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>>4893180
“What did this to you?” you press, turning to glance at Kakashi for the explanation.

“She manipulates spacetime at a level beyond the Kamui, her hair needles can pierce a full-body Susanō’ō and she can aim them with her byakugan, her Gentle Fist can be used at range, and her bones are a certain-kill technique that reduce you to ash.”

… that last one sounds like a problem.

“Nature transformations?”

“That’s the part I don’t get, ya know?” Naruto frowns. “None she’s used.”

Then it’s as you suspected. Ōtsutsuki Kaguya existed before the time when “ninjutsu” as you understand it had even been invented by "lesser beings", and because of that she has no idea how to use it. So her combat techniques will be primitive compared to yours, though using bizarre versions of kekkei genkai which no doubt trace back to her original bloodline.

In other words, just because her abilities are ancient and yours are new doesn’t mean that yours are more powerful or more effective.

You do figure, however, that there are a few clear advantages on your side. You’ve developed your senjutsu techniques beyond anything you see her being capable of. Your integration of fūinjutsu formulae into various support techniques and forms allows you to achieve powerful and specifically-designed effects that might not be possible relying solely on instinctive mastery of the concepts involved. And while you suspect she probably has the ability to absorb chakra, as the rinnegan traces back to her blood as well, you also know that you have an entire fighting style that totally ignores that advantage.

In other words you have options that even Naruto, for all his raw power as Kurama’s senjutsu-enhanced jinchūriki, wouldn’t. And you have a source of raw power that Kakashi, for all his technical mastery and the versatility of his “thousand jutsu”, could only ever dream of as a non-sage.

You ponder some of those options.

>Test her abilities in Seiran (Storm Sage) Mode. Remain evasive, commit to nothing.
>Your kengen and explosive tags are the best option against chakra absorption.
>The other Kaguya gave you the jōgan for a reason – you should figure out what it does.
>Other?

>>4893185
>The other Kaguya gave you the jōgan for a reason – you should figure out what it does.

>>4893185
>>The other Kaguya gave you the jōgan for a reason – you should figure out what it does.

>>4893185
>>The other Kaguya gave you the jōgan for a reason – you should figure out what it does.
Wow, Naori's hair has really grown out lately.

>>4893185
>>The other Kaguya gave you the jōgan for a reason – you should figure out what it does.

>>4893185
>The other Kaguya gave you the jōgan for a reason – you should figure out what it does.
I like the new hair

>>4893185
>>The other Kaguya gave you the jōgan for a reason – you should figure out what it does.
jesus, how long were we in the infinite tsukuyomi?
if the hair is any indication at least 2 years?
*i am kidding*

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>>4893284
All that long, flowing hair gets in the way during combat anyhow.

>>4893185
>>The other Kaguya gave you the jōgan for a reason – you should figure out what it does.

>>4893185
>The other Kaguya gave you the jōgan for a reason – you should figure out what it does.

>>4893404
Oh dear god

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>>4893404

>>4893426
You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

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>>4893426
Hah

>>4893439
>>4893445
I see that i am talking to my self now.
It should have been linked to this post

>1d6, taking the first three
>higher gets you a better understanding of the eyehax

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4893692
please RNGesus, i have been nice this year

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4893692

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4893692

>>4893692
Of your options, the one you’re most keen to test is the jōgan – the newest addition to your collection of exotic and powerful abilities, and one which you have very little foreknowledge of what to expect from. But you do know that the other Kaguya helped you evolve it because it would be helpful against the members of her clan, and so it must be able to do something against Kaguya herself.

The first step is to test its perceptive abilities, which were some of the stronger capabilities when it was Izumi’s eye and is an area where the sharingan and the byakugan differ.

“It is a shame to lose such a concentration of chakra,” Kaguya muses as you take in your surroundings, testing your new eye’s perception. “But a living incarnation of war has no place in our world.”

You find that you’re now able to see things you shouldn’t – her chakra, her body temperature, the movements of the air around her. But you also know that you cannot see out the back of your head, at least not in the strictest sense of the word ‘see’. You know everything about where Naruto and the others are, your other senses weaving a tapestry that practically outlines everything in a way you can almost visualize, but which clearly isn’t the same as sight. For example you could throw a kunai over your shoulder and part Naruto’s hair with it, but if he didn’t wear the same seven identical orange jumpsuits every day you couldn’t say what color his shirt was, or whether he had dirt on his nose.

“Yeah no, those were some pretty weighty words,” you muse, watching Kaguya carefully, evaluating her every detail. “It almost sounds as if you hate me despite having only just met me.”

“Are you even aware of the fact that you are smiling?” Kaguya counters. She may not show it, but there is disdain there in every word. Not just for you, but for every single human being, too many of whom share certain characteristics she attributes to you that she finds distasteful. This world is hers, and that which neither serves her ends nor pleases her sensibilities will be removed from it – that is the impression you get from her.

“You are about to face a god in battle and you are smiling, as if nothing else could make you so happy. That is how I know that you cannot coexist with us.”

You also seem to know that this is a mere formality. This is not a being who can be reasoned with, not anymore. The best part of her in any human sense was lost when she ate the fruit of the Shinjū long ago.

“And?” you counter. “You lost the part of yourself with any understanding of humanity when you ate the fruit, so how could you know what my smile means?”

You sense her building chakra within her body.
>1/2

>>4895527
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AfTGOdeDDg
A bone begins to emerge from her right wrist, the radius you think. The lower end flattens and comes to an edge as the material compacts and hardens, drawing out into a blade – not dissimilar in form to the ancient jade sword blank Itachi once gave you. When it’s a few inches longer than the distance from her elbow to her fingertips it narrows into a hilt, before the rounded end of the radius pushes its way through her pale skin and broadens into a proper disc pommel. The point of the blade continues to grow for a moment before it too reaches its final form.

There’s no viscera, no obvious pain – the bone slides out almost without resistance and settles into her hand as thought it had never belonged anywhere else.

“Tsubaki no Haikotsu,” she tells you, eyes never leaving you nor showing any change in emotion, never betraying any intent.

“You just made that up,” you accuse her.

“We have never had need of it before,” she clarifies, “however we understand that further discussion would be meaningless. So we will converse instead in the language most suited to you.”

Naruto and Kakashi seem disturbed by this development, despite both clearly having seen her use her bones in this way before. Evidently she never showed any aptitude for kenjutsu before now, and the idea of a sword which kills even after nicking the skin is understandably not one you want to dwell on.

“You’re right,” you admit with a sigh. “It’s too bad – a god could have made for a fine ally against your clansmen. But humanity has no need of a god who can’t understand the human heart.”

The first moves are near-instantaneous, Umekiri leaving her saya and seeking the first strike. Kaguya’s bone blade meets your kodachi, a very keen response but a strangely shallow swing, much like the next two exchanges. Three slashes in quick succession and nothing to show for it, you and your foe both dancing lightly around each other to gain a positional advantage. Each time you move you unseal paper butterflies, hiding them among illusory distractions.

You flicker behind Kaguya using a hiraishin marking placed directly on her with a brief arc of ranton chakra, and combine two quick hand seals using your left hand with a diagonal slash with Umekiri in your right.

“Suiryūsen!”

Kaguya however merely turns, showing you that her arm has crossed in front of her so that you can see her left palm under her right shoulder. She quickly absorbs your attack, much as you suspected she could, and retaliates by firing hardened white hairs from the back of her scalp in a wide spray.

>Use hiraishin to dodge.
>Use your jōgan to counter.
>Use Umekiri to disrupt.
>Other?

>>4895670
>>Use Umekiri to disrupt.

>>4895670
>>Use Umekiri to disrupt.

>>4895670
>>Use your jōgan to counter.

>>4895670
>>Use your jōgan to counter.

>>4895670
>Use your jōgan to counter.

>>4895670
>Use your jōgan to counter.

>>4895670
>>Use your jōgan to counter.

>>4895670
You’re not sure what makes you feel like the jūōgan is the right way to respond to the threat, but that’s exactly what you do. The chakra builds in your left eye before spreading through your chakra network in a pulse.
>ES: 1L/0R (2T/0T)

“Seishōha!”

The air around your body practically explodes with a golden glow, shimmering and distorting as it expands outward in a moving shell that collides with the hairs. It’s not enough to stop the projectiles – you gather even the full-body Susanō’ō could succeed at doing that. But it’s enough to cause them to deflect, and by leaping into the gap it creates you can effectively dodge them all in a way that should not have been possible.

Where they hit around you your eye can actually perceive the transfer of kinetic energy, massively enhanced by Kaguya-hime’s chakra. That extra energy means each strand of hair hits more like you’d punched the earth at that spot, digging out little fist-sized craters – that betray the horrifying force behind them.

Your response is to set off a number of your origami butterflies in sequence.

“Shiyō Kibaku!”

The explosions are empowered by senjutsu chakra, but still aren’t probably strong enough to do much damage to Kaguya-hime. What they probably can do however is obscure her vision, as harmful flashes interfere with any vision including that granted by dōjutsu. They also can’t be absorbed by her rinnegan abilities.

As she continues to evade you move to slash at her, an attack which she manages to parry with her bone sword in spite of everything. But this time, as your blades meet she punches at you with her free hand. The force of the punch and the compressed chakra she releases blasts you back – and levels the terrain it pushes you back across. So that’s why she was leaving a hand free when she could as easily have created two swords.

You reappear in front of her, using hiraishin to move to one of the remaining origami butterflies.

“Karyūsen!”

This time you sling a flowing dragon-like slash of compressed white-hot flames at Kaguya-hime, who raises her hand to absorb the attack again only to find that you anticipated that response. Her wrist is wrapped in a strand of Kongō Fūsa.

>Pull her in close – she can’t possibly be familiar with chain weapons.
>Swing her around at a distance, see if you can start to wear her down.
>Attack again at range – force her to drop her sword to absorb your chakra.
>Other?

>>4897004
>Bind her with kongo fusa long enough to set up our sage mode barrier, then go for the mother of all shiyo kibaku - in a confined space

>>4897004
>Pull her in close – she can’t possibly be familiar with chain weapons.

>>4897004
>>Pull her in close – she can’t possibly be familiar with chain weapons.

>>4897004
>Pull her in close – she can’t possibly be familiar with chain weapons.

>>4897004
>Pull her in close – she can’t possibly be familiar with chain weapons.
do we IC know what happened to the gedo mazou? we could try to seal her in someone if it's available, even ourselves.

>>4897004
You have Kaguya-hime by the wrist, and if you were going to bet you’d say that she probably doesn’t understand how chain weapons work in practice. So as intimidating as the instantly-lethal bone blade might be you have an opportunity here to test a theory, and that can only happen if you get nice and close with the ‘Rabbit-Demon’ of the ancient world.

So you pull.

Her physical prowess is no doubt being enhanced somehow, since she hardly looks to be as strong as the force pulling against the Kongō Fūsa would suggest. If you had to bet it would probably have something to do with that massive amount of natural energy she’s using – a natural sage, whose prowess with senjutsu is on par with your own even after you’ve evolved it into the Seiran Sage mode.

You take a swing at her, but she deftly raises her arm and turns to position the chain in your way. When she thrusts with her bone sword you raise the chain yourself to parry, leaving her in an awkward position. She has to lean down and twist to get under her own arm before she can stand up straight again. It’s a real acquittal of her instinctive understanding of combat... despite calling you a ‘living incarnation of war’ she herself is surprising you at each turn.

After a few similar exchanges, twisting and turning delicately around the Kongō Fūsa strand and clashing with steel and bone, you start to formulate a new theory.

“You can do the same thing I can, can’t you?” you realize, Umekiri locked against the bone blade in Kaguya-hime’s hand as your chain holds you in an awkward position, each of you struggling to gain even the slightest advantage of leverage. “You’re intuiting my intentions... learning how to fight against chain weapons because I know how to fight against chain weapons, aren’t you?”

She narrows her eyes at you, but instead of speaking she tries to strike again.

>Release the chain and take a step back to reassess.
>Release the chain and begin maneuvering again.
>Keep the chain. Use more elemental release techninques.
>Other?

>>4898580
>Release the chain and take a step back to reassess.

>>4898580
>>Keep the chain. Use more elemental release techninques.

>>4898580
>Other?
What happens if we use hiraishin while binding someone with the kongo fusa?

>>4898604
The hiraishin can affect anyone or anything in contact with Naori or her chakra, but need not do so.

>>4898580
>>Release the chain and begin maneuvering again.

>>4898580
>Release the chain and take a step back to reassess.

>>4898693
I mean if we were to teleport away would the chain extend to accommodate or drag whoever/whatever it is attached to to our new location instantly. Could be a simple way to avoid her attacks while also giving her insane whiplash.

>>4898693
>>4899246
Grab chain, teleport behind Kaguya, chain ends up going through her stomach, effectively limiting her range of movement by binding her own hand to her abdomen.

>>4899246
No, the chain would not extend. The Hiraishin does conserve certain things - relative positioning of multiple objects moved, momentum of the objects, and so forth. But the Kongo Fusa wouldn't be able to extend to reach Naori's new position, as the Hiraishin involves briefly moving between two planes of existence.

what the Seishōha even mean

>>4900079
"Soul-Colliding Wave". It's an ability loosely based on Kaguya's unnamed ability to use her byakugan to rip people apart seemingly with just pure force

>>4900082
That's anime as fuck.
I love it.

>>4898580
As she strikes with her bone sword you release the Kongō Fūsa and allow it to dissipate into the air, and instead of parrying the blade in her hand you grab her by the wrist. Umekiri having been low at your right side you sweep her edge up towards Kaguya’s hip. In response Kaguya’s hip sweeps towards your sword, bursting through her skin and expanding in ‘beards’ like the head of an axe to parry your attack.

With her free hand, she reaches straight out to one side – and you sense something alarming. You’re not quite sure what, but you hear Naruto shouting about it and you know it’s dangerous. So you mark her with a hiraishin formula in the instant you recognize the danger, and teleport behind her in time to dodge five bony projectiles that strike from multiple angles. Each angle is determined by the placement of a small rip in spacetime, linked to the larger rip that Kaguya-hime has placed her supporting hand into.

“That...” you mutter with a frown after moving back from Kaguya rather than attacking. “So that’s the ancestor of all spacetime ninjutsu.”

And you can see it... so does that mean Kaguya can see your own hiraishin coming? Her fighting style is instinctive, based on natural ability rather than training or combat experience, so it stands to reason that she has a greater awareness of natural energy and spacetime itself. It has to be sufficient to allow her to manipulate those things, and if what the ‘other Kaguya’ told you is accurate it should also be more powerful than your ripped-off version of it.

In a certain sense, you realize that she’s just better than you at some of these things.

You watch her carefully, and she watches you curiously.

>Continue testing the limits of your jōgan.
>Methodically test to see how many of the rinnegan abilities she has.
>Try to pressure her more in close quarters.
>Other?

>>4900206
>>Continue testing the limits of your jōgan.

>>4900206
>Continue testing the limits of your jōgan.

I wonder if we can "feint" with the hiraishin?
Like, pretend to teleport ourselves so that she feels it happening, but it's either delayed or we never teleport ourselves at all.

>>4900206
>>Methodically test to see how many of the rinnegan abilities she has.

>>4900206
>Continue testing the limits of your jōgan.

>>4900206
>>Continue testing the limits of your jōgan.

>>4900206
>1d6, considering the first three
>DC 9
>SP: 6/6
>ES: 0L/0R (0T/0T)

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4901274

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4901274

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4901274

>>4901274
>Take 2ES on the jōgan
>Split the strain evenly between the jōgan and mangekyō

>>4901486
>>Split the strain evenly between the jōgan and mangekyō

>>4901486
>Split the strain evenly between the jōgan and mangekyō

>>4901486
>>Split the strain evenly between the jōgan and mangekyō

>>4901486
>>Split the strain evenly between the jōgan and mangekyō

>>4901486
>>Split the strain evenly between the jōgan and mangekyō

>>4900206
Before you get an opportunity to test out your new jōgan any further you sense a change in Kaguya-hime’s chakra and a massive distortion in spacetime – all around you. Then, almost instantly, your surroundings change from the beaten and worn stretch of the Land of Frost that was previously your battlefield to an open area, lit from below by molten rock as far as you can see.

Your response is just as swift.

“Kuchiyose!”

Without any blood or hand seals you summon Nyoka-han beneath you, and on the warm rising currents beneath her wings you both rise back up the short distance you’d fallen.

“Is everyone else okay!?” you shout, eyes still on Kaguya while using their enhanced perception to watch behind you.

Fū can fly on her own, and has managed to scoop Naruto up out of the air before he died in the lava below, while Karin also has a flying summons – the Hō’ō firebird proves to be much stronger than it looks, as it manages to hold both her weight and Sasuke’s after Sakura lost her grip on him.

Kakashi’s quick thinking let him stick a kunai into the ceiling – an odd thing to exist given the expansive nature of the rest of the space – with a chain dangling from it to hold onto. That situation is fairly precarious, you gather.

“We’re good!” Fū shouts back.

“Same!” Karin confirms.

Next you hear Sasuke chime in. “Other than the bleeding...”

“Naori-san,” Nyoka muses. “What is this you have brought this one to fight against and why can this one see from your perspective?”

“Long story,” you frown. “But we need to keep you out of danger – if her bones pierce you, they reduce you to ash.”

There’s a pause. “You have a plan for this, I trust?”

“Yeah no, I wouldn’t have brought you here otherwise,” you insist, flowing your chakra into her body. “I’ll gather and regulate the natural energy, if you’ll be my wings.”

Nyoka-han, at your direction, swoops in to save Kakashi-han and Sakura-kun just as the kunai starts to work itself loose.

“... nice save,” Kakashi mutters. “Thanks.”

"Can't have Konan-sensei's new boyfriend getting cooked," you grumble.
>1/3

>>4902092
So this exchange, at very least, teaches you something – your summoning now works in line with that of the rinnegan’s Animal Path, including the shared visual fields and most likely being able to summon Enma. That comes in addition to the vastly enhanced perceptual abilities like seeing body heat, visualizing spatio-temporal disturbances, the form of synesthesia that allows you to ‘see’ in nearly a full 360 degrees, and even being able to sense someone’s emotional state and to intuit some of their intentions.

Then there’s the Seishōha, something you still don’t quite understand. It seems to be more than just pure force, perhaps taking on properties of the Kongō Fūsa or your chakra nature depending on whether you use it offensively or defensively.

Those techniques are all in addition to your other abilities – your Kengen-ryū, the strongest technique of which is to tweak your enemy’s sense of time. Your fūinjutsu abilities, the most powerful of which are the Shiyō Kibaku Fūda and the Kongō Fūsa, may prove useful in the near future, though your chakra flow based attacks like the various ‘ryūsen’ strikes are likely to be useless against Kaguya-hime. At very least your ‘Seiran’ sage mode and Hiraishin mean that despite being outclassed by her in raw ability, you still have a fighting chance based on how your skills can serve as amplifiers.

All you have to do is keep not getting hit by any of her abilities that will instantly kill you.

But for the next few minutes, your control over paper and your ability to use the shadow clone technique will actually be the most useful tools in your arsenal... along with the curious property of your other eye.

...

Your shadow clone rushes forward, and you create another one in the mean time, both supported by black paper wings. She engages with Kaguya at close range, and when she tries to attack from behind your enemy uses her hair to pierce the clone’s body... only for her to dissolve and leave behind Shiyō Kibaku tags that set off a chain of explosions severe enough to screen for your next attack.

Kaguya sees the attack coming, and in a moment you make eye contact...

[Kill the real one.]
>ES: 1L/1R (2T/2T)

Not bothering to use the instantly-lethal bone blade against a mere shadow clone, Kaguya raises her left arm and projects a bone spear from her palm to prepare to fire it at you and Nyoka-han, using her hair to wrap the attacker in front of her.

You can’t help but smirk.

“Got you.”

Instead of popping, the attacker that you misled Kaguya into believing was a shadow clone slices herself free of the hair binding her body and severs Kaguya’s arm at the elbow.

She swings the bone blade, too late, and cuts through the shadow clone after you swapped out with the shadow clone you left with Nyoka-han. So for her delayed reaction, all she gets for her trouble is a massive chain of explosions in her face.
>2/3

>>4902101
It’s almost admirable. Kaguya-hime doesn’t scream or cry out in pain, though the wince makes it obvious that what you’re sensing from her is in fact pain. It’s not the same as what you or any other human likely feel, but it’s there and it’s definitely real. Instead she cradles the stump for a moment, spreading her long hair around herself like a halo to spray projectiles all around. So while you’re busy using your abilities to keep anyone from getting hit by the hardened hair needles, especially Nyoka-han and Karin who can’t raise a barrier sufficient against this kind of attack, Kaguya-hime begins to regenerate her arm.

She grows a skeletal arm from the exposed bones and basically leaves it at that, only regenerating the muscle fibers slowly. Technically, leaving the bones exposed would actually make her arm more lethal than it was fully-skinned.

You’ve also learned that Shisui’s eye can be used for simple suggestions, but only occasionally, without requiring a year-long recovery period. And it’s got to be something that contributes to a plan – because it can’t be modified afterwards, and it may only create a limited window of opportunity to take advantage of.

>You know that genjutsu work against her. Continue leveraging that advantage.
>Strategy is a weak point for Kaguya-hime – make use of that by getting creative.
>... you just summoned Nyoka-han here. So what else can you do with summoning now?
>Other?

>>4902129
>... you just summoned Nyoka-han here. So what else can you do with summoning now?

>>4902129
>>Strategy is a weak point for Kaguya-hime – make use of that by getting creative.

>>4902129
>... you just summoned Nyoka-han here. So what else can you do with summoning now?

>>4902129
>>Strategy is a weak point for Kaguya-hime – make use of that by getting creative.

>>4902129
>... you just summoned Nyoka-han here. So what else can you do with summoning now?

>>4902129
>>Strategy is a weak point for Kaguya-hime – make use of that by getting creative.

While summoning could work, I worry about the insta-death bones just geeking the summons. Also btw what happened to the Kage Zombie Squad? Did I miss anything?

>>4902129
>Strategy is a weak point for Kaguya-hime – make use of that by getting creative.

>>4902129
>Strategy is a weak point for Kaguya-hime – make use of that by getting creative.

>>4902491
Minato got tree'd by Sasuke, and the other three probably got wrecked by Rinne-Sharingan Sasuke before Kaguya hatched from his body.

>>4902491
They didn't come with. It was just people relatively nearby and Kaguya doesn't see reanimations as people anyway.

This is King on mobile btw

>>4902564
To develop a Susano'o, one needs two Mangekyo. However, Madara used Susano while having one Mangekyo and one Rinnegan. Having Shisui's Mangekyo and Izumi's Sharingan-turned-Jougan, does Naori have access to the technique?

>>4903477
No, and that's for a couple of reasons. First we've only seen people with a matched set of Sharingan gain the ability to use Susano'o - and Izumi's former eye is a genetic hybrid now anyway. So that's two points on which giving Naori the Susano'o would be a little suspect.

Second, I feel like it's a bridge too far. Shisui's eye is powerful enough without allowing for Susano'o even if I could find an excuse for it. If Naori had gone for using both of Izumi's eyes, or had gone out of her way to get Shisui's other eye, I'd technically have to allow it even though chakrazords were something I had wanted to avoid.

>>4903549
Based. Seeing us shit on Madara's Susano'o so easily was incredibly funny.

>>4902129
Strategy seems to be one of Kaguya-hime’s weaknesses – or at the very least it seems like she can be taken by surprise by unexpected events. If you were Naruto you might be tempted to use his Sexy Harem technique, but you suspect that in his fight he already used that trick to get a brief advantage. So unless you were somehow able to learn the appearance of her one-time lover, or this servant of hers from long ago, you doubt a trick like that will work again.

She continues to watch you wordlessly, simply waiting to see what you do next.

“Raigen!”

The flash entrances Kaguya for just a moment, allowing you to hide your next move. As the flash fades you throw a pair of windmill-style shuriken, each on a wire through which you channel your Ranton chakra flow. She dodges carefully, which allows you to spring your trap. You quickly change the angles of each shuriken and use the wire to trigger a mechanism which causes the shuriken to come apart, each blade becoming a potentially-lethal projectile.

These too Kaguya manages to avoid by firing bones that push the blades off their intended trajectories, allowing you to spring your trap – again.

This time eight shadow clones appear, all very close to Kaguya, and make their own attacks.

“Karyūsen!”
“Suiryūsen!”
“Doryūsen!”
“Fūryūsen!”
“Rairyūsen!”

Each of the five basic elements in a dragon-flow strike, and three slashes with copies of Umekiri – one of which using the Tsubamegiri, the other two using bare blades.

From atop Nyoka-han’s back you can sense the situation changing, and in an instant your surroundings are different again. Kaguya and all eight of your clones are sealed within crystal-clear ice, and even as your clones choose to detonate themselves Kaguya is already using her spacetime portal technique to slip out of the ice.

“So this is the power of the infamous Rabbit Demon,” Nyoka-han muses. “How unfortunate we must call such a being our enemy.”

>She keeps using her spacetime techniques to create an unfair advantage. It would be nice if we could teleport back to where we started.
>If you could only mark Kaguya’s body directly with a hiraishin you could hit her with one of her own bones – that MIGHT just kill her.
>This is going nowhere. Surely the Sage of Six Paths had a better plan than whatever the hell THIS is?
>Other?

>>4903813
>>This is going nowhere. Surely the Sage of Six Paths had a better plan than whatever the hell THIS is?

>>4903813
>>She keeps using her spacetime techniques to create an unfair advantage. It would be nice if we could teleport back to where we started.

>>4903813
>>She keeps using her spacetime techniques to create an unfair advantage. It would be nice if we could teleport back to where we started.

>>4903813
>If you could only mark Kaguya’s body directly with a hiraishin you could hit her with one of her own bones – that MIGHT just kill her.

>>4903813
>She keeps using her spacetime techniques to create an unfair advantage. It would be nice if we could teleport back to where we started.

>>4903813
>>She keeps using her spacetime techniques to create an unfair advantage. It would be nice if we could teleport back to where we started.

>>4903813
>If you could only mark Kaguya’s body directly with a hiraishin you could hit her with one of her own bones – that MIGHT just kill her.

>>4903813
“So yeah, if we had an answer to her just warping around through multiple dimensions,” you grumble, “that would make this a lot simpler.”

“Can you use your hiraishin?” Nyoka-han asks you calmly. “You did after all summon this one into one of her dimensions.”

There’s a short, but incredibly awkward, pause as you consider this.

Then you, Nyoka-han, Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Fū, Karin, and the firebird all teleport to one of your hiraishin markings in the ‘real world’. It doesn’t even take much more effort than it would normally, since the hiraishin moves you through a separate dimension anyway – instead of disappearing from one dimension, traveling through a second, and reappearing into the first, you simply reappear into a third dimension instead.

Minato-han stares at you in confusion. “Hiraishin can do that?”

“Kamui may not require a marking, and Kaguya’s technique may be even greater than Kamui,” you admit, “but once you have a marking in place? Tobirama ojii-chan’s technique has the advantage.”

“Please never call me that again,” Tobirama sighs.

“Yeah no, I can’t promise that,” you muse just as Kaguya-hime reappears from her own portal. “Are the two of you ready yet?”

“No?” Naruto replies loudly, almost accusingly. “I lost a lot of blood, ya know?”

“Besides, you seem like you’re doing fine,” Sakura replies with a huff.

“Is that how it looks to you?” you shoot back before creating a shadow clone to stay with Nyoka-han. “Go. You know what to do.”

As Nyoka rises you summon Isoka as well, and there’s a moment of confusion as the new visual perspective floods your mind.

“What do you need?” she chirps.

>I suspect we just need time, so don’t do anything rash.
>Surprise attacks. Keep Kaguya off her guard for me.
>We need to find a way to penetrate her defenses, and you’re it.
>Other?

>>4905664
This is me btw, trip fell off.

>>4905664
>>Surprise attacks. Keep Kaguya off her guard for me.

>>4905664
>>We need to find a way to penetrate her defenses, and you’re it.

>>4905664
>>We need to find a way to penetrate her defenses, and you’re it.

>>4905664
>We need to find a way to penetrate her defenses, and you’re it.

>>4905664

Dude, do you seriously have Sakura taking the opportunity to pout? You absolute hater-tot. I love it.

Still, you're more kind than Kishomoto was, because by this point in canon he'd dropped all pretense of her being relevant let alone equal to the rest of her team. He doesn’t even give her any screen time iirc.

She kind of just ceases to exist for all practical purposes for the remainder of the story.

>>4905664
“So yeah, her guard is extremely tight,” you admit, “though I feel like I have a solution to getting through it.”

“That’s great!” Isoka replies cheerfully, fanning her tailfeathers as she hovers. “What is it?”

“I’m looking at it.”

“... no fair.”

...

You give Isoka the quick rundown of what you intend to do, and put your plan into motion by ‘feeding’ her a kunai with fūinjutsu.

The next step is to unseal paper tags, wet-shaping them into Fūma-shuriken, which you then hurl at Kaguya-hime one in each hand. When she stops them, using nothing but a pulse of chakra from her eyes, you allow them to crumble back into paper tags – mostly explosive, which go off all around her. As the explosions begin to slow, you teleport Isoka to a tag right in the middle of what should be her byakugan’s blind spot.

That’s when she spits out the kunai, which grazes Kaguya’s shoulder...
>1d6, best three of four

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4906921

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4906921

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4906921

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>4906921

>>4906921
… you briefly teleport the shadow clone you have guarding Nyoka-han down to where Kaguya-hime is standing, and have her place a hiraishin formula on her back – somewhere you won’t be cutting off like you did her arm before.

Then you teleport Isoka back away from Kaguya, who you’d hoped would be bamboozled by the multi-step plan you implemented to fight her. And as it happens you were successful, planting the mark without yourself, Isoka, or Nyoka being hit by the ash bones that to your mind at least are the most dangerous techniques in Kaguya’s arsenal.

>Keep the pressure on her, get in close.
>Try to keep tricking her, that seems to work well.
>Taunt her. See if you can make her attack recklessly.
>Just try to draw things out until Naruto and Sasuke are ready.
>Other?

>>4907908
>Alternate between a sincere fight and tricks, keep her guessing

>>4907908
>Keep the pressure on her, get in close.

>>4907908
>Just try to draw things out until Naruto and Sasuke are ready.

>>4907908
>>Taunt her. See if you can make her attack recklessly.

>>4907908
>1d6
>High roll of the first three responses

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>4908899

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4908899

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>4908899

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4908899

>>4907908
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80pnJTSztP0
“You know something?” you muse, closing in with Kaguya-hime with a swift step and clashing swords with her several times in quick succession, unsealing a number of sealing tags. “I’m disappointed... you’re clearly the strongest person I’ve ever fought, but that’s all.”

Your footwork, your bladework, your body positioning – so much of it illustrates the point, the main reason why despite being outclassed by Kaguya in nearly every way you’re able to keep pace with her.

“Yeah no, there’s nothing behind your blade,” you continue, placing flickering hiraishin markings where you need them to stay one step ahead of Kaguya at each step even while you’re preparing for your next surprise. “Our skillsets are similar, though my versions of things are admittedly weaker. Hiraishin, sage mode, even nature releases... each an imitation of an original, tracing back to your blood. So how do you think I’ve been keeping pace with you?”

Each movement showcases what you’ve learned to be true from your glimpses into Kaguya’s mind. Your heart, strengthened by your passions and your personal convictions. Your prowess, earned through hardship and unrelenting hard work. The weight of every personal fate of all the people you’ve come to care about resting squarely on your shoulders. All things which she lacks.

“It’s because being the ‘original’ or even the ‘strongest’ isn’t enough!” you insist, teleporting away at the last instant to avoid her projectile bones that all slam into the dirt around where you had been standing. “There’s no rule saying an imitation, wielded with the whole heart and soul behind it, can’t overcome an original, no matter their differences!”

Then you unleash it – a wild combination technique, made up on the spot and nameless for now, fusing multiple avenues of attack. Wind, fire, and lightning-flow enhanced paper shuriken, spiraling Tenran shuriken, multiple Shiyō Kibaku-marked shuriken, black paper butterflies marked with the Hiraishin formula. Literally every single form of marked shuriken you’ve ever used including a few soaked in poison. All sealed into each other using the layered fūinjutsu that makes your Shiyō Kibaku Fūin technique work, all unsealing in chaotic strings of flashing lights, swirling blades, and explosions, leaving Kaguya with no way to predict which paper shuriken are about to do what.

“You’ve never had a rival to push you to better yourself!” you declare as you force Kaguya to parry a renewed attack with Umekiri’s edge, before you withdraw in a series of explosions and swirling elements to cover yourself as you reposition.
>1/2

>>4909297
“You’ve never faced the real prospect of death or harm from a powerful, skilled enemy, you’ve never had to train or study to gain a skill or hone it beyond that which you got from the Fruit. You have no real relationships to strengthen your heart, no one is counting on you to win or waiting for you to come home!”

“So yeah, of course you think humans are weak... because you don’t understand any of the things that drive us to become strong! And that’s why, imitation or no, incarnation of war or no, I won’t lose to someone like you who fights with an empty heart!”

With an upward sweep of Umekiri’s blade you push her bone sword out of position, and she has to push another one out of her left hand to threaten you with in anticipation of your follow-through attack, which would have been aimed at slicing her from shoulder to hip. Her retaliatory strike meets your reinforced ceramic saya, which you pull up just in the nick of time, and you teleport past her to avoid her hair needles.

One bone blade meets the end of your hilt, redirecting the attack, though the second sweeps through nothing but air as you duck low and sweep with your own blade. This she evades as well, turning and stepping away before compressing a ball of powerful black chakra in her palm – it lances out towards you, not a ball moving through space but a stream that slices deep into the earth behind you, a lethal scything blade that annihilates everything in its path.

Fortunately that doesn’t include you or Isoka.

“My back is starting to hurt!” you shout at Naruto. “Are you gonna stop letting me carry you any time soon!?”

“Yeah!” he shouts back, finally back on his feet – but more importantly, Sasuke is also standing again. “We’re ready to go!”

>Use a shadow clone to confer with them while you continue to keep Kaguya tied down – you may not be able to kill her at the rate you’re going but you’ve proven your ability to stalemate her.
>The previous Hokages can put in some strong showings here – after all, there’s no need for you to fight alone anymore.
>You and Nyoka-han have been slowly shifting things into your favor – time to have that setup and stalling finally pay off for you.
>Other?

>>4909297
>There’s no rule saying an imitation, wielded with the whole heart and soul behind it, can’t overcome an original, no matter their differences!
https://youtu.be/cUs8FEsDUZ4

Fate/stay night quest after SSQ ends? pretty please?

>>4909305
>You and Nyoka-han have been slowly shifting things into your favor – time to have that setup and stalling finally pay off for you.

>>4909305
>>The previous Hokages can put in some strong showings here – after all, there’s no need for you to fight alone anymore.

>>4909305
>>The previous Hokages can put in some strong showings here – after all, there’s no need for you to fight alone anymore.

>>4909305
>You and Nyoka-han have been slowly shifting things into your favor – time to have that setup and stalling finally pay off for you.

>>4909305
>You and Nyoka-han have been slowly shifting things into your favor – time to have that setup and stalling finally pay off for you.

>>4909305
>1d6, first three
>DC 12

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4910188

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4910188
hoo boy, here we go again

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>4910188

>>4910188
>SP: 6/6
>ES: 0L/0R

>Spend 3 SP
>Spend 2 SP and take 1 ES
>Spend 1 SP and take 2 ES
>Take 3 ES (Maximum)

>>4910207
>>Spend 1 SP and take 2 ES

>>4910207
>>Take 3 ES (Maximum)

>>4910207
>>Spend 2 SP and take 1 ES

>>4910207
>Take 3 ES (Maximum)

>>4910207
>Spend 2 SP and take 1 ES

>>4910207
>Spend 2 SP and take 1 ES

>>4910207
>Spend 2 SP and take 1 ES

>>4910207
>Spend 3 SP

>>4909305
You and Nyoka-han have both been working hard to turn things in your favor, slowly but surely, as the rain has already started to fall all around you, pooling in the craters and the holes where roots have grown and gone as the previous battles took their toll. Through a nice little bit of trickery you even managed to put a hiraishin formula marking on Kaguya-hime, meaning that it’s about damn time you put this plan into action.

Umekiri leaves an arcing trail as the rain comes down in sheets, and explosions send mud spraying wildly as you keep up the assault with your sealed shuriken. But not yet... it’s not quite there yet. You still have time.

"It's hard to cheat off me when I don't even know what's going to happen, isn't it!?"

...

You are a shadow clone of Uzumaki Naori, and you’ve grabbed two specific people who you’ll need to pull this off.

“Minato-han, Tobirama-ojiichan,” you frown. “I need your help.”

“How so?” Tobirama presses you for the details.

“... you both know how to synchronize a hiraishin summoning, right?”

Minato-han nods once. “In theory... what do you have in mind?”

...

You are Uzumaki Naori, the real one, accept no substitutes.

Except for when you have to substitute out to save your own hide from Kaguya’s bone spears. Yes, actual spears, made from her legs you think. With Naruto and Sasuke also in the fight it’s a little hard to keep track of the small details like that, what when you’re constantly teleporting bone bullets and shrapnel away from them.

That’s when your reinforcements arrive.

“Naruto,” Minato-han greets his son.

“Dad?” Naruto stares in surprise. “What’s going on?”

“We’re here to help, apparently,” Tobirama-tono insists. “Since your father and I can’t die per se, we’re perfect for dealing with enemies that possess certain-kill moves.”

To help sell this plan, you need to use that technique again... something that, until not too long ago, you tried to avoid.

[The Kages are the real threat.]

>Try to set up teleportation-swapping tricks with Minato and Tobirama, like they were your clones.
>Keep the pressure on Kaguya in close quarters. Don’t even give her time to think.
>Focus on your own part in the plan – don’t risk it by even THINKING about the rest of it until the last second.
>Other?

>>4910535
>>Focus on your own part in the plan – don’t risk it by even THINKING about the rest of it until the last second.

>>4910535
>Focus on your own part in the plan – don’t risk it by even THINKING about the rest of it until the last second.

>>4910535
>Focus on your own part in the plan – don’t risk it by even THINKING about the rest of it until the last second.

If the others can't handle even a little bit of the load, they ain't worth protecting in the first place

>>4910535
>Focus on your own part in the plan – don’t risk it by even THINKING about the rest of it until the last second.

File: Adult_Naori_Glance_Tight.png (39 KB, 281x112)

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>>4910535
Your role in this plan is now a simple one, but one which is nevertheless difficult to pull off – because it requires patience, and a good sense for your surroundings. And so you wait. As Sasuke and Naruto fight for their lives you wait patiently for the critical moment.

Your suggestion with Kotoamatsukami does help, shifting much of Kaguya’s efforts to the Kages who can regenerate their wounds with a little maintenance work from you while they take the hits that right now Sasuke and Naruto won’t have to. She cuts off Tobirama’s arm when he tries to stab her using a hiraishingiri, and nearly blows off Minato’s head with one of her vacuum-punch techniques… both recoverable. She simply absorbs Tobirama’s water release techniques regardless of how strong he makes them, and at one point actually slaps away one of Minato’s rasengan.

Naruto and Sasuke fare a bit better, with Naruto using a version of Han’s steam propulsion to enhance his taijutsu to a point that even feels a little intimidating to you – using it mainly to stay alive, since unlike his father he can’t take one of those bone swords to the face. But like his father and the Second Hokage he finds that his heaviest-hitting techniques are all just this side of useless against Kaguya – all of them having been based on the rasengan.

Sasuke’s Susanō’ō, while objectively more powerful than your own Seishōha, also fares poorly as Kaguya-hime’s hair needles hit hard enough at a fine enough point to pierce through it and she’s fast enough at using her Yomotsu Hirasaka that his massive weapons are actually a problem more so than a benefit. After the second time one of his arrows passes through a dimensional rift and nearly hits Naruto Sasuke abandons the technique altogether.

That’s why you find yourself using the Kotoamatsukami again.

[Reanimations are unworthy of your time.]

After a brief moment of eye contact with you, Kaguya shifts her attentions to Naruto and Sasuke – thinking now along the same lines she once did, disregarding the undead as mere things unworthy of her attention… of the twisted expression of ‘love’ she holds for humanity.

And you announce the beginning of the end not with Umekiri, but with the broken Kiba.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlGMBSSEVrs
Kiba spins through the air, whizzing past Kaguya’s ear and just missing her shoulder to embed itself in the ground behind her.

She turns her head slightly to face you, as if silently asking you if you were even serious.

Your answer is to unseal the other Kiba and allow it to follow you, floating and spinning like a top, little bolts electrifying water spears sent her way by Isoka and mixed in with exploding, slicing, and flaming shuriken that force her to weave and dodge a maddening path across the tortured ground.
>1/2

>>4910874
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2jiXb12TZ8&t=150s
Her footwork continues to be immaculate, barely even touching the mud under her feet… if she wanted to dodge the rain falling all around her you don’t doubt that she could find a way. So you close in to add to the pressure, locking swords again and again as you match that footwork, your own steps almost floating across the mud without splattering it with every step. Rather than dodging your hiraishin and Seiran mode together let you teleport incoming rasenshuriken to where you figure Kaguya might not see them coming – and more importantly to where you need them to go.

To her credit she handles all five of you brilliantly despite your constant interference. Partial-manifested Susanō’ō limbs strike out from next to Sasuke, using the Sakegari blade. Kaguya uses a Truth-Seeking Orb to block it for her and responds with lethal bone bullets that Sasuke lights with Amaterasu before swapping places in spacetime with Kaguya herself.

She opens a rift in space so that the flaming black bullets pass through, emerging to your left where you’re forced to teleport them with hiraishin markings placed with your chakra cloak – the destination isn’t important, you think they end up in one of her pocket dimensions, probably the ice one.

A Yōton Rasenshuriken narrowly misses her, cutting one of her swinging sleeves as she turns and nearly lops Naruto’s head off with one of her bone blades – dodged in an explosive release of steam where Naruto takes the chance to strike with a Truth-Seeeking Orb of his own. The attack meets an invisible force, stopping just inches from Kaguya’s body and giving her a chance to absorb it.

“Shit!” Naruto shouts, dodging and sliding on his left palm as several bony spears emerge from Kaguya’s ribs and nearly hit him in the sides. “How is that even fair!?”

“How the hell were you fighting her alone!?” Sasuke demands, using the Yata mirror left to him by his brother to defend against a series of massive vacuum-punches.

“It’s cause our styles are similar!” you insist, lashing at her with Kongō Fūsa to try and pull her off her feet in a change of tactics. She responds by extending her white hair and slapping at the chakra chain, which gets you into a strange fight where for a couple of seconds you’re basically just pulling her hair. It breaks up when she closes in with her bone sword and cuts her hair free, forcing you to backpedal.

All this, unfolding in rapid-fire clashes too fast for the average jōnin to even figure out what’s going on, and almost too fast for the Second or Fourth to interject. Though you do notice that at one point Minato-han manages to teleport in front of his son to take a Truth-Seeking Orb that might otherwise have caused a problem, and Tobirama-tono uses his own Gojō Kibaku Fūda a few times to provide a handy screen for your movements.
>2/3

>>4910896
There’s a moment where Kaguya dodges Sasuke’s line-of-sight attack with Amaterasu when you almost start to think it’s not going to happen, but with one last little genjutsu to obscure its location you finally manage to push her back to where the first Kiba stuck itself into the mud hilt-up – and that’s where the trap is sprung.

In a blinding flash you direct a bolt of natural lightning towards the Kiba like a lightning rod, right through where Kaguya is standing. This attack she can’t simply absorb – there’s no chakra in it at all, so she’s forced to dodge instead, the bolt narrowly missing her. But that’s hardly the point, since the Kiba is still connected to your chakra.

“Himegiri Raigen!”

Nobody in the area can escape the flash, not even by shutting their eyes, and you have to thank Kaguya for the idea in a way. Because of this, even her eyes can be blinded for just a moment – not because you managed to truly blind her byakugan, which may be impossible, but because for that single moment you succeeded in making her think you had found a way to do it.

And in that moment, Minato and Tobirama demonstrate why you brought them in the first place.

When Kaguya regains her senses, not two seconds later, it’s over.

Naruto’s hand is on her right shoulder, and Sasuke’s is on her left… and in-between, something strange is happening. Chakra that is not their own flows and merges, one yin and one yang, sending subtle ripples through reality.

Material starts to pull up from around them, and so their interdimensional chaperons teleport them back and clear of the rapidly-forming satellite.

Kaguya-hime’s eyes narrow as it becomes obvious what is happening, in an obvious repeat of the way her children once sealed her away a thousand years or more ago. But for just an instant after meeting your resolute gaze, the resentment and bitterness that seemed to you to characterize so much of her existence seems to relent slightly. Her expression shifts from prideful disdain to become something much closer to contemplation.

“Good and evil… exist nowhere but in the heart.”

And then her face is covered by stone as the core of a new moon forms around her, rising high into the sky but never quite disappearing.

There’s a long silence afterwards, prolonged by the fact that you walk away before anyone can speak to you. Fū is the one who approaches you afterward.

“… what did she say at the end?”

>It was a warning for those two idiots… I’m not sure this is ‘over’ just yet.
>I think we actually DID come to an understanding. At least right at the end.
>I wouldn’t worry too much about it. That wasn’t even “Kaguya’ – not really.
>Other?

>>4910928
>>It was a warning for those two idiots… I’m not sure this is ‘over’ just yet.

>>4910928
>Other?
>"Nothing you need to worry about. Let's go home and get married."

>>4910928
>It was a warning for those two idiots… I’m not sure this is ‘over’ just yet.

>>4910928
>It was a warning for those two idiots… I’m not sure this is ‘over’ just yet.

>>4910928
>It was a warning for those two idiots… I’m not sure this is ‘over’ just yet.

What a fight.

>>4910967
It was actually really hard to write - everyone's got busted-ass techniques including the sole genuine "certain-kill" technique in the setting. Not being able to fall back to having villains banter or monologue also forced me to focus much more on an already-difficult fight

>>4910928
>>I wouldn’t worry too much about it. That wasn’t even “Kaguya’ – not really.

>>4910928
>I think we actually DID come to an understanding. At least right at the end.

>>4910928
>>I think we actually DID come to an understanding. At least right at the end.

>>4910928
>It was a warning for those two idiots… I’m not sure this is ‘over’ just yet.

>>4910928
“So yeah, while I think it was partly just her own realization,” you muse thoughtfully, “it should also serve as a reminder that it’s we humans who create good and evil for ourselves – she called me an ‘incarnation of war’ once, but she never said that war was evil. Only that it wouldn’t be necessary if she won.”

“Explain it to me like I don’t get it,” Fū admits that she doesn’t quite understand what you’re saying without actually saying it.

“War is no more intrinsically ‘evil’ than peace is intrinsically ‘good’, Fū,” you try to clarify. “Wars can be fought honorably for worthy causes, and peace is sometimes maintained through clearly immoral means. The original Akatsuki were a good example of the former, Shimura Danzō was clearly the latter.”

“So… it’s humans who make the difference?” she frowns. “Not just in intentions I guess?”

“Yeah no, almost,” you frown as well, preparing to unpack that thought. “Humans have the capability for both good and evil, and it’s left up to us to determine which is which. Danzō liked to pretend what he was doing was ‘good’, but there was a darkness in his heart – his jealousy of Saru-tono, for sure. Maybe his intentions were right, but the way he did things was clearly wrong. Saru-tono for his part made mistakes and he blamed himself for a lot, but I believe his heart was that of a noble man.”

“So… it comes down to the ‘nature’ of a specific person? Something they don’t always see in themselves?”

You nod in agreement. “And the warning is that if you don’t know yourself – what’s truly in your own heart – then you run the risk of doing evil while meaning to do good.”

“So… that’s nice and everything,” Karin interjects, “but are you going to do anything to stop this?”

She’s referring of course to Naruto and Sasuke, who even now after having dealt with Kaguyaseem to be in a tense standoff – your opponent’s final words having fallen on deaf ears. You… may or may not have a solution for this, it really depends on a currently unknown factor.

“Kuchiyose: Enma!”

There’s a moment of alarm as you use your newly-enhanced summoning granted by your jōgan to summon the King of Hell, which bursts forth from the ground and devours you in a single bite. When you step out both Fū and Karin have taken a few steps away from you, and even Naruto and Sasuke have paused to stare at you instead.

“Hm…” you muse, blinking a few times to test the sensation in your eyes. “Yeah no, they feel better… but I won’t be able to use Kotoamatsukami again for a while. It’s not eyestrain or even the gradual decay Mangekyō users experience – those I can fix now. This is just how Shisui’s eyes are supposed to work.”
>1/2

>>4912138
Damn, Naori is hardcore.

>>4912144
Anon... Explain to me like I don't get it. What just happened?

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1.81 MB PNG

>>4912145
Naori made herself get eaten by left in pic related to heal her wounds and to flex.

>>4912145
She just healed herself completely, like pain did when his bodies got destroyed.

Basically, she's saying if you want to keep this shit up you're gonna have to go through me, and it ain't gonna be easy.

>>4912152
>>4912148
ok thats badass

>>4912183

Naori is very badass

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>>4912138
“… is something wrong?”

“You… just got eaten by a giant head,” Fū observes.

Karin nods, also still staring at you. “That popped out of the ground.”

Fū also nods in wordless agreement.

“Is that really the most bizarre thing you’ve seen today?” you stare back at them all.

“Kinda?” Fū admits.

“It’s really the nonchalance that gets me,” Karin adds.

Fū nods again. “Ooooh, good word – ’nonchalance’. I like it.”

You spare Naruto and Sasuke a glance over your shoulder. “So… are you finished? Because if I’ve got to crack your heads together I’m ready now.”

“What are you saying!?” Sakura demands angrily. “Do you have any idea how badly they’re both still…”

“It’s fine,” Naruto sighs.

“Yeah,” Sasuke agrees, shutting his eyes and sheathing his own sword. “The moment’s gone. We’ll try it your way for now, Naruto.”

“Well that’s unexpected,” a new voice muses, startling everyone present yet again aside from yourself, Naruto, and Sasuke. And, for some reason, Hashirama also seems unperturbed by the appearance of the Sage of Six Paths. “Not unwelcome, but most certainly unexpected.”

Naruto grins. “Hey, super-gramps! How long have you been watching?”

“The whole time,” he admits. “Uzumaki Naori-san, a word if you please?”

“Who’s the creepy old guy?” Isoka flutters near your head as Nyoka-han lands as gently as she can nearby.

“Hold your tongue!” Nyoka scolds Isoka, almost more of a reflex than anything else. “That is Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, the first human sage. You should speak more respectfully as a representative of our clan.”

>Honestly I’m not sure I mind being a little rude, after what I’ve just experienced.
>Please explain yourself, Hagoromo-tono – to ALL of us here, not just your descendants.
>Before you ask yes, this jōgan came from your mother’s influence. So what now?
>Other?

>>4912396
>>Please explain yourself, Hagoromo-tono – to ALL of us here, not just your descendants.
>>Before you ask yes, this jōgan came from your mother’s influence. So what now?

>>4912408
>>4912396
This right here

>>4912396
>>Please explain yourself, Hagoromo-tono – to ALL of us here, not just your descendants.
>>Before you ask yes, this jōgan came from your mother’s influence. So what now?

>>4912396
>Please explain yourself, Hagoromo-tono – to ALL of us here, not just your descendants.
>Before you ask yes, this jōgan came from your mother’s influence. So what now?

>Please explain yourself, Hagoromo-tono – to ALL of us here, not just your descendants.
>Before you ask yes, this jōgan came from your mother’s influence. So what now?

>>4912396
>>4912408
this

>>4912396
>>Please explain yourself, Hagoromo-tono – to ALL of us here, not just your descendants.

>>4912396
>>Please explain yourself, Hagoromo-tono – to ALL of us here, not just your descendants.
>>Before you ask yes, this jōgan came from your mother’s influence. So what now?

Guess who just showed up after binging Shinigami Savant AND THEN this?

>>4912396
“So yeah, before you ask this jōgan came from your mother’s influence,” you admit immediately, leaving the eye active for the moment out of an abundance of caution. “Now, can I ask for you to match that honesty and explain – to all of us this time – what is happening here?”

“You as well, Naori-san?” Nyoka turns her head slightly to look at you in disbelief.

“Now now, my feathered friend,” Hagoromo-tono muses politely, “please do not think too poorly of the younger generation. Your contractor here in particular has plenty of reason to be suspicious of my intentions. I suspect she already knows a lot about what I have to say to you all, while I still have time.”

“First,” he turns back to you, “I also suspect that you may be considering getting rid of your eyes – might I suggest that you refrain from taking such drastic action?”

“I’m listening, Hagoromo-tono,” you nod.

“Both those eyes would be incredibly powerful tools to use against the rest of the Ōtsutsuki clan,” he explains, “and I can think of no candidate in the world today or even in the depths of the past better-suited to bear them. The jōgan I believe was an act in good faith, and is properly speaking your own eye anyway, and if I understand correctly the mangekyō on your other side is not so great a threat as some might fear.”

You can’t help but agree with the second point in particular. “I suspected after the Five Kage summit that might be the case.”

“Hang on,” Kakashi-han insists, “what is it you learned at that time?”

“Three things bothered me,” you clarify carefully. “First was the ease with which Mifune-tono snapped out of it, second was when Danzō let slip his could be used at least daily. Neither of these lined up with Kotoamatsukami’s supposed properties. Third, if Shisui-han had a use left for Uchiha Fugaku, and the technique could only be used once in each eye every ten years, why would Ao speak of it as if it were already infamous?”

“She has a point,” Kakashi-han admits to Sasuke. “The Uchiha clan had a reputation for secrecy, so I don’t suspect knowledge of a mangekyō’s mechanics could become widespread only after one use.”

“And the only way to force all of that information to make sense would be to presume the existence of two versions of the ‘Kotoamatsukami’, each usable with both eyes,” Sasuke completes your thoughts. “Very perceptive of you. And that turned out to be true?”

You offer a curt nod. “Using the ‘true’ version also disables the ‘limited’ version for as long as the eye has to recover. So the main concern becomes managing the steep opportunity cost, especially with only one eye.”

“And the cost for you is…” Kakashi asks.
>1/2

>>4914405
“One year, give or take,” you admit with a frown. “Maybe sooner for the limited version. Now, Hagoromo-tono, you were about to explain yourself?”

“Yes,” he nods once. “Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun, I explained this to you already but I will share it now with the others assembled here. These two young men are the transmigrated reincarnations of my own two sons, Asura and Indra. The two who as boys essentially invented ninjutsu as you would recognize it.”

“I suspect the one calling itself Zetsu lured my older son Indra, taking advantage of the emotional instability caused by his awakening the sharingan, into doing what he felt had to be done to revive my mother, who you just met.”

“And what did you say about Kaguya and Naori?” Naruto wonders aloud.

“So yeah, I expect it was the same as when Hagoromo-tono spoke to both of you,” you clarify. “At least some aspect of Kaguya existed as she did before eating the fruit of the Shinjū, and she used the last of her energy to provide a genetic framework onto which my genetics and Uchiha Izumi’s.”

“Basically creating a whole, single eye compatible with her body,” Sakura interprets for Naruto... and you suspect, to a lesser degree, Sasuke.

“That’s right,” you confirm. “It worked fine, and now I have access to the jōgan.”

“She explained its properties to you?”

You nod. “To the degree she could predict them.”

“In any event, I only revealed the abilities which already resided within Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun,” Hagoromo-tono declares. “I did this for the sake of un-doing what Uchiha Madara did, after having also been misled by Zetsu.”

>So what do we do next?
>So... Zetsu no longer exists as an independent entity?
>When everyone is free of the pods I’ll believe this is over.
>Other?

>>4914347
Congrats on getting through it all, anon.

>>4914553
>So... Zetsu no longer exists as an independent entity?
>When everyone is free of the pods I’ll believe this is over.

>>4914553
>onto which my genetics and Uchiha Izumi’s
should be
>"onto which my genetics and Uchiha Izumi's could bind."
Not sure how that happened.

>>4914553
>>So... Zetsu no longer exists as an independent entity?
>>When everyone is free of the pods I’ll believe this is over.

>>4914553
>So... Zetsu no longer exists as an independent entity?
>When everyone is free of the pods I’ll believe this is over.

>>4914347
this was me around 12 threads ago. now i'm binging the claymore quest - trust me, you need zero knowledge of the canon material to enjoy it. King's writing is like crack.

>>4914553
>So... Zetsu no longer exists as an independent entity?
>When everyone is free of the pods I’ll believe this is over.

>>4914553
>So... Zetsu no longer exists as an independent entity?
>When everyone is free of the pods I’ll believe this is over.

>>4914553
Wait. Can Naori use all the path abilities or just Enma?

And I'm guessing we no longer have access to Izumi's dojutsu. Not that it matters because it's been pretty much obsoleted. I could be wrong about that; I still am only somewhat sure I understand what it did.

Also, keeping Shisui's eye seems a bit provocative. Might be best to give it up if we have no pressing need for it. And there's no need to make ourselves an accessory after the fact to Danzo's atrocity.

>>4914972
Honestly, there's a lot that Naori could justify under the aegis of 'I need weapons that can be used against the Ootsutsuki clan.' We'll be hard blocked from interfering in politics on anything but the global scale if we go that route, but there ARE arguments we can make for not giving up ANY of our power.

>>4915056
The only argument we need is "go fuck yourself"
Why the fuck should we give up anything, ever? That shouldn't even be a thought in our head. We don't owe anyone anything after this, and nobody has any right to tell us a goddamn thing.

>>4915063
I sure hope anons don't try to make Naori go the Amekage route.

>>4915065
No, i don't think we should involve ourselves in politics. We see where that gets us.

Naori should just chill out and live a sagely life after this, IMO.
But we have absolutely no reason to give up anything, especially not for the sake of politics.

>>4915063
We shouldn't, no. But there are people LIKE Danzo in the other villages, who can't stomach the idea of someone stronger than them telling them what to do. To prevent them from doing something monumentally stupid and taking their whole village with them, we need to make concessions. Because Naruto Politicians can and will use their own civilians as meat shields.

>>4914972
I agree with you, but there would be an alternative to taking out the eye and using it as a backup/emergency measure.
Putting on an eyepatch, seriously, if someone is concerned even sharingan don't work without line of sight.

Ps fuck you captcha

>>4915338
There should be no concessions. We have no need to give concessions.
If someone like danzo shows up again, they should be be killed or imprisoned on the spot.

We don't play politics, we solve problems. End of story.

>>4915421
So your response to people fearmongering about us becoming a vengeful all-powerful deity who kills who she wants when she wants with no repercussions or accountability is to become a vengeful all-powerful deity who kills who she wants when she wants with no repercussions or accountability.

>>4915442
Yes.

>>4915442
To be clear, i don't think there's anything wrong with that.
If someone doesn't like naori, they're probably doing something they shouldn't.
If they get killed or imprisoned by her, they definitely were.

>>4915463
If you had actually paid attention to Naori's characterisation these last threads you would have noticed that she wasn't quite comfortable with being as powerful as she has become, not to say that she wouldn't use it, but your proposed 'might makes right' attitute seem very out of character.

>>4915463

When someone strong enough comes along like madara, kaguya or even sasuke, you either resist with overwhelming strength of your own, or you bend the knee.
Might absolutely does make right, in just about every way that matters.

What's more important is that the mighty person is also a good person, and naori is a good person.
I don't know if you've read the whole quest, but naori does a lot of things that she isn't necessarily comfortable with, because they need to be done.

Some of those things she came to regret, and others she didn't.
Being too strong isn't an issue if you know when to use it. If she lives a normal life 99% of the time, there's no issue.
But if she needlessly gives up that power and people die because of it, then she'll have nothing but regrets.

Her problem hasn't been her strength, it's been the endless stream of problems she's had to deal with that stole her childhood and personal life from her.
But that's over now, unless someone threatens the peace again. And then who's going to stop it?

How many people died in canon compared to here, just because naori was there and used her strength when she needed to?
And you want to give up the strength that she used to protect everyone, for what? Some assholes who don't like her because she's a threat to their power?
Why do you think they're worried about naori? It's because they plan on starting shit and they don't want to get smacked back down.
There are going to be problems in the future, and no reason we should lay down and take it.

>>4915507
I'm not saying give it up. I'm saying use it sparingly. Take a step back. Don't show favoritism or nepotism. Be mindful of the geopolitical climate. Dont come down like the angry hand of god on every criminal or mean kid in the world. Be a tyrant, yeah, but be discrete about it so idiots don't murder their homes and people just to spite us. Naruto as a setting is inundated with people that have more power than good sense or good intentions. Short of managing every individual in the world personally, we NEED TO PLAY NICE.

I'll weigh in here real quick before I go eat dinner, it's important to remember that Kakashi was there when the Sage of Six Paths himself asked Naori to hang onto her eyes for when the other Otsutsuki show up. Kakashi is still on track to become the next Hokage, and the other Kages at very least understand the principle of opportunity costs.

>>4915824
I don't think anyone promoting caution is ACTUALLY saying that we should give up our eyes, Queen. Just that we should be careful about how we use them.

Let's be honest here. If Sasuke "I was declared an S-class terrorist, tried to kill the Five Kage and betrayed the world to become God and complete Madara's plan my own way" Uchiha canonically got to keep all of his power, Rinnegan included, and then was allowed to walk all over the world without oversight, then there's no way in hell the Kage will push for Naori to be crippled. Even putting aside the warnings about a Kaguya-level threat from the Sage of the Six Paths himself.

Did we just completely null and void the final naruto vs sasuke fight?

>>4916069
Also what exactly is the full extent of what the Jogan can do

>>4914972
I'm working on the update, but the answer to the first part is that Naori's eye has the following abilities:
>Synesthesia out to 20m, interspatial sensing, intuitive sensing of emotions and general intent
>Seishōha
>Summoning as Rinnegan, including Enma
>Visualization and innate understanding of chakra flow, including nature transformations

>>4916078
This >>4916082
One additional point is that Izumi's eye was always particularly strong in terms of its insight and visualization capabilities, which has carried over to the jougan that Naori awakened.

>>4916088
So correct me if I'm wrong, the Jogan is a Sharingan/Uzumaki genes combo?

Or was it some sort of evolved byakugan and sharingan?

>>4916082
>>4916082
Ah, so none of the spatial phasing and/or teleportation stuff that Boruto showed. Or the pseudo-emotion-sensing that is associated with Kurama.

>>4916120
Scratch that last part, I forgot you basically confirmed it in the other post. But I will empathize more with the Kamui Expy elements and the ability to sense/predict spatial tampering like Kaguya's signature space-time ninjutsu.

>>4914553
“So yeah, this all means Zetsu doesn’t exist as a separate being anymore, right?” you ask pointedly. “And that when Sasuke lets everyone out of the pods it’ll be over, right?”

“For the time being,” Hagoromo-tono nods.

Even Nyoka-han doesn’t find that reassuring. “Forgive this one for sounding doubtful, but does not the phrase ‘for the time being’ imply an ephemeral or temporary quality not usually desirable in solutions?”

“Yeah, what she said,” Naruto agrees quickly. “I think. It sounded smart.”

“Thank you, small toad summoner,” Nyoka-han replies. “This one thinks.”

“Perhaps you could clarify before this gets more awkward?” Kakashi suggests.

“Please?” Sasuke adds.

“It is entirely possible that someone could revive Kaguya again the same way that Zetsu engineered it,” Hagoromo clarifies, “however it would be extremely unlikely. Someone would need to awaken the Rinnegan for one thing.”

“Kabuto did it,” Sasuke observes.

“And Naori nearly did as well,” Hagoromo agrees. “I would be very interested to know how he managed.”

“Well,” you muse, “when Sasuke lets everyone out of the pods you can ask Orochimaru.”

“I do not believe I will last that long,” Hagoromo admits. “There is very little of me left, so I would only wish to ask you – Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, the incarnations of my sons, and Uzumaki Naori, the one favored by the memory of my mother – to continue doing as you have done. Protect this world that was so important to her, and which my brother and I fought to free from her.”

You don’t even get a chance to say anything in response. By the time you’ve processed the information he’s already gone, as though he were never there in the first place.

“So!” you muse loudly. “Sasuke. How about releasing people from the pods already!?”

“Give me a moment,” he mutters.

There’s a long pause.

“You DO know how to do that, right Sasuke?” Naruto presses.

“Give me a moment!” he repeats, louder this time.
>1/2

>>4916112
Isn't it a new dojutsu introduced in boruto that hasn't been fully explained in the source material yet?

>>4916219
I had no clue

>>4916219
Ya I think Boruto got it from defeating Momoshiki in the movie.

Boruto is not real. It's a fever nightmare from which I cannot wake up. I refuse to consider any alternatives.

>>4916082
What is Seishōha again?

>>4916219
>>4916462
Boruto introduces some weird shit, but the jogan first activated when Boruto was in the Academy and he didn't get the kama from beating Momoshiki until he was taking the chunin exams.

I took some liberties, but not many - the rinnegan and sharingan all vary between users, and it makes sense (to me at least) that the jogan might appear when eyehax get mixed into the Uzumaki or Senju bloodline.

>>4916567
jougan is the MissingNo. of doujutsu confirmed

>>4916776
Then the real question is how do you prevent it from corrupting your save file?

>>4916529
the invisible eyehax force push that Kaguya did with her byakugan

>>4917015
exterminate all senju and uzumaki blood

>>4916204
It takes a few minutes for Sasuke to figure out how to release everyone from their captivity, though eventually he manages. You see Konan-sensei reunite with Kakashi-han, and Fū excitedly meeting with Yugitō-han. You see that out of all the smaller villages Natsuhi-han, Kagerō-han, and Tayuya-kun have all survived as well – though they look harrowed by the experience, and Kagerō and Tayuya in particular stay close together. The two siblings from Amegakure are fine, having survived the battle with Hanzō and Kimimaro perhaps in part thanks to your insistence that they train extensively in combating poison gas. Even the members of your own unit have made it through just fine, as have Temari and Ryūzetsu.

But there are some faces you don’t see, presences you don’t feel, which in the coming hours you start to realize belong to people you know who did not make it through the war. Baki is among the dead, killed on the coastline near the end of the first day. Ebisu, Naruto’s one-time instructor, was killed by one of the Seven Swords of the Mist. Mitarashi Anko will need to remain hospitalized, though she is expected to recover eventually from her own ordeals at Kabuto’s hand.

Then there are the so-called Konoha 12, all of whom you have come to know to some degree. In fighting the Ten-Tails Chōji lost quite a bit – not just the three fingers now missing on one hand, but something even more important. His father, Akimichi Chōza, died from wounds he sustained in that same fight. Hyūga Neji lost one of his eyes and part of an ear fighting overnight against an overwhelming number of white Zetsu clones disguised as his friends, while Guy-sensei broke the bones in his left arm and leg so severely that his career as a shinobi may well be over.

But the hardest hit was Team Kurenai – a stray attack from the Ten Tails, you learn, took the lives of Kurenai-sensei and Shino. It was some time while you were fighting against Madara... one of those things that you could do nothing about.

There is a lot of grieving to be done.

But right now, several of the Kages are finding their way towards Sasuke – and they don’t look happy. Especially the Raikage, who looks ready to snap someone’s neck and you’re concerned that if Karin doesn’t get out of the way it might be hers.

“Move, girl,” he insists loudly.

“No,” she retorts. “You’re not just going to take this into your own hands.”

“That punk behind you put the whole world under a genjutsu specifically to get to us Kages and the daimyō,” the Raikage counters. “I don’t care what anyone else thinks I’m not letting him just walk away after that.”

“It’s not your place to decide that, Raikage-dono,” Tsunade insists curtly. “Not on your own.”

Damn it all, will they never get over themselves? It almost makes you regret not letting Sasuke just have his way.
>2/3

>>4917791
>Point out that he was essentially under the influence of an alien being when he did that.
>Point out that everyone present, yourself included, has killed people for sketchy reasons.
>This isn’t the time or place and if the Raikage decides to force the issue you’ll kick his butt.
>Other?

>>4917792
>>Point out that everyone present, yourself included, has killed people for sketchy reasons.

>>4917792
>Point out that he was essentially under the influence of an alien being when he did that.
>Point out that everyone present, yourself included, has killed people for sketchy reasons.
>Other: "Show of hands, actually, who HASN'T done something extremely sketchy in the name of 'Family' or 'The Village' or 'Peace.'" If Naruto raises his hand, "Naruto, you're an idealistic idiot. You don't count."

>>4917791
Supporting this >>4917815

>>4917791
this>>4917815

>>4917815
>>4917792
This

>>4917792
>Point out that he was essentially under the influence of an alien being when he did that.
>Point out that everyone present, yourself included, has killed people for sketchy reasons.

>>4917815
Yeah this, to be fair.

>>4918027
>>4917791
sorry, forgot to link. i just woke up.

>>4917791
>>4917815
+1

>>4917792
>>Point out that he was essentially under the influence of an alien being when he did that.
>>Point out that everyone present, yourself included, has killed people for sketchy reasons.
>>Other: "Show of hands, actually, who HASN'T done something extremely sketchy in the name of 'Family' or 'The Village' or 'Peace.'" If Naruto raises his hand, "Naruto, you're an idealistic idiot. You don't count."

>>4917792
>>4917815
this

>>4917792
“So yeah, no, I’m going to point a few things out,” you insist, before cutting Sasuke off. “Shut up, Sasuke. First, at the time he made that decision Sasuke was literally under the influence of an alien entity of still-unascertained origin, meaning that not only can he not be held fully responsible for his actions his own recollections of the events cannot be considered trustworthy.”

“Second, I said shut up Sasuke, I’m going to ask for a show of hands,” you continue. “By show of hands, how many people here haven’t killed someone personally?”

Out of all the Kages, all the jōnin and former Akatsuki members and jinchūriki assembled, only Fū raises her hand.

“Technically I wasn’t the one who killed Kakuzu,” she points out… and quite correctly, too.

You blink once, collecting your thoughts. “Technically I have to accept that. And I’m sorry to bring this up, but it’s also an important part of my point… how many people here haven’t made a decision that ended in someone’s death, either directly or indirectly?”

After a reflective moment, Fū lowers her hand. While nothing she could have done would have spared her jōnin minders’ lives once Akatsuki got to them, they were only there in the first place because she convinced her village leader to send her to the chūnin exams to compete. Fair or not, she does probably still carry a sense of guilt deep down over that fact.

“We’re all shinobi here,” you assert sternly. “And we all know what that means. If we were to just immediately fall back into the old ways after all this, blood justifying blood, then I’d be justified in killing Tsunade-han and Ōnoki-tono for the deaths of countless villagers of my homeland. Konan-sensei would be justified in killing Kakashi-han… actually, I imagine there’d be a line to kill Kakashi-han… and why stop there? Half my team has a reason to kill the other half. Should we just set up a single-elimination bracket? Would that satisfy you, Raikage-tono?”

“There’s no need to get hys-” he begins, only for you to cut him off.

“The minute you finish that sentence is the minute you wake up three weeks later in the hospital.”

“… you’re really serious about this.”

You nod curtly. “Sasuke got the problem right the first time – and I’m sick of the way things worked before this Alliance too. And I’m not going to let you blow it before we even have a chance to try something different.”

“Y’know boss,” Darui-han interjects, having held off approaching your group while you confronted the Raikage, “I may think this Sasuke dude’s a real jackass too… but I think Naori-san’s on to something.”

“Old man,” Kurotsuchi adds, glancing down at the Tsuchikage. “You gonna make a scene about this?”

“Chōjūrō?” Mei-han muses as her attendant steps up as well… albeit rather nervously. Timidly, almost.
>1/2

>>4919434
“We may disagree about the overall prospects of the younger generation of shinobi,” Gaara speaks up after having remained silent before… though you could tell before that he was concerned, he chose to watch first before taking any action. “But I was always under the impression that it was the hope of the previous generation that we would eventually surpass them. In this way, I think we may be on track to do just that – to make something possible that other generations failed to bring about. Raikage-dono, I implore you not to throw away that possibility so recklessly.”

“Granny Tsunade,” Naruto declares, looking Tsuna-han straight in the eye. “You know my feelings haven’t changed. Not one bit.”

“Yeah,” she sighs wearily. “I know. Raikage-dono, I do intend to ensure that Uchiha Sasuke’s actions are addressed, but I also believe that things need to start working differently from now on. They may still look like kids to us, but I believe in them… and I think that we’re getting to the point where we need to step aside for them.”

After a moment, the Raikage nods to Tsunade. But before he leaves, he also faces you.

“That was unbecoming and I apologize.”

You incline your head ever so slightly in acknowledgment. “Consider it forgotten.”

He returns the gesture before thundering off across the battlefield, no doubt on his way to get an accurate head count of his remaining subordinates.

>Force the unspoken issue with Sasuke and Naruto – where are the Tailed Beasts?
>Just… go home for the time being. You need to have a long, hard-earned rest.
>There are things you have come to suspect about the Ōtsutsuki, and you need to learn more.
>Other?

>>4919450
>Force the unspoken issue with Sasuke and Naruto – where are the Tailed Beasts?
>There are things you have come to suspect about the Ōtsutsuki, and you need to learn more.

>>4919450
>>Force the unspoken issue with Sasuke and Naruto – where are the Tailed Beasts?

>>4919450
>Force the unspoken issue with Sasuke and Naruto – where are the Tailed Beasts?
>There are things you have come to suspect about the Ōtsutsuki, and you need to learn more.

>>4919450
>>4919491
This

>>4919491
>>4919450
Supporting

>>4919450
Instead of asking the obvious question, you create a shadow clone and let her watch out for you as you meditate.

…

“So this may be a problem,” you confess. “For all my good talk about things changing I don’t expect it to be immediate… and it will take more than one person.”

Fū nods in agreement. “Yeah, I know that Nakkun. Which is why me and Chōmei got to thinking.”

“About?”

“We were kinda thinking… maybe I should be his jinchūriki again?”

“What the hell!?” Shukaku laughs derisively. “You serious, beetlebrain? You gonna go back to being a pet just like that?”

“I always quite liked Fū,” Chōmei insists. “She’s one of the good ones.”

“Sooner or later someone’s going to come after the tailed beasts,” Yugitō adds. “So it makes sense. This way we can look after each other, at least for a little while.”

“We are stronger together,” Matatabi asserts, “that much is certainly true.”

“You’re all crazy!” Shukaku shouts. “Have you forgotten how we’ve been treated!?”

“It also seems the only real arrangement that gives us any freedom,” Isobu says, before glancing down at you. “To that end…”

“Yeah no, that was a one-time offer,” you declare. “Besides, I can be more helpful if I’m not one of the ones under direct attack.”

“So are you willing to do it, Nakkun?” Fū asks hesitantly. “Seal Chōmei back in me that is?”

>I’m honestly not sure how I feel about doing that, Fū.
>I’ll do it if you’re both certain that is what you want.
>Give me some time to improve the seal I’d be using first.
>Other?

>>4920542
>>I’ll do it if you’re both certain that is what you want.
>>Give me some time to improve the seal I’d be using first.

>>4920542
>I’ll do it if you’re both certain that is what you want.
>Give me some time to improve the seal I’d be using first.

>>4920542
>>Give me some time to improve the seal I’d be using first.

>>4920542
>I’ll do it if you’re both certain that is what you want.
>>Give me some time to improve the seal I’d be using first.

>>4920542
>>I’ll do it if you’re both certain that is what you want.
>>Give me some time to improve the seal I’d be using first.

>>4920542
>>I’ll do it if you’re both certain that is what you want.
>>Give me some time to improve the seal I’d be using first.

>>4920542
>>Give me some time to improve the seal I’d be using first.

>>4920542
>I’ll do it if you’re both certain that is what you want.
>Give me some time to improve the seal I’d be using first.

>>4920542
>I’ll do it if you’re both certain that is what you want.
>Give me some time to improve the seal I’d be using first.

>>4920542
“I’m flattered you’d ask... I know the Uzumaki fūinjutsu has a technique for that,” you admit, “but yeah... I’m not as versed with it as I could be. So give me some time to study Minato-han’s modifications to Naruto’s seal and if you’re still confident in this decision I’ll handle it for you.”

“In the mean time, I think we need to press this issue a little more firmly,” Yugitō declares. “While I understand the fear, and shared it at one point, I don’t think it’s right any more than it would be to keep us all in a genjutsu. Justifiable perhaps, but not right.”

“Definitely,” Fū nods emphatically.

...

“So here’s what I need to tell you,” you declare, coming out of the momentary trance. “The tailed beasts don’t exactly like being caged, so we need to talk about what happens long-term.”

“They’re intelligent beings,” Yugitō insists loudly as she and B surround the Raikage. “Very old, sometimes even wise.”

“They’re our partners,” Naruto adds. “Kurama’s even become my friend.”

“Most of ‘em haven’t had an actual choice in any of this since before any of us were born!” Fū protests. “How the heck is that fair?”

“And any time they get loose they go on a rampage,” the Raikage asserts.

“So do you,” you retort.

Mei-tono shrugs. “She’s not wrong you know. We’re talking about intelligent beings who have been locked away since the days of the First Hokage... antagonized by humans before even that. So who’s to say whether we should ever have feared them the way we were raised to?”

“You’re talking about an immense degree of trust,” the Tsuchikage grumbles. “In the face of a common enemy several of the hidden villages were forced to trust one another for the first time in living memory, but even at that there are still fractures. Many of the smaller villages are only cooperating because Naori-san convinced them to do so – many others simply refused to participate.”

“With the tailed beasts there is no such driving force.”

“Eight-o and I see eye to eye, how much more I gotta simplify?” B demands in his own way.

“I think I understand what he’s trying to say?” Mei-han admits. “Does anyone else have trouble following the rapping sometimes?”

“Constantly,” Yugitō admits. “I know what he’s saying but not always what he’s trying to say if you follow me.”

“I just don’t think he’s very good,” the Tsuchikage grumbles.

“And you think you can do better?” A growls.

“No, but I at least have the good sense not to try.”
>1/2

>>4921590
“Putting B’s rapping aside for just a moment,” you sigh wearily, “I’m going to seal Chōmei back into Fū once I’m a little more confident I can adapt the seal Minato-han used for Naruto. We can discuss how we all feel about jinchūriki some other time, but I already gave my word so it’s going to happen regardless of whether you agree.”

“You intend to force this issue?” A stares at you.

You nod.

“She’s serious?” Sasuke glances at Karin, who nods back at him.

“Oh yes.”

“Well then,” Tsunade-han shrugs, “that just means we’ll have to take this up at the next meeting between the Kages.”

“That’s all I’m asking for now,” you insist. “Aside from the thing with Chōmei and Fū, which is more of an advance notice.”

“I think most of us understand your intent,” Mei-tono replies calmly. “My view is you should do what you feel is necessary.”

...

The war is over... but for you, ‘going home’ is a lot quicker than anyone else because you can be back in Amegakure instantly. After taking Fū back to Takigakure and Yugitō back to Kumogakure, and saying your farewells to your subordinates before allowing them to help their home villages with their work in dealing with the aftermath, you return to Amegakure. But it hasn’t been twenty-four hours since you fought with Uchiha Madara, and less than twelve since you faced off against Kaguya-hime.

That’s left you with a nervous energy that you just don’t know what to do with. And so you walk in the rain for a long time, outside the village. On the far side of the lake in fact.

You’re not sure what time it is when you find the thermal river – outside the village, and far enough that no one really ever comes out here. It flows clean, there was no poison in this area that would keep people away. It really is just too inconveniently located.

You’re also not sure why you start using earth release to compact the soil, almost like the foundations of a street. It’s strange, but you kind of feel like putting a house here. It might be a restful place to live – you even find yourself drawing plans with sealing script lines, rows of machiya-style homes and businesses with deep eaves to keep pedestrians out of the ever-present rain.
>2/3

>>4921931
“What are you doing?”

You glance up from your work to see Ryūzetsu in a plain-spun green yukata, holding a parasol. “Konan-san said you’d be here.”

“I spent fifteen minutes facing down Kaguya-hime, alone,” you admit calmly. “It felt like I was stalling the apocalypse.”

“That’s a lot,” Ryūzetsu nods, holding out a parasol for you to take. Not like it does you any good at this point. “A lot of stress.”

“Yeah no,” you shake your head. “I’ve had difficult fights before, with a lot riding on them. What feels strange now is not having an immediate crisis to handle. Immediate crises are what I thrive on.”

“You’ll find something,” she assures you. “A foundation?”

“Yes,” you admit. “I’ve been working on it for some time. I’m not sure why... it just seems like a nice place to live.”

“With neighbors too,” she muses. “It seems so normal. Not like a hideout.”

“It would be nice,” you admit. “It’s been temples and hideouts since my mother passed.”

“You could attract some neighbors if you kept this up.”

“Probably,” you agree. “But right now it’s just something to focus on that’s not fighting... you were looking for me?”

“Just stopping by,” she admits. “Business. Konan-san wants to see you I think. Wants to know what comes next.”

>Studying the fūinjutsu that Minato-han used on Naruto and Kurama.
>Kaguya-hime mentioned she wasn’t unique. We need to prepare.
>There’s a lot we don’t know about Kaguya’s era that we really should.
>Other?

>>4921958
>>Studying the fūinjutsu that Minato-han used on Naruto and Kurama.
>>Kaguya-hime mentioned she wasn’t unique. We need to prepare.

>>4922064
>>4921958
This, one short term one probably longer term, since we don't know if anything might attract Her family we only know it seems to not have happened even when She was first sealed

>>4921958
>>There’s a lot we don’t know about Kaguya’s era that we really should.

>>4921958
Really, we need to do all of these things...
Starting with the seals, then studying the otsutsuki clan and then figuring out a way to beat them.

I think studying kaguya's clan and the era she lived in will probably give us important clues that will help us learn how to defeat them, so research and "preparing" are kind of tied together.

>>4921958
>Studying the fūinjutsu that Minato-han used on Naruto and Kurama.
>Kaguya-hime mentioned she wasn’t unique. We need to prepare.

>>4921958
>Studying the fūinjutsu that Minato-han used on Naruto and Kurama.
>Kaguya-hime mentioned she wasn’t unique. We need to prepare.

>>4921958
“I need to study the modifications Minato-han added to the seal he used on Kurama,” you sigh, weaving a few hand seals with your left hand before waving the rain off your clothes in a single splash. “More long-term, we need to be ready for another Ōtsutsuki to show up… and we have no idea how the others will compare to Kaguya-hime, or even how many of them there are.”

Then you pause for a moment. “What do you mean business?”

Ryūzetsu responds with a slight smile. “Kusagakure wants to enter an alliance with Amegakure. I suspect Yuki and Hoshi will be sending people too.”

“Yeah no, that’s sooner than I expected,” you admit.

“You don’t seem excited?”

You shake your head. “Demobilization and political realignment… this is going to be a tricky time. I guess the next crisis is already looming.”

“You’re concerned about shinobi abandoning their villages?” Ryūzetsu offers something that you get the impression is more than just a guess.

“Has it already started happening in Kusagakure?”

“We believe so.”

“The hidden village system will only continue to work so long as people feel it’s working for them,” you frown. “Demobilization is bound to leave a some shinobi feeling under-appreciated, that ninjutsu created for combat has lost its purpose.”

“You almost sound sympathetic.”

You shake your head. “Hardly. I understand their perspective, but I’ll never share it for a lot of reasons.”

After a few moments, Ryūzetsu gestures to you. “Come back to the village?”

“Yeah,” you agree. “Probably past time.”

“… you should finish it some time though,” she adds. “It could be a nice place to live.”

“You think?”

Ryūzetsu nods once. “I’d move here.”
>1/2

>>4922425
“You got here quickly...” you muse, before furrowing your brow. “Actually you’re not here, are you?”

“You’re correct,” Konan-sensei admits. “This is a paper clone I sent ahead to handle certain administrative tasks.”

“Ryūzetsu mentioned that you wanted to speak with me?” you prompt her.

“I wanted to warn you that we’ll have dignitaries from Yukigakure and Hoshigakure within two days,” Konan-sensei declares. “With things the way they are, the expectation would be that you would be there to meet them. I wanted to make sure you were in a position to do that.”

“I’ll be just fine,” you tell her. “There was just a bit of a disconnect... I needed to rest my mind for a while to catch up with my body.”

“By laying the foundations for a village?” she muses.

“It seemed like a nice place for one,” you shrug. “In a way Amegakure never has been.”

“It was the product of a civil war,” Konan-sensei admits. “Perhaps a change would be a positive thing.”

>You know, Ajisai mentioned something about you wanting me to take over leading the village.
>So what will be my role when these ‘dignitaries’ arrive? And for that matter who will they be?
>I can meet with these people, however I will also have other priorities going forward from now.
>Other?

>>4923296
>>I can meet with these people, however I will also have other priorities going forward from now.

>>4923296
>>So what will be my role when these ‘dignitaries’ arrive? And for that matter who will they be?

>>4923296
>>So what will be my role when these ‘dignitaries’ arrive? And for that matter who will they be?

>>4922425
>Ryūzetsu nods once. “I’d move here.”

Damn, that was smooth. Maybe too subtle for post apocalypse Naori though, poor thing.

>>4923296
>>You know, Ajisai mentioned something about you wanting me to take over leading the village.

We should probably nip this in the bud. Leading the village might be good, but we are best used as an independent agent, and at this point we're the equivalent of a living nuclear weapon on a scale not even tailed beasts can technically match. Being aligned with a single village is going to cause problems, even if it is our home.

>>4923296
>I can meet with these people, however I will also have other priorities going forward from now.