>>6046571
“Iruka-sensei knows,” you tell her, “as does my own former teacher. One student in our class figured it out, and another probably suspects but has the good sense not to say anything.”

You leave your team out deliberately – not so much a ‘lie’ since they were in the room when you received the initial orders, but it’s a piece of information that Hana-sensei doesn’t need to know right now. Knowing any of those specific names isn’t just more information than she needs to know, it’s information that she couldn’t do anything with anyway.

“So… something must have changed, right?” she observes. “To explain why you’re suddenly including me in this?”

You nod once. “Several days ago I was followed home by a shinobi. I couldn’t determine their identity, but I know that they picked me up shortly after leaving the Academy building.”

“It couldn’t have been ANBU?” Hana-sensei ponders, rubbing her chin.

You shake your head. “No. If ANBU were involved I’d know.”

“I see,” she replies. “So… what do you need me to do?”

“I just need you to keep your eyes open for anything suspicious,” you answer, “and let me know if you see anything.”

“I can do that, of course,” Hana-sensei assures you. “Thank you for trusting me with this.”

…

After you leave the Academy building, you take a moment to get a drink and a bag of chips at a nearby convenience store and take a break in a nearby park. Clearing your mind, you turn your attention to what needs to be done next...

>You should check in with your teammates, do one final round at ‘work’ before going to your apartment.
>It makes sense to meet with Kae-hime and her own bodyguard from their homeland, touch base with them.
>This might be a good moment to check in with either the Hokage or with Sasuke-san. You want to know how things are developing in Kae-hime’s homeland.
>Other?

>>6046573
>>This might be a good moment to check in with either the Hokage or with Sasuke-san. You want to know how things are developing in Kae-hime’s homeland.

>>6046573
>>This might be a good moment to check in with either the Hokage or with Sasuke-san. You want to know how things are developing in Kae-hime’s homeland.
Can we get creative with our sage mode ghost clones?
Naruto would be the only one able to actually notice and respond to them, so maybe get one into his office and then communicate with jutsu's or chakra shenanigans.

>>6046573
>>You should check in with your teammates, do one final round at ‘work’ before going to your apartment.

>>6046573
>1d6 taking the first three

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>6047842

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>6047842

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>6047842

>>6047842
After getting ‘home’, you find a spot in your apartment that will allow you to perform ninjutsu without being visible from outside, and do so in a way that will avoid being audible – the technique you choose, your mother’s Ryūmei, creates a purely spiritual ‘clone’ that you send to the Hokage’s office in mere seconds. Since it’s not truly ‘chakra’ in that it lacks the physical component provided by your body’s vitality it should be extremely difficult to detect, even if you assume your opponent is a very skilled shinobi, but because in order to share its senses you need to close your eyes it could be obvious by looking at you that you were up to something.

When your ghost clone reaches the Hokage’s office, you have it draw in natural energy to compensate for the lack of the physical – just enough so that it can use the wave transmission technique.

[Lord Seventh, I think now is a good time for an update.]

“… Shiki-kun?” he realizes, looking up from whatever document he’s been working through. “How are you talking to me right now?”

[I’m using the wave transmission at the same time as the Ryūmei.]

“I see,” he grumbles. “That’d certainly make my job easier sometimes, ya know… anyway, how’s your team holding up?”

[It’s been quiet since the incident I reported earlier.]

“You guys must’ve gotten close to capturing whoever it was,” Naruto muses. “That would explain their suddenly getting skittish.”

[It would,] you agree. [I’ve also informed Hana-sensei of the situation, to enlist her help in possibly identifying the threat.]

“I guess that makes sense,” Naruto nods. “It’s her class that all this affects after all.”

[And what about the Land of Bamboo?] you ask. [I haven’t seen it in the news so I assume the worst has yet to happen, but other than that I don’t know anything.]

“I sent Sasuke to help with their investigations,” Naruto tells you. “The Shinobi Union got behind the intervention fairly quickly, since it doesn’t impact any of our members – the Land of Bamboo may have some friends among the shinobi nations, but it really isn’t that important a player.”

[So the delay came from the Land of Bamboo itself?]

Naruto nods. “That’s right. Think about it this way – when someone like Sasuke-kun or Naori-kun shows up somewhere unannounced, many of the smaller nations have to immediately assume the possibility that it’s an invasion.”

[Because single shinobi have conquered nations in the past.]

“Your mom isn’t entirely to blame either,” Naruto observes. “She was hardly the first. But still, especially these days it’s a misunderstanding that we try to avoid, ya know?”
>1/2

>>6049112
[So has Sasuke-san sent a report on the situation?]

Naruto shakes his head. “Only his preliminary report. For anything you could call ‘findings’, that’s gonna be tomorrow at the earliest.”

[And what does the preliminary report say?]

“The situation doesn’t look as bad as you might imagine,” Naruto informs you. “The problems are all beneath the surface.”

[Was there any early indication why there would be a threat now? I mean, as opposed to a year ago, or a year from now?]

“Nothing clear,” he replies. “The economy looks good, no controversial laws passed recently, no terrorist threats. Sasuke told me he’ll be looking into individual ministers and their families to find any with possible personal motives, which is why it’s going to take a little while.”

[I assume there’s no sign that it’s Kara?]

“None.”

[So it could actually just be a personal grudge?]

“Hopefully,” Naruto sighs. “The alternative is that kind of unpredictable psychopath that shows up from time to time.”

[The kind who’s in it for reasons only they themselves know?]

“Exactly.”

[Great.]

“The good news is that we have more reason to believe it’s a personal grudge,” Naruto observes. “And if it’s the psychopath… well, that’s why we have you and your team on it, ya know?”

[Well, in any event please be sure to keep me in the loop with Sasuke-san’s findings?]

“I’m sure I can find a way to do that quietly enough,” Naruto-san agrees.

[Thank you.]

>Get some rest. You have no idea what might happen tomorrow.
>Go check in with your teammates, discuss recent events with them.
>Go speak with Kae-hime and her ward – see if they know anything.
>Other?

>>6049965
>>Go check in with your teammates, discuss recent events with them.

>>6049965
>>Go check in with your teammates, discuss recent events with them.

>>6049965
>>Go check in with your teammates, discuss recent events with them.
Finally caught back up and can vote after months of nothing but uni; how old are 1st year students supposed to be? Gotta be real weird spending most of the day as a little kid again

>>6050004
Like nine-ish. It's often shown as "whenever they're ready" particularly in times of war though, with Kakashi being an extreme case.

>>6049965
>1d6 taking the first three

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>6050535

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>6050535

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>6050535

>>6050535
What you’re going to do is a little bit complicated – the problem at hand is that you want to communicate with your three teammates without alerting anyone who might be observing you that you’re doing so. And since your ghost clone has no physical energy, that limits your options to just two at least in theory. You could split your ghost clone into three, but that’s just ‘in theory’ because of what it takes to share your senses with a detached fragment of your soul. Even Ryūzetsu-ue is limited to three, and she has decades of experience with your shared kekkei genkai that you lack. You could speak with each of the three of them in turn, but that would be slower and would rob you of the simple pleasure of being around your friends (even if it’s for ‘business’ purposes).

That means the plan is going to be a bit overly complicated.

As you’ve learned over the years by switching places with your ghost clone using hiraishin, that clone can still be moved around to any location where you’ve already left a marking. In this case, you want to send it to the shrike forest to find your partner Kiburi.

She’s in the middle of preening herself when you do find her. [Kiburi-san, I need your help with something.]

She starts for a moment before quickly collecting herself. “Shiki-san, to what do I owe the surprise?”

[Sorry to bother, but I’m trying to create some shadow clones without drawing attention to myself – would you be willing to do a cooperative ninjutsu, lending me your physical energy?]

“Sure, not a problem.”

After ‘possessing’ Kiburi through your ghost and synchronizing (as close as is possible) your spiritual energy with her own, you perform the shadow clone technique to spawn three copies of her body, which then transform themselves into versions of you. But given the unusual method of doing this, you have to ask…

[So are the three of you…]

“You?” one asks.

“Yeah, we’re you,” the second assures you.

“It was definitely interesting being a bird though,” the third muses. “But yeah, we’re all Shiki clones, not Kiburi clones.”

“This is always weird to watch,” Kiburi-san admits. “Isn’t it weird to you to have a conversation with yourself?”

[Sometimes,] you acknowledge.

“It’d be worse if Shiki weren’t a generally agreeable person,” the second clone points out.

“True,” the first agrees.
>1/2

>>6051837
“So you know Boruto-kun’s shadow clones bicker all the time?” the third frowns. “Does that mean we think he’s not ‘generally agreeable’?”

You think on that for a moment. [Not so much that as he’s just got that sort of attitude, you know?]

“What, that he’s a complainer?” the first clone asks.

“Isn’t he kinda?” the second observes.

[Anyway, we’re getting off topic,] you observe. [I’m going to go back now, you three decide which of you is going to talk to which of our teammates.]

…

Your shadow clones’ memories catch up with you shortly before you’ve decided to go to sleep.

Sumire is holding up probably the best of the three, being the most patient by nature. You had a pleasant enough conversation with her, and found that she’s taken some interest in goings-on at the Academy. Kōshū, perhaps predictably, is the most restless of the three. She’s itching to discover anything at all about your stalker so that she can fight them, having missed her opportunity the first time. As for Wasabi, you find that she’s making it a point to stay focused entirely on the mission – although she’s also somewhat concerned that having to constantly play a role like this is wearing on you. And she has a point – you’ve had very little time “off-mission” in more than a month, since you even need to be mindful of your character when in what should be the comfort of your apartment.

…

The next morning, you arrive at the Academy feeling like you haven’t rested at all, to find that the lesson today is tree-climbing practice. For students this early in their training, the degree of continuous and precise chakra control required to do something like this should be difficult, if not impossible. That having been said there are definitely outliers – Boruto was walking up walls within just a few hours of practice, while it took Sarada just a little longer. You and your sister were doing this two years younger than anyone else in your former class, though it did take you a few days to get the hang of it at that age.

A few of the students aren’t total embarrassments – one, a young member of the Fūma clan, quickly manages to get a handle on the exercise. Himawari of course already has some experience with using her chakra like this, so she has no trouble. Somewhat surprisingly Neon actually makes respectable progress, before taking time to show Osuka how she did it.
>2/3

>>6052583
When your turn comes you make it a show of using too much chakra, which actually pushes you off the side of the tree. But with some ‘advice’ from Hana-sensei to ‘correct’ your ‘mistake’, you can also make a show of getting the chakra control right and succeeding at the exercise. Upon finishing, Kae-hime immediately comes up to you.
“Would you mind helping me, Kagerō-kun? I can’t seem to get the hang of it.”

The Fūma kid – Eiki-kun – seems frustrated to see it. Come to think of it, he’s one of the boys in the class who seems to be perpetually ticked-off that Hima, Kae-rin, and Osu-kun are all so friendly with you.

>Just ignore it. No sense drawing any more attention to yourself than you absolutely have to.
>Just deal with it. You ALREADY attract attention, so you may as well straighten things out.
>Come up with an excuse to dodge having this entire interaction right now.
>Other?

>>6052597
>>Just ignore it. No sense drawing any more attention to yourself than you absolutely have to.

>>6052597
>>Just ignore it. No sense drawing any more attention to yourself than you absolutely have to.

>>6052597
>>Just ignore it. No sense drawing any more attention to yourself than you absolutely have to.

>>6052597
>>Just deal with it. You ALREADY attract attention, so you may as well straighten things out.

>>6052597
>1d6 first three

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>6053355

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>6053355

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>6053355

>>6053355
You decide to continue ignoring it – because while this may end up qualifying as a ‘nuisance’, it’s a far cry from becoming an actual ‘problem’. Even the Academy students furthest ahead of their peers can’t really do anything to bother you, and butting heads with them is likely to just make you stand out even more (or bother more of the boys in class) depending on how you do it. So there’s no real incentive to play this game, and no real way to ‘win’ even if you did.

“Yeah,” you reply, “sure, as far as I can. What’s the problem?”

“I can’t seem to stay up there,” she admits.

“It sounds like you might not be using enough chakra,” you tell her, before lifting one leg and planting the sole of your foot against a nearby tree. “Try it like this – focus on one foot at a time until you get the feel for how much you need to use.”

“You knocked yourself off the first time,” Kae-hime observes, following your instructions as she ponders aloud. “Why was that?”

“Because I have a lot of chakra,” you explain. “It’s good for using elemental transformations, but it makes it harder to learn fine control.”

“I see,” Kae-hime muses. “So I suppose that means I must not have much chakra?”

“You could have a normal amount,” you shrug, “and you just haven’t had a chance to use it before.”

Actually, you can tell she has slightly less than average for someone her age – but it’d be a dead giveaway if anyone overheard you telling her that. It’d be even worse if they heard you dive into the sort of explanations Naori-ue and Ryūzetsu-ue gave you about the complex interplay between bloodline potential, individual experience, quality of instruction, and personal diligence in determining how much of a chakra reserve any given shinobi develops during their lifetime.

No, best to keep it vague this time.

“Keep working,” you summarize. “You’ll get it, I’m sure.”

…

After falling off a few more times, even Kae-hime – unsteady as she may be – manages to stand horizontally off the side of a tree. And then she immediately falls off, since she absent-mindedly jumps with joy at her own feat. She laughs it off however, which is good to see.
>1/2

>>6054108
Later that day, a class activity arises. Evidently there’s going to be a festival honoring well-known shinobi from Konohagakure both living and gone, and Himawari’s year is supposed to be putting on a play about the Sannin. And as a treat to the class, Tsuna-dono will be the one watching trials to help pick students for the important roles.

Predictably Kae-hime – the only real-life princess available – is chosen as fitting the role of Tsunade by the woman herself. The retired Hokage even gives Kae-hime a few pointers on how to style her hair to match Tsunade’s look at the time when the play is supposed to be set. Himawari is chosen as the lead stagehand, which is an important behind-the-scenes role, because she can see ‘the scenes’ clearly even from ‘behind’ them using her byakugan. Meanwhile, in your own head, you debate what to do. It’s clear you have to participate, since conventional wisdom is that defending someone at a large event like this is much more complicated than the opposition role. You want to stay close.

But how?

>You can probably nail a pretty good Katsuyu – a role that your teammates may get a kick out of as a little bonus for them.
>You actually fought alongside Jiraiya. Getting his role ‘right’ would be a cinch and would put you closest to Kae-hime.
>A role behind the curtain would give you some freedom that a stage role might not. And besides, it’s kind of interesting.
>Other?

>>6054112
>>You actually fought alongside Jiraiya. Getting his role ‘right’ would be a cinch and would put you closest to Kae-hime.

>>6054112
>>A role behind the curtain would give you some freedom that a stage role might not. And besides, it’s kind of interesting.

>>6054112
>>You actually fought alongside Jiraiya. Getting his role ‘right’ would be a cinch and would put you closest to Kae-hime.

>>6054112
>>A role behind the curtain would give you some freedom that a stage role might not. And besides, it’s kind of interesting.

>>6054112
Testing hotel wifi

>>6054112
>1d6 best three of four

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>6054565

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>6054565

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>6054565

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>6054565

>>6054565
Your initial thought is that you should probably avoid the attention of taking center stage, instead favoring the more distanced, low-key position of a backstage assistant. While your teammates will be in the audience actively searching for possible threats, you’ll be able to dedicate your whole attention to serving as the ‘trap’ for a would-be assassin who tries to get close to Kae-hime while she’s on the stage.

“Hey, Kagerō-kun, you’re up!”

A hand pushes you from behind while you’re considering your next move, and before you realize it you’re standing in the open looking straight at Tsuna-dono. She looks back at you, her expression curious, leaving you just a second or two to come up with something based on your limited – but considering your age extraordinary – personal experience with Jiraiya himself.

Well, cue the dramatic poses and the booming, kabuki-style voice.

“The white-haired toad tamer… the man with no enemies in the north, in the south, in the east, or in the west… the master sage of Myōboku-zan… favorite of the ladies in every Nation! Only those with evil in their hearts need fear, for that gallant Jiraiya-dono stands now among you!”

After doing the full physical routine that went with that little introduction, you finish with a dramatic pose which you hold, making direct eye contact with Tsuna-dono. Her expression, at first, is unreadable. But you’re a damn jōnin – holding that eye contact isn’t the hardest thing you’ve ever done. One of the more awkward things recently, that’s for sure, but not the hardest.

“Kagerō!” you hear Fūma-kun hiss behind you. “What the heck was that!?”

“A real man thinks lightly of himself,” you reply, still making eye contact with Tsuna-dono, “and deeply of the world.”

“That was…”

“Excellent,” Senjū Tsunade declares, rising to her feet with a slight smile. “It’s been a long time since I was reminded so strongly of Jiraiya.”

Most of your class is left completely aghast.

“It’s true, when things were serious he was exactly how most people think of him,” Tsuna-dono recalls. “But I think he’d love it if more people remembered him as a goofball who was only ever serious when he had to be.”

Then she puts a hand on your shoulder. “You should play him exactly like that – I know a lot of us older folks would love to see it. But tell me something before we move on to casting Katsuyu… how did you know to play him like that?”

>I’ve heard stories about that time Orochimaru attacked the village… some people saw him doing it.
>Oh, my mom told me about her experiences with him once. I kinda played off that.
>He wrote that book series, right? That got a film adaptation with Koyuki-hime? The one about...
>Other?

>>6055093
And that first one refers to people seeing Jiraiya striking poses and shouting his own entry monologue. Just to be clear.

>>6055093
>>Oh, my mom told me about her experiences with him once. I kinda played off that.
>>He wrote that book series, right? That got a film adaptation with Koyuki-hime? The one about...
"Our mother was a huge fan" isn't techincally a lie ...
Also, what the fuck is the thought process to get to that on the fly?

>>6055093
>>Oh, my mom told me about her experiences with him once. I kinda played off that.

>>6055093
>Mom talked fondly about him from time to time. I think she was a fan of his.
>He also wrote that book series, right? That got a film adaptation with Koyuki-hime? The one about... y'know.