce your drag as you move through it, and you have two techniques you can think of to do that with.

As Kisame makes an attack run you detonate several Shiyō Kibaku tags, creating areas of water that roil with changing pressures and voids where there’s no water at all. One of these you push yourself into, using the same principles behind water-walking to kick through the area and swing Umekiri.

Kisame raises his arms and extends scales, a quality you recognize of Samehada, blocking your swing. The force of your movement pushes him back towards another Shiyō Kibaku tag, which you set off against his body.

It doesn’t quite seem as powerful as it would be in air, but it is enough to leave him bleeding from his mouth.
>1d6, taking the best three of four
>DC 10

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4581329

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4581329

Hey King,

If, hypothetically, Naori spent however many years meditating it would take to just ingrain the presence and flow of natural energy into her body such that the line separating her from the energy around her starts to get blurry, THEN could she perhaps make use of sage mode and all 8 gates at the same time?

And can you honestly tell me you aren't the slightest bit interested in a 'what if' scenario omake? I get she doesn't have the time to run off and pull a 'Chairman Netero'. Just an idle thought.

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4581329
My timing was awful there

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4581329

File: DEATH.jpg (811 KB, 1344x1236)

811 KB JPG

>>4581332
>>4581338
>>4581342
LET'S FUCKING GO!!!!!!

The power of the Devil Bunny is with us!

Well, that just happened.

Kisame is in for a surprise.

>>4581329
Your strategy works perfectly… even better than you’d hoped in fact, because the cavitation caused by your explosions gives you one additional advantage. When Kisame makes one final pass, he neither sees nor feels your hand pressing against his body, right against the ribs under his right arm.

As he turns you gather chakra around Umekiri’s edge, compressing and violently agitating it before teleporting yourself to the hiraishin marking you left on his ribs. The Tenrangiri meets his back with titanic force, enough to probably carve away the better part of a small mountain under normal circumstances. Some of that chakra is offset as Samehada apparently uses most of the chakra it's stored up to ensure that Kisame-han keeps a roughly human form through the ordeal. But it's not nearly enough to spare him the pain of having his body torn apart and reassembled.

The force from your strike propels Kisame clear out of his dome of water, blasting torrents out of the side as he exits, leaving what remains to collapse back into the ocean as it rolls freely off the island turtle’s shell.

After a second or so, you transport yourself again to where Kisame-han ended up: a cliff face near the turtle’s head, where you impale him with Umekiri’s point.

Your feet touch sand below… a lakeshore, it seems, or some sort of odd tidal pool.

Kisame coughs up blood, pinned to the cliff face.

Then something happens to him: Kisame’s blood begins to aerosolize, gathering like an impenetrable mist that screens him from your sight. Combined with his skill at the silent killing method this would be the end of most ordinary jōnin, even potentially some kages.

But instead Kisame-han strikes an afterimage left as you teleport past him, severing his right arm at the shoulder in a howl of pain, using Tenryushi. You’re also careful to grab Umekiri as well, reuniting you with your favored blade.

“Yeah no,” you admit through the mist, “you’re a marked man, Kisame-han. Like this, there’s no possible way you can win… though I thank you for returning my sword to me.”

There’s a revolting sound like flesh being torn from bone, and the mist clears. Once it does so you can see that Kisame’s wounds are healed, though he’s no longer fused with Samehada. In fact, the great sword seems to have slimmed back down to its original size.

Samehada wriggles away on its own.

“The hell!?” Kisame growls. “I know complaining about a lack of loyalty is a joke coming from me, but what the actual hell!?”

Samehada seems conflicted.

>You know it’s trying to save him by removing the hiraishin mark. It won’t work.
>Suggest that Samehada is waiting to see who the victor of this fight turns out to be.
>Insist that Samehada return to Kisame. It would feel disrespectful to win so unfairly.
>Try to capture Kisame alive. This is a good chance to gather intelligence.
>Other?

>>4581645
>Kisame, it's over. But, it doesn't have to end like this. I don't want to kill you.
>It's not too late to change things. Give me a chance.

>>4581645
>>Try to capture Kisame alive. This is a good chance to gather intelligence.

>>4581645
>>Try to capture Kisame alive. This is a good chance to gather intelligence.

>>4581645
>Try to capture Kisame alive. This is a good chance to gather intelligence.

>>4581645
>>Try to capture Kisame alive. This is a good chance to gather intelligence.

>>4581645
>>Try to capture Kisame alive. This is a good chance to gather intelligence.
>It's trying to save your life by removing my mark, it apparently likes you so much it'd give up food to save you.

>>4581645
>>You know it’s trying to save him by removing the hiraishin mark. It won’t work.
>>Try to capture Kisame alive. This is a good chance to gather intelligence.

>>4581645
>Insist that Samehada return to Kisame. It would feel disrespectful to win so unfairly.

>>4581645
>>Try to capture Kisame alive. This is a good chance to gather intelligence.

>>4581645
>Insist that Samehada return to Kisame. It would feel disrespectful to win so unfairly.

>>4581645
>>Try to capture Kisame alive. This is a good chance to gather intelligence.
And we better not give Kabuto more fodder to resurrect.

>>4581645
>Try to capture Kisame alive. This is a good chance to gather intelligence.
still want samehada

>>4581645
You return the Tenryūshi Rai to your left hip in a spinning flourish, reversing its hilt in your left hand then sliding it into the saya with a second smooth movement.

The second movement is a flurry of activity, as you manifest and extend four Kongō Fūsa chains from your left shoulder in much the same way the snake-clan summoning technique called Sen’ei Jashu is meant to work. But true to his skills in kenjutsu Kisame-han picked up on your movement and has already clapped his hands together, expelling a mass of water from his mouth and wrapping himself in it as a water prison.

“I see,” you frown as the density of the water and the raw power and binding capability of your Kongō Fūsa meet. “It’s insulating you.”

“Yeah,” Kisame-han admits with a grin from inside his water prison even as the others finally catch up with you. “There’s something I’ve gotta say to you before this is all over.”

“Kisame-han, it’s not too...”

“It was ‘too late’ before you even met me, kid,” he insists. “I think I get why Itachi-san chose you… at the end of the day you’ve got the raw power and skills of a monster like the rest of us, but your heart is too soft. If the world weren’t already changing it’d just be a matter of time before something broke you.”

“But that soft heart’s why, of all of us, you’re the one who gets to live,” he admits, weaving a few hand signs. “Take me for example. I’ve gone way too far down the path I’m on to change things now. It’s the way I’ve lived, and it’s the way I’ll die.”

“What the hell is he doing?” Yamato demands.

“Sorry, losers,” Kisame-han chuckles. “I know you’d love to get at what I know, but I’m not the kinda guy who’d just make it easy for you.”

Then he turns to you as his hands stop. “Naori-kun… don’t worry about it. Either way this plays out, the new world isn’t something a guy like me should care to see. I’d be totally out of place.”

“Kuchiyose!”

Kisame-han summons three sharks inside his water prison, before biting off his tongue and spitting it out. The results are something that, because of his setup and his sheer commitment to the act, are as inevitable as they are gruesome.

Most present look away. You don’t.

When it's done, you can hear Samehada whimpering... but nobody speaks at first. Everyone is too shocked and stunned to find the right words.
>1/2

>>4582195
That's fucking metal.

>>4582195
“He... killed himself,” Naruto states the obvious.

“He did,” Guy-sensei confirms as the blood-stained water drains away. “He preferred to die rather than give us the chance to gather any intel on his comrades.”

Naruto is still staring at the bloodstain that was Kisame-han a few moments ago. “Didn’t he say something about killing his comrades? You know, before?”

“Maybe it was remorse?” Yugito-han wonders. “Though I find it hard to believe.”

“It wasn’t,” you shake your head. “It was consistency... I remember that he was attached to Kirigakure’s Cypher Division during the last war. That must be what he was talking about. The event that left him disillusioned with the shinobi world was probably the day he was forced to kill his own comrades to protect information they were carrying.”

“In dying the way he did, he was staying true to the path he spoke of. So yeah, regardless of how I feel about his decisions I guess he should be commended for his commitment.”

“What do we do about that sword?” B asks, watching Samehada warily. “Hope hearin it don’t give you a stroke, but wieldin’ that Samehada’d be no joke.”

“It certainly could be a huge asset,” Yamato agrees with B.

>I think B or Yugito should have it for now, assuming Samehada will allow it.
>I only know that using Sage Mode makes me incompatible with Samehada. Anything else isn’t my decision to make.
>I think it should go back to Kirigakure to be sealed, at least for the time being. I’d hate to have to face it again any time soon.
>Other?

>>4582242
>>I think B or Yugito should have it for now, assuming Samehada will allow it.
Shame we ourselves can't wield it, but thems the breaks.

>>4582242
>I would like to see if I'm compatible with the sword before we do anything else with it. I'm the reason its previous owner is dead, it might recognize me as its new owner.
I WANT SAMEHADA

>>4582242
>>I think B or Yugito should have it for now, assuming Samehada will allow it.

>>4582242
>>I think B or Yugito should have it for now, assuming Samehada will allow it.

>>4582242
>It's samehada's choice.

>>4582242
>I think B or Yugito should have it for now, assuming Samehada will allow it.
>Of course if they have their own idea, I'm all ears.

>>4582242
>>I think B or Yugito should have it for now, assuming Samehada will allow it.

We're really not a greatsword kinda gal. Plus, yknow, we have our own sentient sword.

>>4582242
Yugito was initially concerned about Samehada being a weapon well suited to fighting a jinkirichi. Keeping something like that with the remaining jinkirichi seems like a huge tactical blunder.

>I think it should go back to Kirigakure.

Frankly there is no way Mei won't be pressured into trying to get the sword back to Kiri, just returning it might help to smooth over what could potentially evolve into a political complication.

>>4582242
>I only know that using Sage Mode makes me incompatible with Samehada. Anything else isn’t my decision to make.
>If anything it's Samehada's decision.

>>4582242
>It's Samehada's choice

>>4582242
>It's Samehada's choice

>>4582242
>>I only know that using Sage Mode makes me incompatible with Samehada. Anything else isn’t my decision to make.
>It's Samehada's choice

>>4582242
>>I think B or Yugito should have it for now, assuming Samehada will allow it.

>>4582242
I started some omakes but that's not happening at this point, it's too late in the evening and I'm not feeling well. So I'll try and do regular updates tomorrow.

Hope y'all had a good christmas in spite of things kinda being a shitshow.

>>4583186
I'm sick as well, but i had a really nice christmas.
Hope you did too!

>>4583186
Hope you feel better King, mery chrisler

>>4582242
“I can’t wield it,” you insist, finally sheathing Umekiri-maru so that you can heft Samehada by its long hilt. It weighs even more than Kubikiribōchō does, and it immediately starts trying to syphon off some of your chakra… a slow rate of course, but still an unusual sensation. “It instinctively realized during my fight with Kisame-han that it can’t absorb my senjutsu chakra without dying, which means I’d be sacrificing my strongest abilities to wield it. And I don’t think it would make up the difference.”

“It does seem to like you though,” Yugito-han muses. “I’ve heard that it’s notoriously choosy.”

“Not as much as my Umekiri-maru can be,” you shrug, “but yeah, no, Samehada’s one that needs a particularly good match.

“Well then, it’d be the most revealin to see whose chakra it finds appealin’, yeah?” B interjects enthusiastically. “An’ there’s just one way to do that, yeah?”

You try to hand Samehada to Yugito-han first, only for the blade to extend sharpened spikes from its hilt… they nearly stab her in the hand, and when she recoils so too do the spikes.

“Well, that seems like a no,” you observe, knowing full well that you’re stating the obvious. “I wonder if it prefers certain chakra natures… Kisame-han said my chakra had a ‘taste’ to it, so maybe it doesn’t like chakra with a fire affinity?”

“Makes as much sense as anything else,” Yugito shrugs, though she’s still watching the sword warily as she takes a few steps back. “More than the alternative in fact, since it’s not like I’ve got a shortage of chakra it could object to.”

“Hey, Aoba-san,” Naruto suggests, calling attention to the jōnin who quite simply has been along for the ride until now. “You’ve got a fire affinity, right?”

“Try,” you offer, holding out the hilt for Aoba-han to grasp, only for Samehada to react even more aggressively. It extends its spikes even sooner, early enough that despite his reflexes being slower Aoba-han can pull his hand away in time.

“Well then,” Aoba frowns, “now that’s out of the way can I say I don’t like you either, you big grey slab of skin?”

“Motoi,” Yamato muses, “you try now, since we’re doing this methodically and all.”

This time instead of trying to attack its would-be wielder, Samehada simply moves its hilt out of the way at the last second so that the Kumo-nin can’t grab hold of it.

“Okay, now I’m just insulted,” Motoi grumbles as he lets Yamato try and fail.

That just leaves B, who takes the hilt from your hands easily.

“Well, it seems to think you have good taste,” you muse as B examines the blade more closely. “I guess everyone’s entitled to an opinion.”
>1/2

>>4583474
“That tickles,” B grins slightly. “Well whod’ve known this’d end with me makin’ a weird new friend?”

“This day couldn’t get any weirder,” Yugito-han grumbles. “You sure you’re just gonna pass on this thing though?”

“From what I can tell it’s technically mine,” you shrug, “but after the war I figure your village can hand it back to Kirigakure. Try and cement an alliance with a nice gesture like that. For now, yeah… I think you guys’ll need it more here.”

“Besides, I think the Kiba or the Kubikiribōchō are more my style anyway.”

“Didn’t you get to use those when Obito had us under his genjutsu?” Naruto recalls. “That big one was Kubikiribōchō, right? I remember when our team fought Zabuza-san, he was usin’ it back then.”

“He was better suited to it,” you admit. “He weighed more than I do, so he was probably able to swing it a little more like a regular sword. It’d be the same problem with me and Samehada too… but B should be able to handle it easily enough.”

“And anyway…” you muse, patting the blade at your hip. “I’ve already got my partner right here.”

…

“And that’s my report,” you tell Terumi-tono… and A, Ōnoki, Gaara, and Tsunade all at the same time, via shadow clones. “My advice would be to move the island turtle soon.”

“So you really think that’s how it worked?” Terumi-tono wonders.

You nod curtly. “Yugito pretty much confirmed it… before I left she mentioned that she also lost track of one of Kisame-han’s water clones. That clone probably managed to get information out of the battle area before Kisame-han died.”

“Well… in any event, good work,” Terumi-tono sighs. “That could have gone much worse.”

>Is there any word on our enemy’s movements yet?
>Tell me, Terumi-tono… does Kiri know where the other five swords are?
>If you’ll excuse me, I’m sure I’m needed elsewhere. No clue where yet.
>Other?

>>4583484
>Tell me, Terumi-tono… does Kiri know where the other five swords are?

>>4583484
>>Tell me, Terumi-tono… does Kiri know where the other five swords are?

>>4583494
>>4583484
This right here

>>4583484
Seems Samehada likes Storm or Water Affinity chakras considering it's extreme aversion to Fire chakra, its long years being attached to Kisame, and its rather warm and eager reception to Killer B and Naori's hands whom both have Storm and Water affinity Chakra.

Can King confirm this statement?

>>4583484
>>Tell me, Terumi-tono… does Kiri know where the other five swords are?

>>4583636
It's not just affinity, beyond fire just being too spicy. Naori also has her Uzumaki heritage that affects her chakra qualities, giving it a unique taste, and B has Gyuki which makes his chakra taste like octopus.

That's why Samehada is considered so picky: if it was just quantity and affinity it wouldn't be hard to find it a wielder.

>>4583484
>Tell me, Terumi-tono… does Kiri know where the other five swords are?

>>4583844
For all its being an incredible weapon, Samehada is also a living thing. Technically I guess

>>4583484
“Terumi-tono?” you muse. “I don’t plan to tell the other Kages that I asked you this, nor do I plan to share your answer… but does your village know where the other five of the Seven are?”

After a moment, the Mizukage quietly shakes her head. “No. Last we heard the Kubikiribōchō was in the possession of a crime boss by the name of Tenzen, who worked as an aide to the Water Daimyō. Last we checked Tenzen was dead, and the sword was missing… taken, probably.”

“Shibuki, Nuibari, Kabutowari, and Kiba are all missing.”

“Yeah no, most of those I’m not concerned about,” you admit openly. “Four of the Seven Swords are pure kitsch… Shibuki doesn’t work with most schools’ hiken techniques, Nuibari and Kabutowari are just too much effort for what they can actually do, and Hiramekarei just duplicates what the samurai can do through training. At very least Kubikiribōchō has some interesting properties that I can kind of respect from a technical perspective, but it’s an awkward blade in practice that doesn’t gain much for its awkwardness.”

“And the remaining two?” she wonders.

You nod curtly. “Having seen what it can do it’s good that Samehada is in the Allied Forces’ hands. Kiba may actually become a problem.”

“Those are the blades which gave you your scar, weren’t they?” Terumi-tono frowns slightly. “In the hands of Kurosuki Raiga.”

“That’s right.”

“He had a daughter,” Terumi-tono muses idly. “I found out a few years ago… I was surprised to hear a guy like that had a family.”

“Really?” you wonder aloud, equally surprised.

Terumi-tono nods. “She’d be six now I think. In her first year at the academy.”

>Would it be a problem if I saw her? I have no particular reason to, I’m just nosy sometimes.
>I’m actually curious about other villages’ academies. Something to think of for after the war.
>Tell me more about the previous Seven Swords. Were they all psychopaths?
>Other?

>>4584501
>Would it be a problem if I saw her? I have no particular reason to, I’m just nosy sometimes.
>I’m actually curious about other villages’ academies. Something to think of for after the war.

>>4584501
>i am actually curious about ...
>tell me more about the previous owners ...

>>4584501
>Would it be a problem if I saw her? I have no particular reason to, I’m just nosy sometimes.
>I’m actually curious about other villages’ academies. Something to think of for after the war.

>>4584501
>>Would it be a problem if I saw her? I have no particular reason to, I’m just nosy sometimes.

>>4584501
>>Would it be a problem if I saw her? I have no particular reason to, I’m just nosy sometimes.
>>I’m actually curious about other villages’ academies. Something to think of for after the war.

>>4584501
>>I’m actually curious about other villages’ academies. Something to think of for after the war.

>>4584501
>I’m actually curious about other villages’ academies. Something to think of for after the war.

>>4584501
“So yeah, I’d like to see how other villages organize their academies,” you admit, “for after the war. I know that in Amegakure the curriculum is harsh, which may contribute to our reputation for producing such unreasonable shinobi.”

“When this war is over, I think that should change.”

After a moment, Terumi-tono nods in quiet understanding. “You know of course that until recently we had our own reputation here in Kirigakure.”

“I know.”

“Then you should also know that things may look exactly how you’d expect in some ways,” Terumi warns you, “but not in others. I’ve been trying to make some changes.”

You choose your words carefully. “Then I look forward to seeing your progress, Mizukage-tono.”

…

The Academy is another round building in the middle of Kirigakure’s clinging mists, several floors tall with trees and moss growing on its roof. Inside, on the ground floor, is a large training hall where you find students of varying ages, mostly leaning towards the age where you’d expect them to be ready to graduate either this year or next. The training hall has a wide balcony on one end and a narrower one on the other end, and it’s to this narrower balcony where instructors can observe that Terumi-tono takes you.

“The floor is water,” Terumi-tono states the obvious for you. “It’s for two reasons, the first of which is to limit this training space to more advanced students whose chakra control has reached the level where they can walk on water. The second reason is to serve the basic elemental training that most of our students share.”

“The presence of water makes it easy for rookies to use suiton ninjutsu,” you summarize.

“That’s right,” Terumi-tono nods. “By the time they graduate the water clone and Kirigakure techniques are required for most students, and the most advanced students are already going to be capable of using them in bouts.”.”

“Which makes it harder for those with other affinities to graduate,” you frown. “Most fire techniques take a significant amount of chakra in the first place.”

“Fire is rare enough here that it warrants special tutoring in the first place,” Terumi-tono admits, “bout on the other end of the spectrum lightning users are at an extreme advantage… like Kurosuki-kun down there.”

“Which one?” you wonder, watching as several students all spar at the same time.

“The small one with the blonde hair,” Terumi-tono informs you, drawing your attention to a young blonde girl who is currently beating an older student senseless with a wooden sword. “They’re going to have to call that bout soon… would you like to speak with her?”

You nod silently as a proctor is forced to swoop in and keep the girl from killing her opponent.
>1/2
>will finish after lunch

>>4585529
She’s no more friendly when she eventually joins you, having been pulled out of the sparring sessions below to speak with you. Her immediate instincts are to be mistrustful of the situation in general and suspicious of you in particular despite your best attempts to be courteous and welcoming. The cushions and teacups you unsealed don’t do much for her, nor does Terumi-tono’s presence against the back wall, nor does the conspicuous lack of any other adults.

“Please sit,” you insist quietly, gesturing to the cushion across from you. “The tea is white peach. It’s very good.”

Kurosuki takes her seat slowly, icy blue eyes watching for any signs of movement as she settles into a formal seiza.

“What is your name?”

She continues to watch you as she replies. “Kurosuki Buntan.”

“Nice to meet you, Buntan-kun,” you reply with a smile, before taking a sip of tea. Eventually she picks up the cup you set in front of her and does the same. “So, do you know who I am?”

“Akatsuki,” she replies curtly.

“At one time,” you confirm. “My name is Uzumaki Naori. How do you know of Akatsuki?”

“Hoshigaki Kisame is a member,” she replies. “He’s the man who killed my father.”

“I was there,” you inform her calmly. “Your father was the one who cut out my left eye. But yeah, no, that’s not what I’m here to talk about.”

“Then what are you here to talk about?” she demands impatiently... as she speaks you’ve noticed her teeth are sharpened, much as her father’s and Kisame-han’s were.

“I wanted to ask about your academy,” you explain. “What it’s like for you as a student, what they teach you and how. That sort of thing.”

“Why?”

“I was thinking that the way hidden villages like yours and mine may need to change with the times,” you expand on your line of thinking. “So while I was already in Kirigakure I figured I might as well indulge my curiosity.”

Buntan glances at the Mizukage behind you, then back to you. “What sort of answer do you want from me? The one I mean or the one that won’t get me in trouble?”

“If they’re different then I want to hear the former,” Terumi-tono admits.
>2/3

>>4585639
“I think it’s a mistake,” Buntan-kun insists flatly. “In the Bloody Mist days there wouldn’t be so many weaklings with big mouths like that punk I was beating on earlier.”

“Yeah, so what was that about?” you press.

“He was picking on me,” Buntan-kun tells you. “Because of my father. Unlike when my mother does it, there’s no reason to let a punk like him get away with it.”

“Don’t you have any friends in your class that you’d feel bad about killing?” Terumi-tono asks with a frown. “Because that is what it would mean to return to the days of the Blood Mist.”

Buntan-kun shakes her head. “No. There’s just the other kids who try to pick on me, and the ones who are too scared to even try. Even the instructors are too scared of me to step in.”

Something about this troubles you... her description of her mother engaging in the same sort of childish bullying that she has come to expect from her classmates, and the implication that it too is related to Kurosuki Raiga. It wouldn’t surprise you... Raiga was after all a traitor to his village. But from what you can tell, judging by Buntan’s age and the amount of time it’s been since Raiga’s defection. You’d be more than willing to bet that Buntan never met her father, in fact it seems mathematically impossible for her to have any memory of the man.

“So yeah, what sort of kenjutsu are they teaching you here?” you muse, intending to cast a wider net for more information about Buntan’s situation. “One of the koryū?”

She shakes her head. “At my age they only teach basic shintō-ryū. I’d rather learn nitō-ryū, but no one will tutor me in it.”

“No students learn nitō-ryū before they’ve learned a single-sword style,” Terumi-tono observes.

>In a world where the Seven Swords are the ultimate goal for any academy student?
>It seems rational to cover the basics, since not all students are ready to advance beyond that.
>Okay, Buntan-kun. Let’s see you try your hand at nitō-ryū. I’ll be your opponent.
>I really don’t feel like this is my place.
>Other?

>>4585836
>Okay, Buntan-kun. Let’s see you try your hand at nitō-ryū. I’ll be your opponent.

>>4585836
>>Okay, Buntan-kun. Let’s see you try your hand at nitō-ryū. I’ll be your opponent.

>>4585836
>Okay, Buntan-kun. Let’s see you try your hand at nitō-ryū. I’ll be your opponent.

>>4585836
>>Okay, Buntan-kun. Let’s see you try your hand at nitō-ryū. I’ll be your opponent

>>4585836
>Okay, Buntan-kun. Let’s see you try your hand at nitō-ryū. I’ll be your opponent.

>>4585836
>Okay, Buntan-kun. Let’s see you try your hand at nitō-ryū. I’ll be your opponent.

>>4585836
“Well then, Buntan-kun,” you muse, “I assume you’ve been studying in secret then to master the Kiba?”

She stares at you in barely-concealed surprise. “I… that’s...”

“Obvious,” you interrupt. “So yeah, any kenjutsu talent your age in this village must be aiming for the Seven Swords, and my guess is you don’t want Hiramekarei. That leaves Kiba, and you don’t strike me as the type of kid who would just take no for an answer.”

“You’re right,” she admits with a glare. “So what?”

“So,” you smile playfully. “Let’s see what you can do. Down there. In front of everyone.”

She glances back down at the arena, then at the Mizukage, who nods silently.

“Okay then, you’re on.”

…

“I won’t say I’ll go easy on you,” Buntan-kun admits as she tests the weight and balance of a pair of wooden swords. “I may look like a dumb kid to you, but I know Akatsuki’s reputation.”

“That’s fine,” you reply, taking Umekiri’s saya off your obi and preparing to swing it as though it were a wooden sword. “So yeah, I hope you don’t mind?”

“With the saya?” she muses. “Interesting.”

“It’s what this saya is for,” you explain, tapping it with your knuckle to produce a slight sound. “It’s a combat-grade porcelain used in high-quality puppets.”

“Specifically to spar with?” Buntan frowns. “What a waste… I never knew Akatsuki had such weaklings.”

“Yeah, no,” you smile back at her attempts at an insult. “When we’re done here I’ll share my reasons. Maybe after our match you’ll actually listen.”

“Come at me when you like. Use full force… I can take anything you can give out and then some, so don’t hold anything back.”

Buntan-kun doesn’t need to be told twice. For a six-year-old she’s definitely fast, and well-coordinated, as if she were born specifically for kenjutsu. But she’s also six, and it shows. Her swings are more like those of a pre-teen, but still at the level of a child’s comprehension of kenjutsu. They’re neither terribly creative and spontaneous, nor are they thoughtful and composed. She continually finds her strikes with one blade parried, and the other blade held in a position where she can’t easily follow through.

Meanwhile you parry each of her attacks effortlessly, like you’re surrounded by an impenetrable, invisible sphere, positioning yourself to always frustrate her primitive attempts at a nitō-ryū style.
>1/3

>>4586604
Eventually she makes a mistake, trying that scissors-like strike with both blades that so many rookies seem to think looks cool but which in reality just makes it easy to block both swords with one. And so that’s exactly what you do, factoring in which of her swords is positioned above the other as you angle Umekiri’s saya to lock her blades in a tight zeriai.

Then, with a single step forwards and a push of your arms, you send Buntan sliding uncontrollably back across the water’s surface. Her expression is one of panic as you bear down on her, trailing the end of your saya and raising a thin wall of water that obscures her vision as you overtake her.

“Don’t mess with me!” she shouts in frustration as she slices through the barrier, only to find that you’ve disappeared.

With a tumble through the air you vault over her, striking Buntan in the back and sending her crashing face-first into the water while you land lightly on your toes.

“And that’s the match,” you muse, holding the saya and blade now at your left side.

“… what was that?” Buntan-kun demands, still on her knees trying to catch her breath.

“That was a lesson,” you reply as she takes a swing at your ankles which you effortlessly block with your saya. “You want the full explanation?”

After a moment she gets to her feet, eyes full of spite. But she also nods in understanding.

“So yeah, my style is based on the Sōkō-ryū,” you explain calmly. “It’s based on observing my opponent, assessing their vulnerabilities, then exploiting those vulnerabilities relentlessly. Your vulnerabilities are twofold: first, you try to attack continuously with both your weapons rather than alternating properly. When you attack with one blade...”

You draw Umekiri, and subtly reposition your saya.

“… you position your second to attack or defend at will,” you continue into the next movement, simulating a parry with the saya. “When you act with your second, whether in attack or defense, you position your first.”

Then you withdraw the saya and slash with Umekiri.

“By constantly positioning my feet I was able to take advantage of your inexperience, keep you positioned in such a way that you couldn’t use your two swords to their fullest,” you tell her as you reverse-sheath Umekiri and return her saya to your hip where it belongs. “The second vulnerability is the one I exploited to land the strike: your instincts and your form are decent enough, but your analytical and observational skills are under-developed. You see me, but you don’t understand me.”
>2/3

File: buntan1.jpg (58 KB, 472x1150)

58 KB JPG

>>4586606
“So I deprived you of your ability to see me, and when I did so you had no answer,” you declare. “No matter how quickly you can react, you can’t react to something you neither perceive nor anticipate.”

“You knew I was going to attack your leg,” Buntan-kun observes. “How?”

“I never dropped my guard,” you shrug. “For real, kenjutsu is as much about a state of mind as it is a strong arm.”

“I see...” she hangs her head. “I called you weak before… but that wasn’t true at all, was it?”

You shake your head. “You’re right, as a shinobi gentleness is often the luxury of the very strong. But I also use this saya because I recognize the need as a shinobi to adapt myself to the mission, to my goals. What if I need to capture, rather than kill?”

“I… never thought about anything like that,” Buntan-kun admits.

>Why are you already so fixated on wielding the Kiba? Tell me what your real goals are, for your own sake.
>How we wield our swords reveals the content of our character. By crossing swords, we’ve gotten to know each other a little.
>You need a lot of things before you can be a great swordswoman… a little more honesty with yourself is the first of those things.
>Other?

>>4586619
>You need a lot of things before you can be a great swordswoman… a little more honesty with yourself is the first of those things.

>>4586619
>you need a lot of things before

Are you really only training to kill kisame with the Kiba?

>>4586619
>Why are you already so fixated on wielding the Kiba? Tell me what your real goals are, for your own sake.

>You need a lot of things before you can be a great swordswoman… a little more honesty with yourself is the first of those things.

The 2nd option goes first.

>>4586619
>>4586674
This.

>>4586619
>You need a lot of things before you can be a great swordswoman… a little more honesty with yourself is the first of those things.
then
>Why are you already so fixated on wielding the Kiba? Tell me what your real goals are, for your own sake.
if one of her reason is that she wants to kill Kisame:
>"Kisame's dead. I defeated him in battle."

>>4586674
>>4586619
this

>>4586619
“Yeah, so you’ll need a lot of things before you can become a great swordswoman,” you muse thoughtfully. “The first is a little more honesty with yourself. So tell me, why do you want the Kiba so badly? What are your true goals, the ones you don’t want to admit to me?”

For quite a while, Buntan says nothing. But eventually she makes what you judge to be an honest admission.

“I just want someone to acknowledge me,” she admits quietly. “Kiba are how I can get that. I can make them all acknowledge me.”

“Your mother mistreats you?”

After a moment, Buntan-kun nods silently.

You quietly extend a hand, which she takes without complaint. “We’ll talk somewhere else.”

One student makes a snide comment about how the girl “doesn’t seem so tough”, which may well end up being the last snide comment she ever makes after the glare you give her causes her words to catch in her throat.

“Don’t,” you insist quietly to the would-be bully as she falls to her knees in relief that you’ve looked away again. “Just don’t.”

…

“So here’s the thing,” you insist quietly once you’re someplace else entirely. “This may all just be about your father, but all growing strong and terrifying will do is to give people a reason to make it about you too.”

“Then I don’t get what I’m supposed to do,” Buntan-kun admits despondently. “Even my own mom can’t stand me.”

You don’t have an immediate answer, but you can’t leave it at that. “I was a little older than you were when my mother passed away. I became an orphan.”

“I’m not that lucky,” Buntan insists bitterly.

“For sure, our mothers sound pretty different,” you admit. “My mother loved me deeply, and I her. Part of what got me through the academy at the top of my class was knowing how proud she’d be of me if she could see it.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because that’s the motivation I needed at that time,” you explain carefully. “But after I met your father things changed… he killed one of my friends, and left my other teammate crippled. I was only saved by Itachi-han and Kisame-han’s intervention.”

“After that day, I was driven to improve even more. I blamed myself for not being strong enough. I created my own style of kenjutsu from scratch, I mastered the formerly-lost hiden ninjutsu and fūinjutsu of my mother’s clan, I mastered senjutsu.”
>1/2

>>4587962
“So that’s how you got strong enough to join Akatsuki so young,” Buntan wonders aloud. “Is that what you wanted to tell me?”

You shake your head. “No. That wasn’t a healthy time in my life… pushing myself so hard for things that weren’t my fault. It left me open to being used by Akatsuki.”

“So this whole story is just to stall for time?” she realizes.

You can’t help but chuckle. “You’re pretty sharp for a six-year-old… but hey, it worked.”

“What do you mean?”

“It gave me a change to work through my own thoughts,” you explain. “The reasons are different, but in a way you’re where I once was. Sure, being acknowledged is something it’s okay to want, but you’re also working under the assumption that others don’t acknowledge you because there’s something wrong with you.”

“There’s not.”

“Then… where is this going?” she wonders.

“To the same realization I made,” you smile calmly. “When your mother or those other kids are cruel towards you, does it hurt?”

“Of course.”

“Then you already know the answer,” you muse. “Don’t just convince people to acknowledge you because you got stronger than your father and you're mean about it. That’s winning on their terms, becoming what they want to see when they look at you… instead, work to better yourself. Don’t just be stronger than your father, be a better person than your mother too.”

“That’s what ‘winning’ looks like on my terms?” Buntan asks you with a concerned frown. “It sounds hard.”

“Oh it is,” you insist. “Absolutely, I can promise you that it is. But I can also promise you that it’s worth it.”

>Stick with it for now, and keep your head up. Some day things are likely to turn around for you.
>When you make chūnin, have the Mizukage let me know. I may be interested in taking a student.
>I’ll speak with Terumi-tono about straightening your mother out. Make things easier until you can move out.
>Other?

>>4587965
>When you make chūnin, have the Mizukage let me know. I may be interested in taking a student.

>>4587965
>When you make chūnin, have the Mizukage let me know. I may be interested in taking a student

>>4587965
>>When you make chūnin, have the Mizukage let me know. I may be interested in taking a student.

File: 2.jpg (526 KB, 1441x2048)

526 KB JPG

>>4587962
>When you make chūnin, have the Mizukage let me know. I may be interested in taking a student.
We must have one hell of a death glare.

>>4587965
>>When you make chūnin, have the Mizukage let me know. I may be interested in taking a student.
>When you make chūnin, have the Mizukage let me know. I may be interested in taking a student.

>>4587965
>>I’ll speak with Terumi-tono about straightening your mother out. Make things easier until you can move out.

>>4587965
>>When you make chūnin, have the Mizukage let me know. I may be interested in taking a student.

>>4587982
The thing that should scare people in-setting is that Naori isn't even that type of swordfighter. You guys chose from the start not to be the type driven by bloodlust, so that's always been both less effective on Naori but also less effective for her.

If she'd gone that route, even most jonin would be shook if Naori glared at them like with Kakashi's "wtf was I thinking" moment against Orochimaru.

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>>4587965
“When you make chūnin, have whoever happens to be Mizukage at the time let me know,” you muse thoughtfully. “I may just be interested in taking on a student.”

…

Troops are soon deployed.

Yukigakure has to be evacuated across to the Land of Hot Water, a maneuver you coordinate with Koyuki-hime and her advisors, and the entire civilian population of the Land of Frost has to be moved across the border into the Land of Hot Water as well. The civilians remaining in the Land of Sound disperse as well… with no formal diplomatic ties between that nation and any of its neighbors there’s little organization to it, and the refugees mostly end up in the Land of Hot Water but not all.

Then of course the northernmost half of the Land of Hot Water is in the likely line of fire as well, meaning that all of the refugees from their neighbors as well as most of their own population are all forced to migrate southeast, towards where you used to have a hideout.

Once again, a war will be mostly fought in the territory of the smaller nations.

Shinobi have been assembling in the Land of Frost and the Land of Lightning for weeks already, though now the various units have begun to deploy. Many are located along the coastlines, but many more are dispersed throughout the northern end of the Land of Hot Water and throughout the Land of Frost. There will be no sneaking past the allied forces.

Your own small unit assembles as well in the abandoned village of Shimogakure.

By all accounts, the war is about to begin.
>to be continued after New Year’s

>Omake: New Year
The depths of winter aren’t an especially pleasant time to be in Amegakure.

This is due to a few reasons, the first of which being that it never quite gets cold enough at the lake level for the water to freeze, which means that the sleet which falls on the coldest days never has anywhere to stick. Instead it’s basically just a week or two of colder, slightly edgier rain rather than actual snow, which while cold at least has the virtue of lending any landscape a sort of stark beauty. Add in the short days and long nights, and you have a recipe for an exceptional expression of gloomy misery.

Not like most years people in Amegakure have much to celebrate anyway, but at very least they can shut themselves in together and set fires in their hearths, illuminate their apartments with candles, and fill spaces with the scents of baking and roasting.

This year, however, you have something to celebrate: though you’re no longer in Amegakure, you’re at least surrounded by people who you can call friends.

You’ve taken new year’s gifts to those who can’t be with you for their own various reasons: Temari for example, who has her own family to be with which you would never dare to take her away from, and Ryūzetsu, who remains obliged to stay at the castle in the Land of Grass where she serves as warden to prisoners just as trapped as she. Others you invited into your home.

Two guests, however, are much like yourself... the only place for them to be is that which they make for themselves. Uzumaki Naruto, your distant cousin, has no other living family, and so you invited him into your safehouse on this one occasion. Likewise Uchiha Sasuke is the sole survivor of his family now that Itachi-han is gone, with no living relatives to spend the evening with.

Dinner, cooked tonight by Karin with Fū’s enthusiastic assistance (and minimal help in the form of cutting and chopping from your own skilled hands), was slightly tense. Sasuke still hasn’t fully resolved himself to return permanently to Konohagakure, his home village, after abandoning his friends and comrades two years ago to train with the rogue ninja Orochimaru.

Naruto of course was his teammate back when they were genin, and was part of the team that fought hard to try and bring Sasuke back to the village when he initially defected. That ended up happening anyway after the members of that recovery team were forced to split up to fight Orochimaru’s henchmen... only by the timely intervention of Sunagakure did any of the Konoha team survive.

But now Sasuke isn’t particularly an enemy of Konoha in the way Orochimaru was, nor has he decided to return to the way things were, meaning the two former teammates eating at the same table was an awkward event to be a part of.
>1/?

>>4589930
“I’ll clean,” Yugito-han insists curtly shortly after the meal has concluded.

“Nonsense, you’re a guest,” you frown. “For real, do I strike you as the type...”

“You have other guests to see to,” she mutters in a low voice, hoping that Sasuke and Naruto can’t hear. In doing so, she directs your attention back to the obvious tension you’d been trying to tread lightly around. “Consider it a show of gratitude towards my host.”

“If you’re grateful you’ve got a funny way of showing it,” you grumble back quietly. “This isn’t exactly a comfortable situation.”

“But it’s one that could benefit from your endless supplies of tact,” Yugito replies. “And I think you know that.”

With a sigh, you relent and head out into the snowy garden where Sasuke has gone to sit quietly by himself and where Naruto stubbornly followed.

“That’s enough!” you overhear Sasuke insisting loudly. “I already explained it to you!”

“And I’m saying you’re not making any sense!” Naruto insists just as loudly in return. “I’m telling you I don’t get it ya know! You say Konoha’s your home but you don’t wanna go back? Is it your home or isn’t it? Are we your friends or aren’t we!?”

Speaking of ‘tact’, your sense for it is screaming at you to stay the hell out of this one.

“It’s complicated!”

“How complicated can it be!?”

“I killed my brother!”

There’s a long pause before Sasuke continues, at a slightly lower volume.

“I betrayed Konoha so I could gain the power I thought I needed to get revenge on my brother,” Sasuke declares. “Revenge for a ‘crime’ that the village forced him to commit in the first place... but so far as the village elders are concerned his only ‘crime’ was letting me live.”

“I don’t know all the details yet.”

“You blame the elders for that?” Naruto asks quietly.

Sasuke nods. “Wouldn’t anyone?”

“So what’re you gonna do about it?”

“I have no idea,” Sasuke admits. “But I need to figure it out on my own... even you managed that, remember? That ‘nindō’ you won’t shut up about? That’s your own. You found it, through your own experiences, your own thoughts and feelings.”

Then he glances at you. “It’s the same with you, isn’t it?”
>2/?

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>>4589931
Having finally been dragged into the conversation, quite against your will and your best judgment, you have no choice but to respond. “For sure. Some details are different of course.”

“But you found your own convictions,” Sasuke insists. “Even if you’ve had to split from Akatsuki to follow them?”

“That’s right,” you admit.

“And you had to go through your own process to get there,” Sasuke presses again.

“That’s right.”

“That’s what I want,” Sasuke tells Naruto. “And I get the feeling that’s what I need. So what I need from you right now, Naruto, is to back off. For now, at least.”

After a few moments, Naruto nods in agreement. “Okay. I still don’t really understand… but I’ll tell the others to give you some space too. As your friend, I think maybe that’s what I need to do for you right now, ya know?”

After a moment, Sasuke nods curtly. “Thanks.”

So… it seems like these two should be capable of patching things up between them? That’s good, especially since you can’t really say that either of them is wrong in the way they’re choosing to handle their affairs. You can understand both of them.

That being said, it’s never easy even when you have the resolution to do it. People sometimes forget without meaning to, but forgiving never works that way. You know this from extensive firsthand experience. Some day Sasuke will reconcile himself with his home, and with the people who live there, but that’s not today. Some day you’ll be able to reconcile with your sensei, and the both of you will be able to reconcile with the rest of the world outside Akatsuki. But that’s not today.

Today, all you can do is take the time to appreciate where you are now, and where you’ve come from. Tomorrow, you’ll look to an uncertain future. But at very least, you can know that you won’t be alone.
>3/3

Meanwhile, in Sakura's world: "I sure wish I had people who cared about me to spend this time with. My family is just the disembodied voice of my mother who nobody has ever seen."

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>>4589982
>This message brought to you by the "Writing Good Women Realistically" gang

>>4590010
Tbh every time I've written what I think is a reasonable woman it feels like it could've been a guy in the story if you changed the name. Still can't pin down that feminine element all that well. Doesn't really matter much as I do military fiction but it's still something I struggle with.
TLDR: I STILL SUCK AT WRITING. YOU WERE RIGHT HIGHSCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER.

>>4590011
Honestly that's still way better than most male authors "she breasted boobily towards the stairs and tittied downwards"

But if you really wanted to improve in that regard, then I have a challenge for you. Write a short story about three women off on their own. That means you can't rely on a male perspective, and they have to talk to each other. You have to think on what their motivations are because they're the principle characters. You have to give them some amount of agency.
Then, and here's the really difficult part, show it to some women you know and ask them to tear it apart. Ask them how they might've done things differently, either as the writer, or in place of one of the characters.

You'll improve VERY quickly.

>>4590011
Well, there can be women who are a lot like men in demeanor. With the exception of biological differences, there is a whole lot of overlap between the two. That means there's no hard and fast differences for character traits beyond the obvious.

The rest is merely a tendency towards certain patterns that are easily overshadowed by individual differences e.g. while it might be true that women tend to be more cautious than men on average, there are still going to be reckless women and cautious men.

The directly sexual stuff like attraction and courting behavior is a whole other can of worms but not necessarily relevant and this post is long enough.

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>>4590014
>"she breasted boobily towards the stairs and tittied downwards"

>>4590014
i am VERY sure i saw that in an episode of Mock the week

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>>4590028
>>4590024
It's an old meme by now.

>>4590030
ah, i apologize then, got it mixed up with ... whereever i read/heard it

>>4589130
You are Kankurō, older brother of the current Kazekage and commander of a unit of one thousand shinobi from various allied nations. It also seems you’re the first commander to lead their unit in the battle against Akatsuki, defending against the opening offensive in the Fourth Shinobi World War.

The first moments of battle were an absolute disaster.

Your sensory ninja warned you something was coming, that there were four reincarnated shinobi on their way to your position. But they had no way to know who those four were, or what sort of danger you were actually in.

Deidara’s first move was to drop spider-shaped bombs, seeding the entire forest your unit was stationed in with them. That move alone wiped out half your strength in moments, forcing the survivors to dig into the area stripped partially clear by the blasts using earth release to construct trenches.

“Report!” you demand of your nearest subordinate, a sensor-nin from Konohagakure you randomly selected from the survivors to take an account of what you have left.

“We’re all dug in now!” the man, a Hyūga you recognize, tells you. “We lost our wireless communications devices in the attack, and we’re down to less than five hundred out of our original number. There are also signs of movement outside our defensive perimeter.”

“Deidara and the others?”

“No,” the Hyūga reports. “It’s something else, too many bodies to be the four who attacked us.”

>We need to figure out what’s going on out there.
>If we stay hunkered down here we’ll just be wiped out. We have to get back on the offensive.
>We need to regroup and get a report in. There should be another unit just to our west.
>Other?

>>4590914
>>We need to regroup and get a report in. There should be another unit just to our west.

>>4590914
>We need to figure out what’s going on out there.

>>4590914
>>We need to figure out what’s going on out there.

>>4590914
>We need to regroup and get a report in. There should be another unit just to our west.

>>4590914
>>We need to regroup and get a report in. There should be another unit just to our west.

>>4590914
>>We need to figure out what’s going on out there.

>>4590914
“We need to meet up with the nearest allied unit,” you declare loudly, “and get our intel reported. There should be a unit just to our west that may have avoided attack... any other puppeteers should stay with me, we’ll be the rear-guard!”

You unseal your three most reliable puppets: Kuroari, Karasu, and Sanshōuo. Then you connect chakra threads to each of them, ready to hold off the enemy while your subordinates withdraw.

The results are almost immediate. Even as your unit works up the collective nerve to move the enemy begins throwing bodies at you... some of which are difficult to identify, but others very clearly belonging to the men and women who you lost in Deidara’s initial attack.

“The enemy has a puppeteer!” you shout, forcing Kuroari and Karasu to detach several of their limbs. “Try to aim for their threads! There should be one per body!”

Ten bodies at a time isn’t too difficult to manage, even when Deidara is clearly using them to carry explosive clay towards your trenches. Most don’t manage to get too close, though a little more concerning is the fact that you reach ten explosions with several more corpses clearly advancing on you. The puppeteer must be replacing each corpse you drop with another one of your former comrades, but so long as it remains at just ten of them at a time...

“Shit, no!” one of your fellow puppeteers, a chūnin from Sunagakure, as a pair of new corpses armed with swords slice the threads of his puppets before charging the last few feet to explode in his face.

The next time this happens, you’re able to save the would-be victim by surrounding him with Kuroari’s solid ribcage, pulling him out of harm’s way at the cost of letting more of the corpses advance towards yourself.

“Damn it all!” you grumble at your bad luck... so this enemy is somehow more capable than granny Chiyo is when using multiple puppets? Who could possibly...

Lingering just a little longer than the other surviving puppeteers gives you the chance to confirm your worst fears. From the edge of a clearing blasted away by Deidara’s bombs, you see a figure emerge as if from the mists of legend. Bald on top with a fringe of hair around the sides, and a long beard... but most notably, four puppet arms visibly protruding from his back and shoulders.

Chikamatsu Monzaemon: the original.

The man, or his image at least, offers a brief prayer as one finger on one puppet arm connects a barely-visible thread to the puppeteer you saw him kill just moments ago.

“Ki-myō-jin-jip-pō-mu-ge-kō-nyo-rai...”

A prayer... in hopes of balancing the karma of what he’s being forced to do?

...

The situation you finally arrive to is little better than the one you left: the unit to your west is down to half-strength as well, having been bombed nearly into submission just as yours was. This group lost their commander, but thankfully has managed to repair one of its wireless sets.
>1/2

>>4592267
“We need reinforcements!” you tell headquarters. “We’ve made contact with Deidara and Chikamatsu Monzaemon, heavy casualties in at least two units!”

The response fills you with some hope after how badly this war has started for you.

“They’re already on the way,” the man on the other end of the line insists. “You just have to… on… long… there...”

Then the wireless set gives up in a cough of acrid smoke.

“Fuses are blown!” the grim-faced young man who repaired the set in the first place tells you. “What did they say?”

“We just have to hold out a little longer,” you insist. “Reinforcements are coming.”

Unfortunately, the combination of puppets and bombs is also coming… from what you’ve seen of Deidara he’s probably getting a kick out of this combination, using his explosives together with Chikamatsu’s corpse puppets to slowly advance through your remaining troops. And with the number of corpses supplied by the unit you’ve just linked with, there’s no shortage of materiel to use. At this rate, you’ll be ground down before any meaningful help can make it to you.

>Unseal the Naori puppet. Its swords and rugged construction make it the right tool for the moment.
>Use your current three puppets to continue keeping the corpse puppets at bay until help arrives.
>If you can locate the enemy’s hiding place you can counterattack. Basic puppetmaster strategy.
>Other?

>>4592368
>>Unseal the Naori puppet. Its swords and rugged construction make it the right tool for the moment.

>>4592368
>>Unseal the Naori puppet. Its swords and rugged construction make it the right tool for the moment.

gnashing teeth included

>>4592368
>Unseal the Naori puppet. Its swords and rugged construction make it the right tool for the moment.

>>4592368
>>Unseal the Naori puppet. Its swords and rugged construction make it the right tool for the moment.

>>4592368
>>Unseal the Naori puppet. Its swords and rugged construction make it the right tool for the moment.

>>4592368
>1d6, taking the best three of four
>DC 10
>SP/ES Unavailable

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4593680

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4593680

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4593680

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4593680

>>4593680
You decide that as much as you hate to admit it, the first hour of the war so far has proven to be a desperate enough situation to warrant unsealing the Naori puppet.

“Damn it all,” you grumble as you do so.

At first, it works perfectly to slice through the explosives attached to Chikamatsu’s corpse puppets, while the manipulated chains serve well to maintain decent spacing. For a few minutes it seems like you’re starting to take back the momentum as your efforts give your subordinates a chance to counterattack with exploding tags trailing behind kunai.

But it doesn’t last.

As the number of Chikamatsu’s corpse puppets dwindles, you notice that the Naori puppet abruptly stops in place. Then there’s a massive explosion.

“Man, that’s tacky,” you hear a loud voice insulting Sasori’s work as the dust settles. “For that matter what makes you think a knockoff like that would work against someone who’s faced the real thing?”

“You certainly seem dismissive of puppetry, for a puppet yourself,” you hear the voice of an older man muse.

“Nah, old man,” Deidara clarifies. “Just this puppet in particular. Now my man Sasori’s puppets were the shit!”

“I can tell that whoever built this puppet intended it as a compliment towards a person who actually existed,” Chikamatsu muses. “It feels like a shame to see it destroyed.”

“Well, my art’s just better I guess,” Deidara muses. “Now then, I think I’ll wrap this up with one big, flashy move!”

“I wish you wouldn’t,” Chikamatsu replies. “But I no longer have any say in matters, so what I wish appears to have become irrelevant. At very least I can offer a prayer.”

“Really wish you’d stop doing that,” Deidara sighs.

A third voice calls out from much further away. “Deidara-san, Chikamatsu-dono, there are powerful reinforcements approaching by air, closing fast!”
>1d6, best three of four
>DC 10
>UNIT SP: 3/3

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4593772

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4593772

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4593772

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4593772

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>>4593772
You are Guren, no family name, a former shinobi of Otogakure and pawn of Orochimaru of the Sannin, but you’ve been working on that.

Uchiha Sasuke, the brat from the Leaf who bumped you out of favored position to become Orochimaru’s next vessel, to what in the cold light of day you have to now consider your eternal benefit, has taken the initiative. His chidori-enhanced senbon target Deidara’s clay bombs with pinpoint accuracy only a Mangekyō Sharingan could hope to accomplish as he leaps from the back of the ink bird he’s been flying on for the last several minutes.

“Damn you!” Deidara shouts in fury. “You’re not a reincarnation, so how the hell are you standing here?”

“Because I survived, obviously,” Sasuke-kun shrugs as you land a few paces behind and to the right of him. “I thought you were supposed to be smarter than the average village idiot, or are you just so conceited you can’t understand how someone could survive your ‘ultimate’ attack?”

“Why with the air quotes?” you ask him, grinning tauntingly at Deidara. “Clearly it WAS an ultimate attack, at least in the sense that it was his last.”

“True,” Sasuke-kun agrees.

“Are you mocking me!?” Deidara roars, reaching into two satchels at his waist to take out more clay.

Sasuke is way ahead of him. He cuts the distance between them before Deidara can finish chewing the clay in his hands and draws his sword, flowing chidori through it and slicing Deidara in half at the sternum.

“Do it, Kankurō!”

From out of a pile of shredded bark and branches, a puppet emerges: its ribs expand and it locks around Deidara’s two halves and limbs like some freakish wooden maw, and then it closes back down again. Several severed puppet limbs lift up from the ground, fold out stout blades, and impale the puppet from multiple angles.

Another shinobi from Kankurō’s ragtag unit places sealing tags over the puppet while Sasuke keeps the second reincarnated shinobi at a distance. It seems as though this second man is a puppeteer himself, only this one uses two sets of spare arms to control what must be an upper limit of thirty corpses at once.

>Use your crystal release to track back along the chakra threads and bind the puppeteer.
>Sasuke has this handled. You were told there were four enemies… time to flush out the other two.
>Hold back for a moment, wait for a clearer opportunity to make a decisive move.
>Other?

>>4594799
>>Sasuke has this handled. You were told there were four enemies… time to flush out the other two.

>>4594799
>Sasuke has this handled. You were told there were four enemies… time to flush out the other two.

>>4594799
>use your Christal release ...

>>4594799
>>Sasuke has this handled. You were told there were four enemies… time to flush out the other two.

Man. Kankuro is in for an earful if he ever meets Sasori again.

>>4595059
now i want Kankuro to go on a quest to find him after the war, to repair the puppet and to learn.

>>4594799
>Sasuke has this handled. You were told there were four enemies… time to flush out the other two.

>>4594799
>>Sasuke has this handled. You were told there were four enemies… time to flush out the other two.

>>4594799
>Sasuke has this handled. You were told there were four enemies… time to flush out the other two.

>>4594799
You understand that corpses are usually tools of last resort for most puppeteers, and a legendary one like Chikamatsu would normally be expected to use his finest puppets in battle... but your understanding is also that Chikamatsu’s finest puppets are still in the hands of Sunagakure. So it suggests that despite being a legend, and having proven himself highly effective in this battle, Chikamatsu is fighting at such a disadvantage that Sasuke and Maki-san should be able to easily best him and seal him away.

But the report said there were four – if you were Kabuto right now, and having met him before you can think almost as though you were, you would have certain contingencies in place for this sort of situation. One thing you can guess is that Chikamatsu wasn’t using the visual senses of his corpse puppets, so you’d be willing to bet that there’s a sensory-type somewhere nearby within cover. You’d also guess that there’s a rear-guard as well, someone who if left alone could un-seal any reanimations that the Allied Forces assumed had been taken care of.

Knowing all that makes your next move simple enough to decide on.

“Rokkaku Shuriken Ranbu!”

There are only a few people in the world to whom you would admit that you’re mostly just guessing where to aim your crystal shuriken, but because you can cause them to fragment into lethal shards like flying glass you’re able to use that guesswork to flush out one of the other two reanimations you have guessed came along with Deidara and Chikamatsu...

>1d6, taking the first three
>DC 9
>SP: 3/3

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4596330

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4596330

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4596330

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4596330

>>4596333
>>4596334
bruh

>>4596330
Spend 1SP to pass?
>Yes
>No

>>4596385
>Yes

>>4596385
>Yes

>>4596385
>>Yes

>>4596385
>>Yes

>>4596385
>Yes

>>4596385
>Yes

>>4596330
Your barrage of shuriken actually does manage to turn out one more of the other reanimates in the form of a young man, who makes a beeline for the puppet that has Deidara sealed. When you extend a crystal spear towards him he has to backstep, with the spear just barely grazing him. He’s fast on his feet, and as you catch a glimpse of him it seems he’s dressed the same way that the young man who calls himself ‘Sai’ was dressed before almost all of the Allied Forces adopted the standard uniforms of their home villages.

He responds with a handful of shuriken that you counter with your own crystals, then with a volley of kunai… three of which subsequently explode as the timed explosive tags wrapped around their handles go off.

Basic, but not lacking in skill.

As the smoke clears he emerges with his tanto drawn, and you meet his rapid series of attacks with two crystal blades running the length of your arms. So this is his style… he uses diversions and ranged attacks to get as close as possible so that he can assassinate his target with quick, precise tanto-jutsu.

“Shin?”

There’s a moment when the reanimated shinobi hesitates, and you nearly take his head off before he can open up the distance again.

He glances at the same thing you spare a casual glance at – Sai, with an uncharacteristic look of surprise on his normally impassive face.

“Sai,” the newcomer replies, saddened. “Of course it would end this way… you have to stop me, both of you. I know it’s not fair, but I’m going to free Deidara again if you don’t. That’s my role.”

“I’ve already figured that out,” you admit. “Sai-kun...”

You can tell that Sai is conflicted about leaving something like this to someone else… you don’t know who this person was to Sai, and you doubt that you have time for a long story. If nothing else you suspect that Kabuto is going to suppress ‘Shin’ the second it seems like his personality is going to get in the way of his role as pawn.

Anyone would be conflicted, but you also suspect that Sai is caught between emotions in this moment that he’s no longer used to confronting. Anger, bitter sorrow, fear, doubt, things that your understanding is that ANBU teaches you to suppress. That evidently goes double for former subordinates of that internationally-famous bastard Shimura Danzō.

>Kabuto is reviving the dead to get you too worked up to think clearly. Don’t fall for it.
>I want you to back me up, Sai. Be ready when I give you the opening to take action.
>I’ll support you. Do what you feel is right in this situation.
>Other?

>>4597028
Back me up sai ...

>>4597028
>4597028
>I want you to back me up, Sai. Be ready when I give you the opening to take action.

>>4597028
>>Kabuto is reviving the dead to get you too worked up to think clearly. Don’t fall for it.
>>I want you to back me up, Sai. Be ready when I give you the opening to take action.

>>4597028
>Kabuto is reviving the dead to get you too worked up to think clearly. Don’t fall for it.
>I want you to back me up, Sai. Be ready when I give you the opening to take action.

>>4597028
>>>Kabuto is reviving the dead to get you too worked up to think clearly. Don’t fall for it.
>>>I want you to back me up, Sai. Be ready when I give you the opening to take action.

>>4597028
“… back me up,” you eventually insist before turning away to face your opponent. “There’s no need for you to play Kabuto’s little game.”

“You’re facing immortal soldiers,” Shin frowns at you, “and you’re calling this a game?”

“That’s what it is to the one pulling your strings,” you insist with a frown. “I’d be willing to bet he has a board laid out and everything. And he knows that each shinobi of note that’s going to be fighting in this war has a weakness, be that emotionally or technically or physically. Why else do you think he’d leave your personality un-suppressed like this?”

“He wants people to be killed by familiar faces.”

“And we will,” Shin warns. “Whether we want to or not, we have no choice in the matter anymore.”

“Not a problem,” you insist curtly, forestalling any further talk.
>1d6, taking the best three of four
>DC 9
>SP: 2/3

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4598310

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4598310

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4598310

>>4598310
>Unit SP: 3/3

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4598310

>>4598310
Your plan goes off without a hitch.

Even though you’re well aware that your crystal-release does have some weaknesses, as any technique does, exploiting them is a different matter altogether and no matter how good he may have been in life ‘Shin’ is far from the level where he’d need to be to counter you with nothing but a regular tantō.

Which based on the way he comes after you with it, you suspect is all he has.

Because of that you’re easily able to keep up with him, parrying and slicing with the crystal blades on your arms leaving shallow gashes across his body which quickly regenerate. So estimating based on that rate of regeneration…

You make your move, stepping in under Shin’s arm and striking him with the leading edge of your crystal blade and sending him tumbling backwards until he can regain his footing.

“You have to do better than that!” he protests. “My body is just going to...”

As he charges you again you meet him head-on, parrying his blade and pushing your fingertips against his chest.

“I did do better than that,” you insist as the crystal shard you seeded into his chest with your last blow rapidly expands out his back. “I need you to stay still for a little while.”

The crystal wraps Shin like a cocoon even as it bursts from other spots on his body, eventually encasing him from head to toe in one solid gemstone: like a fly trapped in amber, motionless, helpless, even if he could fully regenerate from it.

“Place the sealing tags,” you insist to a visibly-shocked Sai. “Please be quick about it.”

…

“I see things have gone smoothly here,” Uzumaki Naori’s shadow clone greets you several minutes later. “How bad were the losses before you arrived?”

“Half of two units, that we know of,” Sasuke-kun frowns. “Kankurō will be keeping them here until the logistics team can come up for them.”

“Good,” Naori nods.

“So how are things going with you?” you ask her.

“Not that great,” she admits frankly. “I think you should take the balance of our unit towards the coast, by way of Kurotsuchi-han’s unit. There’s heavy fighting that way. I’ll link up with you again once this mess is sorted out.”

“What mess is she talking about?” Sasuke-kun wonders aloud as Naori’s shadow clone dispels itself.
>1/2

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61 KB JPG

>>4598447
You are Uzumaki Naori, and you’ve received an urgent request for assistance from Kakashi-han personally… one you can’t possibly ignore given the severity of what he’s saying has happened. You take Ajisai and Maki-han with you, but you allow the rest of your unit to continue travelling to reinforce Kankurō and the neighboring units that have come under attack by Deidara, among other things. If that continues it has the potential to get completely out of control.

But then again, so does this.

…

“Great,” Kakashi-han greets you as you teleport into a thick mist. “As you can see we’re in a bit of a tight spot here.”

“So it really is that bad,” you frown. “Who exactly are we dealing with here?”

“Zabuza, wielding the Kubikiribōchō, his former subordinate Haku who uses ice mirrors,” Kakashi begins to explain. “As well as three notorious kekkei genkai users: Gari of the Explosion Corps, Pakura of the Scorch Release, and Toroi of the Magnet Release.”

You can hear Maki-han clenching her fists at one of those names… Pakura, you think.

“So what do you need us to do?” you ask him.

“Anything you want,” Kakashi-han insists. “I’m sure you have your own ideas of what to do with your own abilities, though you can leave Zabuza to me. We just need you to help us stop the kekkei genkai users from wiping out any more of our shinobi.”

>Then I’ll go for the Ice Release user. Give you a better shot at Zabuza.
>I’ll deal with all three kekkei genkai users. I just need to find them first.
>How about I start by suppressing the mist with rain?
>Other?

>>4598455
>>How about I start by suppressing the mist with rain?
it should also impact the explosion user and the scorch user, even if it might give the ice and water ninjas a leg up

>>4598455
>I’ll deal with all three kekkei genkai users. I just need to find them first.

>>4598455
>>How about I start by suppressing the mist with rain?

>>4598455
>>How about I start by suppressing the mist with rain?

>>4598455
Ooh, do we have the ability to use rain to detect things?

>>4598455
>I’ll deal with all three kekkei genkai users. I just need to find them first.

>>4598455
>How about I start by suppressing the mist with rain?

>>4598455
>>I’ll deal with all three kekkei genkai users. I just need to find them first.
>>How about I start by suppressing the mist with rain?

>>4598455
>1d6, taking the first three
>DC 9
>SP: 6/6
>ES: 0/2 (0T)

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4599730

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4599730

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4599730

>>4599732
>>4599733
>>4599743
We kinda beefed it here boys...

>>4599746
This thread's dice have been rather cursed to be fair.

>>4599749
We had a way of appeasing the dice in some other quests but I don't know how the QM would feel about lewds in the thread for every roll.

>>4599730
>Use 4 SP to pass
>Use 3 SP and take 1 ES to pass
>Use 2 SP and take 2 ES to pass
>Just deal with the failure this time

>>4599772
>>Use 4 SP to pass

>>4599772
>Use 4 SP to pass

>>4599772
>>Use 3 SP and take 1 ES to pass

>>4599772
>>Use 2 SP and take 2 ES to pass

SP regen is unpredictable, ES regens regularly.

>>4599772
>Use 2 SP and take 2 ES to pass

>>4599772
A reminder: SP only regens on doubles, and only on a roll vs a target DC. ES regenerates at a rate of 2 updates per ES. If you deplete ES this turn you will have no ES for the next update, but one available for the update after that, for example.

>>4599791
Yeah, it's actually much more efficient to go 3 SP and 1 ES but I don't play optimally.

>>4599791
>Use 2 SP and take 2 ES to pass
Switching to this then.

>>4599772
>>Use 2 SP and take 2 ES to pass

>>4599772
2 sp and 2 es

>>4599791
You figure there’s one thing that will help pretty much everyone all at once: a stronger water-based technique covering a wide area, though not necessarily one that would drain chakra the way your usual cooperative technique with Nyoka would. Instead, you’re going to imitate something that Nagato was known to do as Pain, and use the rainfall as a sensory technique. It’s not the most precise thing in the world, since even Nagato with his Rinnegan was forced to cooperate with Konan-sensei to discern the precise location of any trespassers in your village, but you also figure that’s not the point this time.

“Kuchiyose: Nyoka!”

In a burst of smoke that disappears into the existing mist, Nyoka appears before you.

“Go,” you instruct, placing your hand on Nyoka’s head and leaving a marking there. “I’ll handle the rest, Nyoka-han. But this time we’ll be doing things a little differently.”

“As you wish, Naori-san,” she replies as she stretches her wings. “This one will ‘play it by ear’, as they say.”

...

>SP: 4/6
>ES: 2/2 (4T)

You’re quickly forced to act as you sense a near-immediate counter to your plans with Nyoka-han, teleporting yourself to intercept a strike from above her: an ice-mirror positioned carefully for just such a purpose. It takes straining your sharingan to pull it off, but you manage to not only see the lightning-fast movements of the young man making the attack, but also parry his hooked kunai and lightly touch his right arm with your palm.

In that instant, just before he can withdraw and allow the mirror he made to melt, you marked him.

...

Below, even as he emerges from the mirror he stepped through to attack Nyoka-han, Umekiri’s edge slashes through the top of his head and into his chest before you pull your leading arm in to your side, causing the edge to slip out somewhere around his navel.

In the few seconds where the reanimated ice release user is beginning to regenerate, you place a hand on one of his shoulders and teleport to Maki-han and Ajisai.

“I brought you something,” you inform them.

Ajisai shakes her head as she unseals a stack of paper sealing tags and coats the reanimate’s body in them.

“It’s like having a cat.”
>1/2

>>4599846
After holding where you are for about three minutes’ time, during which the rainfall caused by Nyoka-han high above, the mist abruptly fades to reveal that Kakashi-han has defeated Zabuza as well.

“Maki-han, go,” you order.

“Right,” she replies curtly, readying her cloth as she runs.

Now, you’re faced with a new problem.

Now that the mists are cleared you can see the extent of the havoc caused by this assault... shinobi lay dead in groups of four, some slashed apart, some dessicated like overripe fruit, and others blasted open as if they had swallowed a paper bomb.

But worse, two of the remaining kekkei genkai puppets have withdrawn to a safe distance to perform a summoning. Six coffins emerge from the earth, revealing six new opponents... one of whom distributes weapons to the others. To a tall man in a mask he hands Nuibari, to a bearded man with a topknot he hands Kabutowari, and to a man with dreadlocks he hands Shibuki. Finally, he hands the Kiba... to a young woman of ordinary height with an elaborate hairstyle.

The fifth newcomer is a hulking figure with an ordinary cleaver-style sword, and the sixth takes a regular katana for himself.

Kakashi-han takes up the Kubikiribocho.

“This isn’t great,” he admits. “Six of the previous generation of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, along with four of their swords... I have to wonder how many chunin each could take on?”

“Yeah... seeing how I could beat a thousand without breaking out sage mode,” you muse, “probably a lot.”

“It’s gonna be on us this time, Kakashi,” Guy-sensei muses as he joins you, now that the disorienting mist has cleared. “We’ll have to protect our comrades until backup gets here.”

“Yeah no,” you counter, drawing the Tenryushi as well. “I’m your backup.”

“Well now,” the young woman wielding Kiba smirks. “Seems like we’ve got some eager prey to choose from... who wants what?”

“I want the guy with the Seversword!” the man wielding Shibuki declares.

“No fair!” the one with Nuibari retorts. “I wanted to kill that guy!”

“You can both kill him,” the one with Kiba sighs. “Think of it as a minigame, whoever kills him first wins!”

“That I can do,” Shibuki’s wielder agrees.

“You’re on!”
>2/3

>>4599848
“Now, I kinda want the girl,” the one with Kiba insists. “I dunno what it is about her, but I like it.”

“You just want her because she’s a two-sworder,” the one with Kabutowari frowns. “Yours isn’t the only paired weapon in the Seven.”

“Yeah but yours sucks,” Kiba’s wielder shrugs. “They’re not even swords, get outta here with that crap!”

... privately, you agree of course.

“Fine,” the bearded man sighs as he hefts Kabutowari’s mallet-end over one shoulder. “Guess I get the dregs.”

“What about me?” Guy-sensei demands, striking a confident pose. “The Noble Green Beast of the Leaf is standing before you as well!”

“What about you?” several of the Swordsmen reply in near-unison.

“That’s quite rude,” you insist, raising your blades and centering yourself for the coming fight. “Just because he’s not a swordsman doesn’t mean he’s not a worthy opponent. After all, that guy with the hammer and axe isn’t a swordsman either.”

“Hey!” Kabutowari’s wielder protests as the others laugh.

“And Shibuki’s not a sword either,” you add. “For that matter, Nuibari’s totally a spear.”

“Guess that means I’m the best by default!” Kiba’s wielder replies cheerfully. “Sucks to be you losers!”

This actually works out well for you... Kiba is the most dangerous of the four by far, at least in your estimation, and taking it off the field first is your best option for saving as many lives as possible. Besides, even if it’s not the wielder you’re familiar with this one is personal.

“The name’s Ringo Ameyuri!” she introduces herself while flashing the characteristic pointed teeth of the Seven Swordsmen. “Wielder of the Kiba”

“Uzumaki Naori,” you reply calmly. “Wielder of the Umekiri Ichimonji and the Tenryushi Rai.”

>Resheath the Tenryushi, focus on abusing your Kongo Fusa as much as possible.
>Meet Ameyuri with your Kengen-ryu, at least until you have her full measure.
>Use your Kengen-ryu illusions to disguise some paper butterflies as set-up.
>Other?

>>4599857
>>Use your Kengen-ryu illusions to disguise some paper butterflies as set-up.
she will literally not see it coming

I fucking love the banter between the swordsman. Those men just act like biker gang buddies who frequently go and have a friendly brawl for the hell of it.

>>4599857
>Meet Ameyuri with your Kengen-ryu, at least until you have her full measure.

>>4599857
>>Use your Kengen-ryu illusions to disguise some paper butterflies as set-up.

>>4599857
>>Use your Kengen-ryu illusions to disguise some paper butterflies as set-up.

>>4599857
>Meet Ameyuri with your Kengen-ryu, at least until you have her full measure.

>>4599857
>Use your Kengen-ryu illusions to disguise some paper butterflies as set-up.

Wouldn't they know about Guy's dad? IIRC his dad took out like 4 of them before dying

>>4599857
>>Use your Kengen-ryu illusions to disguise some paper butterflies as set-up.

>>4599857
>>Use your Kengen-ryu illusions to disguise some paper butterflies as set-up.

>>4599857
>1d6. DC 10.
>Best three of four
>SP: 4/6
>ES: 2/2 (3T)

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4601220

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4601220

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4601220

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4601220