[x] (Write in): You're My Teammate and My Friend, You Amnesiac Assface
[x] Tell Sugiyama you miss them. If you're too much of a coward just say you miss not having a medic and chakra exhaustion medicine, baka! They'll understand the subtext
A feeling seemed to come out from behind his own thoughts, like a bug crawling out from underneath a rock. It was a feeling momentarily so powerful that he was entirely consumed by it, his head spinning… but he suddenly found himself startled by some rustling in the bushes. Kakashi twisted his head to stare over his shoulder.
Kakashi's hair stood on its end, and he could feel his skin break out with goosebumps. Adrenaline shot through his body, for no particular reason at all.
This kinda seems like the thing they would hammer in at the academy as a sign of mind fuckery, but in fairness I suppose genjutsu is the only real example most ninja are aware of and he ruled that out. (I suppose he didn't rule out that he was EARLIER in a genjutsu but not anymore though. Some kind of "truth lost in fog" type deal...)
The well-crafted boat would swim through the crests of the waves as well as the troughs, but the motion of the ocean would discern the true vessel from the imposter.
This may have already been confirmed but it's interesting to me that Sugi is not from Honey despite living there so long... I wonder which clan they are a ghost of? I also like Luna's theory that they're a more important ghost than we realize
It was Shizuka's watch, but he found himself unable to sleep for some reason. Nobody had run into the traps that he had set up in the barn above, including the old farmer or two other ones. An animal did trip some explosives that he had set on the outer perimeter a few nights before though, and it was annoying as hell to fiddle with it to make it look natural.
Kakashi flipped one of the last pages of Icha Icha: Diamonds Are Unbreakable. It had taken him much longer than usual to get through it, which was saying something given his usual speed. He was feeling unusually tired at night lately, and sleep was important to grab when you could get it. Still, for some reason he was having some major problems concentrating on the story. The words just bled through his mind and leaked out his ears like quicksand.
I know this was technically my idea, but still I love it, leave it to Kakashi to notice something is off about his consumption of Icha Icha of all things, finally helping him to get through the effect
Think it was some kind of bug-like chakra beast. But Alpha popped a moment later and I felt what it thought Beta's memories were, and it didn't see any chakra beast, it saw a ninja.
Why do I keep saying there's an empty spot on the map? Is something messing with my memories? I've been noticing weird things, strange thoughts, blindspots, wandering attention.
I need to get Shizuka and rest up. Whatever this is, it's dangerous, and I need someone watching my back, and I don't want to confront it while dry on chakra.
The ninja wire tying Kakashi to the sled was tight and cut into his skin. Kakashi could probably have snapped it with chakra-enhanced strength, but he would have injured his hands and legs in doing so, and the adversary had already overpowered them once, presumably in a context where Kakashi had access to Hiding Like a Mole. Kakashi wasn't notably injured but he could feel his chakra was low. It was probably a genjutsu user.
Once he was done tending to himself, he stood up and surveyed the area. The sky was growing steadily lighter as the sun rose to the east, and he could tell they were in a forested part of Honey.
Kakashi idly wondered as the morning sunlight started to shine through the leaves overhead if Minato-sensei could have found a way to diplomatically explain to a stranger that your plan had been to knock them unconscious and tie them up, and still remain somewhat friendly.
Shizuka's voice had a forceful, rhythmic way of speaking that reminded Kakashi of some of the jounin field commanders that he had met in the Third War.
The other Clans have been the ones attacking us! We've been losing ninja on patrols, and we've pulled back into our cities to stay away from their aggression while Lord Jinraku plans out our counterattacks. Our harvest was fertile, yet thanks to the attacks of the other Clans, we've barely managed to collect enough food to last us through the winter!
"I don't know," Shizuka said. Shizuka turned to look at him and he met her gaze. "Do you have something in mind? Hopefully not anything involving a discussion on your… books…"
Huh, Kakashi thought. Right, I think she mentioned something about knowing genjutsu at some point, didn't she? Or maybe she didn't. I wonder if she's better than I am at it?
Shouldn't be too hard given that he has a 20 in it and can't even do it without the Sharingan... Note to self, learn genjutsu the normal way so shadow clones can use it
It's a shame I don't have any ninjutsu that grant increased hearing capability.
I should make one of those one day, Kakashi thought. Either after grabbing the Wind Element or once I'm good enough to make non-elemental ninjutsu of that caliber.
"Ritual sealing array… powerful artifacts from the sage, I'm sorry?" Jinraku spoke slowly, as if his mouth had never formed those words in quite that order before, and his tongue was finding it a clumsy task.
Fortunately there was a scene in Icha Icha: Diamonds are Unbreakable where Yuta had to bring up a topic for discussion and then immediately lie about his knowledge of its existence. Kakashi had probably read that scene two hundred times by now, had committed it to memory, and had probably mimed it out loud several times by this point too.
I Hate the Antichrist refers to a series of memes, including image macros and Rage Comics, referring to the United Nations (UN) as "the antichrist," a beli
knowyourmeme.com
"Come out, you have to socialize with freakshows!"
"I hate clan heads! I hate clan heads! I hate clan heads!"
Most ninja he knew didn't see the value in carrying around several weeks worth of hot meals on their person. Kakashi maintained that it was an excellent idea, and that anyone with enough money to buy several dozen storage seals and a few hundred hot meals should do so regularly. It was the biggest time saver when it came down to training, and it beat the sap out of eating field rations on a mission.
Kakashi speculated that the fact that the world wasn't currently ruled by a clan of fuinjutsu gods was strong evidence that nobody out there had a bloodline that was specifically geared to be useful for fuinjutsu. Now that would be some bullshit.
"I'm not buying stale bread!" Kakashi said, voice raising to a shocked half-yell. "What sort of… uh, pardon me. Cultural differences, I guess. Would I have any luck if I walked around and offered to outbid folks for their food? That way everyone is happy, and they can still get whatever they ordered later on."
The civilian members of the clan were masters of working honey into their recipes. Kakashi resolved to grab a few jugs worth of the stuff at the next available opportunity.
Going to meet with this Jinraku guy for that second meeting. Two Chuunin guys at the door, something about a hive? Writing this down in case of weird memory shit.
The Shipwreck surged forward, lunging for their throat. Sugiyama moved with speed they didn't know they had, speed they thought they had long left behind, but it wasn't enough.
Wait what? What happened to her??? That doesn't bode well. That reminds me, what's up with everyone getting taught by an old crone? Is there an international cabal of crones running things? When does Kakashi get one
"And didn't you suggest that Hatake, as the only ninja to… successfully pull off a coup in recent memory is the kind of person you want to help you deal with the shellheads in a more permanent way?"
If you consider the complete dissolution of Hidden Glacier to be a coup, then sure... Then again, Kimiko only suspected the others wouldn't follow her. Maybe she was strong enough to compel them after all, in which case... better start leveling Fire Dragon Bullet lmao
"Look, I'm a very lazy person. It's what happens when you reach jounin, trust me. I've seen your clan head's comfy chair."
They seemed to take that remark in stride, or if they didn't at least they gave up on being overly suspicious. The chuunin duo left the room, and wandered off down the honeycomb shaped hallway.
Kakashi Alpha followed right behind them, furniture and all.
They had to duck into some flower bushes to evade a grumpy clan elder that was hobbling about with a cane, but barring that, their route was pretty uneventful.
One of the noble beings that your kind has forgotten over the years. I've been here long before you, and I'll still be here long after your kind has been ground back into the dirt.
Kakashi quickly looked back with Obito's eye at the beast, and gasped as he realized that the Sharingan was somehow still giving him some precognitive vision of the being's movements.
And a blast of killing intent ripped through the rooftop of the Hokage Tower in Kakashi's mind, blowing bits of stone and shingling sky-high. It was unlike anything Kakashi had ever seen or felt before. It was so strongly concentrated that it was a physical force.
Is this what strong killing intent looks like from inside the mind? Kakashi thought, as the backsplash of the blast washed over him and sent a shiver down his spine. This definitely shouldn't be possible in the real world.
Kakashi tried to grab on to the hazy figure of his long dead friend, but his fingers passed right through him. He tried to read Obito's lips to understand what he was saying, but it was impossible with all of the warping that was happening. He tried to speak, to say something, but the words just didn't come out.
The man blinked his eye and looked around. He was tied to a chair. There were seals all over the room.
…
…
...
Those are complicated seals.
There was a bit of rubber tubing connected to some sort of glass vial. He looked down and saw that it was stuck in his right arm. The man looked to his left arm.
Hatake Kakashi sat there in complete silence as his soul was torn into bits and pieces by grief, and loss, and confusion. He sat there in complete silence, not moments after he was forced to fight for his life in the blurry confines of his own mind. He sat there in complete silence, though the storm of emotions and stress and feelings and pain and anguish and memories and relief and hate and love and desperation and and and raged on inside the depths of his soul like a spear of lightning tearing its way through the heavens above the cloud cover.
Hatake Kakashi did what he always did in moments like these.
He picked all of it up. All the grief, memories, old scars, new wounds, and all of the things that were weighing him down, both body and soul.
He picked all of it up, and he put it in a box and closed the lid. Firmly.
And the raging lightning dimmed down, at least enough that he could bear it.
That got him four impassive looks and a nervous glance from one of the two ninja that was standing at Jinraku's side. That ninja, a kid that looked no older than sixteen was fidgeting slightly.
I can't believe they're using a wind jutsu, Kakashi Alpha exclaimed mentally. And it looks like it covers most of the central shaft! I'm going to save so much chakra on this, they really made it easy.
At the apex of his ascent, Kakashi Alpha turned and faced straight down, towards the rock ledge and the hive filled with angry buzzing insects and clouds of dusty pollen that were being churned about with wind chakra.
Flammable clouds of pollen.
Insects that didn't take too well to fire and smoke.
Walls covered in waxy, papery substances that didn't look like they'd fair much better.
As Kakashi flew forward, he closed Obito's eye and stopped burning chakra. It was risky, but he was already running dangerously low on chakra, and every spare Substitution could count in a life or death fight.
Because I told that person that I'd handle it, he thought. That I wouldn't leave comrades behind. I told Shizuka that I'd handle the rest. I talked with her a while ago about whether or not we could team up and accomplish each other's objectives.
Kakashi thrust his arm forward into a jab. It was as fast as he could possibly move, but it still seemed so slow, as if he was moving through tree sap. The dragon-shaped chakra construct materialized and lanced forward, quicker than any normal human could perceive. Almost quicker than any normal ninja could react.
Lucky for me that I get to cheat.
Kakashi had Obito's eye locked onto the outermost edge of his Chidori as it cut through the air. The ninjutsu whined and whirred and shrieked, like a thousand different birds screeching all at once, a cacophony of noise. Kakashi focused intently on the very tip of the shroud, the portion just beyond his fingers that did all of the cutting work.
And for the span of a heartbeat, that tiny portion of the jutsu's effect was perfect.
The tip of his outstretched hand reached the apex of its thrust just as the dragon of lightning slammed into it.
The shell of lightning chakra around his hand wobbled and bent, and Kakashi thought for a moment that it would shatter.
zbztnm!
But it held fast, and Kakashi could feel his hand cut…
The construct that formed the skeleton and backbone of the Lightning Dragon Bullet ninjutsu sliced itself neatly in half, the dragon rending itself in two under the weight of its own velocity. Tendrils of electricity exploded outwards at the boundary and ripped into his body, forcibly tightening his muscles, and Kakashi felt himself stiffen up. It was painful, but it was nothing special, so he endured it. Kakashi had shocked himself dozens of times while experimenting with lightning ninjutsu.
Kakashi sailed through the air towards the elder, arm outstretched, immobile.
The man tried to dodge, but he hadn't kept up with his calisthenics in his old age. Kakashi's hand, still ramrod-straight and covered in a quickly-disintegrating Chidori-effect, slammed into the old man's shoulder.
They were running through the forest, two miles away from the Sasu compound and surrounding village. More accurately, Shizuka was running, and Kakashi was being carried over her shoulder like a pile of vegetables.
Okay Kakashi was a homie for not leaving her behind, but the same is true of her. If she just sprinted away now her odds of survival would probably be better
The gods screamed incoherently from the wreckage of the shelving. There was one lone statuette still upright on the quarter-shelf that remained, and it quickly tumbled down onto the floor. It bounced and rolled, skittering underneath the Shipwreck's foot as the giant stepped forward in his pursuit of violence. There was a splintering crunch, as if a priceless and irreplaceable object had shattered itself into a million pieces, and the Mud Frog's voice went silent.
I made a deal with the frog, the sword explained patiently. Besides, I think there's someone else coming in from the street. They seem strong, maybe you can kill them and feed me their blood?
Zabuza readied the Executioner's Blade into an all-purpose stance as the door slammed open and Tsunade of the Legendary Three strode through the door. The legendary ninja spared him a quick glance, let out an incredibly haughty snort, and then walked right past him. She jabbed an index finger into the fortune teller's shirt.
"It's not my job to spank you today, but I'll gladly mail your corpse back to that scrawny Mizukage to collect the bounty on your head. I spend my money on charity, drinking my ass to sleep, and gambling myself into a deep hole in the ground. Do you have a fucking preference on what I should use the bounty for, or are you going to get outta town so fast that I'll have to update your bingo book entry with space-time bullshit?"
The wall exploded into shrapnel as Zabuza ran out the other side of it, as easily as if it was made of rice paper and dry leaves.
Though if you would like your fortune read, I would be happy to oblige for a small fee."
"Heh, no thanks," Tsunade responded. "I know what that's going to come out to be. Want something for the wall? Sorry that I scared that Mist brat into fucking off right into it, but I figured he was up to no good in here anyway."
That reminds me, what's up with everyone getting taught by an old crone? Is there an international cabal of crones running things? When does Kakashi get one
Snow Sword: Use the bonded wielder's Athletics stat instead of Melee Weapons. This Sword is also talkative, and critiques Icha Icha's plot. They have valid points, to Kakashi's disgust. Do you use the sword, and risk losing your love of Icha Icha?
Updated action plan. All the changes are fairly minor: went back in and added Sugiyama's phrasing, verbatim, regarding the Fire Shroud jutsu, added hyperlinks to the parts I have Kakashi reference for QM-convenience, and I added Kakashi referencing the body of the demon he killed at the very end.
The references aren't in chronological order, because spoons. I won't be at my laptop until after voting closes, but ping me for feedback and I'll make what changes I can on mobile! ^.^
[x] (Write in): You're My Teammate and My Friend, You Amnesiac Assface
[-1 FP] Explain all the things. Try (and fail) to keep yourself together. Crying is allowed.
Power slam them with facts
We made an armor jutsu for you. You were happy, and eager to learn it, even though it "bears the mark of the gravekeepers!" We "wove a new form of the blood of reality" for you. Because you got hurt on my watch.
You told me about the Demon origin. Of the Ghost and Firelord Madara. Made me wait until the celebratory bonfire after the fight to tell it, because you had to wait until "the appointed time."
And, I swear on the corpse of the Murakumo spawn I killed, and to all the fading Gods and Spirits that can hear me right now: if you're pranking me, or if this is your drug-addled way of saying that you want to quit traveling with me, then you had better tell me right now, or I'm going to step your training up once I'm healed.
And what if it could be done so easily," Shizuka asked, her voice lowering down to a near-whisper. "What if there did exist a ninja that could stand alone against the Salamander in his place of power, and pry victory from his cold dead fingers? What would your world look like then?"
What if Shizuka isn't talking about the Intangible Man, but her (future) self? She has Hanzou's bloodline, and is immune to the poison gas that, presumably, makes his "place of power" so dangerous. If she gets strong enough, she could kill him.
I also suppose that she could working with the Intangible Man. She learns Summoning, and then teaches it to the Intangible Man, in exchange for allowing him to take the Salamander Scroll once he kills Hanzou.
Realization: Sugiyama did a divination for Kakashi, and saw him dying. Kakashi, obviously, isn't dead. They saw Kakashi's Shadow Clone die (a jutsu which does fucky things with souls), and returned to Honey. Either they deleted their own memory, or Sugiyama left before the Active Mind Effect stopped, meaning their memories were still altered... Or they're trolling, and are about to get some serious training once we heal, of course.
[x] Tell Sugiyama you miss them. If you're too much of a coward just say you miss not having a medic and chakra exhaustion medicine, baka! They'll understand the subtext
[X] (+1 Fate Point) Take aim and Radiant Bolt! Kakashi will spend what FP he has and take a Severe to blast the insect down from range on a suitable perch.
[x] Tell Sugiyama you miss them. If you're too much of a coward just say you miss not having a medic and chakra exhaustion medicine, baka! They'll understand the subtext
"Hold on," Kakashi said. His voice came out in a scratchy whisper. Kakashi swallowed thickly. "Give me a moment or two to think, please."
Sugiyama peered at him. "Of course, take all the time you need. I'll put the teapot on the fireplace."
They stood up to leave the cramped little back room.
"Some lemon with mine, please." Kakashi said. "And not the jasmine herbal tea that tastes like swamp water."
Shizuka nodded politely. "I'll take the same."
Sugiyama looked at the two of them with a slightly raised eyebrow, but eventually the Demon ninja nodded and left the room.
Kakashi closed his eye and sunk back into the bed. It wasn't too well cushioned, which was just how he liked it. He fought the mighty urge to sink back into blissful unconsciousness and stifled the growing vines of weariness that were taking root in his brain. There would be time for that later, but now…
Think Kakashi. How do you convince a traveling companion that has no memory of your shared experiences that they actually happened?
Kakashi focused his attention on the problem and put his mind to work.
The memory erasing effect seemed to be limited to an area of some sort. By all accounts, it had clear boundaries, or his crumpled and worn map of Honey wouldn't have so many markings outlining the region that the Sasu clan lived in. How did it really work?
Tsunade said that Leaf didn't have much information on his movements since he left Snow, but that couldn't be true, since he ran into Dragon in Demon. Did Dragon not report that encounter for some reason, or was Tsunade just not privy to it? Jiraiya was the Sannin that was most involved with Leaf's various intelligence apparatuses, so it was entirely possible that the other two were kept mostly out of the loop, as far as information on Kakashi was concerned.
But that would mean that information about me, or at least the encounter with Dragon in Demon, is classified for some reason, Kakashi thought. Why would that be the case?
Of course, the obvious answer is that for some reason Shizuka and I were swept up in whatever bullshit Jinraku and the other entity were doing in their compound to make people forget about the Sasu Clan. Which would erase people's memories about us.
Tsunade had clearly remembered him, so the effect couldn't have been absolute. Similarly, his original (correct) intel on the number of clans in the region survived it, and his notes in the storage seal weren't changed, so whatever it was, it had to be limited in scope somehow.
There wasn't a great way to immediately verify that they were indeed in that scenario. The only thing that Kakashi could think of was a trip to Demon or tracking down Kagato and asking him. Maybe if they went to Vegetable to track down that farmer from a while back…. But none of those were guaranteed to help, and they took time. Kakashi supposed that he could ask that bartender from a month back if she remembered his disguised false identity, but that was a longshot, and a negative answer was hardly verifiable.
Do I have any possessions? Kakashi thought. The only thing he could think of that would work on that front was the chakra exhaustion medicine, of which Sugiyama should have a used jar worth. Maybe some of the eastern continent clothes he used to disguise himself? Possibly.
So possessions were probably out. What about information? What do I know about Sugiyama that they wouldn't share readily?
The obvious candidate was the fire ninjutsu that Kakashi made for Sugiyama, as well as the names of the other fire techniques that Kakashi knew that they knew. That would probably be helpful, but it was theoretically possible that Kakashi could find that out from another source. It was also possible that the memory erasure effect would extend to techniques made and taught by Kakashi as well…
I take it back, Kakashi thought. I'd much rather be dealing with Tsunade than this nightmare.
How close were Shizuka and he to biting the kunai tip back at the Sasu Clan compound? It wasn't the first time that they had gotten into an altercation with Lord Jinraku, or so Kakashi conjectured from his notes. What had they done the first time? It was a massive stroke of genius and fortunate twist of fate that Kakashi had thought of raiding the office, otherwise they wouldn't have found out anything about the situation.
Wouldn't have run into the Murokami… Murokimo… the monkey demon thing either. But then it would still be around. From what that thing said, it was the one behind the memory erasing, so that would mean...
Kakashi suppressed a shiver. This whole mess was far too close for comfort, but there was no use focusing on it at the moment. He returned his thoughts back to the problem at hand…
…
…
…
Sugiyama came back through the curtains ten minutes later with a tray balanced in their hands. There was a massive teapot in the middle, three cups of freshly poured green tea, and a dozen wedges of finely sliced lemon. Kakashi leaned forward and took a cup and a lemon wedge, ignoring the protests that his aching muscles were giving him. Using an excessive amount of chakra beyond one's natural reserves had some serious and painful physical consequences. A ninja's body was adapted to using chakra to fuel itself passively in a variety of ways. It was why shinobi had to keep up a pretty large diet compared to a civilian.
Kakashi unclasped and took off Shizuka's breathing mask. He gently crushed the lemon wedge over his clay mug, and brought the hot beverage up to his own mask to take a sip of it. It was lemon-y, but bearable.
"So," Sugiyama said. "Was this enough time for you to gather your thoughts?"
Probably not.
Kakashi took another sip of tea. "No, but I guess more time to think won't be incredibly helpful to me in this state, so I'll just come out and say it. The long and short of it is that I think your memories of the last six months have been erased, tampered with, or otherwise altered. Would you like the full story?"
Sugiyama took a long sip of their own mug, clearly chewing over Kakashi's statement. They put the cup back down and the tray and glanced up, their eyes brightened. "Fascinating. I have heard whispers of this dancing across the winds and hints scrawled in the dust that blankets my home. Please, go on."
"Well," Kakashi began. "I guess I could start from when I arrived in Honey last time. But I… I'm not sure where exactly to start, I guess."
Sugiyama sipped on their tea. "Stories generally start at the beginning."
...
…
...
I guess I should just start at the beginning.
What was the beginning?
"Alright," Kakashi said. He nodded slowly. "When I left the Leaf Village, I guess. Or, no, that doesn't really work." He paused and sighed. "I guess… I guess this story really starts last October. October Tenth, to be exact, when the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked my village."
Shizuka leaned forward in her chair and gave Kakashi her full attention.
Right, she probably hasn't heard that. I don't want to relive things blow by blow, but I guess I have to do it sometime, if these two end up sticking around with me for the long-term.
Maybe, just maybe, if I go out on a limb and open up a bit, it'll convince both of them to saddle back up with me. At the end of the day I can't be running around without a medic, I wouldn't survive a month at the current rate. And Shizuka is useful as hell, so maybe if I try to open up a bit she'll be a bit more forthcoming about whatever bullshit she's tangled up in.
Kakashi wasn't delusional. One jounin missing-nin couldn't reliably survive for too long. Eventually, you hit a streak of bad luck and found yourself in a hole that you couldn't dig yourself out of. With his bounty and the amount of interest he generated, it was only a matter of time before someone took him out.
Alright, here goes nothing.
"My name is Hatake Kakashi, some call me the Copy Ninja. I was a recently promoted Jounin of the Hidden Leaf Village, and a lieutenant in Leaf's ANBU division."
There was no discernible reaction to that from either of them, so he continued.
Kakashi began at the beginning.
"I was standing in a group of jounin and chuunin that were being held in reserve. I could tell that something was going on, and I was itching to help. My sensei was the Fourth Hokage, and I … Well, I couldn't just stand there and do nothing while he was fighting for the village, so…"
o-o-o
Kakashi was just wrapping up telling of his adventures in Snow when he took the first proper break. He had to take a few moments to calm himself after vaguely retelling the parts about Minato-sensei and Aunt Kushina's deaths, and the aftermath, since his voice had gotten a little hoarse. He had skipped over some of the more emotional bits of what remained of his time in Leaf, not caring enough to go over it in extreme detail again.
"Hold on," Sugiyama said. "Are you still in possession of this cursed necklace?"
Kakashi blinked. "I think so." He reached into one of his flak jacket's larger pockets and brought out a rolled up bundle of cloth. He unrolled it, revealing three items. First was Minato-sensei's Flying Thunder God kunai, a small tri-tipped projectile weapon forged out of chakra metal that had some intricate fuinjutsu finely etched into it. It simply wasn't safe to store anything with active sealwork inside of a storage seal. That led to bad things.
Second, was the hilt and broken blade of his father's old weapon, the White Fang Tantou. The weapon actively resisted being placed inside of a storage seal, or at least any storage seal that Kakashi had made. The seals had obstinately refused to put either the hilt or the blade of the weapon inside. The strange metals of the blade seemed to leave a very faint white blur behind if you swung them around. Kakashi had no idea how that worked, and none of his various teachers had any idea either.
The last of the three was the Kazahana heirloom. It was a cylindrical necklace that was carved out of a crystal, probably emerald, if Kakashi's guesses were accurate. It had a number of tiny facets across the surface, and it seemed to reflect light from them in a very pleasing rainbow color if you moved it around.
Kakashi held the heirloom out to Sugiyama. The Demon ninja did not reach for it, but they brought their face close to the object and studied it intently. Eventually they look up from their inspection and gave Kakashi a shrug.
"It is a very curious object," Sugiyama said. "But I cannot discern anything more than that. If it is truly a curse necklace, then it is a subtle one. Do you believe it to be cursed? Why would someone wear a cursed object such as this, do you think?"
Kakashi snorted. "Well, carrying it around doesn't give me resistance to spicy foods, I'll tell you that much."
Sugiayama blinked.
"Ah, you uh, said something to that effect a few weeks ago."
"Did I?" Sugiyama said. "Interesting. Apologies for delaying our return to the tale that you were so expertly telling."
"You could have left that ninja to die," Shizuka said suddenly. Her lips were pursed, her eyebrows pushed together in thought. "The one that Rouga shot with the icicles. You were up against two jounin, and both seemed to have extensive combat abilities. Why engage the way you did?"
"Well, I don't know," Kakashi said. "Split-second combat decisions, right? I guess I felt responsible for the situation, enough to step in to try to bail her out. She was wounded while acting on my instructions, right? What else could I do?"
"I see..." Shizuka said. She seemed to think about his answer.
"Right, anyway, so I took a boat off…"
o-o-o
"Oh come on," Shizuka yelled. "An entire city that's haunted by spirits and ghosts at night? That's…"
Shizuka suddenly fell silent.
"Yeah," Kakashi said. He scratched the side of his mask. "I thought so too, but given what we just went through…"
Sugiyama looked troubled. "You said that I had given you the information on how to contact the Butterfly organization? And that I had explained to you some of the lore regarding spirits and fire?"
"Yes," Kakashi said. "Though, admittedly, I was pretty skeptical about the spirits at the time. I probably should have taken you more seriously."
"Hmm," Sugiyama said. "You also paint yourself as quite the overbearing teacher. Though, I must admit, if you speak true then that exercise regimen explains how I was able to dodge the Shipwreck's hastily swung strike. Continue."
o-o-o
"And then you explained the significance of the rusty necklaces, and the meaning of the title 'ghost' insofar as it relates to missing-nin from Demon Country. You ended the story by dramatically dropping the name of the antagonist, which I found surprising because it was Uchiha Ma—"
"Stop." Sugiyama said. Their sharp interjection broke no argument.
Kakashi stopped, raising an eyebrow as he did so.
"Superstitious though it may seem," Sugiyama continued. There was an incredibly stern expression on their face. "I would prefer if you refrained from mentioning names such as that man's, or any epithets or references to him that you may have heard spill forth from my lips. Though that man has likely moved on to the next life, it is still a precaution worth taking. Some taint requires many cycles of the Great Wheel before it is cleansed off of one's spirit. The name of a thing is always associated with the thing it names, but so too is the namer themselves. You would not want to be cursed with misfortune by associating with that one."
Kakashi looked at Sugiyama. They were completely serious as far as he could tell.
"Duly noted. I'll try to keep that in mind," Kakashi said. "Alright, so anyway…"
o-o-o
"… and then Shizuka dragged me here, I guess. I don't remember that part. And here we are."
"Hmm," Sugiyama turned to Shizuka. "And you can vouch for the portions of this that you were present for?"
"Yes," Shizuka nodded. She bit her lip. "Though I think that Hatake took some artistic liberties with some portions of it, most everything he said is true, to the best of my knowledge."
"I see." Sugiyama said. They took a deep drag from their newly lit pipe, and acrid multicolored smoke filled the room. They took a few more dregs and turned towards Kakashi. "Do you have any more evidence to corroborate your tale? The Mantis Summoner's word would be enough, but I must confess that I remain interested."
How do they still not believe me? Kakashi was getting exasperated at this point. Why is it that no one believes me when I come to them with evidence? Nobody in Leaf wanted to believe shit about a conspiracy. Now I have to deal with this eastern continent shit too?
"What else do you want?" Kakashi said. Frustration and sparks of anger colored his voice. "I can mention the time that you slapped me out of a crappy trauma flashback, or go into details about how we escaped the cave-in. You could compare the chakra exhaustion medicine jars, and verify that they're of similar make and that the substances inside are the same. I could show you the many disguises I've worn throughout this continent, or tell you about how you and that farmer hid so well that it took me four fucking hours to find you. Is that good enough?"
"I did not—"
"Or, how about this," Kakashi kept going. "I could talk to you in detail about how you still haven't read my goddamn fortune. Or how I loaned you my Icha Icha collection during the Summoner Training with Kagato! I'm telling you the truth here!"
"I did not imply that you were doing otherwise, Copy Ninja, I simply wished to ask for curiosity's sake." Sugiyama said. They turned to him. "Now answer me this, suppose that I did in fact have memories of these events, and I was using my skills in the arts of storytelling and misdirection to allow you to believe otherwise. Suppose that is the case, what is your reaction to that?"
...
…
...
"You what?," Kakashi said. His temper short-circuited and he found himself upright in the small little bed. "No, don't fuck with me like that. Don't you dare!"
Shizuka stood up and walked forward. The Rain ninja placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "Hatake, you are a bit addled, maybe it's—"
Kakashi shook the arm off. "No, I've had a hell of a time the last couple days, what with a pair of shitty demons fucking around in my head, and I won't sit here and have my chain yanked." He jabbed an index forward at Sugiyama. "Listen here you, you amnesiac ass-face! If you are just pretending to not remember, then I'm not having any of it. It's not funny, do you hear me? It's not funny! I swear, on the sizzling goopy body of that Murakami thingy, on the body of whatever the fuck was pretending to be the Sasu Clan Head, and on all of the nameless little gods and spirits and whatever the fuck else runs around this world that you pray to. I swear on Obito and Rin and Minato-sensei. On every single ally and family member whose name is etched into the memorial stone in the Leaf village.
"I. Am. Not. Making. This. Up."
The room was silent except for Kakashi's somewhat-labored breathing. He blinked a clear salty liquid out of his eye. Sweat probably. Why was it so damn hot in here?
The fortuneteller stared at him. Shizuka looked back and forth between the two of them.
"I think I'll go get some more tea ready," Shizuka said. She got up and collected the empty tea mugs and the tea pot and deftly placed them on the tray before leaving the room.
Sugiyama took another dreg from their pipe and blew out a cloud of red-colored smoke. The fortuneteller gave him a long, hard look, as if they were mentally placing Kakashi on a scale to measure his weight.
"Sorry," Kakashi said, lamely. "I got a bit too carried away there."
…
…
…
Was that not the right thing to do? Kakashi thought. Maybe he was being too overbearing. Too honest? He should've probably been a bit more reserved, but the situation was just so ludicrous, and the thought of it just being a prank was just…
…
…
…
Eventually, after an eternity, Sugiyama spoke.
"I believe you," Sugiyama said. The Ex Demon-nin took another puff of whatever ludicrous substance they usually smoked. "Your story has too many details, but above that, your reaction to my suggestion is entirely genuine. You are not lying to me. I believe you."
Thank the Will of Fire. Kakashi thought. He gave a sigh of relief and sunk back into the bed.
"For the record," Sugiyama said. "I have no memory of these events taking place. The suggestion that I was simply pretending otherwise was entirely to gauge your reaction. My apologies, but I judged it necessary. Thank you for deciding to share all of this with me."
Kakashi deflated somewhat. "Yeah, no problem. It seemed like the right idea."
He stared off into space for a bit.
"Do you expect something similar is going on with Kagato's memories of us, or other people we've interacted with?" Kakashi asked. "Do you know anything about these creatures in particular? Or what was going on with the Sasu clan?"
"You mentioned that the being you encountered in the Clan Head's office was of the Murakumo?" Sugiyama asked. Kakashi gave a quick nod, and they continued. "I recall that this was one of the many titles of one of the old gods, long ago. One that was associated with the void between the stars, and the empty space between things." Sugiyama shrugged. "Perhaps this spirit was uniquely suited to consume the memories about particular concepts. Spirits capable of standing within the Human Path are quite rare, but not entirely unheard of in these parts. Most all of them left centuries ago, but there are still some stragglers it seems. Such things do not look kindly on shinobi, so it's best to be on one's guard regardless."
Kakashi took that in. "So, is this something we have to worry about in the future? Random spirit entities with strange memory-eating powers?"
Sugiyama shook their head. "Unlikely, like finding a needle in a haystack. Most beings like that cannot make their way onto the Human Path any more without assistance. The motion of the Great Wheel is too strong for them to make the journey. One capable of doing as you described would be mighty indeed, almost certainly a holdout from ancient times. You mentioned that there was a notebook that spoke of ritual sacrifice? That is one way that such entities can siphon off streams of power and energy, perhaps enough to influence events unseen. You should perhaps ask the Mantis Summoner for more information. The denizens of the Seventh Path are much more knowledgeable on such things, from what I can recall.
"I do not anticipate that the specific circumstances you faced are likely to happen in the future. Possible? Certainly, but unlikely. As to how this has impacted any other individuals… it would be almost impossible to say without speaking with more people. Discussing things with the Mantis Summoner would be a good first step."
Huh. That's good to know, I guess?
"What say you to a fresh start, Copy Ninja?"
Kakashi looked up. "Huh?"
"A fresh start," Sugiyama repeated. More smoke dribbled into the air. This time purple. "Betwixt you and I. I do not have any memories of these travels, but I believe that they happened, and that they count for something. Perhaps we can once again become traveling companions. Maybe someday even friends. Though I don't think that is within either of our capacities at the moment."
Kakashi paused and thought it over.
Sounds like a good deal to me.
"Sure," he said. "Why not, right?"
Sugiyama put their pipe down and stood up. They walked over to Kakashi's bedside.
"I believe some introductions are in order," Sugiyama said. "Is there some sort of customary tradition that your people have for meeting new teammates?"
"Uh," Kakashi said. Leaf as a whole didn't really have much of a tradition on that front, but a few genin teams tended to go off of the old standard. "I guess? Names, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, that sort of thing?"
"Excellent. I was once called Sugiyama Saku, and I was once a ninja of Demon Country. Now though I simply go by Sugiyama, and I am merely a humble ghost now. My interests are in fortune-telling, gardening, herbalism and medicine, and in collecting religious artifacts from the old times. I dislike thoughtlessness and those devoid of compassion. Of dreams I have little, though I am keen on doing more good than bad throughout this particular life, and on listening to the wisdom that the nascent deities of old tend to whisper from time to time."
Sugiyama extended a hand forward.
Kakashi blinked and took the proffered appendage, shaking it.
"My name is Hatake Kakashi," he said. "They call me the Copy Ninja. I like baking, making ninjutsu, and reading books, particularly Jiraiya's Icha Icha series. I dislike those who let their comrades down. My dreams for the future… I need to track down a certain man and kill him, and I also need to find out the answers to a couple mysteries."
Kakashi trailed off and glanced down at his bed-ridden body. "… which I guess I'll get around to eventually. "
Hurrying forward on that front by myself hasn't really helped me all that much, and I need to work on some of my skills before I can come close to accomplishing my goals. I'll need to acquire some teammates that can help me out too. Long ago, I learned that teamwork was pretty important, and that you couldn't do everything yourself. I guess I managed to forget that somewhere along the way.
The two missing-nin finished their handshake. Sugiyama lifted their pipe up once more.
"So, Copy Ninja," Sugiyama asked. "Besides a copious amount of medical attention, what is on your agenda? What is the next thing you would like to do to accomplish your goals?"
Kakashi thought long and hard.
"Take a nap," Kakashi answered. "For about three days. Maybe talk to Kagato? Mission complete, explain the situation, yadda yadda. Other than that…"
Kakashi shrugged. "I don't really know. I'm just kind of making this up as I go along, truthfully. I don't have a plan until I need one. That's just kind of how I do things. Hatake Kakashi, always too late or just in the nick of time. I guess I'm just… lost."
Yeah, it certainly feels that way.
Kakashi chuckled slightly. "Lost. Yeah, that's me. Lost on the road of life."
At that moment Shizuka walked back through the curtains with a fresh pot of tea. Sugiyama turned their head for a moment, as if they were listening for something in the front room. The fortuneteller turned back to him after a moment with a mysterious expression on their face.
"Hmm," Sugiyama said. Their eyes glinted in amusement. "If you say so, Copy Ninja."
Probably two or three more chapters left in this arc to get things straightened out in a sensible manner. There is some mechanical work on my plate a la "write some things up and get them looked over so we can finalize them and get them back to you." That might take a bit depending on how busy we are.
Kakashi still has a pile of Consequences. The Mild will go away after a day or so worth of rest. The Medium will take a couple of days of medical attention. The Severe will likely take weeks, even with medical attention, so whatever you decide to do it's probably a good idea to plan on having that stuck to your character sheet.
Small bonus chapter at some point from me later tonight or tomorrow if I'm up to it.
Voting time! What do you do now?
Here are some options to get you started.
[ ] Seek out Kagato in Demon(?) Country. You managed it once, and the Mantis Summoner still owes you and Shizuka a big favor for dealing with this shit.
[ ] Go hire out a handful of ninja from one of the nearby clans to track Kagato down and deliver a message to him. He can come meet you here, but you are in no shape to be going anywhere.
[ ] Kagato can wait for a bit, but what was it that Tsunade mentioned about Mist ninja being nearby...?
[ ] Kagato can wait for a bit, but you should probably see if anything important has happened in the world while you and Shizuka were trapped in that clusterfuck.
[ ] (Write-in)
Remember, we use approval voting, so you can vote for as many plans as you like. Feel free to ping @Paperclipped or @MMKII to ask setting or detail questions that Kakashi could plausibly know.
Voting is open, and closes at 12pm London time, Saturday June 11th.
aw
