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>>4617462
“Ranton: Reizā Sākasu!”

Your attack hits with pinpoint accuracy, pinning four of the five goons and effectively trapping the fifth. Kinkaku and Ginkaku escape totally unharmed, but that’s hardly the point. The point is to let Atsui take the next attack.

“Kumo-ryū Kaengiri!”

That’s his ‘hot-blooded’ style of swordsmanship – fire release chakra flow. The first wave torches all five of the goons from Kinkaku’s little squad, giving Samui an opening to slash them up with ease and precision befitting her status as a jōnin. And here you thought these guys were supposed to be real sharp, but now they’ve turned out to be pretty dull blades.

Then you get a reality check when Kinkaku and Ginkaku step in personally, having regurgitated a bunch of stuff into their hands including a weird-looking sword, a length of glowing chain, a fan made from big feathers, and a gourd.

Wait a minute…

“Atsui!” Samui shouts in alarm as Kinkaku backhands Atsui with the chain on his arm.

While Atsui takes a tumble across the surface of the water Samui is able to step out of the way before Kinkaku can do the same to her, withdrawing to regroup with her brother. Ginkaku has other plans, and as Samui steps in to guard her brother as he kneels doubled-over and coughing the burly zombie knocks her aside with his sword before cutting something away from near Atsui’s mouth.

Your next round of ranton-chakra beams hits two goons who were starting to regenerate, and forces Ginkaku back after hitting him in the shoulder… seems like just piercing them like this doesn’t do as much as you’d hope. Instead you’re probably gonna have to hack them up at close quarters to keep them down.

“This is bad,” Samui tells you as she helps Atsui withdraw to rejoin you. “They have the treasured tools…”

“What the heck are those things?” Atsui demands.

“I’m flattered to see that some of our own still recognize us,” Kinkaku smirks. “I'm almost touched, even.”

“If you really are Kinkaku and Ginkaku from our village’s history I’d rather not be called one of your own,” Samui retorts. “Definitely not cool.”
>2/3

>>4617469
“The sword, chain, and gourd all work as one,” Samui explains to you. “What’s happened to Atsui is that his ‘word-soul’ has been extracted and recorded – so if he says the word he’s said most in his life, he’ll be sealed inside the gourd.”

“Man, that’s terrifying!” you admit. “Something like that exists?”

Samui nods. “They were tools used by the Sage of Six Paths that demand a huge amount of chakra to use. Kinkaku and Ginkaku can only use them because they have inhuman stamina.”

“Not quite right,” Ginkaku admits. “We had inhuman stamina before the nine-tails beast swallowed us whole. Now ‘inhuman’ kinda understates the point, wouldn’t you say, Kinkaku?”

“I wouldn’t, Ginkaku,” Kinkaku admits. “But only because you talk too much. I’d never get the chance.”

>Atsui just has to keep his mouth shut until we can get Kinkaku and Ginkaku sealed.
>We need to go on the attack. We can’t just wait around for them to get all three of us.
>We’re lucky they brought us something to seal them with. We can use this situation.
>Other?

>>4617470
>>We’re lucky they brought us something to seal them with. We can use this situation.

>>4617470
>>We’re lucky they brought us something to seal them with. We can use this situation.

>>4617470
>We’re lucky they brought us something to seal them with. We can use this situation.

>>4617470
>We’re lucky they brought us something to seal them with. We can use this situation.

>>4617470
>>We’re lucky they brought us something to seal them with. We can use this situation.

>>4617470
>>We’re lucky they brought us something to seal them with. We can use this situation.

>>4617470
>>We’re lucky they brought us something to seal them with. We can use this situation.

>>4617470
>We’re lucky they brought us something to seal them with. We can use this situation

>>4617470
>1d6, first three
>DC 12
>SP: 3/3

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4619030

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4619030

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4619030

>>4619030
preemptively,
>Yes, use 1SP

>>4619030
Use one SP?
>Yes
>No

>>4619372
>No

>>4619372
>>Yes

>>4619372
>>Yes

>>4619372
Yes

>>4619372
>No

>>4619372
>Yes

>>4619372
>Yes

>>4619372
>Yes

>>4619372
>>Yes

>>4619372
“This is actually good,” you mutter. “At least the brought us something to seal them with!”

Samui immediately understands what you mean, but Atsui… Atsui falls into the trap.

“Time to show them our hot-blooded combi-” he begins, only to be quickly sucked into the sealing gourd under Ginkaku’s arm. So that’s how it works?

“Atsui!” Samui cries, rushing Ginkaku in a reckless anger. That’s fine though. Atsui getting sealed, not so much… but you gather that was bound to happen sooner or later at the rate things were going. But getting Samui worked up rather than her usual calm and collected self actually helps your cause. This sort of fight is for desperate measures and aggressive gambles, not level-headed assessment.

She nearly gets hit by that glowing chain as Kinkaku swings his arm at her, but you manage to parry for her with your own cleaver sword without letting it touch you. Then you follow her towards her prey.

“Bashōsen: Hi no Maki!” Kinkaku shouts, waving the fan in his hand and unleashing a massive torrent of fire that chases after you, Samui, and Ginkaku… already taking advantage of the fact that he knows his brother will just regenerate, now that they’ve seen their goon squad do the exact same thing after Atsui’s attack.

Samui manages to land a blow on Ginkaku, though only because you quickly raised a water wall between the three of you and Kinkaku that takes a bit of the heat out of the wall of fire coming your way.

In another close call, Ginkaku nearly cuts into your shoulder with his oddly-shaped blade. But this time, it’s Samui’s turn to cover for you as she steps in and parries alongside you, giving you a chance to pull your own cleaver blade free to slice off Ginkaku’s arm just below the elbow.

“Aw, damn it all!” he shouts in aggravation as Samui kicks the gourd away and you catch it under your own left arm. “I can’t believe I lost the damn thing, Kinkaku!”

“What’s the matter with you Ginkaku?” his brother demands. “Last time you dropped it was fighting that Second Hokage, and these brats are nowhere near that level. You’ve grown rusty.”
>1/2

>>4619703
Alright… alright, this is good. But as dull as it seems, it’s going to be a hard fight still. Kinkaku still has the chain that ‘steals the word-soul’, meaning that having the gourd is just this side of useless. Meanwhile Kinkaku and Ginkaku are still probably stronger than you if they’d just get serious, and their goons have finally finished regenerating.

Not too far away you can hear explosions from where that Ame chick is fighting… a lot of explosions. If only you had someone like her over here… no. Thinking like that won’t get you out of this.

>Or… maybe it will? Calling HQ for reinforcements, a real heavy-hitter, should turn the tide of this battle.
>You need to get that golden chain, even if Kinkaku clearly knows that’s your next objective.
>There has to be a way to damage them both badly enough that you can make some lasting progress. You just have to find it.
>Other?

>SP: 2/3

>>4619704
>Or… maybe it will? Calling HQ for reinforcements, a real heavy-hitter, should turn the tide of this battle.
>Let them know these guys have a powerful sealing tool that might be useful to the allied force

>>4619704
I'll second >>4619707

>>4619704
>>4619707
thuis

>>4619704
>>You need to get that golden chain, even if Kinkaku clearly knows that’s your next objective.

>>4619704
>>Or… maybe it will? Calling HQ for reinforcements, a real heavy-hitter, should turn the tide of this battle.
>>You need to get that golden chain, even if Kinkaku clearly knows that’s your next objective.

>>4619704
>Or… maybe it will? Calling HQ for reinforcements, a real heavy-hitter, should turn the tide of this battle.
>You need to get that golden chain, even if Kinkaku clearly knows that’s your next objective.

>>4619704
“Samui,” you insist. “It’s dull, yeah, but I need you to head back to the division and get Headquarters to send us some backup… cause this is gonna end up being a pain.”

Samui looks like she wants to argue, but quickly sees by your expression that you’re gonna insist. So she withdraws, and bizarrely it seems Kinkaku and Ginkaku are perfectly willing to let her just do that. You guess it’s cause you’re the one with the gourd, and they’re probably so full of themselves that they don’t see you alone as much of a challenge. And if what you’ve heard about these two is true they might be right.

>1d6, first three
>DC 10
>SP: 2/3

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4620852

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4620852

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4620852

>>4620852
“It’s fine that she’s gonna run,” Kinkaku smirks. “Nobody she brings back is going to make the slightest bit of difference.”

“Hey, Kinkaku,” Ginkaku glances at his brother. “It’d be too boring to just steal his words anyway, don’t you think?”

“Settle down, Ginkaku,” Kinkaku insists.

“That’s dirty,” you frown. “Using people’s words against them like that.”

“Words are just another tool!” Kinkaku insists, blasting a mass of air-nature chakra at you that you’re hard-pressed to avoid. “No different from this fan!”

You’d normally love to disagree on that, but what would be the point? You’re using everything you have just to stay a half-step ahead of these two, forget about their goons that keep hedging you in with shuriken or paper bombs.

It takes a while to find a clear opening, but the second you do you use it to create a pair of shadow clones.

“Ranton: Reiza Sakasu!”

Both your clones use the same technique at once to support you as you charge with your cleaver blade, with Kinkaku and Ginkaku standing just close enough to each other for this to work. Kinkaku loses his left arm from the precisely-guided beams that warp around you and seek your enemies out, and Ginkaku loses his right arm and the sword he’s holding in it.

Using the beams to continue protecting you, you knock the chain and Kinkaku’s left arm at Ginkaku, who no longer has anything to guard himself with, and as you turn in the air you snatch the folding sword out of the air, giving you two swords.

Without Kinkaku or any of the goons to back him up, you manage to slice away the blue mass that comes out of Ginkaku’s mouth before clearing out quick.

“Damn!” you hiss as you feel your chakra pulled out of your body at an alarming rate... nobody but these two, and maybe some of those freaks in the Akatsuki like Naori-san, could possibly use these things more than a couple of times in succession.

“That’s a lot of chakra,” you admit with a pant, but you check the inside of the folded sword.

And it’s good news for you – it reads “Kinkaku”.

Ginkaku stares at his brother in shock. “He got me, Kinkaku, what should I...”

And there’s the other proverbial shoe.

“Help me Kinkaku!” Ginkaku screams in obvious panic as the gourd under your shadow clone’s arm sucks him in from a distance. Your clone dispels, and the other picks up the gourd to withdraw with it.
>1/2

>>4620991
Kinkaku however isn’t about to let that slide, and he makes no secret of the fact that he’s about to let loose.

“You little bastard,” he growls as chakra starts visibly leaking out of his body. “How dare you do that to my brother?”

“How dare you!?”

The sudden explosion of raw power that accompanies his transformation sends you into full retreat, taking only enough time to snag the chain from Kinkaku’s severed arm. As you’re waiting for Kinkaku to make his first move your clone ties the sealing gourd around the back of your flak jacket before dispelling. This way you can carry it while on the move, with the chain around your right arm and the folding sword in your left hand.

...

“How the hell are we supposed to fight that?” one of the men under your command wonders aloud.

You quietly share his skepticism. Kinkaku has turned into something different, massive and hulking with multiple tails, all made up of agitated red and black chakra. It’s like one of the forms that Yugito-san and B-san can use, one of the basic jinchūriki states below a full transformation. And just like how you couldn’t fight either of them, you doubt this is going to be fair – especially since on top of being in a state like that, Kinkaku is effectively immortal and probably has limitless chakra from what you’ve seen.

And to your silent bemusement, it seems like that Konan lady isn’t even worried. She’s still fighting her own battle a good distance away, and obviously winning from the look of it.

>Explosions. You’re gonna need ALL of the explosions for this one.
>It seems a lot like suicide, but you MAY still be able to seal Kinkaku.
>You need to lure him in, restrict his movements, and gang up on him.
>Other?

>>4621133
>>Explosions. You’re gonna need ALL of the explosions for this one.

>>4621133
>>Explosions. You’re gonna need ALL of the explosions for this one.

>>4621133
>>Explosions. You’re gonna need ALL of the explosions for this one.

>>4621133
>Explosions. You’re gonna need ALL of the explosions for this one.
God bless america.

>>4621133
>>Explosions. You’re gonna need ALL of the explosions for this one.

>>4621133
All of the explosions. That’s just about all you can rely on right now, every single explosive you can possibly get your hands on. And so that’s exactly what you call for as you retreat, not even waiting to be clear of the barrage from the cliffsides. Thankfully it seems that Konan chick mananged to wrap up her fight in time, having sealed both those guys from Akatsuki by herself before withdrawing. Not retreating like you’re doing, but actually falling back to have her opponents permanently secured by her own subordinates.

Several of the Ame-nin step forward, volunteering themselves as guards.

Meanwhile Kinkaku is just taking all of the flying kunai and exploding tags, including a huge volume of them produced by one specific kunoichi from Konoha who seems to have multiple full-sized scrolls loaded with hundreds, maybe thousands of prepared weapons.

Compared to what that Konan chick and Naori, her student, are capable of it’s like the dollar-store version of course. But even the “dollar-store version” of such a ridiculous technique can still be pretty overwhelming.

Not to Kinkaku however.

“You pathetic underlings!” he roars as he shelters behind the tails of his chakra cloak. As soon as there’s a gap in the assault he lashes out, crushing entire terraces of the sea cliffs and sending dozens of shinobi tumbling to their deaths.

No amount of attacking seems to be enough… and even when Headquarters sends you the other barrel you’re at a loss for what to actually do with it.

“Yeah, so how do we use this thing on him when he knows how it works?” you demand of Samui from behind cover.

“I have no idea,” she admits. “I think we may really be in trouble.”

“That so?” a new voice joins your conversation abruptly.

Samui nearly falls out of cover. “It’s you!?”

…

You are Uzumaki Naori, and things seem to have gotten somewhat out of control here since you were warned about the pace of the battle you were preparing to throw yourself into. Your unit is above the ocean, on the highest of several terraced seacliffs, near where Konan-sensei has withdrawn to.

“Ajisai, please take care of those,” you request, creating several shadow clones. One heads down to the shoreline to find Darui-han, while a second places a hand on Ajisai’s shoulder to teleport her and two bundles wrapped in paper back to the logistics division.

“Who were they?”

Konan-sensei spares them a glance. “Kakuzu and Kisame.”
>1/2

>>4622181
You soon receive an update from your shadow clone down by the beach, while Sasuke-kun finds Tenten to get caught up on the ‘big picture’.

…

“This guy’s completely out of control,” Darui-han tells you. “We sealed his brother in this gourd, at a cost, but then he whips out a tailed beast cloak.”

“No worries,” you insist calmly. “Do you have a plan?”

He nods once. “Yeah – delay. Headquarters is sending us a specialist team to go with this second sealing jar.”

“So you just need time?” you muse.

He nods again.

…

So, Darui-han needs time.

>Go down there and fight Kinkaku personally. The more you soften him up the easier HQ’s plan will be to pull off.
>What you should really focus on is keeping Kinkaku from wiping out any more of Darui’s unit, if you can do so.
>Since you can't actually KILL Kinkaku, it makes more sense to conserve energy to the greatest degree possible.
>Other?

>>4622184
>Since you can't actually KILL Kinkaku, it makes more sense to conserve energy to the greatest degree possible.

>>4622184
>>What you should really focus on is keeping Kinkaku from wiping out any more of Darui’s unit, if you can do so.
>>Since you can't actually KILL Kinkaku, it makes more sense to conserve energy to the greatest degree possible.
if we can do both, that would be great, but conserving some energy should take small priority

>>4622184
>>Go down there and fight Kinkaku personally. The more you soften him up the easier HQ’s plan will be to pull off.

>>4622184
>>What you should really focus on is keeping Kinkaku from wiping out any more of Darui’s unit, if you can do so.
>>Since you can't actually KILL Kinkaku, it makes more sense to conserve energy to the greatest degree possible.

>>4622184
>>What you should really focus on is keeping Kinkaku from wiping out any more of Darui’s unit, if you can do so.

>>4622184
>Try injecting him full of nature energy, see if he won't turn to stone

>>4622184
>>Since you can't actually KILL Kinkaku, it makes more sense to conserve energy to the greatest degree possible.

>>4622184
You really should be taking a few moments to rest, however you’re also aware of the fact that people are counting on you to keep Kinkaku suppressed until the plan Allied Headquarters devised can be put into motion. Both of those are things that need to happen, and so you decide that “both of these” are things you’re going to do.

“Just one shinobi?” Kinkaku sneers at you as you walk out atop the water to meet him. “Hey, don’t you think you’re taking me a little too lightly?”

“Yeah no,” you muse, quickly gathering nature energy through Umekiri’s blade in preparation for what you’re going to have to do to make this work. “It’s actually quite the opposite. I think you’ll see in a moment.”

“You think, or you know?” Kinkaku demands.

“I think,” you reassert yourself, “but if I’m right about this I probably won’t see it myself.”

...

You are Uzumaki Naori’s shadow clone, standing on the lowest seacliff with your unit, Darui, and Konan-sensei. And your original body is about to begin.

She dodges swiftly, sidestepping Kinkaku’s attack as he lashes out at her with one of his tails. He seems a little taken aback that you could evade him so effortlessly, but you know better. In sage mode, your real body has supernaturally fast reflexes – a kenjutsu master enhanced by a true sixth sense that warns her of impending danger. In essence, there’s no ‘latency’ between his attack and her response, the two movements beginning at the exact same moment.

But what you suspect she’s doing is unusual even for you.

“What is she doing?” Darui demands.

“Exactly what you said you needed,” you muse. “Delaying.”

As a visibly-frustrated Kinkaku turns all his attention on your real body, who keeps just a split-second ahead of each of his movements in truly insulting fashion, you explain further.

“By drawing his focus, she’s keeping pressure off your subordinates,” you tell him.

Konan-sensei frowns. “You should be faster than that... at this rate, I’d normally expect Naori to have taken Kinkaku down. You realize that simply hacking him apart is meaningless?”

You nod. “Since ‘winning’ isn’t our goal, she’s doing something different this time. I suspect she’s actually resting right now.”

Darui-han stares at you in shock. “Come again?”

“Look at her closely,” you insist as your real body calmly slices off one of Kinkaku’s tails and lands lightly on top of it as he withdraws it, letting it pull her closer. “Focus on her face. Does she really look like she’s fully awake to you?”
>1/2

>>4623365
“Now that you mention it, one eye has yet to open,” Konan-sensei realizes. “Is that what she’s doing?”

You nod. “Many species of birds are capable of sleeping while flying long-distance. By using senjutsu chakra and sticking to taijutsu, I can actually cut the amount of chakra my body is using to the point where I recover it about as fast as I spend it.”

“And that trance-like look she’s got?” Darui presses.

“Probably just what it looks like,” you admit with a shrug. “You’re a swordsman, you’ve probably at least heard of kata meditation? Think of it like that.”

“That’s not what that looks like,” Darui points out. “Kata meditation is just that – doing kata. That’s not what she’s doing.”

“My style has no kata to perform,” you counter as your real body leaves an afterimage, dodging another of Kinkaku’s attacks with kengen-ryū movements. “And I’ve never relied on bloodlust or aggression when I fight, just calmness and awareness. It’s really not much different from meditating to begin with, but it also wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to suggest that the Shrike senjutsu style enables it a little further.”
>1d6, high roll, best three of four

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4623366

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4623366

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4623366
Alright that bird sleep thing is pretty cool. Imagine being so fucking strong you can literally be half-asleep in a fight. What a power move.

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4623366

>>4623374
I think it's the informal term for it, but it's called sleeping 'half-brained' - basically they sleep with one side of their brain while keeping one eye open. Most species who do it do so to watch for predators, but long-distance migratory birds can do it while navigating.

So don't expect this to ever replace sleep completely, but also she could for example doze off while doing paperwork or some other repetitive task.

>>4623380
Does Naori snore?
Or is she too self-conscious to have that sort of quirk?

>>4623366
“That’s insane,” Darui insists as you watch your real body dodge and weave gracefully, frustrating Kinkaku’s attacks.

“Insane is to be expected,” Konan-sensei counters. “She is Akatsuki.”

…

You are Uzumaki Naori, and you find yourself jolted out of what feels like a trance by a sudden change in tactics by Kinkaku.

“I’ve had enough of your horseshit!” he screams, widening his maw and gathering chakra for a tailed beast bomb. “Let’s see you dodge this!”

Your answer is to cross your blades and form a shadow clone, then brace for the assault.

If the shinobi on the coast behind you were expecting you to even flinch they were mistaken – you quickly erect a dome of Kongō Fūsa chains that the tailed beast bomb slams into, only for your shadow clone to teleport the Kongō Fūsa barrier and the bomb together out to a hiraishin marker well out to sea, left there by another of your shadow clones for just such an occasion.

Kinkaku stares at you dumbstruck before the blast goes off in the distance, whipping up waves and wind that wash over you… but that can’t hide your confident smirk.

“Yeah no,” you grin at him. “Who said anything about dodging?”

He’s about to say something, when your shadow clone on the coast teleports to your side.

“They’re here, finally,” she informs you before teleporting back to the shore.

“Ah,” you muse cheerfully, giving your shoulders a slight stretch, “it seems my turn's up, but thanks for the fight. I found it... relaxing."

>Teleport back to the shore and regroup, you’re done out here.
>Stay on location and make sure that the Ino-Shika-Cho trio have support.
>You’re more interested in helping with the other reanimations near here.
>Other?

>>4623664
>>You’re more interested in helping with the other reanimations near here.

>>4623664
>>You’re more interested in helping with the other reanimations near here.

>>4623664
if *OUR* Akatsuki isn't a term for incredible specialists, i am gonna eat my hat

>>4623664
>You’re more interested in helping with the other reanimations near here.

>>4623664
>>You’re more interested in helping with the other reanimations near here.

>>4623664
>1d6, best three of four
>high roll

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4624944

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4624944

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4624944
GO HIGH!

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4624944

>>4624944
You decide to leave Kinkaku to Ino, Shikamaru, and Chōji, giving Shikamaru a curt nod of acknowledgement as you pass. Right now you’re much more interested in the other reanimations that are now causing trouble along the cliffs, especially one pale-haired man who seems to be effortlessly taking down dozens of opponents using remarkably efficient taijutsu.

When you approach him, the other shinobi in the area give you some space.

“You’re not dressed like the others,” the reanimated shinobi realizes – you see that his headband bears the mark of Konoha, but his flak jacket is of an older design. “A modern shinobi who wears the old-style battle armor?”

“That’s right,” you admit. “Uzumaki Naori. And who might you be?”

“Katō Dan,” the man replies, raising his hands and weaving four hand signs.

You move quickly enough that you sever the fingers on one of his hands before he can finish the technique, drawing Umekiri and striking in a single smooth movement.

“Samurai-style iaijutsu,” Dan-han recognizes. “Good, you should–“

Whatever he was about to say is cut short by a brief spasm, before he glares at you with a different expression.

“Now now,” a different voice muses. “It would be such a waste to throw a matchup like this by giving up secrets.”

You quickly realize what’s happening. “So you’re Kabuto now, right?”

“That’s right,” Kabuto sneers as Dan’s fingers regenerate, and his vessel raises the two fingers on his good hand in front of his face. “Kuchiyose no jutsu!”

A wooden coffin emerges from the ground, and the lid falls off to reveal...

“What is this?” the man, wearing a rebreather and an old-style Amegakure flak jacket, wonders aloud. “I died, didn’t I?”

He quickly parries your iaijutsu strike with a kama, though he’s forced back as you follow through with a kick to separate you.

“I know you,” you frown, “even without introductions. You’re Hanzō of the Salamander.”

Hanzō quickly appraises you, then nods appreciatively. “A shinobi of Amegakure. Good. If what I assume has happened is true it should be an Amegakure shinobi of this generation that takes me out.”

“Not just Amegakure,” you correct him. “Akatsuki. I’m the daughter of one of the men you and Danzō had killed.”

“Danzō,” Hanzō scoffs. “How is that old bastard? Dead, I hope?”

“That’s right,” you confirm.
>1/2

>>4624975
“Whose hands did he die at?” Hanzō wonders aloud, before shaking his head. “Never mind, it doesn’t...”

Behind him, Katō Dan resume forming hand seals – something you cannot abide. You quickly form paper shuriken out of explosive tags, throwing them around Hanzō to solely target Dan to keep Kabuto from performing whatever technique it was you interrupted before.

“Sorry to say this, Hanzō-han,” you tell him with a frown, clashing with him and forcing him back across the dirt to clear your way to Dan. “But you’re being used again, this time as a shield.”

“I’m starting to get a handle on the situation,” Hanzō-han begins, only to begin weaving seals of his own. “I’m being forced to summon Ibuse!”

Ibuse... that would be Hanzō’s personal summons, a giant poison-spewing salamander. That would definitely be a problem, but again Kabuto is using that threat as a distraction to keep you from dealing with Katō Dan.

So you create a shadow clone, using one to disrupt Hanzō’s summoning while your real body catches up with Dan and slices off one of his arms.

“That’s Katō Dan,” Hanzō recognizes as he struggles against your clone. “He uses a technique that...”

For a moment Hanzō pauses as Kabuto uses Dan’s good hand to restrain him.

“You’re both being a pain,” Kabuto complains. “Here I’d thought Hanzō would be eager to test the skills of the current generation, but you’ve gone and reminded him how much he hates being used.”

“I... have something... to say...” Hanzō struggles against the binding seal.

Kabuto contemplates that for a moment, before seemingly relenting. “Fine then, I’ll admit to some curiosity. But no spilling any secrets.”

“I can see enough just by looking at the situation,” Hanzō insists bluntly. “This girl is a sage who claims to be with Akatsuki, and I see that she’s fighting alongside shinobi from every major nation. I can see that the naive dream I once had is still alive, and that my village is producing fine young shinobi.”

“I can also see that you’re trying to undermine whatever progress her generation may have made, which makes you my enemy.”

Dan’s features shift into a frown, as the man behind the proverbial mask grapples with that sentiment for just a moment – before eliminating Hanzō’s personality.

“No matter,” Kabuto muses. “I really never needed your cooperation anyway.”

>Deal with Hanzō first – his infamous skills with area-use poison will be hell on the Alliance.
>You need to remove Katō Dan, whatever Kabuto has planned with him is NOT good for you.
>Call on Ryūzetsu. Now would be a great time to test out that cooperation ninjutsu with her.
>Other?

>>4625030
>Call on Ryūzetsu. Now would be a great time to test out that cooperation ninjutsu with her.

>>4625030
>>Call on Ryūzetsu. Now would be a great time to test out that cooperation ninjutsu with her.

>>4625030
>Call on Ryūzetsu. Now would be a great time to test out that cooperation ninjutsu with her.

>>4625030
>>Call on Ryūzetsu. Now would be a great time to test out that cooperation ninjutsu with her.

Tag team moves let's go! Also Hanzō fuck yeah!

>>4625030
>>Call on Ryūzetsu. Now would be a great time to test out that cooperation ninjutsu with her.

>>4625030
>>Call on Ryūzetsu. Now would be a great time to test out that cooperation ninjutsu with her.

I wonder if there was ever an attempt to legitimately square things between Hanzo and Akatsuki diplomatically instead of the massacre, and it just got sabotaged by someone.

I find it hard to believe Hanzo never made any attempt to flip them into an asset. The guy was cold, not stupid.

The Hidden Rain needed everyone they could get, being literally surrounded by hostile foreign powers. He wouldn't have chosen to deep-six talent like that unless it was over some intractable issue or threat, not relatively minor ideological differences, right? Akatsuki wasn't actually undermining Hanzo's ability to defend the place from invasion . . . or something . . .

. . . right?

>>4626360
The most likely scenario in my mind is that Hanzo knew they wanted to steal and seal tailed beasts.

As an analogy, imagine ISIS one day comes knocking on the door of Switzerland asking to hide out there so that they can steal nukes from both the US and Russia and bury them deep in the Alps for the sake of world peace.
Even if you really believe they could successfully pull that off, the risks involved are laughably insane for next to no payoff. And if everything doesn't go flawlessly, you have every superpower in the world gunning for you.

>>4626378
akatsuki started out literally in amegakure, for starters.
second, the orphans wanted to stop the wars, especially the civil wars that kept creeping up in their homeland amegakure.
and third, i just assume hanzo shared their optimistic dream early in life, but grew bitter and then felt threatend by them gaining support despite him having abondoned his own dream.
in swoops danzo stoking those flames and propsing a temporary alliance they can both immediatly profit from, in the mutual understanding that both parties don't trust each other after they get their immediate goal.

>>4626378
apologies, i forgot the tailed beast bit i wanted to mention, obito in his role as new "mentor" for the disillusioned survivors of the massacre came up with the tailed beasts as a new plan.

>>4626378
But the plan with the tailed beasts was well after Hanzo had decided to start an Akatsuki pogrom. That was a result of the change in management following the massacre.

I meant before things had escalated that far would have been the time to make something happen.

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>>4625030
Your shadow clone quickly crosses her blades to create another shadow clone of her own as you both fight against Hanzō and Dan, keeping them from using any ninjutsu through pitched close quarters combat, then dispels her immediately.

Then you’re aware of a chain of events continuing without any further input from you.

Your shadow clone back with Darui and Konan-sensei gets a burst of memories from the short-lived clone, then immediately teleports to Hōzuki castle all the way across the continent in the Land of Grass. Several moments later, after trading blows a few more times, you create a shadow clone to keep the pressure up on Dan for just a moment and back off yourself.

“Kuchiyose: Ryūmei Tensei!”

After making a near-suicidal attack on your shadow clone, dispelling it as it cut through his torso, you see Dan weave hand signs as well even before his torso begins to stitch back together.

“Reika no Jutsu!”

Two things happen at once, two presences notable by their chakra hit your body mid-summoning.

…

“So this is… odd,” you admit with a frown, recognizing your present location as something very much like the dream-state where you first saw the ‘personality’ of Umekiri-maru years ago. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Neither are you,” Katō Dan, who’s currently glowing a lovely shade of aquamarine, counters. “In fact, in all the times I’ve used this technique I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Yeah no, you’ve probably never used this technique on anyone like me,” you observe.

“Not quite true,” Dan replies. “Though it is exceptionally crowded in here.”

“I see you made it in time,” you greet Ryūzetsu warmly.

“Who is this guy?” she demands, glaring at Dan.

“Katō Dan, formerly a jōnin from Konohagakure,” he bows politely. “And thankfully, it seems I will not be the instrument of your friend’s death.”

Then he draws a kunai. “Though I fear I will be forced to try.”

He and Ryūzetsu exchange a few blows, mostly between their forearms and elbows, as Dan continues to explain.

“Every technique has a weakness,” he insists, “and mine is no different. My summoner would likely have no way of knowing this, but I was killed in battle because I unexpectedly found that weakness in Rōshi – jinchūriki of the four-tails.”
>1/2

>>4626465
“What I learned then is that my technique is weak against individuals whose souls are tightly bound to another,” Dan explains as he and Ryūzetsu continue to fight hand to hand. “In your case, it seems to be that masked girl who has been watching us from the darkness. It also stands to reason that extraordinarily strong chakra like that of the Uzumaki or Senju clans, or users of similar techniques, could pose a problem.”

“What happened when you tried it on a jinchūriki?” Ryūzetsu asks, planting a fist in Dan’s gut and leaving him marked with her Tenrō seal.

He glances down at it, perhaps recognizing to some extent what it means for him. “I was expelled and stunned, leaving me vulnerable. Most of my internal organs were crushed in one blow.”

“So when we defeat you the same thing should happen?” you reason.

Dan nods. “Yes. When that happens, please be sure to quickly raise some sort of barrier. Even a normal fūinjutsu that seals movement may not be adequate to keep my soul locked away.”

“Thanks for the tip,” Ryūzetsu bows her head slightly before just about knocking Dan’s off his neck with an uppercut to the jaw.

…

You watch as Dan’s soul flies backwards, perhaps just a few seconds after it entered into you, until it hits his physical body.

“What!?” Kabuto demands, his voice sounding strained from the backlash suffered by Dan’s body. “How could this happen?”

“Yeah no,” you pant, realizing that you’ve been apparently fighting Hanzō while in a trance. “You miscalculated.”

“What do you mean?” he demands as Hanzō withdraws to offer him cover.

Ryūzetsu’s temporary body, formed the same way you form vessels for reanimations using your own senjutsu, begins to pull itself together in front of you.

“She means me,” Ryūzetsu insists, holding out an arm and producing a few tags from it. “Gojō Kibaku Fūda!”

>Call in others to block Dan into a barrier before he can reform his body.
>Do it yourself using the Shikonbenjin, at least until reinforcements can arrive.
>Other?

>>4626471
>>Call in others to block Dan into a barrier before he can reform his body.

>>4626471
>Do it yourself using the Shikonbenjin, at least until reinforcements can arrive.

>>4626471
>>Do it yourself using the Shikonbenjin, at least until reinforcements can arrive.

>>4626471
i like this guy btw, he seems like an intelligent, capable and honorable man

>>4626471
>Do it yourself using the Shikonbenjin, at least until reinforcements can arrive.

>>4626471
For reference, Shikonbenjin (Four Gold Petal Formation) is Naori's version of the Four Crimson Rays Formation used by the four previous Hokages. It uses kongo fusa, sage mode, and shadow clones to pull off a technique that would ordinarily take four kages working together.

>>4626532
There's a reason why Tsunade is still in love with him decades after he died.

>>4626471
>>Do it yourself using the Shikonbenjin, at least until reinforcements can arrive.

>>4626607
Ooooh, that snake boy is in for such a thrashing.

>>4626471
You unseal four hiraishin-marked tags folded into butterflies, and throw them like shuriken, guiding their trajectories while you create three shadow clones. It seems as the explosions clear that Kabuto decided to cut his losses here – having withdrawn Hanzō to sacrifice what he probably suspects is now a useless and vulnerable Katō-han. But he’s only useless if you follow through, so that’s precisely what you do.

“Senpō: Shikonbenjin!” you and your clones declare in unison upon reaching their respective hiraishin markers, raising a cubical barrier around Katō-han’s body that totally isolates him and the butterflies within.

“Well done, both of you,” he congratulates you. “Especially you, young lady… the one whose name I don’t have yet.”

“Ryūzetsu,” she introduces herself curtly.

“I once heard of a clan in Kusagakure with a similar technique to mine,” Katō-han muses. “A kekkei genkai that allowed the transfer of a person’s whole life force. I assume that the technique for using it has been honed much further in your time?”

“I was the one who did it,” Ryūzetsu frowns, before glancing over her shoulder at you. “This is Katō Dan, isn’t it?”

You nod back to her. “No yeah, that’s right.”

“Then I should thank you,” she inclines her head politely to Katō-han. “Reading about you inspired me to improve this technique, and allowed me to use it to help Naori-san.”

“Well, I have to apologize for tying you down like this,” Katō-han apologizes. “I certainly hope you can find someone to replace you… ah, here comes Chōza-san and some reinforcements now...”

Before the head of the Akimichi clan and the handful of shinobi he selected to replace you in handling this barrier can reach you, there’s a massive explosion. Or rather, it seemed like an explosion at first. In reality it’s just smoke from a summoning.

But what that summoning turns out to be has you worried.
>1d6, first three
>DC 10

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4627744

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4627744

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4627744

>>4627751
>>4627753
>>4627757
Will update tomorrow morning with a success.

It's the Gedo statue by the way.

>>4627744
At first it’s a stunning surprise to see the Gedō statue here of all places, and not just here – actually attacking and killing people. But you quickly realize the implication, and spare one hand to create an extra shadow clone to take the lead on organizing your response.

While Chōza-han and his son increase their size to brawl with the statue, you hunt for what you know must be nearby: the summoner.

…

You are Naori’s most recent shadow clone, and you’re quick to track down Konan-sensei.

“Where is he?” you demand. “Have you found him?”

“I began a search using my own origami butterflies,” she responds patiently, “though I have yet to find any traces of Obito.”

“Aside from the obvious.”

She nods in agreement. “Of course there is that.”

You trust your sensei to continue her search, and so you consider the implications.

“So yeah… it seems he reanimated Nagato-han for his eyes,” you reason. “I had my doubts that would work.”

“It would seem it has,” Konan-sensei frowns. “I had hoped it would not.”

“Can you sense him?”

Your sensei shakes her head. “Not yet, and I would be willing to bet he would not remain here this long.”

>Try to cover the area with your unit. There has to be some sign of what Obito is plotting with this obvious distraction.
>Focus on facilitating the handoff from your own barrier restraining Katō-han to the other shinobi, so that you can fight all-out.
>Check places you think might be likely targets for Obito… find his reason for being here, and you’ll be able to counter him.
>Other?

>>4629567
>>Check places you think might be likely targets for Obito… find his reason for being here, and you’ll be able to counter him.

>>4629567
>>Check places you think might be likely targets for Obito… find his reason for being here, and you’ll be able to counter him.

>>4629567
>Check places you think might be likely targets for Obito… find his reason for being here, and you’ll be able to counter him.

>>4629567
>>Check places you think might be likely targets for Obito… find his reason for being here, and you’ll be able to counter him.

>>4629567
>1d6, best three of four
>higher is better

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4630886

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4630886

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4630886

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4630886

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>>4630886
This could be made a lot quicker by tracking down what you suspect Obito might be after… and a thought occurs to you.

You teleport to the hiraishin marking held by Darui, only to find him with a deep wound in his back. Looking for the assailant, you find that he’s already alone… several other shinobi lie wounded or dead nearby, each felled by a single clean cut. Not Obito’s style, but the technique of a dedicated swordsman.

“Forget me,” he insists. “The bastard got away, never even saw him… he took the Benihisago while we were distracted. Go find Samui, she and those guys from Konoha have got the Kohaku no Jōhei.”

“Which way?” you demand.

“To the rear,” Darui clarifies. “Hurry!”

…

You teleport back to Konan-sensei, who has news for you.

“There’s a smaller fight that’s broken out near the team carrying the Kohaku no Jōhei,” she informs you.

“I’ll meet you there,” you insist, summoning Isoka. “There isn’t much time, I need you to help me find someone.”

…

“They’re here!” Isoka chirps.

“In my sleeve, Isoka-han,” you order curtly. “Quickly.”

You place yourself between Shikamaru and his attacker with a massive burst of speed, parrying his sword and pushing him back with your palm.

“Isoka!”

“Hiiiiya!” Isoka trills loudly, forcing the assailant to backpedal to avoid being skewered.

“The hell is this?” he glares at you… a man with pale hair and two spiky ponytails, one in back and one oddly positioned in the front. He seems to be dressed as a jōnin from Iwagakure, and his eyes reveal that he’s clearly a reanimation.

Then he forms a hand seal not entirely different from your own for a shadow clone. “Tajū Kage...”

He’s interrupted by Umekiri’s blade slicing him in half at the waist.

“Shit!” he curses. “To lose to the same technique twice...”

Paper tags begin to wrap his two chunks, as Ajisai makes her entrance.
>1/2

>>4630932
“You’ve been busy,” she muses. “Konan-sama sent me.”

“Thanks, I was hoping you’d catch up,” you smile. “Keep on guard. Samui-han, what’s happening here?”

“We were attacked by a team of reanimations,” she explains, motioning for Yamanaka Ino and Shikamaru to take up a new defensive formation. “One’s hiding in the ground, the other is using the Meisaigakure technique.”

“It seems our enemy is relying on stealth experts to take advantage of the distraction,” Shikamaru adds. “How is Darui-san?”

“Alive,” you report. “But wounded, and he lost the gourd. Another invisible swordsman it sounds like.”

>Take the sealing pot off Samui’s hands and guard it yourself. Tell them to help elsewhere.
>If you draw this out a little, Konan-sensei will join you in a few moments.
>Your sharingan should work against the Meisaigakure’s invisibility. Use it to target for Isoka.
>Other?

>>4630933
>>Your sharingan should work against the Meisaigakure’s invisibility. Use it to target for Isoka.

>>4630933
>Your sharingan should work against the Meisaigakure’s invisibility. Use it to target for Isoka.

>>4630933
>>Your sharingan should work against the Meisaigakure’s invisibility. Use it to target for Isoka.

>>4630933
>>Your sharingan should work against the Meisaigakure’s invisibility. Use it to target for Isoka.

>>4630933
>>Your sharingan should work against the Meisaigakure’s invisibility. Use it to target for Isoka.

>>4630933
You allow the extra chakra your sharingan requires to flow into your left eye, and sure enough the results are immediate: the sharingan completely foils the Meisaigakure technique, allowing you to see where light has been bent around the reanimated shinobi.

“Watch carefully,” you insist as the camouflaged man walks a slow circle around the battlefield, looking for a clear moment to attack, and you sheathe your sword, giving your cautious foe something else to consider. “Isoka?”

Your summoning partner lands on your left hand, and watches carefully as you point one finger and weave seals with your right hand.

“There!” you command. “Ranton: Amehōsō!”

The cooperative technique blows a very obvious hole through the reanimated shinobi’s chest, leaving an obvious donut of person floating in air where the light-warping trick begins to fail. And in a moment, Ajisai too has set to work wrapping him before his body can recover.

The second shinobi bursts from the ground as you wordlessly urge Isoka to take off from your hand, before turning and drawing Umekiri in a flash. Slicing through the front of his head right at eye level is an easy matter, causing him to stagger and giving you a chance to take a small hop back and away from him so that Konan-sensei’s paper tags can wrap around him.

…

“Thanks,” Shikamaru sighs wearily. “That was looking bad for a moment.”

“No problem,” you shake your head. “Give me a moment though.”

…

Meanwhile, the shinobi meant to maintain a barrier in your place finally arrive, and you create four additional shadow clones – one to transport each of them inside the Shikonbenjin barrier to the sealing tag butterflies you left just inside when you raised it in the first place. Then you have them raise the vaguely similar but far simpler and less powerful Shishienjin barrier, before teleporting both them and their entire barrier into the space bounded by your own Shikonbenjin.

Finally, you can unsummon your shadow clones entirely, leaving just your real body and Ryūzetsu’s ‘reanimated’ body.

…

“Sorry for the delay,” you muse, picking up where your clone left off. “I was taking care of business elsewhere – Katō-han required a longer-term barrier solution.”

“How did you solve the handoff?” Ajisai muses.

“So yeah,” you admit with a chuckle. “It was actually pretty simple, I just had my relief raise their barrier, then used hiraishin tags I laid out beforehand to transport them and their barrier inside my barrier.”
>1/2

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>>4631263
“That qualifies as simple?” Ino stares at you incredulously.

“If you know techniques like what she was talking about,” Shikamaru muses thoughtfully, “things like that become possible. I couldn’t even explain to you the theoretical limitations of the spacetime manipulations involved...”

“Good,” Ino grumbles.

“… but then again, only four shinobi alive can use any variation of the hiraishin, with Naori-san being the only one who can use its completed form. So if she says it’s ‘easy’ for her… who am I to even judge?”

“And even I know there are some tricks I haven’t learned with it yet,” you admit. “Hopefully this war doesn’t escalate to the point where I need to make up a solution.”

“So… am I going to get any introductions?” Ryūzetsu asks curiously.

“Yamanaka Ino,” you point her out, before continuing with each in turn, “and Nara Shikamaru, both from Konoha. My sensei Konan, my childhood friend Ajisai.”

“And… so who might this be?” Konan-sensei ponders Ryūzetsu’s appearance.

>A good friend of mine from Kusagakure, warden of Hōzuki prison and generally good egg.
>A friend of mine who can use part of her soul to possess people, or in this case a reanimation vessel.
>I… GUESS we’ve been on one date? Anyway, she’s made arrangements to help me out long-distance.
>Other?

>>4631266
>>A good friend of mine from Kusagakure, warden of Hōzuki prison and generally good egg.

>>4631266
>>A good friend of mine from Kusagakure, warden of Hōzuki prison and generally good egg.

>>4631266
>A *very* good friend of mine from Kusagakure, warden of Hōzuki prison and generally good egg

>>4631266
>>A good friend of mine from Kusagakure, warden of Hōzuki prison and generally good egg.

>>4631266
>>A *very close* friend of mine from Kusagakure, warden of Hōzuki prison and generally good egg.

>>4631266
>>I… GUESS we’ve been on one date? Anyway, she’s made arrangements to help me out long-distance.
fuck you guys, i said it

>>4631266
>>I… GUESS we’ve been on one date? Anyway, she’s made arrangements to help me out long-distance.

>>4631266
>>>I… GUESS we’ve been on one date? Anyway, she’s made arrangements to help me out long-distance.

>>4631266
>>A good friend of mine from Kusagakure, warden of Hōzuki prison and generally good egg.

>>4631266
>I… GUESS we’ve been on one date? Anyway, she’s made arrangements to help me out long-distance.

>>4631266
>>I… GUESS we’ve been on one date? Anyway, she’s made arrangements to help me out long-distance.

>>4631266
>A good friend of mine from Kusagakure, warden of Hōzuki prison and generally good egg.

>>4631266
>>I… GUESS we’ve been on one date? Anyway, she’s made arrangements to help me out long-distance.

>>4631266
>>I… GUESS we’ve been on one date? Anyway, she’s made arrangements to help me out long-distance.

>>4631266
>A good friend of mine from Kusagakure, warden of Hōzuki prison and generally good egg.

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>>4631266
“This is Ryūzetsu,” you introduce her quickly, “warden of Hōzuki prison and a particularly close friend. She’s made arrangements to help me out from Kusagakure.”

Ajisai raises an eyebrow at that, to which you respond with a shrug. Honestly yeah, you’d call what happened ”a date”, but you wouldn’t say that you’re ”dating” necessarily – otherwise you’d have to say that you were also ”dating” Temari. And clearly neither of those things are quite accurate, even if they weren’t somehow mutually exclusive.

So with the situation still being somewhat vague, you explain it with a vague statement.

“Okay,” Konan-sensei nods, accepting your account of things and concluding that Ryūzetsu’s presence here is the result of an unusual technique and not reanimation – which could have made her a problem. “What is the current situation?”

“They got one of the sealed pseudo-jinchūriki,” you explain. “I don’t know which, and yeah… I don’t think it makes a difference.”

“So they are still going out of their way to collect jinchūriki,” Konan-sensei concludes. “There were many things Obito never mentioned to us during his time masquerading as Uchiha Madara. Some I was able to discern, such as how his ocular technique worked. Others likely never came up, such as the fact that psuedo-jinchūriki could be used to advance his plan.”

“Still, we learned something useful,” you muse.

Shikamaru nods in agreement. “Yeah, once I had a chance to stop and think about it that bothered me too.”

“What bothered you?” Ino demands. “Quit talking like we’re all on the same page!”

“If Kabuto had access to the pseudo-jinchūriki,” Konan-sensei begins.

“… then why didn’t they just seal them to begin with?” Ajisai finishes the thought. “Nakkun?”

“Kabuto may not have told Obito,” you muse. “Because Obito may not have told Kabuto all of the details, or because Kabuto may not completely trust Obito.”

“You’re thinking they may not be such great allies after all?” Shikamaru reasons. “Can we use that?”

“They may not be in lockstep,” you admit, “but that doesn’t make it a clear vulnerability to be exploited.”

“In any event, we’re losing the light,” you muse. “Could someone here contact Headquarters?”

“It may be prudent to let everyone get some rest,” Konan-sensei agrees.

However, upon returning to your unit that has begun to gather overlooking the sea, you come to an abrupt realization - that one of you is not who he appears to be. You strike the offender in the back of his neck, and the shadow clone disappears.

“Sai-kun,” you frown. “Where did Sasuke-kun disappear to during all this?”
>1/2

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>>4632257
>Meanwhile…
You are Tayuya, formerly a lackey serving under Orochimaru of the Sannin as one of his ‘elite’ from Otogakure, a distinction that really doesn’t mean anything now. Since then you’ve been accepted into Hoshigakure, which is like an actual hidden village, along with the Fūma clan from what was once the Land of Rice Fields that became the Land of Sound. It was tense at first – the Fūma knew you as an enforcer – but eventually things sort of smoothed over.

It’s a kind of shitty village compared to places like Konoha, or even Ame, but unlike Otogakure it’s more of a home than an open-air lab for weird experiments.

Now you’re fighting for it, alongside a bunch of people from Hoshi. That includes its village leader, Natsuhi, as well as most of the Fūma including Kagerō.

…

“Thanks for backing us up,” Natsuhi-san greets you, seemingly already exhausted. “I’ve been trying not to use the star chakra, but this… this is getting out of hand.”

“I can see why,” you frown.

Kagerō sees it too. “Everyone, form defenses to block line of sight!”

“I see you managed to survive, Tayuya,” Kimimaro greets you coldly, the fact that he considers your survival to be a bad thing going unstated.

“I see you finally managed to make some friends,” you retort. “Or did Kabuto just give you some new puppets to hang out with?”

The others who are with him you mostly don’t recognize: a man with a bandana, red-tinted goggles, and blue facial tattoos, clearly from Kirigakure, stands in back behind Kimimaro. To Kimimaro’s right is an older man, with a cross-shaped scar on his chin, bandages over his forehead and right eye, and a kimono into which he’s tucked his right arm. But to Kimimaro’s left is…

“And if it isn’t the goldfish and his little turd?” you muse, recognizing Sakon and Ukon immediately.

“Says the bitch that got captured alive!” Sakon fires back.

“So your counterpoint is that she survived?” Kagerō presses, completely unimpressed with the argument.

“Shut up!” Sakon shouts.

“He’s not the brains of the outfit,” you shrug.

>But Kimimaro being here is bad. Taking him off the field has to be your top priority.
>You know who two of them are, delay until Headquarters can explain who the other two are.
>This would go better if you could isolate one or two of them and use your genjutsu.
>Other?

>>4632272
>>This would go better if you could isolate one or two of them and use your genjutsu.
warn the others with you how much of a danger we think kimimaru is gonna be

>>4632272
>This would go better if you could isolate one or two of them and use your genjutsu.

>>4632272
>>This would go better if you could isolate one or two of them and use your genjutsu.

>>4632272
>>This would go better if you could isolate one or two of them and use your genjutsu.

>>4632272
>>But Kimimaro being here is bad. Taking him off the field has to be your top priority.

>>4632272
This isn’t going to go well – in fact, it already hasn’t gone well from what you can see, since Natsuhi-han needed help here. Also, you weren’t told to expect so many corpses in this part of the forests in the north of the Land of Frost. Something tells you that isn’t a natural occurrence.

So it makes sense to split one away from the rest and use your genjutsu against them, since that sort of tactic would inevitably catch your allies up in it. The only question is which one.

Sakon and Ukon, you think you can handle on your own despite the fact that they’re familiar with all of your techniques. That’s for two main reasons, first being that they’re not particularly smart and second being that you know all their tricks too, meaning that their advantage isn’t quite an unfair one. You’ve also had some time to train and cover a few of your more obvious weaknesses too, meaning that if you think about it – too much already for your tastes – you actually have an advantage.

The same is more or less true for Kimimaro, but you’d need to work together with either Natsuhi or Kagerō to take him on. You know well enough for yourself how stupidly powerful Kimimaro actually is, having fought him together with the other three dumbasses in your old team and lost. Advantage would be that you’d be getting him away from everyone else, disadvantage being you could actually use the help against an enemy like that.

Then there’s the third guy, the old man. You’re not sure what he can do, but you have no reason to think it’s anything too out of control and it can’t possibly be worse than Kimimaro. But that said, you really doubt that nerd Kabuto would have bothered with someone useless, so it wouldn’t be an easy fight. Certainly not like it’d be elder abuse or anything.

Last, there’s the guy in the back. It looks a lot like the other three are covering for him, so he must have some value as a ‘piece’ in how Kabuto is trying to win here. But like the old guy, you can’t really say you know what he’s capable of or what you’d be getting yourself into.

>Sakon and Ukon. You’re pretty confident you can take them now just by yourself.
>Team up against Kimimaro. Not the smartest call, but you have a score to settle with him.
>Draw the old guy off. You’re not sure what he can do though, so remain close by.
>Go for the goggles guy in the back. You MIGHT be able to really screw Kabuto over.

>>4634105
>Go for the goggles guy in the back. You MIGHT be able to really screw Kabuto over.

>>4634105
>Go for the goggles guy in the back. You MIGHT be able to really screw Kabuto over.

>>4634105
>>Go for the goggles guy in the back. You MIGHT be able to really screw Kabuto over.

>>4634105
>>Draw the old guy off. You’re not sure what he can do though, so remain close by.

>>4634105
>1d6, DC 9
>First three
>SP: 3/3

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4636026
I’m actually early for once

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4636026

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4636026
Oh boy ...

>>4636026
>Failure
As all your SP currently available is insufficient to change this to a success, I'll be taking this result.

>>4636026
“I’m going,” you insist curtly, weaving several quick hand seals. “Kuchiyose!”

Your doki appear from a burst of smoke – the ogre with a club, the one without a shirt, and the one in the bandages. Which, if you’re being honest you don’t really understand yourself. It’s not like they ever talk to you.

“This trick again?” Kimimaro muses, his tone as cold as ice.

Your response is to play a melody on your flute, directing them to split up the four reanimated shinobi. Or at least, that’s what you intended to do. Instead of splitting up two of the four, Kimimaro and the old man, take immediate action. The former slices effortlessly through the oni with the club, causing him to disappear, while the old man weaves seals of his own and takes a deep breath.

“Fūton: Shinkūgyoku!”

It seems like his technique takes the form of small, barely-visible balls of compressed wind-release chakra – you could probably close your fist around each. But they’re fast enough and hard enough to see that you can’t direct both your remaining doki to dodge them all. One hits the mummy in the head, dispelling it instantly, and the shirtless one takes two hits to the chest.

You’re forced to fall back behind a stone wall, where you find Natsuhi sheltering.

“I see why you’ve been having trouble,” you confess.

“Good to see you survived learning that,” she frowns. “But you can’t act recklessly like that again.”

“Damn,” you hear the old man complain bitterly. “And here I’d hoped these reinforcements could kill us.”

“You won’t be so fortunate, Shimura Danzō-san,” you hear Kimimaro reply.

Wait… does he mean that Danzō? The one with the reputation for doing literally anything to give his village even the slightest advantage? No wonder he’s so eager to be beaten, this must go against everything he felt in his shitty excuse for a life – assuming he ever had “feelings” to begin with.

“I can’t do precision targetting,” you admit.

“I know that,” Kagerō replies, leaping behind your barricade from another wall nearby in a hail of bones and compressed air bullets. “But we cannot simply stay here.”

“We need a plan,” Nastsuhi frowns, peeking out from behind the low wall for a moment.

“Shit,” you grumble, “I was afraid you were gonna say something like that.”

>Kagerō, you can blow big clouds of flammable gas out your mouth, right? Good distraction?
>We need to find ways to attack from behind these walls.
>They seem like they wanna bunch up. Can we make use of that?
>Other?

>>4636060
>Kagerō, you can blow big clouds of flammable gas out your mouth, right? Good distraction?

>>4636060
>kagero, ...

>>4636060
>>Kagerō, you can blow big clouds of flammable gas out your mouth, right? Good distraction?

>>4636060
>>We need to find ways to attack from behind these walls.

>>4636060
>>Kagerō, you can blow big clouds of flammable gas out your mouth, right? Good distraction?

>>4636060
>1d6, best three of four
>SP: 3/3

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4637822

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4637822

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4637822

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4637822

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4637822

>>4637822
“Kagerō, you can spew big clouds of explosive gas out your mouth, right?” you ask.

She nods curtly. “I can.”

“That sounds like a hell of a distraction.”

“I see what you’re getting at,” Natsuhi tells you. “Alright, let’s give that a try.”

Natsuhi signals to nearby shinobi who are also sheltering, a series of curt gestures that evidently they understand, and then spread to the next set of shinobi.

“I’ll give you the signal, Kagerō-chan,” Natsuhi insists as the message continues to spread. “Be ready.”

“Of course,” Kagerō gently bites her lip.

“Wait for it...” Natsuhi muses. “Wait for it… now!”

With a downward jerk of her closed fist Natsuhi signals for a barrage of kunai, which the reanimations shelter against. At the same instant Kagerō heads into the air, weaving the snake, ram, monkey, and tiger seals as she leaps back and forth between tree trunks.

“Katon: Kasumi Enbu no Jutsu!”

She blows a massive amount of ashen gas from her lungs which settles around the reanimated shinobi, and you hear an alarmed shout from that direction as the tags carefully wrapped around the hilts of the kunai go off… you’re pretty sure it was Sakon screaming like a little sissy, but the explosion that drowns it out makes it impossible to tell for sure. You’d like to think that’s who it was.

The exploding tags set off the cloud laid down by Kagerō, who escapes through the trees – either she’s barely a step ahead of the blast or she was partly thrown by it, and the latter seems like a good explanation for why she crashes through a tree branch.

But she’s given you the opportunity.

“First Gate: Kaimon, open!”
“First Gate: Kaimon, open!”

Both you and Natsuhi go on the offensive even before the flames have settled, striking while the opportunity presents itself. You go for Sakon and Ukon, while Natsuhi attacks Kimimaro. The former has already released his curse mark to its second state, while the latter protects himself with his bones. If he expected to hurt Natsuhi back Kimimaro’s bound to be surprised. As annoying as her way of mothering you can get sometimes you have to hand it to her – Natsuhi-san’s way of using the Eight Gates isn’t exactly what you’d call ‘normal’.

“Second Gate: Kyūmon, open!” you shout, kicking it into high gear against Sakon. He tries using that four-armed taijutsu of his, but in this form you’re actually just a little stronger than he is.
>1/2

File: 79541193_p0.jpg (794 KB, 1100x1400)

794 KB JPG

>>4637920
“Third Gate: Seimon, open!” Natsuhi shouts, further shaping her chakra around her fists.

“What is this technique?” Kimimaro questions her, his shirt having been ripped off and his body already activating its curse marks. “This is not the Eight Gates method.”

“You’re right,” she admits. “And you’re wrong.”

Then she extends a whip of chakra that wraps around Kimimaro’s leg, before yanking him into a chakra-enhanced punch.

Sakon is just as surprised, if not more so.

“Since when do you use taijutsu!?” he demands angrily.

“I’ve been alive you dumbass!” you taunt him, sidestepping his almost comically slow punches with ease that surprises even yourself. “The crazy chick who decided to play god and spare my life made me learn how to fight without the curse mark.”

“Shit!” Sakon protests loudly. “Shit shit shit shit shit!”

>Naori made sure you had a sealing tag on hand: punch it INTO Sakon and Ukon, then go help with the other reanimated guys.
>Your flute may not be viable with ‘allies’ this close, but you have other ways of putting these bastards under genjutsu.
>Help Natsuhi finish off Kimimaro – he’s the real threat here right now, and taking him down makes everything else easier.
>Other?

>>4637923
>>Naori made sure you had a sealing tag on hand: punch it INTO Sakon and Ukon, then go help with the other reanimated guys.

>>4637923
>>Naori made sure you had a sealing tag on hand: punch it INTO Sakon and Ukon, then go help with the other reanimated guys.

>>4637923
>Naori made sure you had a sealing tag on hand: punch it INTO Sakon and Ukon, then go help with the other reanimated guys.

>>4637923
>>Naori made sure you had a sealing tag on hand: punch it INTO Sakon and Ukon, then go help with the other reanimated guys.

>>4637923
>1d6, DC 8
>SP: 3/3

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4638824
Please no emberassment

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4638824

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4638824

>>4638824
You actually have the perfect tool for the job – the problem here is that Ukon is probably getting pretty itchy to split, and if that happens that’s a problem cause they can do that freaky thing where they merge with someone else’s body. For you at least that’d suck pretty hard, and if he got Natsuhi it’d be even worse. The solution…

“Hey dumbass!” you taunt Sakon, pulling out a pre-prepared tag. It’s just something that Naori prepared for you ahead of time, handing them out to… honestly, not many people. But she knew that there were some people she knew in positions of responsibility who aren’t that good at fūinjutsu, so that’s why she gave them each one of these.

Sakon tries to get in close and pummel you, his only real plan when he’s this mad. But that’s what you planned for.

“Guh!” he chokes on his own shout as you put your fist through his chest. “I’ve got you now, you stupid...”

Then his eyes widen as he finds that he’s unable to grab hold of you. “What...”

“Just a little something a friend of mine gave me,” you smirk, “for a special occasion.”

The strands of sealing script wrap around him, completely immobilizing him. “Natsuhi!”

Meanwhile, Natsuhi does the same thing to Kimimaro – she takes a bone sword through the shoulder in exchange, but manages to thrust a sealing tag straight into Kimimaro’s stomach in a blow so powerful it knocks down several trees behind him.

“A sealing tag,” Kimimaro recognizes. “And a powerful one… so that was your strategy.”

“It doesn’t take a genius to realize that just beating you all up doesn’t do shit,” you grin.

Kimimaro frowns at you. “You’re still as foul-mouthed as ever, Tayuya-san. But the way the two of you are now… isn’t bad.”

“Don’t compliment me,” you frown, wavering slightly as you end your eight gates-fuelled rampage. “It’s creep...”

Your complaint is cut short as Danzō makes another move.

“Kuchiyose: Baku!”

His summons is a giant monster that looks like it was pulled straight out of a nightmare, with claws, a trunk, and massive tusks. It’s totally unlike any naturally-occurring creature you’ve ever laid eyes on. And its lung capacity is equally ridiculous, as it tries immediately to just vacuum up everything in front of it – including you and Natsuhi.

She wraps you quickly with a chakra whip to give you time to reopen the first gate, but even she’s starting to lose ground. Kimimaro and Sakon are both pulled into the beast’s mouth, along with a few shinobi unlucky enough to be in the way.

“Hoshikage-san!” Danzō calls out, having turned your flank. “Please dodge this!”
>1/2

>>4638868
“Katon: Gōkyakyū no Jutsu!”

A massive fireball cuts between you and the Baku, sucked straight into its gaping maw where it explodes into an even bigger, completely out-of-control blaze fanned by the wind release chakra.

With a loud trumpeting sound the Baku bursts into smoke and the suction force is gone, leaving Natsuhi free to shape her chakra like long petals of leaves, which wrap both of you up she she shelters you with her body.

“Natsuhi-san, you...”

A massive blast of compressed air strikes her defenses, but she holds fast despite already having overtaxed herself with the eight gates.

“... why?”

“Because you’re one of us,” she pants as she allows the newcomer to take over the fight. “I’m shocked you still need to ask.”

Hard, cold eyes glance down at both of you. “Tayuya... was it?”

Your own eyes widen in recognition. “Uchiha... Sasuke...”

Kagerō, having recovered from blowing herself up and avoided the Baku’s crushing suction, is quick to join you now.

“And you would be Kagerō of the Fūma clan,” he recognizes her as well. “I see you settled things with Kimimaro and Sakon?”

“You were watching?” you demand angrily. “You could’ve helped!”

“I was watching as I approached,” he admits. “These sharingan have a nice range to them now that they didn’t before. And in any event, it seemed like a personal fight... which I’m told it’s tasteless to interfere in.”

“That sounds like something Naori-san would say...” Kagerō muses.

Sasuke turns his attention back to Danzō. “Yeah. Probably.”

“In any event, this is now may own personal fight. So leave Danzō to me.”

“You are Uchiha Sasuke?” Danzō frowns. “Itachi’s younger brother... am I to understand that you have taken his eyes?”

“That’s right,” he admits. “I’d like to think that’s not everything of his I’ve inherited.”
>2/3

>>4638887
You are Uchiha Sasuke, and your eyes feel as though they’re itching for a fight.

They’re technically not yours of course, they belonged to your brother who left them with one of his former comrades in Akatsuki, who then passed them to you when she felt that you were ready. It’s probably because she used her own judgment that you’re not presently trying to destroy your own former home for what was done to Itachi, the brother whose unconditional love you only thought you’d lost. The brother who had you kill him for what he was forced to do to your clan, while hiding the involvement of Konoha’s leadership in that disaster and preserving your high esteem for your clan and its reputation.

In reality, it wasn’t even Lord Third’s fault. You know now that he worked to avoid that outcome, together with Itachi and with Shisui-san. In reality, it was largely due to one man’s involvement that your clan was sentenced to death.

“I hope you’re not referring to his treasonous...”

“Shut up about Itachi,” you hiss. “There’s only one thing I want to ask you before I get rid of you for good.”

“And what reason could I possibly have to comply with such demands?” Danzō puts the reasonable question to you.

“There are two remaining Uchiha in this world,” you explain patiently. “One who is trying to destroy Konohagakure, as well as everything else, and one who despite having his own resentment towards the village realizes that the village has to be protected now so that the things about it that are broken can be fixed later.”

“I’ve heard you’d do anything for the sake of Konoha... so swallow your damn pride and answer one question.”

After a moment, Danzō nods in agreement. “One question.”

>Were you the one who killed Uchiha Shisui?
>What event poisoned you against the Uchiha?
>What is Konohagakure to you?
>Write-in

>>4638890
>>What is Konohagakure to you?
i think that may cut to the heart of the matter of sasuke.
he isn't yet sure of his path, and the answer to this question will help him work out what and why Danzo did what he did, as well as help himself avoid the very same line of thought he fears he could fall into.

>>4638890
>>What is Konohagakure to you?

>>4638890
>What is Konohagakure to you?

>>4638890
>What is Konohagakure to you?

>>4638890
>>What is Konohagakure to you?

>>4638890
>>What is Konohagakure to you?

File: finally.gif (440 KB, 500x283)

440 KB GIF

>>4638890
“The only question I want you to answer is this,” you frown. “What is Konohagakure to you, if not its citizens?”

“Let me tell you about the Will of Fire,” Danzō replies, drawing a kunai and breathing chakra-laden air along its blade before attacking you with it. “The Will of Fire is a philosophy, a guiding principle, the desire to safeguard one’s village as one’s elders once did before.”

You dodge carefully as Danzō, being a wily old shinobi, creates a shadow clone mid-fight to hurl wind-enhanced shuriken at you… you slip the point of your sword through the hole at the center of the first, and use its spinning edge to meet the second and deflect it. Instead of cutting you or any of the others around you, some of whom were once Orochimaru’s pawns and technically your subordinates, that shuriken slices off a thick tree branch while you sling the one you’d captured back at Danzō.

He parries it with his own blade. “You speak of Konoha’s citizens – many of the old clans were once allies in war, and maintain bonds of trust and loyalty. Not so the Uchiha.”

“Katon,” his clone declares as it finishes weaving hand signs. “Hōsenka no Jutsu!”

This technique… it was once a favored technique of the Uchiha clan. And if you’re right, as the flaming shuriken pass around Danzō’s real body, he plans to…

With a tiger sign and a dog sign, Danzō adds the finishing touch. “Fūton: Shinkū Taigyoku!”

…

“And there it is,” Danzō muses. “The fundamental incompatibility between Konohagakure and the Uchiha clan made manifest – the Susanō’ō.”

You managed to manifest the ribcage to block Danzō’s attack, though it did manage to crack the incomplete protection of your Susanō’ō. Which is impressive. But his words are the only thing that got through.

“You mean the ‘Curse of Hatred’?” you scowl. “What of it?”

“The Uchiha were once bitter enemies of the Senju, and of the Shimura for that matter,” Danzō continues. “That bitterness never faded, especially not after the Senju brothers who helped found the village were succeeded by the Sarutobi – another ally of the Senju. Though this only hastened the inevitable.”

“You have the Mangekyō Sharingan, you know what I say is true. You must have felt it for yourself.”

>Shisui had an alternative, and you chose to murder him rather than even try to reach a nonviolent solution.
>Then it sounds like it was the village that failed the Uchiha, over the long term – not the other way around.
>Then in the end, why did the village rely on an Uchiha to deliver such a quick and convenient solution?
>Other?

>>4640570
>Shisui had an alternative, and you chose to murder him rather than even try to reach a nonviolent solution.

>>4640570
>Shisui had an alternative, and you chose to murder him rather than even try to reach a nonviolent solution.

>>4640570
Shisui had an alternative, ...

>>4640570
>>Shisui had an alternative, and you chose to murder him rather than even try to reach a nonviolent solution.

>>4640570
>>Shisui had an alternative, and you chose to murder him rather than even try to reach a nonviolent solution.

>>4640570
Apologies, but something urgent came up that took me basically five hours to sort out this afternoon. Shit's okay now, but rather than push out a kinda shit update I'm going to prepare it tonight and tomorrow morning, then try to do two updates for each quest tomorrow.

>>4642753
Real life comes first. Hope you’re doing alright.

>>4640570
“Shisui had an alternative,” you point out, allowing your Susanō’ō to wind muscle fibres over the bones and skull to form something more closely approximating a human form. “You murdered him rather than even consider it.”

“I did consider it,” Danzō insists. “I considered it and rejected it, because it did not address the true problem. So long as the Curse of Hatred lives on in so much as a single Uchiha it will be passed on to the next generation, just as the Will of Fire is passed down in parallel. The two are a fundamental incompatibility, like water and oil.”

“And there are still two Uchiha,” you frown. “So you won’t be able to rest until one of us is dead, is that it?”

“Not quite,” Danzō admits, finally exposing his right arm – there’s a distinct color change to it, where the flesh is unnaturally pale as if it had never been exposed to light before.

“Oh?”

“I meant it when I said that one Uchiha could still pass on the Curse of Hatred,” he insists. “So long as the sharingan exist there will always be another Uchiha Madara on the horizon to threaten Konoha. Since I lost to the other one, my consolation will have to be in taking your life now that there is no Itachi to protect you.”

“You’re not entirely right,” you counter. “These eyes were Itachi’s, so in that sense he’s already done more than enough to protect me. So I figure it’s my turn now to cut out the cancer that thrived in our home.”

Your Susanō’ō forms a bow, and Danzō begins weaving his hand signs at the same time. Your spectral arrow pierces his torso after its target simply refused to dodge, pinning him to the ground as he finishes weaving his signs.

“Kokuangyo no Jutsu!”

The effect is as immediate as it is stunning… your sight simply goes black. Not just your surroundings either: you can no longer see your own Susanō’ō, nor can you see your own chakra as you spare a downward glance. This must be genjutsu, and an extremely powerful one at that, which targets its victim’s eyesight. Simple, but incredibly effective. Almost as though…

“This technique is a very old one,” you hear Danzō’s voice from out of the darkness. “Created by Senju Tobirama-sensei and his brother Hashirama for the specific purpose of fighting against the Uchiha, so proud of their visual prowess,” he adds, his voice seeming to come from a different direction.

So he’s throwing his voice just so he can lecture you without spoiling his technique? Figures.

>Keep moving. He must have some plan to take advantage if you remain still for too long.
>Raise the defenses of your Susanō’ō even higher, use its chakra ‘shell’ to time a counterattack.
>Use your eyes to coat Susanō’ō in black flames, buy yourself time to dispel the genjutsu.
>Other?

>>4643186
Thanks, it's just that I'm about to move internationally for the second time this winter and COVID is making that a colossal pain in the ass.

SHOULD be sorted now though, assuming two days is enough time to get tested at the airport.

>>4643829
>Use your eyes to coat Susanō’ō in black flames, buy yourself time to dispel the genjutsu.

>>4643829
>Keep moving. He must have some plan to take advantage if you remain still for too long.

>>4643829
>>Use your eyes to coat Susanō’ō in black flames, buy yourself time to dispel the genjutsu.

>>4643829
>Use your eyes to coat Susanō’ō in black flames, buy yourself time to dispel the genjutsu.
>Keep moving. He must have some plan to take advantage if you remain still for too long.

No reason not to do both.
Bonus, we probably coat the whole battlefield in it which is more an issue for him than us.

>>4643829
>1d6, taking first three
>High roll

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4644336

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4644336

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4644336

>>4644336
You decide that the best strategy is rather bold: you know that Danzō is going to try to attack you, using some sort of tactic that can beat you despite having your Susanō’ō. So probably fūinjutsu if you had to guess his strategy. But he’ll probably have to make physical contact with your Susanō’ō to do that, meaning that so long as you know where it is your counter will work.

The plan is to set your own Susanō’ō on fire with Amaterasu, which you do with one sharingan, then use Kagutsuchi to force those black flames to spread all over the outside of your Susanō’ō.

By waiting until the last possible second you take Danzō by surprise, and you can feel him strike the outside of your Susanō’ō once before withdrawing. That gives you a moment to form a hand seal and concentrate your chakra to dispel his genjutsu.

It takes a surprising amount of effort to clear your vision of darkness, but it does in fact work. Starting at your focal point and spreading outwards to the peripheral edges of your field of view, you begin to see images of the battlefield. Blurry at first, but then clear enough to see your Susanō’ō, the black flames of Amaterasu, and the sight of Shimura Danzō severing his own right arm to stop the flames’ spread.

“So you have the Amaterasu as well?” Danzō scowls. “I suppose that means you are Itachi’s brother after all.”

You calmly use Kagutsuchi to extinguish the flames, to ensure that they don’t spread across the battlefield by mistake. “You must be slower than anyone gave you credit for if you hadn’t figured out that much by now.”

“There is one thing I do not understand,” Danzō admits. “Why is it that someone like you would bother to protect those who do not come from your village?”

“What do you mean?”

“I was the representative sent by Konoha to the Five Kage summit,” Danzō reminds you. “I know well enough that what I am looking at is a temporary alliance forged in the wake of that summit. But what I do not understand is why you would waste time extinguishing your Amaterasu solely for the purpose of protecting people who will likely be your enemies once more after this crisis has been averted?”

You can’t help but frown as he circles you, as though looking for any opening he can find. “That matches with your reputation for cynicism, but even I find it shocking to hear you speak like that.”

“It is a practical truth of this world that alliances between rivals do not outlast their immediate utility,” Danzō insists. “Anything else is simply naive.”

>Because the few people I respect in this world would expect it of me.
>Because I felt like trying naivete out for once. See how I liked it.
>Because my generation is softer than yours. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
>Other?

>>4644530
>>Because my generation is softer than yours. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

>>4644530
>>Because my generation is softer than yours. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

>>4644530
>I guess you just have more hatred than me

>>4644530
>>I guess you just have more hatred than me

>>4644530
>>>I guess you just have more hatred than me. It has to stop sometime, Danzo. Someone reached out their hand to me when my Curse took hold, and showed me a better way. Any cycle can be broken, you just have to be willing to try.

>>4644530
>>I guess you just have more hatred than me

>>4644530
>Because my generation is softer than yours. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

>>4644704
>>4644530
this

>>4644530
>>I guess you just have more hatred than me

>>4644530
>other
Because, unlike you, I intend to leave behind something better than a legacy of ashes for future generations to inherit.

>>4644753
“I guess you just have more hate for the Uchiha than I do for you,” you admit.

“… what did you say?”

“Even Lord Second had an Uchiha on his personal guard team,” you point out. “Uchiha Kagami-san, wasn’t it? His wariness towards the Uchiha was based on the experience of fighting against them repeatedly. But even then, he could still see individual Uchiha for who they were, and valued them as part of Konohagakure.”

“And how would you know about that?” Danzō demands, unsealing a pair of folding fūma shuriken and breathing dense, chakra-laden air onto their windmill blades.

These you dodge, anticipating the fact that he probably rigged them ahead of time and instead choosing to avoid the plane of their blades entirely.

“The Uchiha kept meticulous records,” you half-lie after landing back on the ground and unsealing a number of shuriken of your own from the Raikō Kenka seal markings wrapped around your wrists, “as did Itachi.”

“You know nothing!” Danzō snaps back angrily. “Your whole generation has no idea what true war even looks like, so how could you possibly understand the sort of lingering bitterness that other villages, other clans, other shinobi feel on a daily basis?”

“We may be softer than your generation,” you counter. “But that’s not a bad thing.”

For just a moment, Danzō misses a step and a shuriken cuts across his shoulder.

“We still remember how to forgive,” you press.

“And have you forgiven?” Danzō demands.

“Forgiveness is a long process,” you admit. “I can’t hold anything against Senju Tobirama… if I’m honest, I don’t disagree with everything he did. Nor do I blame Lord Third, and even though I do blame you you’re dead. Continuing to hate you would serve no useful purpose.”

“Lady Fifth was outside the village at the time my clan was slaughtered,” you continue. “And I have no idea how much the elders knew, and even if I did dealing with them is Lady Fifth’s responsibility. Not mine.”

“And do you hate the man who helped your brother destroy your clan?” Danzō presses. “Can you honestly say your heart has no hate within it at all for Uchiha Obito?”

>I might hate him. But there are certain things a reasonable and decent person SHOULD hate.
>No. But I can’t allow him to live either – he’s a threat to the stability my family died to protect.
>That’s not your business, and he has to be defeated either way. So it doesn’t really matter.
>Other?

>>4645840
>That’s not your business, and he has to be defeated either way. So it doesn’t really matter.

>>4645840
>>No. But I can’t allow him to live either – he’s a threat to the stability my family died to protect.

>>4645840
>>No. But I can’t allow him to live either – he’s a threat to the stability my family died to protect.
Explicitly mention that he’s a threat to the stability of the world itself.

>>4645840
>>I might hate him. But there are certain things a reasonable and decent person SHOULD hate.

>>4645840
>No. But I can’t allow him to live either – he’s a threat to the stability my family died to protect.

>>4645840
>>No. But I can’t allow him to live either – he’s a threat to the stability my family died to protect.

>>4645840
>>No. But I can’t allow him to live either – he’s a threat to the stability my family died to protect.
>When hate and duty dovetail like this it makes things so much easier, no?

>>4645840
>No. But I can’t allow him to live either – he’s a threat to the stability my family died to protect.

Bad news guys, Queen got range banned in the hotel he stays in.
not sure when/if something comes out today.

>>4647201
More bad news, likely no updates till Sunday, travel restrictions and internet problems making a rather annoying storm currently.

>>4645840
“No,” you admit calmly, but coolly. “But I’m angry at him, because he’s threatening everything my family and our clan died for.”

“So, either Itachi or that cursed Ame girl told you everything,” Danzō grumbles. “And worse, you seem not to have learned the lesson.”

“What, that the Uchiha had to die for the greater good of the village?” you frown. “Maybe that’s true. But even if it is, I don’t believe in the idea that history is written entirely by the winners – the losers have just as much of an impact on the future. The Uchiha may have been the losers in Konoha’s history, but that doesn’t mean you can count us out.”

“And as a survivor from among the losers, what is it you think you’re obliged to do?” Danzō demands.

“When the losers survive, it becomes their duty to ensure that the winners keep to their ideals,” you declare. “The ones which were important enough to lead to their defeat. That’s what the memory of the Uchiha clan drives me to do – to make sure that Konohagakure remains true to its ideals.”

“From the shadows, if need be, but always to make sure that the sacrifice of my clan doesn’t go to waste.”

>The Uchiha specialized in shurikenjutsu and fire release: use that to finish this.
>Try using more advanced shape manipulation on your Amaterasu, which you now KNOW works against reanimations.
>You could finish this with the Susanō’ō.
>Other?

>>4651251
>Try using more advanced shape manipulation on your Amaterasu, which you now KNOW works against reanimations.

>>4651251
>>Try using more advanced shape manipulation on your Amaterasu, which you now KNOW works against reanimations.

>>4651251
>>Try using more advanced shape manipulation on your Amaterasu, which you now KNOW works against reanimations.

>>4651251
>>Try using more advanced shape manipulation on your Amaterasu, which you now KNOW works against reanimations.

>>4651251
>1d6, taking first three
>DC 10
>SP: 4/4

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4651578

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4651578

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4651578

>>4651578
You’ve figured something out during this exchange – that the Amaterasu works well against reanimations, to the point where Danzō had to cut off his own arm to allow it to regenerate.

The trouble is twofold, and has to do with its origin as an ocular technique. The way you typically use it is by looking at the target, making it a very fast but very linear attack: if it misses, it can hit things beyond your target and set them on fire with inextinguishable flames, making it a hazard to anyone else around you. The second problem is that in its regular form it has no shape transformation applied to it, meaning that its raw power isn’t that much greater than just regular fire. It’s only when combined with a change in form or shape that ninjutsu reaches its true potential – like a dragon bullet, or the chidori, or an elemental rasengan.

So you try something different this time, harnessing the fact that while Amaterasu can burn anything it doesn’t necessarily vaporize it immediately to apply it in a new way. You unseal two handfuls of shuriken, and prepare to use both your Mangekyō abilities in quick succession.

“Enton: Hōsenka Tsumakuro!”

You try something fairly simple, but fairly powerful: using the same sort of attack Itachi might use, but instead of flowing fire nature chakra through the shuriken you choose to flow Amaterasu through them. Luckily for you the attack doesn’t incinerate them outright, but instead creates a volley of projectiles that become almost impossible to dodge.

And if any one of these were to hit a normal, living target? The black flames would ensure that it would either be lethal, or would require the victim to maim themselves to survive. Even someone as powerful as Naori or Kakashi or Naruto would be in the same position, and Danzō is certainly none of those three.

Four of the shuriken hit him, and he must realize the instant he bursts into flames that his time on the field is over.

“I see… Itachi left you a pair of fine eyes,” he muses as he burns. “I guess I have no choice but to leave Konoha’s future in someone else’s hands yet again. At very least, can I prevail it upon you to kill that Uchiha Obito if you get the chance?”

“I understand he’s Kakashi-sensei’s former teammate,” you muse. “So whether that man lives or dies is up to someone else to decide. But I at least plan to stop him.”

…

Soon after, backup arrives to take care of the sealing. Danzō, Kimimaro, and Sakon and Ukon are all lowered into the ground by a short-haired young woman from Iwagakure, who then pours quicklime over them and hardens it into cement with water. As Danzō is buried you extinguish the Amaterasu, leaving the old man’s body badly charred as he gets sealed into concrete, further preventing any chance at recovery.

“Good job with that, Sasuke,” the young woman smirks. “You really did a number on that Danzō bastard!”
>1/2

>>4651890
“We’ve met before...” you frown. “Was it… Kurotsuchi? You’re a friend of Naori-san’s?”

“Damn right!” she flexes a bit.

“Nevermind that,” Tayuya insists angrily. “What the hell are you doing, showing up here outta nowhere like that!?”

“It seems almost like a family reunion of sorts,” Kagerō adds quietly. “People who have been saved in some way by Uzumaki Naori-san’s soft-heartedness.”

“Even a bunch of you former Orochimaru flunkies for that matter,” Kurotsuchi points out.

An older woman… maybe about the same age as your mother would be were she still alive… joins you. “Not all of us worked for Orochimaru.”

“But a lot,” you admit, finding yourself holding your chin in contemplation. “Even Guren.”

“That psycho lady is with you?” Tayuya stares widely at you.

“She’s not that bad,” you admit.

“And you’re one to talk!” Tayuya insists. “What happened to that power-obsessed brat who joined Orochimaru willingly?”

>I’m sorry Orochimaru used you to get to me. But that’s in the past now, for both of us.
>I thought long and hard about what Orochimaru’s kind of power demanded of me.
>Have we even been properly introduced?
>Other?

>>4651893
>>Have we even been properly introduced?

>>4651893
>>Other?
I was given the time, space, and unadulterated truth to figure out what I truly wanted to do with myself.

>>4651893
>I stayed a few days with Naori.

>>4651893
>Have we even been properly introduced?

>>4651893
>>Have we even been properly introduced?

>>4651927
>>4651893

>>4651893
>>Have we even been properly introduced?

>>4651893
>Have we even been properly introduced?

>>4651893
“Have we ever even been properly introduced?” you wonder aloud. “If you were counting on Orochimaru to explain anything about you and your former teammates, you might be surprised.”

Tayuya takes a moment to process that. “No, I guess that dickhead wouldn’t’ve said anything, would he?”

“He always did tend to forget about things that no longer interested him,” Kagerō agrees quietly.

“And once someone stops being useful he stops being interested,” you add. “So I met you and your team once, and then never heard anything about you or talked about you again afterwards.”

“I’m...” Tayuya continues to struggle with the processing. “I’m actually a little insulted.”

“Don’t be,” you insist. “His opinions should always be considered suspect.”

Then you offer a curt bow. “Uchiha Sasuke. It’s good to see the two of you doing well.”

“Tayuya,” Tayuya replies, visibly surprised that you’re actually being polite. “No last name, and no need to act all formal.”

“Fūma Kagerō,” Kagerō replies, the frail-looking girl returning your bow with respect. “I do not mind formality, and I look forward to starting fresh after this war… assuming we both live to see its end.”

“I hope we have the chance,” you reply, before turning to leave. “Excuse me, but I’m here without orders… I should probably find Naori-san.”

…

You are Uzumaki Naori, and when Uchiha Sasuke returns from wherever it was he’s been he finds you sitting patiently at the base of a tree just inland from the coastline where you were fighting against Kinkaku and the Gedō statue earlier this afternoon. At your sides are your own swords, and in your hands is the Bashōsen – dropped by Kinkaku and Ginkaku during their battle and left in your hands for good reason.

“That was one of Kinkaku and Ginkaku’s tools,” Sasuke recognizes.

You nod once. “That’s right, Sasuke-han. The Bashōsen has a huge chakra demand to use it… Tenten used it just three times and will have to take a few hours to recover from it. So there’s only a few people who can really make use of it.”

“I was fighting against Shimura Danzō,” he admits. “Two of the divisions under the Hoshikage’s command were having a tough time with him and Kaguya Kimimaro.”

“So I’ve heard,” you confirm.

>Good job. But next time, talk to me before you run off so I know where you’re going?
>You went because it was personal, not because it was urgent. I don’t approve of that.
>I’m not your mother. You don’t answer to me. But I do need to know when I can rely on you.
>Other?

>>4652597
>Good job. But next time, talk to me before you run off so I know where you’re going?

>>4652597
>>I’m not your mother. You don’t answer to me. But I do need to know when I can rely on you.

>>4652597
>I’m not your mother. You don’t answer to me. But I do need to know when I can rely on you.

>>4652597
>>I’m not your mother. You don’t answer to me. But I do need to know when I can rely on you.

>>4652597
>>I’m not your mother. You don’t answer to me. But I do need to know when I can rely on you.