- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
We're going to drag Kakashi to mental wellness, whether he likes it or not!
Lost on the Road of Life (An AU Naruto Quest)
- Thread starter MMKII
- Start date
- Location
- The state of Paranoia
[X] (Reject Compel, -1 FP) Accept Kagato's wishes and stay behind. Once the fight is finished in an hour, bring Kagato with you and follow the Intangible Man (and Dragon).
- Location
- The state of Paranoia
Dragon fights like a sweat in Fortnite. Push and overwhelm the enemy to keep them off balance, and then go for the kill as soon as possible. Probably because the strategic philosophy for MfD ninja and Fortnite are the same, maneuver warfare. You want to keep your opponent off balance and finish them off as fast as possible, using whatever weaponry, skills, and movement it takes. Because otherwise they'll have time to do the same to you, and then you'll be on the back foot.
This guy's dangerous.
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- Location
- USA
Turns out, this is a Cosmere x K6BD x Naruto multi-crossover. +1 XP for figuring out a major secret we were trying to keep hidden.
Any videos of what this looks like?
- Location
- The state of Paranoia
Not too many videos of what it looks like from the perspective of the person getting sweated on (a.k.a. my perspective 😛), but if you watch almost any popular Fortnite streamer/YouTuber, most of them do it whenever they aren't intentionally limiting themselves (like with dumb challenge videos). It's the best way to get lots of kills quickly, which keeps their audience entertained.
Here's a particularly good example:
This video is pretty much a crash course on sweat philosophy, despite the title. He's constantly pressuring his opponent, keeping them off guard, and talks about how he's always looking for angles to get a shot in. Even when he's on the defense, he's still on the move and looking to put some distance between himself and his opponent long enough to heal a bit and turn the tables by catching his opponent off guard.
He also talks about singling out opponents so that he can avoid fighting at a disadvantage, which is an application of the maneuver warfare tenet of using mobility to attack enemy weak points (gaps) while avoiding strong points (surfaces).
You'll also probably notice that most of his opponents are being very aggressive too. They're trying to do maneuver warfare too, he's just better at it. Maneuver warfare is easily the prevailing combat philosophy in Fortnite among the good players.
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- Location
- USA
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Interlude: Worn Ground, Worn Memories
- Location
- USA
Interlude: Worn Ground, Worn Memories
"Thank you both for your punctuality!"
The chuunin gave them a shallow bow, and they both followed much more deeply, as a genin should to a superior. Kakashi didn't take his eyes off the man, as a shinobi should never let his guard down around strangers. Neither the man nor the girl that might be his teammate did the same.
Namikaze Minato appeared unimpressive by all marks. After his performance in the final round of examinations at the Academy, Kakashi had hoped to be placed with Uchiha Kaano, or perhaps with Nara Shikaku who he had heard was taking a team this year.
If not them, I wanted at least a jounin. If I couldn't get even that, then why not a ninja from a major Clan, with power and connections? Did Moroka-sensei choose this? Why put me with a clanless chuunin?
The man looked to be a middling height for an adult man, with shaggy and unkempt blond hair and a body neither muscled or slender that wouldn't have looked out of place on a civilian guardsman. His uniform wasn't adorned in any way, just simple navy pants and a forest-green flak jacket.
Not that his teammate looked any more impressive. He had looked up the names of his to-be teammates and sensei ahead of time, and to his knowledge, Nohara wasn't a clan either. The girl, of average height with plain brown hair and eyes, seemed unprepared for life as a ninja. She was visibly relaxed, not showing any sign of alertness or awareness of her environment, and she was keeping her hands clasped together in front of her and looking at Namikaze, rather than keeping them loose and prepared to draw a weapon or cast a ninjutsu.
"It's good to meet you both," said Namikaze, smiling blandly. "I would like to get started with introductions, but there is one more that we're waiting for. Perhaps a small game while we wait?"
Kakashi didn't say anything, but Nohara quickly spoke up, "What game, sensei?"
The chuunin laughed and scratched his forehead. "Ah, you don't have to call me sensei yet. I haven't agreed to take you on as students, after all." He fished through a pocket and retrieved a deck of cards, then dropped to his knees. Nohara followed after a moment. "My sensei's teammate taught it to me. Here, let me deal them out. It's called Pig's Tail. First, we-"
Kakashi turned, dropping his weight slightly as the sound of sloppily placed footsteps on tree branches signalled the approach of a ninja.
"Sorry I'm late!"
A young man came running into the clearing of Training Ground Four and bowed deeply to Namikaze. Kakashi made out the crest of Clan Uchiha on the back of his clothing, just as expected. Good that at least one of his teammates would have any degree of notability. The Uchiha had a simple midnight blue stealth uniform on, with some clan embellishments, and he had a small set of tinted glass goggles on his forehead. He probably used some sort of flash tags in combat.
"Obito!"
Nohara stood and dove at him for a hug which he just barely managed to straighten up in time to turn and catch. They embraced for a moment, Uchiha's face showing clear confusion.
"Rin, you're on this team?"
"How come you're on this team? I thought you already had a sensei!"
"I thought you were studying to be a medic-nin with the hospital!"
Nohara let go of him and took a step back. "I changed my mind."
Namikaze rose smoothly to his feet, sliding the cards off the ground and back into the pack as he went. "Ah, well it's good that the two of you know each other already. That'll speed things up a bit, I hope!" He gestured at the two of them, where Uchiha continued to stare at the slightly-taller Nohara with a confused expression on his face, and they quickly fell into line beside Kakashi.
"Allow me to introduce myself," said Namikaze. "I am Namikaze Minato, chuunin of Hidden Leaf. There haven't been a lot of chuunin and jounin signing up to tutor teams recently, and Lord Third is starting to become concerned that too many genin are going without adequate development, so I decided to consider taking a team."
He smiled again and gestured at Kakashi. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"
"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I graduated the Academy a year early under the supervision of Moroka-sensei. Are there any other details that you would like from me, sir?"
Namikaze laughed and waved a hand around vaguely. "Well, whatever you would like me or your teammates to know. Likes, dislikes, that sort of thing? You don't need to if you don't want to."
"Then I conclude my statement, sir."
Namikaze kept on smiling as he moved his gaze over to Nohara.
"Hello sir! My name is Nohara Rin, and I graduated from the Academy last year! I spent a year at the Konoha Hospital's apprentice program before I decided that I wanted to be a field ninja, so I asked my sensei if I could get on a team. I like mochi, and I dislike… Hm… I dislike candles!"
Namikaze cocked his head a fraction, so she continued to explain. "My family gets candles from Mr. Oba who lives near the Aburame Compound, and he uses a really stinky type of tallow when he makes them. When I would have to stay up late studying, the stink would get in my hair and clothes and everything, and people would make fun of me for it."
Namikaze nodded. "Thank you for sharing." He turned to Uchiha.
"Uh, hi. My name is Uchiha Obito. I'm here 'cause… Well, 'cause one of my teammates from my last team died. My other teammate wanted to go be a medic-nin instead, and my sensei didn't want anything to do with us anymore. So yeah. Uh… I like tonkatsu and I dislike ramen."
Namikaze's eyes went wide. "You don't like ramen? Why not?"
Uchiha shrugged. "I don't know. The water makes the noodles all slippery and slimy, and something about it just makes me not like it."
"Uh huh," said Namikaze, nodding. "I suppose that's fair."
What kind of teacher cares so much about the foods that we like? Why does that even matter to being a good shinobi?
After a moment of thought, he nodded again. "Well, thank you all for your introductions. However, I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to take all of you as students."
He paused for a moment to let it sink in. Kakashi refrained from looking at his erstwhile allies, but he could tell that they shot a look at each other.
"Lord Sarutobi has instructed me to take students, yes, but he didn't say that I had to take a full team of three. My sensei has recently told me that he will finally be training me in one of his own favorite disciplines, so I expect I will be very busy with my own training soon, and besides that I will still need to do C and B-rank missions for my own living expenses. I'm sorry, but I just need to be pragmatic about this," he said with a sad smile.
What kind of sensei is he qualified to be when he's still being taught himself? Will he have the competence to teach me anything of value, rather than just relaying information he himself barely understands?
"Regardless, I am very glad to have met all of you, regardless of how this goes. The person not selected for this team will join a team of genin with no sensei most likely, and be free to take missions as you please. Honestly, as all of you want to be field ninja, this could still be quite valuable for you, and a year of practical experience under your belt could help if you apply for a sensei again next year."
Kakashi nodded to acknowledge the receipt of information. Nohara and Uchiha were whispering and looking his way, as if Namikaze weren't more than ten feet away from them.
Namikaze reached into a pocket and held out a pair of bells, each no larger than a fingernail, which tinkled softly. "I'll only be taking two students at most, though if none of you manage to pass, I'll at least be able to tell the Hokage that I tried to find worthy students. The test is simple: any of you that are holding a bell at noon will become my students."
Kakashi's eyes flicked down to the ground and the shadows at his feet. Given the angle of the sun in springtime, it should be around two hours until noon.
Uchiha had clearly come to the same conclusion. "Hey, if noon is a couple hours away, why should we do anything until then? If we manage to take one by being smart, you'll just chase us down and take it back!"
Namikaze laughed. "You're right, that wouldn't be fair. How about this -- I won't do anything to take a bell from the hand of someone who's holding it. That way, if you take a bell, you'll be able to keep it."
Uchiha nodded. Kakashi asked, "Are there any more rules that we should know?"
Namikaze shrugged. "Ah… no? It's just about getting a bell before noon."
Uchiha and Nohara started to back away from Namikaze, and Kakashi decided to do the same, turning another direction to the trees circling the training field.
"Wait!" called the girl behind him.
Kakashi turned, dropping his stance low to the ground for if he needed to dodge. With only two bells and three students, the dynamics would have to be adversarial, and the two that knew each other would be natural partners. He wasn't sure if he could take both of them at once, given that they already had a year of experience out of the Academy above him, so he flicked his eyes to the woods just behind him to find a dead log for Substitution, just in case.
Nohara jogged up to him, Uchiha a half-step behind her. "We should work together," she said as they came to a stop a dozen steps away from Kakashi.
Kakashi looked at her for a second. "That doesn't make sense," he said, explaining it slowly in case she was confused about the rules. "There are only two bells. Betrayal is inevitable, so we should not waste energy watching our backs."
Nohara nodded. "I know that, but he's a chuunin. We don't have a chance unless we work together."
Kakashi shrugged. "I don't have to defeat him in battle, I just need to take a bell. It might not be beyond me."
Uchiha looked confused. "Are you crazy? He'll pin you to the ground with his weapons before you get close, assuming he doesn't fry you with a ninjutsu, and even if you manage to close range, there's no way you can snatch the bells in hand-to-hand before he beats you up. And if you're beaten up with a bell in hand, we'll just be able to take it."
Nohara gestured at him to be quiet. "We won't need to though, because I'm willing to give up my bell if we need to."
Kakashi and Uchiha turned to look at her and she slumped her shoulders a little, shrinking in. "I meant what I said. I… I don't think any of us will pass if we don't work together, and I can do what I need to do as a normal genin. Besides, since I know Obito's on the team," she said, shooting him a smile that made his ears go red, "I would like to make sure that he has a chance."
Kakashi looked between them to Namikaze, who continued to smile vapidly at their conversation, just out of his earshot. Sage's kneecaps, is he mentally deficient? Does he even blink? He had tied the strings on the little chime-bells to either side of his belt.
Uchiha nodded at her with a straight face, as if acknowledging a teammate that had volunteered for a suicide mission. Kakashi took a moment to size both of them up. Uchiha was maybe five inches taller than him, and Nohara maybe a couple inches taller than that. They had the advantage of age and experience, but Kakashi wasn't totally unfamiliar with fighting people who were bigger and stronger. The instructors at the Academy had gone easy on him, but he knew that he could outdo most of the genin his age, even the ones who were taller than him. Unless Uchiha and Nohara had experience fighting with the advantage of reach, he would probably be able to beat either one of them.
Kakashi sized up Nohara. She had a good seven inches on him in height, and her limbs looked about proportional. She had probably twenty pounds on him too. On the other hand, her muscles weren't visibly developed, and she didn't move with any particular efficiency or grace. She was most likely like the other girls at the Academy then, relatively weak and with neglected combat skills. But still…
"Fight me," said Kakashi, looking at Nohara.
"Wha- What?" said Uchiha.
Kakashi flicked his gaze over to him, then back to Nohara. "I want to know if I will be able to overpower you, should the result of a joint maneuver be that you and Uchiha are holding bells, and you change your mind about not wanting to be on this team in order to be with your friend."
"Yeah right, smart guy," said Uchiha. "Now that you've politely explained your clever plan, what's to stop her from taking it easy on you during the fight and hiding her true strength? You said that if you win, you'll work with us, so all she has to do is let you win."
Kakashi nodded. "I see. Teamwork is impossible then," he said, starting to back away.
"Wait!" said Nohara. "I really mean it, I promise I won't try to take your bell at all. I'll even give it to you first, before Obito, as long as you promise to keep on working with us after that to get the other one, if we haven't got it by then."
Kakashi considered that. She seems sincere… and if we retrieve only one bell, they will have an incentive to give it to me, so that I will continue to help them. From there, I can flee and hide so that they cannot retrieve another. This would ensure me sole attention from the sensei as his only genin-student, which may be even better than the students on teams with jounin get. The only issue is if we retrieve both bells at once…
Then I will need to attack the girl immediately and retrieve the target, then flee. Eliminate the Uchiha if it is convenient to seize both bells for myself, otherwise simply flee. There are worse things than having an Uchiha teammate.
"...Fine, I agree."
Nohara smiled at him, though Uchiha still looked skeptical. The girl spoke after a beat of awkward silence. "So, how about we get a little farther away and discuss plans? I don't know if he can read lips, but we may as well be careful. I've already had some ideas…"
o-o-o-o
Kakashi sidestepped out of the way of Namikaze's snap kick and jumped into a crushing axe kick to break the chuunin's guard. Namikaze dropped low to the ground to dodge sideways, and Kakashi felt Nohara's chakra pulling on him for a Substitution. In an instant, they switched places, Kakashi's axe-kick now a leg-sweep that Namikaze would struggle to dodge with his lowered center of mass while Nohara swung with a wide hook to catch his movement.
To his credit, Namikaze was quite skilled. Together, the genin had done a couple probing attacks, and Namikaze had repelled each one nearly effortlessly before insisting that they try him with their full strength. During one of those probing attacks, he actually walked over to one of the training posts to place a candle on it, apologizing to Nohara even as he evaded her strikes and threw her bodily away. That candle was now half-burned down, marking the limit of their time.
Namikaze lifted his feet off the ground to dodge Kakashi's leg sweep and fell right into Nohara's fist. Sadly, the girl wasn't a fraction as skilled in taijutsu as Kakashi was, and even with chakra-enhanced speed, she wasn't able to exploit the man's disorientation to grab the bells before he Substituted with a log off to the side of the field.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower!"
Namikaze started to run in a random direction still disoriented from the Substitution, but the genin had already figured out his patterns. Uchiha's technique was surprisingly skillful, several motes of burning light tracking Namikaze as he dodged, and one managed to just barely sear through the twine holding one of the bells up. Namikaze grabbed the bell and Substituted with the log again, putting him back between Kakashi and Nohara, but Kakashi had been aiming a side kick at the log as soon as Uchiha got his technique off.
Namikaze let himself get knocked backwards and rolled, and the bell fell to the ground. Kakashi dived for it. Midair, he felt a pulling on his chakra and was suddenly across the field, while Uchiha instead scrambled for the bell.
Kakashi suppressed a growl and smoothed his expression, the mark keeping his mouth from betraying him. Time to teach that Uchiha some humility. Kakashi started to jog over, but Uchiha noticed him coming, bell in hand, and smiled.
"Uchiha, you and Nohara-," Kakashi started.
Uchiha popped the bell in his mouth and swallowed.
"Eat that, sucker!" he said. "Or don't, because I did!"
Kakashi paused. Nohara looked at Uchiha in clear disapproval, while Namikaze stood up and started dusting himself off.
"Congratulations, Uchiha Obito. I think it will be very hard for you to fail the test now. I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised, given Lord Uchiha's glowing recommendation of your skills," he said, applauding softly in a way that just might have been sarcastic.
"You broke our agreement!" Kakashi said, stalking over and pressing a finger to Uchiha's chest, looking up into the older boy's eyes.
"Like you weren't going to?" he asked in return. "I don't need the Sharingan to have basic observation skills! I saw you looking for escape routes and hiding places, and you always put yourself near the logs so you'd have a way out. You were going to leave us to rot just so you could win. Now, at least someone who deserves it can get in!"
Well, serves me right for trusting the loser for even a second.
Nohara put a hand on his shoulder. "Obito, we did promise to work with him. Could you…"
Uchiha gestured at Kakashi. "Look at him, he's not even denying it! You know what he was gonna do, Rin."
Rin looked down. "But still…"
Kakashi stepped back as Uchiha looked down on him with a smug smile. "Fine. Will you continue to help us?"
Uchiha hesitated, then turned to Nohara. "Rin… Do you think you could take a bell? Or will he grab it first? I don't think I want to be on a team with this guy," he said, thumbing over at Kakashi.
Kakashi stuffed down his anger. "Forget it. I'll take one on my own," he said, stalking over to Namikaze, who cocked his head in confusion.
"Apologies, young Hatake, but do you not wish to have the support of your allies if you're trying to get the last bell?"
Kakashi shrugged, rolling his shoulders as he squared off against Namikaze. "I can't trust them, clearly."
"Apologies again, young Hatake," Namikaze said, pointing behind him, "but it does seem like Nohara is willing to work with you unconditionally."
Nohara nodded, approaching, but Kakashi raised a hand to tell her to stop. "No, I want to earn it myself."
Namikaze nodded after a second of thought, then lowered himself into a ready stance. Kakashi sent his chakra surging through his veins like liquid lightning, then blurred towards his senior.
Namikaze blocked his first strike effortlessly, then spun in a wide kick that Kakashi jumped over and kicked out in response, and the dance began.
The flurry of blows was exhilarating. Namikaze pulled his punches to keep the chakra-boosted strength of a mature chuunin from killing Kakashi, but he didn't let his taijutsu falter because of the lack of strength. Every motion was lightning fast, far faster than Kakashi had ever sparred with the instructors at the Academy, and Kakashi was barely keeping up. Every attack that didn't hit was just barely dodged, and every strike gave him long seconds to contemplate his mistakes before he tumbled into a tree. Every time, he got up and kept coming back.
Little by little, he started to learn Namikaze's patterns. The first real hit he landed was a hammerfist on Namikaze's shoulder-pad, completely ineffectual, but the next swiping guard into Namikaze's wrist left him jumping back and shaking out the joint, for the first time the faintest hint of a scowl on his face. Smelling blood in the air, Kakashi chased him down to press him.
Could he really do it? Could he defeat the chuunin-sensei that had been assigned to him? If he could, surely they would get him under a proper jounin to teach him. They might even consider him for promotion if he managed to take down a chuunin as a fresh genin out of the Academy.
Namikaze was stumbling, now on the retreat. His attacks were weaker, slower, and Kakashi could see the patterns in them. He was having so much fun, slowly taking apart an enemy that had pushed him so hard, that once seemed so dominant, he almost forgot his father's words.
Remember Kakashi, the mission comes first. Never forget the mission.
Kakashi blinked mid-strike, and Namikaze took the opportunity to punch him square in the chest.
The mission. He grabbed and chakra-adhered onto Namikaze's arm before he could be sent flying away by the momentum and let Namikaze overbalance himself with the new weight, then twisted around the arm and lunged for the bell. Namikaze was clearly too tired to dodge, his other hand came around to block but Kakashi found extra speed by pushing chakra through his body until it burned. He grabbed the bell and yanked, snapping the twine.
Namikaze jumped away, his expression neutral, and gave Kakashi a short bow. "A good bout."
Kakashi gave him a shallow bow in response. "It was."
Well, he's clearly useless as a teacher if I've already managed to get the better of him. I'll surpass him in a year. Still, his approval is better than his disapproval. Once I'm accepted by him, I can try to find a way to get under a jounin. Maybe Uchiha knows some jounin in his clan that want to earn some favor with the Hokage…
He could see that off to the side, Uchiha and Nohara were gaping at him in surprise. He hadn't been burning chakra when they had fought together, and they hadn't been able to see just how skilled he was. Nohara's taijutsu had been passable while Uchiha's was garbage, but now they saw just how far Kakashi was above them.
Namikaze gestured back to the training post, now on the other side of the training grounds after their bout. "Perhaps ten minutes remain before we have to decide the winners," he said neutrally.
Kakashi nodded and turned to face Uchiha and Nohara, stance guarded. They'll rush me together if they want a chance, and now I'm low on chakra. They probably revoked Substitution permission from me the way I did for them, so I can't confuse them that way. I'll have to Substitute out into the forest, then split. I can probably keep away for ten minutes, especially if I can make it into the city so Uchiha can't use that Fire technique.
Nohara gestured at Uchiha to stand back, and he did, reluctantly. She approached, hands raised placatingly as she stepped over towards him. Kakashi lowered his stance, preparing to flee, but she was moving slowly and cautiously.
She came to within five steps of him, then lowered herself down to her knees and dropped her forehead to the ground.
"Please give me your bell, Hatake! Your skills are incredibly impressive and you'll surely find a sensei somewhere else if not here. Ninja will be lining up to take you as their student and earn themselves a part of your legacy. I have something that I desperately want to be a ninja for and I won't be able to do it unless I get a bell here. Please help me!"
Kakashi looked down at the older girl, prostrated at his feet. After a moment's pause, she looked up, hopeful. He shook his head.
"Hey now, I don't exactly want to be on a team with you, and she's way more of a teammate than you'll ever be!" Uchiha said, stepping forward. Nohara looked like she was about to cry and shuffled back.
"You are welcome to not be on my team," said Kakashi.
Uchiha scowled. "Maybe I should beat the crap out of you and take your bell for Rin. It's not like you can take my bell away from me!"
Kakashi looked at Uchiha passively for a moment, then reached down and fished a kunai out of the holster at his side.
Uchiha quickly backed up, holding up one hand in peace and crossing the other over his stomach. "Whoa, alright, fine. I won't fight you."
Namikaze was crouched down off to the side, comforting Nohara. "Look, all is well, Nohara. Medics are plenty needed among the genin teams," he said, crouching down and gently rubbing her back, "and I'm sure that you would fit in fine. Your taijutsu skills are a little rusty, but your medical skills are incredible, and you would find yourself a wonderful team there."
She sniffled. "I just… I just wanted to be a real ninja."
Namikaze smiled and wrapped an arm around her in a gentle hug, which the girl leaned into. "And you are a real ninja, as the symbol on your forehead proves. You are as real as you need to be right now, and I'm certain that you'll grow up into a wonderful kunoichi that does her best for the village. You'll be someone who earns the gratitude of dozens or hundreds of people in the village, and you'll have deserved every bit of it. To get there, you just need to smile and keep on fighting, okay?"
She sniffled again, half turning her head into his torso. After several long moments, in a much quieter voice than before, she said, "...okay."
Sage's kneecaps, I really have been put into the middle of a bunch of weaklings and softies, haven't I? Useless garbage. I need to talk to Moroka-sensei to see if I can change teams.
Uchiha was watching Nohara's waterworks with less disgust than Kakashi and more pity. After a moment, he stomped over to them.
"Rin, you should have my bell."
"Obito… first, I shouldn't. You earned it."
"It's not about earning. You were the one who made us work together in the first place, so it couldn't have happened without you. And besides, you need this more than I do. Even if I don't get on the team, I'll still have my Clan training, right?"
Hm… he is right, there's no way that someone like Nohara would ever have been able to take a bell off of Namikaze. She can't possibly have earned it, so she'll have to have it given to her. It's a good thing she wasn't able to manipulate the bell out of me.
"But you swallowed it!"
"You're a medic, aren't you Rin? Can't you induce vomiting?"
"I don't know if I can. I don't know how to do it with medical chakra at least, I was never taught that."
On the other hand, Uchiha is a prime example of someone who should be on a genin team. Skills lacking in several areas, but skilled in his specialty jutsu, with a little bit of field experience under his belt. With his bloodline, his growth potential is great. Still, even he couldn't have done it alone.
"Fine, I think I can do it this way?" Uchiha said, starting to poke his finger down his throat. Nohara scrambled to her feet, as did Namikaze. The chuunin took a step back, clearly not wanting to get caught in the splash zone.
"Wait! Before you do that, let me try something," said Nohara, forming handseals and lighting up her hands in green chakra.
So would Namikaze have failed Uchiha, if we all tried to attack alone? Probably not, right?
Though we would never have attacked alone… after getting beaten a few times on our own, we would have banded together. And he wasn't hitting hard enough to injure us, so we would have still had energy to keep going.
But would he have gone easy and let him take a bell?
Nohara was doing something to Uchiha's chest, but it didn't seem to have any effect. Namikaze was watching, clearly curious but keeping his face neutral.
He probably would have. He says he's busy, but if he really wanted to keep the bells away, he could have beaten us in any number of other ways that would have been impossible for us to complete. He could have put the bells in a storage seal while we retreated to talk tactics, or just ran away. His chakra reserves are probably enough to outpace any of us over distance.
Namikaze turned to look at him, meeting Kakashi's gaze drilling into him. Namikaze smiled. "It looks like you will be keeping your bell till noon, young Hatake. Congratulations."
So why didn't he? If he meant to take students, did he only bring two bells to weed out the weakest ones? No, he's not interfering with Nohara taking the bell from Uchiha.
And what if Nohara grabbed the bell first? We worked together to get it, another plan might have seen her grab it. How were we supposed to decide who got which bell when all of us were critical parts of the plan? Uchiha wasn't wrong, she deserves it just as much as he does for their parts in the plan.
Namikaze was still watching him as Uchiha started to gag and Nohara pulled her hands back.
"I'm sorry Obito, I didn't mean to!"
"That's fine. Look, there's only a little bit of wick left. Do it again, I'll pull away if it gets too bad for me."
Did he go easy on me?
He's not a taijutsu-focused chuunin, right? Otherwise I wouldn't have stood a chance. But if he wasn't, then why engage me in hand-to-hand? Again, as a test? He's not obligated to take me as a student, and if he were really as busy as he claimed, he could have Substituted away and hid to avoid me.
And the way he fought was strange… too predictable for a chuunin that's supposedly seen combat, and he tired out faster than I did. And he was just the perfect difficulty for me, just above beating me at first, then just below me afterwards. What are the odds that a randomly chosen chuunin is at exactly that level?
He went easy on me so that I could grab the bell. Why?
Finally, Nohara got Uchiha to retch, and he bent over double, spilling what looked like dinner and a small breakfast onto the grass. If the bell was in there somewhere, they would have to wade through a small pile of vomit, and there was maybe a minute left in the dying wick -- the next strong breeze would end the exercise. He could see the repulsion in Uchiha and Nohara's face as they realized what they would have to do to find the bell, and neither of them were tracking the time as closely as he was.
What was the goal of this? He said that he needed two, but we shouldn't have been able to take a bell without three, except that he was going easy the whole time to make sure that the bells were taken. He wanted there to be two bells out between us three so that we would fight over them? Did he want us to weed out the weakest? Or did he want for one of us to take charge and be a leader? Or...
What did he say at the start?
Kakashi stepped towards the two of them. Uchiha looked up in blatant mistrust, wiping the bile off the side of his lips, while Nohara seemed confused. The flame in the candle was flickering and dying. He held out the bell between two fingers.
"Let's all grab the bell and hold on to it. All three of us, at the same time. He didn't say we all had to be holding different bells to succeed."
Nohara thought for a moment, then reached out, gripping thumb and pointer around the bell, but not pulling it away from Kakashi. Uchiha scowled at him, then rolled his eyes and grabbed onto the bell as well.
They watched and waited as the candle burned out.
Unaligned Player
Agony that desires to meet Extinction
- Location
- Adrift between sanity and madness
- Pronouns
- Shrug
Like a Tabletop Party solving a puzzle with tools very much not intended for it.
- Location
- Liverpool
Good update! Seeing little!Kakashi's thought process was super informative. He actively thinks some things adult(ish) Kakashi now seems to do as a sub-routine. But also it makes it very clear how much the team has influenced his thinking. A good take on a sane version of canon. Also makes me curious to see Kakashi's tutor now.
Also, there's a thought. Special Jonin are basically Jonin except for [over-specialized/clearance/clan politics/etc]. But if money wasn't an issue and you were trying to grind to legendary status, staying a chunin to try and keep under the radar until you were well on your way to hitting S rank seems like the, well, the Ninja thing to do. Because even in this timeline, which doesn't get essentially overlap of conflicting things (like canon), the time from "chunin sensei" to "S rank badass Hokage" is, what, at most 7 years? Not that he couldn't have been at the threshold of Jonin at this point, but still.
Also, love him actively avoiding mentioning Jiraiya was/is his sensei. I can almost hear Kakashi's very quick "I notice I am confused" "my threat assessment just went way up" updates (in deadpan 11 year old trained killer inner monologue, of course).
Also, Nohara was always going to pass, based on this chapter. Real team player, we love to see it.
Also, there's a thought. Special Jonin are basically Jonin except for [over-specialized/clearance/clan politics/etc]. But if money wasn't an issue and you were trying to grind to legendary status, staying a chunin to try and keep under the radar until you were well on your way to hitting S rank seems like the, well, the Ninja thing to do. Because even in this timeline, which doesn't get essentially overlap of conflicting things (like canon), the time from "chunin sensei" to "S rank badass Hokage" is, what, at most 7 years? Not that he couldn't have been at the threshold of Jonin at this point, but still.
Also, love him actively avoiding mentioning Jiraiya was/is his sensei. I can almost hear Kakashi's very quick "I notice I am confused" "my threat assessment just went way up" updates (in deadpan 11 year old trained killer inner monologue, of course).
Also, Nohara was always going to pass, based on this chapter. Real team player, we love to see it.
Chapter 26: Deeper
- Location
- USA
Chapter 26: Deeper
The slime-covered centipede's body regenerated again, bones snapping into place as the beast started to undo the damage that Kakashi had done. The beast wasn't particularly strong or fast, but the genin manning the backlines had had nothing strong enough to kill it with, so it had walked right past them and into Demon.
If it fully regenerated, it would probably go looking for its claws and mandibles and make Kakashi have to disable it again. Kakashi raised his kunai and cut into its carapace again, then stuck his free hand in the gap before it could close. He grit his teeth against the acid slime where it started to burn against his fingers. He did have the chakra for another Chidori, but he wanted to save what he had for the pursuit of Minato-sensei's killer. With his other hand, he dropped the kunai and reached to the side to grab a boulder with chakra adhesion, then pried the carapace open and shoved the boulder in.
As expected, the regeneration continued around the boulder. Kakashi stepped back as the creature finished healing its legs. It tried to stand up only to tip over, thanks to the hundred-pound boulder embedded awkwardly in its back. Good enough. He cut open the creature a couple more times and grafted in a few more boulders, then decided to leave it to the Demon ninja.
He started back towards the battle lines, coaxing his tired chakra to flow through his limbs once more to give himself speed. Kakashi knew he would be in a world of pain tomorrow. He rarely exhausted himself this thoroughly when training his chakra reserves. It might even be beneficial if he didn't die today.
He smelled the battlefield before he saw it. The stench of thousands of foul beasts filled the air, as their strange viscera started to fester in the evening sun. There were no clouds overhead, but hopefully soon a rain would come to sweep this all away. Or not, Kakashi had no intention of being anywhere nearby when it happened.
The last few beasts were quickly being cut down as the numbers finally tipped in favor of the defenders of Demon. A few beasts had escaped into the countryside, but they were too weak to be worth tracking at this point. He found and turned to run towards Kagato, whose scythes were tearing a strange feline creature into smaller and smaller chunks. As each chunk was torn off, they reformed themselves into smaller and smaller copies of the same creature.
"Wind Release: Judgement Mace!"
An invisible wave of pressure slammed into the creatures from above and splashed out, shredding and liquefying their flesh. Kakashi almost wanted to memorize the technique with Obito's eye, but he needed the Mantis Summoner on his side. Kagato started to wipe his blades and gestured Kakashi closer.
"Copy Ninja, you've returned," Kagato said. The battlefield grew quiet as Demon's ninja felled the final few beasts. "It seems your oath has been fulfilled. More than can be said of your companion. Summoning Technique: Kamanta!"
With a wisp of pale green smoke, the tiny mantis appeared at Kagato's feet. Kakashi couldn't read its body language at all, but he still felt it scowling at him before turning to cross its claws before its summoner.
"We intend to follow the Dragon in pursuit of a dangerous foe, Kamanta. To aid us, send the Carver of Bones to me, then find the chief of Gongen and tell him that the Dragon broke his oaths and abandoned Demon. He will know what to do. Tell him that the Copy Ninja and I are going to chase the Dragon, as well as the one he left to follow. The one he left to follow is very dangerous."
Kamanta nodded and started to leave, but Kakashi interjected.
"The man in the mask," Kakashi said, "the one that Dragon's following, he dueled our strongest ninja to a standstill, completely invulnerable to all techniques. When we finally gained the smallest upper hand, he summoned the Nine-Tailed Beast into the heart of the village. Kagato isn't joking, he is extremely dangerous."
Kamanta looked at him in confusion, and a moment later he realized Kagato was giving him a strange look. After a moment, Kagato nodded and gestured at Kamanta to leave.
"Shall we go?"
Kakashi nodded. Remembering that night, feeling how effortlessly that ninja had shut him down with only his attention, he knew… no, he would have to do what it took to avenge Minato-sensei.
"Let's go."
o-o-o-o
Dragon waited on the side of a small mountain covered in short pillars of stone. The pillars seemed natural, formed in uneven clusters with no visible pattern. Everything about it grated on Kakashi's hard-earned instincts from the Third Great War, making him fear enemies around every corner. Dragon made no attempt to hide – he hadn't even bothered to cover his trail, making it easy for Kakashi to lead the others after him.
It turned out that the Carver of Bones was the Tennou jounin he had copied the technique from earlier. Kakashi didn't think he'd noticed the Sharingan use, since he seemed pretty neutral. The slender man had simply nodded to Kakashi and fallen in line behind the Mantis Summoner, accepting what information they told him and otherwise keeping his head on a swivel.
It's definitely weird how easily they work with new ninja out here. Leaf would never trust foreigners to its defense…
Kakashi came to a stop a few dozen feet in front of Dragon. He kept Obito's eye closed but uncovered in case Dragon attacked, but the ANBU commander simply observed the approaching trio. Next to Dragon's waiting point on the ridge-like rock formation was a small crevice between a pair of smaller pillars. Another mountain cave.
Kakashi sighed. "I guess he went in there, huh?"
"Yes," said Dragon.
Kakashi nodded, waiting for Kagato and Tennou to stop their survey of the environment.
"It's normally so much worse out here," Kagato said, "You'd be thick in infernal brood up to your thighs. Now, though, it's so calm… Empty."
"How come you didn't go in after him?" Kakashi asked.
"Excessive danger."
"So that's it? You're going to let him do whatever he wants in there? What if what he's doing in there is as bad as he was doing in Leaf? You realize that if you follow him after he leaves, he'll have already done whatever it was he was here to do, right?"
"Yes," said Dragon.
"So what the hell are you doing, Dragon? Are you going to follow him when he leaves? We still don't know how he got out of the fight after he summoned the Nine Tails, are you sure you can track him?"
"Acknowledged, Hatake. Silence."
Kakashi resisted the deeply-rooted instinct to obey orders from his ANBU Commander. "No, I don't understand. Either you don't give a shit about getting this done, or you've… what, led us to a cave to try to trap us and kill us in?"
Kagato stepped forward, keeping his focus on Dragon. "Copy Ninja, do you believe Dragon to be dangerous to you at present?"
Dragon didn't move, but Kakashi could feel the air currents shifting around the jounin as they squared off. No time for fighting, eyes on the prize. Need to find out what he's doing here.
"No. Dragon, if you don't want to go in, then don't, but don't fuck with us either."
Kagato put his hands together to form handseals. Dragon stood up, hands coming together to do the same.
"Summoning Technique: Kamalot!"
A puff of pale green smoke signaled a new mantis, this one coming up nearly to knee height. It spun, searching for threats with its claws extended, then crossed them and turned to face its summoner as Dragon chose not to complete his ninjutsu.
"Kamalot, we are going into this underground area. Enemies may attempt to sneak up behind us or from unexpected directions, and we may also be at risk from threats in the environment itself, such as cave-ins. Can you ensure that we are not caught unawares and protect us against underground attackers?"
The mantis wordlessly raised its claws and bobbed its head while twitching its antennae.
"Stone Element: Antenna of the Depths," it said in an even voice, sinking one claw deep into the stone, which rippled around the appendage like water.
Kagato turned to Kakashi. "Are you prepared to give chase? Kamalot will ensure that we are not caught unawares, and can protect us if the Dragon attacks us."
Kakashi looked at the cave entrance again and repressed a shudder. Not another cave. This does not look like a good place.
Beyond that, Kamalot may have been a more impressive summon than Kamanta, but that bar was set firmly six inches in the ground. Kakashi didn't think any summoner weaker than a jounin stood even a faint chance against Dragon. But… Dragon wouldn't attack them while they were going in, since he would want them to actually collect intelligence. On the way out… if needed, Kakashi could scrape together the chakra for an Earth ninjutsu, but it probably wouldn't do much good against the ANBU Commander, who had probably fought more Earth-country ninja than he had.
They'd need to find a way to keep Dragon from fucking with them on the way out. They were three to his one, four if Kagato kept the summon out, so Dragon would at least be hesitant, and the Summon had unique ninjutsu that Dragon would have to play cautiously around. The caves would favor the summon too, which would restrict Dragon's angles of attack. It has to do. We can't afford not to.
Kakashi steeled his nerves. He could handle one cave today. Even with someone skilled in fighting underground potentially trying to kill him. For Minato-sensei. For Kushina.
He nodded to Kagato. "Let's go."
Tennou looked between them and hummed agreement. Kagato started towards the cave, and Kamalot followed, its claw carving a rippling path through the stone like a boat through water. Kakashi trailed behind, wary of Dragon the whole way in.
Dragon simply settled himself back on the ridge to sit and wait.
"I can't shake the feeling that he knows something we don't…" Kakashi said as they crossed the threshold of the cave and all went dark.
"He most likely does," said Kagato, "given his early arrival. However, I have come to agreement with you that the Masked Man represents a great threat to my homeland, so we must pursue him nonetheless."
Kakashi grunted and grabbed a pre-lit torch from a storage seal for light. The crevice in the mountain started off large enough, tall enough for them to stand upright and nearly enough for Kakashi to stick his hands out to his sides, but it quickly narrowed as they delved deeper until he had to turn his torso to continue shuffling through. He closed his eye and steadied his breathing. For Minato-sensei. For Kushina.
The narrow section opened back up as the ceiling started to drop, and Kakashi found himself crouched in a small dead-end domed chamber with Kagato and the Tennou jounin (who Kakashi had insisted go before him through the cracks). After a moment, Kamalot said, "Summoner. Tunnel beneath the boulder, there." It gestured with a claw.
Kagato shuffled over to move the boulder, revealing a tiny crack along the bottom rim of the rocky chamber. It was less than a foot and a half across and barely a foot tall. Not only would they be devoid of all mobility while in there, no more useful than a civilian, but they wouldn't even be able to weave handseals correctly. If Dragon attacked while they were in that tiny passage, they would die.
"It goes perhaps thirty, forty of your strides, then opens up once more. Quite substantially so," said Kamalot
"Will you be able to pass through?" Kagato asked.
"With no difficulty, Summoner."
"Acknowledged. Follow after me and provide aid if anything goes wrong," Kagato said as he got down on his belly and started to shuffle his way into the tiny, tiny crack.
Kakashi closed his eye, ignoring the Tennou jounin. He tried to breathe deeply to slow his heart. It didn't work, and the feeling of the cave walls around him pressing him closer and closer intensified. He wanted to run and jump, to get distance and space, even to just stand up straight, but there was nowhere to go. His hands twitched – a ninjutsu could let him escape, but he had to save chakra. He had to be here.
He flickered his eye open. The summon had disappeared down the crack, and the Tennou jounin looked to him, as if questioning.
"I'll go last, I'll keep the torch up."
Tennou nodded and got down to shimmy through the crack. Kakashi was all alone now. He wouldn't even have light in there. Just darkness all around him, trapping him in on all sides. Nowhere to run, nothing he could do to get out. Even chakra enhanced strength wouldn't break stone without leverage and momentum. He'd be powerless. Out of control. Weak. Again.
He heard Kagato's voice, echoing unusually clearly through the crack. "Copy Ninja, please follow us. It is safe, and there is plenty of room to maneuver. You will not get stuck."
Kakashi nodded, knowing no one could see him, knelt down to feel at the crack, then re-sealed the torch.
The cave went dark instantly. The faint scent of smoke started to dissipate. He felt at the crack and its rocky edges, then lowered himself to his belly to crawl through.
Steady.
He pushed his shoulders through the crack. Immediately, he felt his left side starting to scrape the side of the tunnel. He pulled away from it just a hair and felt the tunnel digging into his right side.
He pulled himself back out of the crack, breathing heavily. Did he have to go headfirst and feel the crushing weight of all that stone overhead, surrounding him? Yes, he had to, since he needed to feel out where he was going to not get stuck. He inhaled, then put his head in again.
He managed to zone out and empty his mind for nearly twenty seconds of quiet shuffling in the tunnel this time before he realized that he could hear his own breath. A jounin's awareness of his environment, distilled down to only one sensory input, the sound of his breath reflecting off every surface within just a few inches of his face and coming back to him, faster and faster and faster. He could feel the walls around him pressing in and wanted so desperately to make space, but knew he couldn't. The heat of his breath, fading away so, so quickly.
Huh.
Now that he noticed it, his breath wasn't staying with him, it was moving away. Around his legs in the tunnel behind him, he could feel wind coming up from behind and moving with him, almost guiding him through the tunnel. It was faint, but it was definitely noticeable. How can there be a breeze here? There must be another exit… A way to avoid Dragon?
Kakashi wanted to leave, but took his desire to move and made himself move forwards, jamming himself through the cracks in the stone. He used the darkness to lie to himself, it's just a training exercise, just another training exercise with Minato-sensei. Obito is racing you, and you need to get to the end fast, so that you can calm down and brush yourself off and embarrass him when he gets through like it was no struggle to you at all.
He clawed forward, brushing away the threads caught on corners of the stone where the two ninja ahead of him had passed. His body temperature was rising, his heartbeat growing stronger through his neck, and his blood rushing in his ears, but the tunnel was no longer closing in around him. When he moved his shoulders, there was a hair more room, and when he shuffled forward, there was a hair more than that.
He got to a point where he could get his knees under him, then his hands. He scrambled forward until he was clear of the crack then stayed on his hands and knees, waiting for his breathing to calm down and the thundering heartbeat in his ears to subside.
This probably blows my rep with those two, he thought, noticing the subtle sounds of their quiet shuffling farther down the tunnel.
He checked how much room he had overhead to straighten up, then pulled himself to his feet and unsealed the torch, revealing the two ninja and the summon all watching him. The cavern they were in now was much bigger, nearly thirty feet across and twenty high, and continued to twist and turn down the inside of the mountain.
"We're through," Kakashi said, trying to keep his voice even. "What's up ahead?"
"We will find out," Kagato said, "Are you ready to continue?"
Kakashi nodded without hesitation, and followed as the two Demon ninja took the lead. The cavern narrowed a little as it turned, then twisted sharply downwards. Kakashi picked his way down the cavern wall with careful chakra adhesion, holding the torch in one hand while keeping his eye peeled for a potential ambush. He didn't think Minato-sensei's killer would be able to fully phase through solid walls given that the man hadn't attacked from beneath them, but even a moment's notice would give him a fighting chance.
At the bottom of the wall, things started to get weird.
There were stairs down here.
Kakashi stepped up behind Kagato and Tennou. They parted to let him see the landing of the stairs, which incongruously jutted out of the cave's wall. The floor around the entrance to the stairway, the arch of the door, and the stairs going downwards seemed to all be made from a complex interlocking pattern of square bricks of various sizes. They were carved of a similar material to some of the mesas he had seen in Demon, a smooth, red-orange stone that had been polished to a mirror shine. Emphasis on had-been. Now the bricks showed that smooth polish in a few places, but were mostly dominated by dust, dirt, moss, and fungus where they hadn't been worn and chipped by the passage of time.
Who made this? Where does this go? Who the fuck would come through that tunnel to get here?
Kakashi looked to Tennou, who seemed equally bewildered, and to Kagato, who seemed troubled.
"What do you know about this?" Kakashi asked.
"I know nothing of this place but what is before us. Yet, I can see the tracks of the Masked Man in the dust of the bricks there, clearer now than on the stone before," Kagato said, gesturing, "It appears that there are unforeseen complexities in the activities of this individual that we have yet to understand, deeply rooted in the bones of this land."
"Does that mean anything?"
"Only that I know nothing, Copy Ninja."
Kakashi nodded. "Let's go. He has quite the start on us since Dragon let him get ahead."
He walked onto the strange brick and took a step down the stairs, only to hear a soft thck as Kamalot's claw hit the stone of the brick and refused to move through it.
"Kamalot?"
"Apologies Summoner, it appears that this material is not stone."
Kagato frowned and Kakashi bent down to tap at the bricks under his feet. It certainly felt like stone, cold to the touch and rock-solid. It sounded identical.
"I see. Can you try to reuse your technique on the bricks?"
"It would not function, Summoner," Kamalot said. It tapped its free claw against the brick. "They are not stone, so they will not accept Stone Element chakra."
"I see. Can you provide any sensory support as you continue?" Kagato asked, stepping onto the bricks with Kakashi to peer down the straight stairway down. The stairs descended almost to the limits of his torchlight before bottoming out far below.
"I will attempt to, Summoner."
"No… You will stay here and ensure that the man we left outside does not pass through here. If he comes, stop him and fetch me. Failing that, return to the Seventh Path, so that I may be forewarned of his coming."
"Understood, Summoner."
Kagato nodded to Kamalot and gestured forward. Kakashi breathed in once more, shaking away the feeling that the air was steadily growing stale, and took a step down the stairs.
Halfway down the stairs, Kagato spoke. "Extinguish the flames."
"Wait," Kakashi said, "why?"
"Do it, Copy Ninja."
Kakashi paused, then tapped the torch to the storage seal again and channeled his chakra to seal it. All went dark again, and quiet suddenly dominated the cave without the oilcloth's faint crackling. Kakashi didn't move, and he heard what Kagato had somehow sensed. There was a hissing, crackling sound deeper in the cavern like another flame, deeper and more consistent than the torchlight.
As his eye adjusted, he realized that there was faint light cast at the bottom of the stairs from the room beyond. Any fire down here would have to be recent given the apparent age of the stairs. Minato-sensei's killer could be right at the bottom of the stairs.
"I see," Kakashi whispered. The torchlight would give away their position and make stealth impossible. "Let's go."
Can the party sneak up on the enemy(ies)?
Kakashi (Stealth): 35 + 5 (dim lightning CM) + 4 (time ladder one step) + 3 (dice) = 47
Kagato (Stealth): ?? + 5 (CM) + ? (TL 1x) + 3 (dice) = ??
Tennou (Stealth): ?? + 5 (CM) + ? (TL 1x) + 3 (dice) = ??
Take the lowest, compare to the highest enemy Alertness
??? (Alertness): ?? + ? (dice) = ??
??? (Alertness): ?? + ? (dice) = ??
Does Kakashi and co. notice the [REDACTED]?
Kakashi (Examination): 20 - 3 (CM: Fearing ambush, not focused on non-ambush things as much) - 3 (dice) = 14
Kagato (Examination): ?? - 3 (dice) = ??
Tennou (Examination): ?? + 3 (dice) = ??
Well, even if either of them notice [REDACTED], they won't tell Kakashi, so it's moot.
Kakashi (Stealth): 35 + 5 (dim lightning CM) + 4 (time ladder one step) + 3 (dice) = 47
Kagato (Stealth): ?? + 5 (CM) + ? (TL 1x) + 3 (dice) = ??
Tennou (Stealth): ?? + 5 (CM) + ? (TL 1x) + 3 (dice) = ??
Take the lowest, compare to the highest enemy Alertness
??? (Alertness): ?? + ? (dice) = ??
??? (Alertness): ?? + ? (dice) = ??
Does Kakashi and co. notice the [REDACTED]?
Kakashi (Examination): 20 - 3 (CM: Fearing ambush, not focused on non-ambush things as much) - 3 (dice) = 14
Kagato (Examination): ?? - 3 (dice) = ??
Tennou (Examination): ?? + 3 (dice) = ??
Well, even if either of them notice [REDACTED], they won't tell Kakashi, so it's moot.
Kakashi continued leading down the stairs, careful not to make a sound. At the bottom, the light from within grew faintly in intensity as the tunnel flattened out, still in that intricate pattern of strange square-shaped not-stone bricks. Kakashi gestured for the Demon ninja to follow and continued to pad across the tunnel.
Kakashi moved carefully right until the tunnel opened up into a massive underground chamber. He wanted to move out of the doorway to see if anyone was watching him and preparing an attack, but he couldn't help but stop in his tracks.
The room was huge, taller than the Hokage Tower and twice as wide in a massive dome covered in tessellating patterns. The room didn't feel open though. A strange statue made of a glimmering silver metal dominated the room, with four arms extending outwards at right angles, holding four goblets that poured four streams of unending fire into its own upturned mouth.
The statue didn't look Gongen, as the arms, each over twice his height, seemed to be symmetric and all right-handed. It didn't even look human, Kakashi realized, as its head was upside down. Its maw in the center was lined with teeth like spikes, and its nose and eyes were upside down and draped down over its chest, where it locked gazes with Kakashi.
What. The. Fuck.
Kakashi felt Kagato gently pushing him aside so he and Tennou could file into the room. The three of them stopped there, waiting and watching the statue. The crackling of the fire in its goblets filled the air around them as they watched the four endless streams of fire flowing through its maw.
Kagato was the first to speak. "It appears the ghost saw true."
"What?" Kakashi asked. "What did Sugiyama say?"
Kagato said, "The ghost simply said that we would soon stand dwarfed before the fourfold one that consumes the eternal flames and feel its heat upon our brow, and that we should prepare. I interpreted this poorly. The ghost spoke more literally than I had imagined possible."
Another question for the pile. At this point, Kakashi didn't want to ask.
"Where is he?" he muttered, even as his eye started to track the footprints in the dust and ash. The floor was covered in a faint layer of slightly blackened soot. Not nearly enough if the fires in here had really been burning for hundreds of years, though he'd also expect to smell the smoke much more strongly. There was no way for the smoke to vent down here, right? Better Fire Element users than he had been killed by choking on their own smoke.
The footprints circled around the floor, keeping to the edges of the room and far away from the statue in the middle. Kakashi saw spots where the footprints stopped to face the sides of the dome, or where Minato-sensei's killer had dragged his fingers through the dust on the wall. Slowly, Kakashi turned away from the statue and started to follow the tracks.
A distant thud echoed through the room, a low pitched sound that could almost be felt. Kakashi jumped back to the wall, trying and failing to get a grip on it with chakra adhesion before dropping back to the ground in a fighting stance. He heard the sound of calloused skin on metal as Kagato drew his scythes.
Nothing happened. Kakashi and the Demon jounin stood still for several long moments, listening and looking out for anything amiss, but nothing more happened.
"We must stay close," said Kagato, "for we may be in great danger here. Not just from the human enemy which we seek, but from other forces."
Kakashi could see the uncertainty in Tennou's eyes. The man clearly wanted to cut and run, but visibly steeled himself when Kakashi met his gaze. Good. They started following the tracks around the outskirts of the statue's chamber. The tracks turned around a quarter of the way around the room into a side tunnel which went a couple dozen feet in before another stairway down. A second set of tracks with the same footprints came back out of the tunnel. Kakashi knelt down to inspect them – they were more recent, with a little less dust in them than the ones going in. The Masked Man had gone in here then come back out, before continuing around the room and doubling into another side tunnel.
"He's exploring the place. He's searching for something, maybe?"
"If he is as fearsome as you claim, then it may not be safe to stay here if he frequently returns," said Kagato. "Perhaps we should retreat and examine this place once we have sufficient time to do so?"
As Kakashi took a moment to consider that, Kagato stiffened. "Kamalot has been dispelled."
"Dragon's coming!?"
"He may be hostile. Stay on guard."
"The tunnels?" Kakashi asked.
"He'll be able to follow us," Kagato said. "We want a chance at escape."
Kakashi nodded.
There was a faint wind earlier, where was it going? Is there another way out?
The four-armed statue's endless burning must have made some smoke, but the room wasn't covered in it – there was still orange visible beneath the thin layer of ash. Whoever made this place must have made it so that the ash-carrying air could escape. The air would rise, so the escape channel would be higher up. He needed to get up the side of the wall.
Kakashi put his hand against the wall and tried to pull at it with his chakra. Strangely, the bricks resisted it, and his adhesion found no purchase.
"There may be another way out at the top of the room, but the walls are preventing chakra adhesion," Kakashi said.
Tennou looked at the statue. He said, "I can get atop the statue if it's safe to touch. Is it?"
Neither of the others had any response, and the sound of footsteps in the entryway to the chamber cut them short.
The newcomer, a short woman with a plain black ponytail, immediately pulled herself to a stop as she saw the massive statue in the center of the chamber. Good to know it's not just me. She mouthed a silent "what the fuck".
Kagato called out, "Shizuka, what has happened?"
She turned to face him. "Sir, the ANBU vanished."
"A Shadow Clone?" Kakashi asked, then scowled as the other two looked at him in confusion. Obviously, no one here would know what a Shadow Clone was.
"He went into the cave and just disappeared, seemingly mid-step. It didn't seem like any clone technique I know," said the woman.
Kakashi sized up the newcomer. Her accent wasn't like those from the Eastern Continent, but she didn't remind him of anyone he knew from Leaf. Probably not a substantial threat if she served Kagato?
"Copy Ninja, do you think he has fled?"
Kakashi shook his head. "He wouldn't miss out on the chance to learn more about Minato-sensei's killer or capture me. He knows I'm going to try to slip out of his grasp as soon as I can. He's definitely still near."
"Understood," Kagato said, turning to Shizuka. The young woman had turned back to the statue, seemingly captivated by its endless flames. "Shizuka, you may return to the camp if you desire, but travel may be dangerous. The Dragon or our more fearsome enemy may attack you in a fight that you will not be able to win, so if you prefer you may stay with us."
Shizuka shook her head to break her trance. "This… No. This isn't my problem. I'm going to go, I don't think they'll be able to find me."
"Understood," Kagato said and motioned for her to leave.
The statue moved. The upraised arms whose overflowing goblets had been spilling fire into the statue's mouth started to lower through no mechanism Kakashi could see. All the ninja in the room jumped back to the far walls – not nearly far enough given the way the massive statue filled the room. The arms stopped when the rim of the goblets were parallel with the ground. Whatever fire had been welling up within them had stopped, and the room grew quiet.
"What was that about?" Kakashi asked. "Should we-"
Flames shot out of the statue's mouth in a violent jet, impacting the ceiling of the room and splashing outwards around the dome, consuming the room in an instant.
The attack uses a fixed TN of 50 – it's incredibly fast, but it's also on a large scale so there's a little more time to dodge. It is Weapons:2, as this fire is pretty dangerous to get burned by. The three jounin won't use boost, since they spent a whole battle fighting without it and are pretty used to not using it by reflex at this point.
Kakashi (Athletics): 50 + 3 (dice) = 53
Kagato (Athletics): ?? + ? (???) - 3 (dice) = ??
Tennou (Athletics): ?? + 3 (dice) = ??
Shizuka (Athletics): ?? + ? (boost) + ? (CM for being near a doorway already) + 6 (dice) = ??
All of them dodge.
Kakashi (Athletics): 50 + 3 (dice) = 53
Kagato (Athletics): ?? + ? (???) - 3 (dice) = ??
Tennou (Athletics): ?? + 3 (dice) = ??
Shizuka (Athletics): ?? + ? (boost) + ? (CM for being near a doorway already) + 6 (dice) = ??
All of them dodge.
Kakashi jumped back to the wall and fell off it as his chakra adhesion failed to grip it. For the better in fact, since waves of fire were rolling down the walls as the statue belched its gut's content onto the ceiling. He made a full sprint to the side tunnel. He made it in just in time, a step behind Kagato and Tennou as they continued to run down the hallway as the statue's geyser of flame started to spill in.
Kagato leaped down the stairs and Tennou followed him, but Kakashi stopped, spinning to face back into the room. The flames were licking into the hallway, but not deeply. They were safe here.
What the hell is going on here?
Kakashi stared at the flames as his eye adapted to the sudden brightness. The room beyond seemed to be completely engulfed in fire. He couldn't see the statue, but it must still have been erupting since the fire showed no sign of stopping.
No, there was something else in the flames. A human figure, moving through, their clothing on fire but still seemingly untouched. A masked figure.
Kakashi knew he couldn't go out there and fight him even in the best conditions. He knew he'd just get burned alive if he tried right now. He tightened his fists and ducked into the stairway with the Demon jounin.
As the Masked Man leaves the room, he passes Shizuka, hiding in the tunnel that heads outwards. Does he notice her?
Masked Man (Alertness): ?? + 6 (dice) = ??
Shizuka (Stealth): ?? + ? (???) + ? (???) + ? (Invoke ???) + ? (Invoke ???) + ? (Invoke ???) - 3 (dice) = ??
Shizuka spends a FP to reroll.
Shizuka (Stealth): ?? + ? (???) + ? (???) + ? (Invoke ???) + ? (Invoke ???) + ? (Invoke ???) + 6 (dice) = ??
Somehow, she doesn't get spotted.
Masked Man (Alertness): ?? + 6 (dice) = ??
Shizuka (Stealth): ?? + ? (???) + ? (???) + ? (Invoke ???) + ? (Invoke ???) + ? (Invoke ???) - 3 (dice) = ??
Shizuka spends a FP to reroll.
Shizuka (Stealth): ?? + ? (???) + ? (???) + ? (Invoke ???) + ? (Invoke ???) + ? (Invoke ???) + 6 (dice) = ??
Somehow, she doesn't get spotted.
They waited several long minutes for the fire to stop. Kakashi pulled out canteens of ice water to keep them cool in the room filled with superheated bricks, and they slowly stepped out. Now, they understood the Masked Man's cautious walk far from the statue as they made their way back to the entrance to the statue chamber.
"Shizuka, are you there?" Kagato called up the stairway. She stepped into the doorway at the top, clearly afraid of coming any closer.
"Someone walked past me. He seemed really dangerous," she said.
He escaped. Damn it.
"Worse, I think there's been a cave-in. There was a cracking noise and some rocks shifted by the tunnel I crawled through to get here. We might not have a way out."
Kakashi punched the wall before he could stop himself. He felt his skin tear as the brick shifted underneath his knuckles. Am I going to die without a fight to Minato-sensei's killer? Am I just going to rot in this cave because he collapsed the exit as an afterthought?
"Summoning Technique: Kamalot!"
The puff of smoke revealed the short mantis again. It turned with claws raised, expecting a fight, then crossed its claws (a gesture of respect?) to its summoner.
"Kamalot, what caused you to leave?"
"Summoner. I sensed a creature below me, moving upwards. I transformed the stone beneath me to defend me, but it moved too quickly, entered the cavern from another direction, and destroyed my chakra shell."
"Probably Dragon," Kakashi said. "He must be using tunneling techniques to move around."
Kagato nodded. "Kamalot, that same enemy most likely will continue to harass us. We need to extricate ourselves from within this cave, and the narrow passage we used earlier has collapsed. Can you get us out of here?
Kamalot rubbed its claws against each other with a grating sound. "I can try, Summoner. I can prevent the same sort of ambush with a different technique. However, I suspect the enemy was far stronger than me, so I would not be able to make a claim with any certainty."
"You must do it," Kagato said, "for it is dangerous for us to remain here much longer."
Kamalot nodded and started to hop up the stairs, with the ninja following close behind. At the top, it wiggled its antennae and fluttered its wings. "Stone Element: Antenna of the Depths."
Kamalot sunk its claw into the stone from the edge of the strange bricks as Dragon surged out of the cave floor right underneath the mantis. He grabbed Kamalot by the neck.
"Summoner-"
Dragon squeezed, cracking its carapace and dispelling the mantis with a puff of smoke. Kakashi kicked forward to exploit the opening, but Dragon jumped back to the far side of the cavern, leaking killing intent.
Dragon, Commander of Konoha's ANBU, had finally come to hunt his prey.
Kakashi is currently at 80 CP. He has no physical stress and has taken no Consequences. He also has 0 FP. Mechanically, everyone (Dragon, Kakashi, Kagato, Tennou, Shizuka) are all in one Zone, but are not all in Melee. There is a Zone of stairs behind them before they get into the chamber.
Dragon is (most likely) a senior jounin, with all the strength and versatility that implies. His special edge and most frequently used technique is a Wind-style ninjutsu called Blue Claw. Kakashi knows that this technique has some sort of anti-chakra property, though he's not sure what exactly it does. It may parry ninjutsu, or dispel enemy ninjutsu. It may drain chakra boost, or prevent an opponent from shaping chakra after being hit. It's definitely the foundation of Dragon's destructive taijutsu style.
Voting Time! What do you do now?
Here are some options to get you started.
[] Run back and try to find another exit
[] Big Chidori
[] 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 10pm UK Time, Friday December 24.
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
A head-on taijutsu approach is doomed to failure, with 0 FP as we are.
However... Looking over the jutsu that Kakashi has access to, I note that Forge Flame has interesting effects:
Now, normally there's no way we'd hit him with this any more than a regular taijutsu strike. However, if we can drive him underground so that he can't see us charging this, it will make him vulnerable to its effects -- as they target the whole zone, underground, that he enters, it's possible that this could hit him purely by its effects, disregarding the rolls. Addiitonally, the penalty to athletics might not be as bad if we can somehow obfuscate where Kakashi is, because presumably whatever sensory technique he uses underground is dependent on vibrations which wouldn't be happening if Kakashi didn't move.
@Paperclipped @MMKII Does any of this seem off base?
E:
Wait. This is wrong. There's no way Dragon would target Kakashi when he's surrounded by 3 allies, when he could simply trail him. This is either a genjutsu, a shadow clone, or some other clone variant (earth, wood).
However... Looking over the jutsu that Kakashi has access to, I note that Forge Flame has interesting effects:
Now, normally there's no way we'd hit him with this any more than a regular taijutsu strike. However, if we can drive him underground so that he can't see us charging this, it will make him vulnerable to its effects -- as they target the whole zone, underground, that he enters, it's possible that this could hit him purely by its effects, disregarding the rolls. Addiitonally, the penalty to athletics might not be as bad if we can somehow obfuscate where Kakashi is, because presumably whatever sensory technique he uses underground is dependent on vibrations which wouldn't be happening if Kakashi didn't move.
@Paperclipped @MMKII Does any of this seem off base?
E:
Wait. This is wrong. There's no way Dragon would target Kakashi when he's surrounded by 3 allies, when he could simply trail him. This is either a genjutsu, a shadow clone, or some other clone variant (earth, wood).
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
(Discussion is already happening in discord but I'm reposting here)
I don't agree this is genjutsu or 'wrong'. You can't use genjutsu on the Sharingan without understanding how it sees the world, generally by having a Sharingan. The moment Kakashi opened his, the illusion would be pointless. If Dragon is Fugaku, it's possible, but why would he do so? He would need to make eye contact with Kakashi and leave himself vulnerable to the other 3.
Also, Dragon is a famed close-quarters expert, this is like the best terrain for him. If Kakashi goes back outside with Kagato, he loses that advantage. And I don't see why Kakashi would separate with Kagato. I'd expect them to return to the others and track down the Oathbreaker, especially after Kagato sent that message to Gongen.
Clones are a possibility, if Dragon has the chakra to spare.
The masked man ?might? be an Uchiha, we don't know though.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
As discussed on discord. Genjutsu should work, then, if I'm interpreting this correctly
EDIT: Also relevant:
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
There's probably more interesting things to be done with Declarations if anyone has ideas. Otherwise, here's the start to our general plan
[X] Action Plan: Kakashi Slays His Dragons
Word Count: 141
[X] Action Plan: Kakashi Slays His Dragons
Word Count: 141
- Convert 70 XP to 7 FP
- Convert more as Kakashi deems appropriate.
- Declare: Jiraiya gave Kakashi one insane emergency seal
- Battle Plan:
- Shout to the others not to let Dragon go underground
- Cast an illusion genjutsu on Dragon that shows Kakashi rushing him down with Sharingan active and Chidori blazing like usual to create aspects for allies to use
- Use Forge Flame on the stone floor if Dragon burrows, kill him in the ground.
- Otherwise, prioritize generating tags and aspects for allies to use such as with Wataru's Fire Shuriken attack, unsealing random bullshit from storage seals, or any jutsu from Kakashi's 1000 jutsu arsenal that can help them land a solid hit.
- Overdraw if absolutely necessary.
- Stay out of melee range of Dragon when possible.
- Use emergency seal if Kakashi runs out of chakra or the battle is otherwise hopeless.
- Shout to the others not to let Dragon go underground
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
@Paperclipped @MMKII Is Kakashi stealing jutsu an action, supplemental, or basically automatic while the Sharingan is active?
MMKII
The Shining One
- Location
- Trapped in an extradimensional rift.
- Pronouns
- She/They
This is entirely automatic so long as his Sharingan is uncovered and he's got clear line of sight to the actual casting of the jutsu.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
We so have to steal Blue Claw then
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Let's do it >:3We so have to steal Blue Claw then
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Can you add "In the illusion, Kakashi has the Sharingan activated?" If Kakashi doesn't have Dragon's Blue Claw Jutsu copied, that means Dragon's been actively trying to prevent that from happening (along with previous-Kakashi acting in good faith to his fellow Leaf nin).
If Dragon thinks Kakashi has the Sharingan activated for a round, then he may avoid using Blue Claw. Then, in the span where Dragon Dispels to genjutsu but doesn't see Kakashi with the Sharingan actually activated (busy fighting other 2 ninja), Dragon may reflectively cast Blue Claw (unknowingly allowing Kakashi to see it).
Or, alternatively, Dragon avoids using Blue Claw out of paranoia and handicaps himself.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I can specify, but he would need it activated to use Chidori anyways, which I presume Dragon knows... Also, I figure Dragon shouldn't mind revealing the jutsu now because he doesn't expect Kakashi to live anyways. I don't think he'd attack if he expected to lose (what this says about our odds I leave to you...)
Let's hope we're so lucky
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Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
[] Action Plan: Cave-related Trauma
Word Count: 131
- Convert 60 XP to 6 FP
- Declare: The cave is unstable and fighting results in imminent collapse
- Declare: Jiraiya gave Kakashi one insane emergency seal
- Battle Plan:
- Shout to the others not to let Dragon go underground
- Cast an illusion genjutsu on Dragon that shows Kakashi rushing him down with Chidori like usual to create aspects for allies to use
- Use Forge Flame on the stone floor if Dragon burrows, kill him in the ground.
- Otherwise, prioritize generating tags and aspects for allies to use such as with Wataru's Fire Shuriken attack, unsealing random bullshit from storage seals, or any jutsu from Kakashi's 1000 jutsu arsenal that can help them land a solid hit.
- Overdraw if absolutely necessary.
- Stay out of melee range of Dragon when possible.
- Use emergency seal if Kakashi runs out of chakra or the battle is otherwise hopeless.
- Shout to the others not to let Dragon go underground