Lost on the Road of Life (An AU Naruto Quest)
- Thread starter MMKII
- Start date
- Location
- Pacific standard
[X] Write new Icha Icha fan fiction
thelordofmango
may be stupid
- Location
- under a rock
[X] Write new Icha Icha fan fiction
- Location
- Liverpool
[X] Double Bubble Toil and Trouble
[X] -1 FP: Declare "Shizuka Has Done Her Homework" and "Hometown Girl in the Party" exist
I do kinda like having her in the party. A heavy assault specialist would be nice, but until that time, this does help us fill the gaps of specialization. And let us specialize harder on Kill Enemy. Though I do appreciate how reasonably well rounded Kakashi started out, considering Kakashi always struck me in canon as one of the few well-rounded quality ninja.
Also I feel like there's a low level of tension there that could be fun to explore.
[X] -1 FP: Declare "Shizuka Has Done Her Homework" and "Hometown Girl in the Party" exist
I do kinda like having her in the party. A heavy assault specialist would be nice, but until that time, this does help us fill the gaps of specialization. And let us specialize harder on Kill Enemy. Though I do appreciate how reasonably well rounded Kakashi started out, considering Kakashi always struck me in canon as one of the few well-rounded quality ninja.
Also I feel like there's a low level of tension there that could be fun to explore.
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Idea for the genjutsu's narrative:
River Lord hears rumors (genjutsu'd?) about rival clan trying to steal Scroll. Then plant incriminating evidence of Local Clan Outcast being a traitor for said rival clan, and that Local Clan Outcast has just discovered where the Scroll is hidden, and sent the information to the rival clan. Compound with several days of doping with paranoia-drugs to boost reaction?
A narratively good genjutsu doesn't invoke a roll, and my hope is that this narrative is good enough not to need one.
River Lord hears rumors (genjutsu'd?) about rival clan trying to steal Scroll. Then plant incriminating evidence of Local Clan Outcast being a traitor for said rival clan, and that Local Clan Outcast has just discovered where the Scroll is hidden, and sent the information to the rival clan. Compound with several days of doping with paranoia-drugs to boost reaction?
A narratively good genjutsu doesn't invoke a roll, and my hope is that this narrative is good enough not to need one.
Chapter 60: When it Rains...
MMKII
The Shining One
- Location
- Trapped in an extradimensional rift.
- Pronouns
- She/They
Kakashi peered out from the boarded up windows of the storage attic. They were temporarily using the space to plan their next move, on the off chance that there were prying eyes and curious ears about. Given the amount of ridiculous sensory abilities in the city, he figured it would only be prudent.
It was the middle of February, and they were in the heart of Rain Country, so predictably, the entire city was cold, damp, and wet. Inhospitably so, to the extent that most of Amegakure's residents chose to stay inside their squat, little dwellings of concrete and half-rotten lumber.
This place is miserable. It's a miracle they don't all die of pneumonia every year.
The city itself had a big portion of cleared real estate and wrecked districts, undoubtedly from the rebellion (coup?) that had happened more than a year prior. For some reason, it didn't seem like the Rain shinobi were in a big hurry to clean up. Perhaps their new overlord was just keeping them busy.
Kakashi turned away from the drafty window to address the team of ninja assembled before him.
"Alright," Kakashi said. "I know that we've already done this a bunch, but let's go over this one final time to iron out the kinks."
Shizuka nodded, the motion almost routine. Sugiyama nodded, the motion slightly excited.
"Is that truly necessary?" Kagato asked. He looked around the room, before his shoulders slumped in resignation. "Very well, if we must. Copy Ninja?"
Kakashi, for the fifth time that down, started listing off the key points of their foolproof plan to execute the greatest heist that the Elemental Nations had ever seen.
o-o-o
So first off, the key to this whole thing is Shizuka's talent for genjutsu. You're going to have to practice it to get the illusions perfect.
Kakashi dispelled and the illusion around him faded. He turned to Shizuka.
"Pretty good," Kakashi remarked. The details on Shizuka's genjutsu had been excellent. He wasn't sure that he would have been able to tell that he was an illusion if he hadn't known beforehand. "My own ability isn't going to be able to measure up to that, not anytime soon at least. Any tips on getting better at Genjutsu while we're at it?"
"Sure," Shizuka nodded. "Teaching some basics might help me later, and you can help point out any inconsistencies in the illusion I'm putting together."
Most ninja did not generally throw genjutsu together on the fly. Kakashi had access to a ridiculously versatile bloodline, so he could afford to cheat a little, but a normal genjutsu user would painstakingly craft the main structure of their genjutsu in advance.
Shizuka was preparing for later, and Kakashi figured he'd spend the time helping her sharpen some of her skills. Kakashi wasn't the greatest at weaving illusions together, but he could certainly spot issues with a given illusion and give feedback.
In the end, the strange collection of ninja had decided to go with a mix of sabotage, trickery, and social engineering. Sugiyama and Shizuka would put together some concoction to drug the Shōidan Clan Head, something that would stoke the fires of paranoia and suspicion that he doubtlessly had burning away inside of him. With a little social engineering and some more genjutsu, they'd give him cause to believe that the scroll was in danger. The team, sans Sugiyama, would follow at a distance until the man arrived at the scroll's hiding place to check on it.
Once he was there, Shizuka would hit him with another illusion, one that would leave him believing the scroll was stolen. Kakashi would swoop in and steal the genuine article while the Shōidan ninja were running around like headless chickens.
Kagato and his mantis summons would serve a support role, keeping a lookout and allowing them to quickly plan an escape route when they needed one. They'd make it back to the rendezvous location from wherever the scroll was hidden, and commence their exit from Amegakure and Rain Country as a whole.
Grass is nice this time of year, I think, Kakashi thought, as Obito's eye projected the imagery his mind wove together into Shizuka's skull.
The chuunin dispelled and she frowned at him. "No, not quite. There was too little rain and not enough humidity in the air. Those are always present here, and you must account for it correctly. Grass blades twitching and puddles rippling with the drops, and so on."
"Right," Kakashi said, as chakra bled through his aching coils and into Obito's eye. "How's this?"
"Better. The horizon should be foggier. The rooftop gutters should drip." Shizuka pursed her lips together. "And while we don't know that the location is going to be open to the sky, it should be something you prepare for. It's likely that he'll have secured the scroll with the Tar Release. Did you spot any while at the Shōidan estate? Practice incorporating it, especially how it might gleam or glitter in a lightsource."
Kakashi lasted another couple of illusions before he had to take a break. He sat down and took a deep breath as his chakra coils throbbed and ached with each heartbeat. It was nowhere near as excruciatingly painful as it had been in Sea Country a month ago, but it was still present.
"The Sharingan uses up an immense amount of chakra when I use genjutsu," he explained. "And I'm still not at a hundred percent from the fight with those freaky monsters in the Land of Honey."
It's only been about six weeks since then. Seven maybe? Kakashi had used up the bottle of that chakra exhaustion medicine that he found in the Sasu compound, and had regular check-ins with Sugiyama to boot, but it seemed like he needed some more rest to get back to full strength.
Maybe I'd be back in proper fighting shape if it wasn't for that run in with the Six Tails.
"Let's take a break then," Shizuka said. She sat down on a stool across from him.
Hmm. This is a perfect opportunity to ask her about some details about her past. I wonder if I maneuvered that to happen on purpose?
One benefit of being a super-talented genius was that, sometimes your past self would subconsciously arrange things to give you an opportunity in the present. It was strange jounin thinking, and Kakashi was more likely to just do things that came to mind than most, so perhaps it was fallacious reasoning.
If it works, it works. I could swear I had a reason for doing this though. Was I just bored?
Shizuka had explained the broad strokes of her past, at least as they pertained to the mission they were currently on, but there were some things that Kakashi wanted a little bit more clarity on.
"Shizuka."
The young woman tilted her head to look at him. "Hmm?"
Kakashi leaned forward. "So I'm going to be straight forward. Again. We're about to perform a robbery of truly epic proportions, right underneath the nose of— if your recount of the scope of this rebel leader's combat abilities are true, well, underneath the nose of one of the most dangerous ninja in the elemental nations. All it would take is one, single, misplaced step for us to die in the blink of an eye."
Shizuka seemed nonplussed. "Yes, and that's why we're making sure that there won't be any misplaced steps, right now…?"
Kakashi stared at her for a long moment, before turning away and shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah, right. What I'm getting at here is… well, to be brutally honest, kid… hmm, wait a second. Yeah, no… yup, that's exactly the issue."
"What are you talking about, Hatake?" Shizuka narrowed her eyes, and hints of anger momentarily shot across her face like arcs of electricity. "Get on with it."
"I don't really know that much about you, do I?" Kakashi reached into his flak jacket and brought out a well worn copy of Jiraiya's finest, gesturing impatiently with it as he continued on. "I know more about most of the characters in this book – pretty much all of the named ones, anyway— than I know about you. We're about to dive into a pretty dangerous situation together— again— and there's an ammunition pouch of questions I still have about your mysterious backstory. Care to answer some? Given that we're in your old stomping grounds, some of them might be pretty damn relevant while we're in the neighborhood."
Shizuka's blue eyes hardened into two pieces of Snow Country ice.
Kakashi let the silence hang. He leaned back and stared up at the ceiling, making it clear from his body language that he was waiting for a response.
"I suppose that that's not unreasonable," Shizuka finally said. Her voice was strained. "Ask away."
Huh. Progress.
"How about we start with the usual," Kakashi said. He pointed at himself. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like reading good literature and baking various things. I dislike people who run out on… I dislike people who abandon their teammates. My dream for the future… I'm going to figure out what happened in the Leaf village and find out whose responsible, before kicking their asses."
Shizuka bit her lip. "Bit rote, as far as introductions go. My name… my birth name isn't Shizuka, but I've gone by it for years now. I like… I haven't thought about things I like to do or don't like in a long time, actually."
Kakashi hummed. "You should get on that. Take it from me, it's important to have a hobby if you want to stay sane as a ninja."
Kakashi's sage advice earned him a skeptical look. "...I'll look into it. My dreams for the future…"
He waited patiently.
"Well. I need to get my father's summoning scroll and take up his legacy," Shizuka said, staring at a nondescript corner of the empty floor. She seemed to be chewing on her words, more so than usual. Shizuka reached up to adjust an errant strand of dark brown hair that had escaped her hair tie and drifted across her cheek.
"I have a little sister, somewhere, that I need to track down. I can figure out the rest afterwards."
Huh. The more you know.
"Thanks for sharing," Kakashi said.
And he left it at that.
…
…
…
"Well, I suppose we're lucky that this isn't one of your shitty porn novels," Shizuka said, injecting notes of dry humor into her voice. "This would be the sort of dramatic swill that I'd say shortly before dying heroically and motivating the ridiculous male protagonist figure."
"I don't think so," Kakashi responded. He shook his head slowly. "Doesn't really fit."
"You don't think so?"
"Eh." Kakashi shrugged. "Besides, that would imply that I'm the ridiculous male protagonist figure of this tale. Imagine that?" He slowly got up from the floor and stretched his back, before strolling to the door. "I think I'm up for some more practice. Going to nab a bite to eat first though. I left my storage seals somewhere in that damned backpack, so I'll be back in a few. Want anything?"
"I'll pass."
"Suit yourself."
Kakashi walked out of the room, idly tapping his copy of Icha Icha: Love is War on his hip as he went.
Protagonist? Me? He snorted. "There once was a sad orphan ninja boy who discovered the true meaning of friendship. Then, one by one, his newfound family died, and he had to figure out what to do about it. He didn't."
…
…
…
Kakashi whistled as he approached the door to Sugiyama's room. He didn't bother knocking. The medic was down at the apothecary tracking down some last minute ingredients for the crazy drugs that they were in the middle of cooking up.
Kakashi is not the best at social maneuvering, but the plan calls to try to get some tangible backstory details out of Shizuka via some. He knows that while he's not great at applying raw Empathy to the situation or making himself more likable with Rapport, he does have some Presence worth a damn when he feels like putting his mind to it, so he's going to come at this from a brass-tacks angle where that can actually come in handy.
Narratively this takes place after they've spent some time working on their genjutsu plan, and he's probably been burning through a bunch of chakra while doing so. He's still not up to 100% from the chakra exhaustion injuries he took in the Honey Arc, so that's going to be causing him some intermittent pain throughout this conversation. Thus, I'm going to decide that the maluses from that consequence will apply to this roll.
Kakashi, Presence: 30 -8 (Severe Consequence) + 3 (dice) =25
Shizuka will defend with Presence. She will not expend significant effort in this argument a la expending precious Fate Point reserves on it.
Shizuka, Presence: 26 -12 (dice!!!!) = 14
Mechanically: Shizuka chooses to be Taken Out and lose the encounter. In-story: There is probably an argument she can try to make to head Kakashi off here, but she's definitely not seeing it in the moment. She acquiesces and tells him a couple things. He's stuck around so far, so he probably deserves this much.
Kakashi learns of the Aspect "Whatever It Takes To Find Her" on Shizuka's sheet. He now concretely knows three of her Aspects in total:
"The Bastard Heir"
"Survived the Bloody Rebellion"
"Whatever It Takes To Find Her"
Narratively this takes place after they've spent some time working on their genjutsu plan, and he's probably been burning through a bunch of chakra while doing so. He's still not up to 100% from the chakra exhaustion injuries he took in the Honey Arc, so that's going to be causing him some intermittent pain throughout this conversation. Thus, I'm going to decide that the maluses from that consequence will apply to this roll.
Kakashi, Presence: 30 -8 (Severe Consequence) + 3 (dice) =25
Shizuka will defend with Presence. She will not expend significant effort in this argument a la expending precious Fate Point reserves on it.
Shizuka, Presence: 26 -12 (dice!!!!) = 14
Mechanically: Shizuka chooses to be Taken Out and lose the encounter. In-story: There is probably an argument she can try to make to head Kakashi off here, but she's definitely not seeing it in the moment. She acquiesces and tells him a couple things. He's stuck around so far, so he probably deserves this much.
Kakashi learns of the Aspect "Whatever It Takes To Find Her" on Shizuka's sheet. He now concretely knows three of her Aspects in total:
"The Bastard Heir"
"Survived the Bloody Rebellion"
"Whatever It Takes To Find Her"
o-o-o
"So Sugiyama and Shizuka are going to cook up some sort of concoction of drugs and chemicals that should, in theory, make the Clan Head erratic, jittery, and paranoid."
Sugiyama carefully eyed the bubbling mixture below.
Running the leaves of the Copper Sweetheart through a solvent had been an excellent idea. It was incredibly fortunate that they had run into the young man in the apothecary, and doubly so that the Youthful Bespectacled Chemist had suggested the particular combination of reagents that he did. While Sugiyama had initially been hesitant to interact with the young doctor (or doctor's assistant, given his age), the Youthful Bespectacled Chemist had initiated polite conversation after observing Sugiyama's careful shelf-browsing. The chit-chat had been surprisingly helpful, though Sugiyama could not shake the feeling of unease the interaction had left—likely brought about by the confluence of emotional negativity that had hung around the young doctor like a low-hanging cloud.
"No sane individual should be that fond of talking about titrating chemicals."
Sugiyama nodded in agreement. That was probably it. It was utterly boring work.
Sugiyama reached over and measured out a small amount of quicklime to toss into the boiling solution. The tiny little scale that Shizuka had in her equipment set was ever-so-slightly off balance, but such a small error would not greatly impact the quality of the final product.
Probably.
After a few more hours of babysitting the mixture, Sugiyama muttered a prayer to the Unseen Observer and removed the pot from the fire to cool.
"Hmmm, should I stir clockwise or counter-clockwise?"
"HAVE YOU CONSIDERED STIRRING TOWARDS THE PRETA PATH??"
"WAIT, THAT'S A DIRECTION?"
"PROBABLY! THE PRETA PATH AXIS IS THE SOURCE OF ALL PRAXIS! PHBTBTB!!! "
One must be mindful of such details when working with various alchemical reagents, Sugiyama thought, ignoring the chatter going on around that the rest of the world could never seem to hear. For this was not a time to listen carefully, it was the time to work deftly!
Sugiyama settled on alternating clockwise and counter-clockwise stirring motions, to hedge against offending all but the most particularly opinionated entities. The steel stirring rod scraped lightly against the bottom of the pot.
"That should do," Sugiyama Saku said, before raising the stirring stick up to eye level to gaze at the errant beads of solution clinging to the end.
It was quite tempting.
"One must refrain from indulging in one's own wares…" Sugiyama said. It was a piece of ancient wisdom. "But it is also said that the good cook tastes the result. Just a small taste."
Sugiyama swiped one particularly fat droplet with their little finger before plucking the appendage into their mouth.
By the Deva Path! It tasted awful, which was to be expected. While Sugiyama had not yet diluted it properly, they made a note to instruct Shizuka to slip the concoction into something strong and flavorful. A red wine or sake, perhaps.
Sugiyama returned to work and waited for the drug to take effect. It took another half hour to kick in.
"By the Great Sage and all his little helpers," Sugiyama breathed. "That's certainly going to keep me awake."
Thoughts and feelings raced through Sugiyama's meatsack like bolts of electricity.
Note to self: ask the Copy Ninja what using those lightning techniques of his feels like from a physical standpoint. Perhaps it is not too dissimilar.
o-o-o
"Shizuka will spike their drinks or food or whatever at dinner, and then spread suspicion with a few genjutsu. Or however she wants, I guess, she's a big girl."
Shizuka executed an expert, foot-first dive through the open kitchen window. Her feet landed softly on the stone of the kitchen floor, the socks doing a better job at deadening the sound in this environment than either sandals or bare flesh ever could. Shizuka halted her forward momentum with a surge of chakra adhesion and a flexing of her legs and core muscles, and she quickly lifted herself upright and hastily pulled out the bottle of Sugiyama's Stupendous Stimulating Solution.
The drug was a distilled and purified version of some tropical plant that grew in southern Honey. By itself, the leaves of the plant could be chewed to numb the mouth, or dried and used to carefully brew a rather stimulating tea. Shizuka didn't understand most of the specifics of the chemistry involved, and it was nigh impossible for her to parse meaningful information out of their medic's superstition-infused vocabulary. Shizuka had assisted with some of the more mundane laboratory work, disinfecting some of the equipment with medical chakra and measuring out the proper amounts and so on, but she had quickly left to practice her genjutsu with Hatake while Sugiyama worked well through the night and into the afternoon the next day.
Shizuka quickly uncorked the four bottles of wine that were chilling inside of the metal bucket filled with snow, and poured in the recommended amount of the solution. She quickly stoppered the bottles, gently swirling each one around as she did so. Shaking would be better, but she wasn't going to chance the motion agitating the contents too much, and causing a suspicious amount of bubbles.
The cook and his assistant should be back any minute now. She had sent the duo running off with frying pans in hand with the illusion of two large rodents scampering off into the hallway, but they'd probably give up shortly and return.
Shizuka tossed the remaining solution into a simmering cauldron of what looked like vegetable stew and bounced off of the floor and out the window. She clung to the wall above the window, perching on the vertical surface in the standard crouching ready-stance. She quickly scanned the mansion grounds, both for guards or for any spots of tar, while trying to ignore her heartbeat pounding violently in her ears.
All clear.
Shizuka leapt off the wall and darted across the manor grounds with blinding speed towards the outer wall, being careful to disturb as little as possible on any surface she landed on. Shizuka didn't bother to stop or slow down as she neared the wall, instead she leapt upwards with her momentum, grabbed a small portion of decorative stone crenelation, and swung around it with the practice of a girl who was forced to do one too many horizontal pull ups after school in her academy days.
Thanks for that, father.
Shizuka dodged the puddles and chains of hanging paper talismans as best as she could on the way out of the compound. She would have to return later and cast another couple genjutsu on some shinobi of the clan to really sow the seeds of suspicion, but for now this part of the mission segment was over.
Difficult part over. Now we just have to do the insane part, and survive.
She hoped that Hatake's crazy plot would actually pay off.
o-o-o
"We'll wait for Lord Shōidan to lose his mind before emerging from the proverbial leaf pile to track him down. Kagato and his mantises are on overwatch here. Just give us a signal. Wait, you do have stealth summons, right?"
Hakubi Kagato was deeply unnerved by the Village Hidden in the Rain.
patpatpatpatpatdrippatpatpatpatpatpatpatdrip
patpatpatpatpatdripdrippatpatpatpat
He felt the neverending drizzle of Rain Country thicken, turning into a fierce torrential downpour.
Kagato could feel the disturbances the raindrops made echo through the air as they impacted every uncovered surface in sight. The phenomenon was not new to him— he had felt rain with his bloodline before, countless hundreds of times.
But something was off about this.
The rhythm, perhaps? The ebb and flow of the local atmosphere was unusually discordant. Water dripped and dropped in the half-rebuilt ruins of various buildings. The breeze echoed off the empty corpses of massive pieces of stone masonry. There were little, if any, human disturbances in the city. Everyone seemed to keep to themselves after dark, and not without good reason given the recent violence.
The wind here in the west was colder, crueler, filled with boiling hate and freezing terror, but in this village in particular…
The atmosphere of Amegakure was a dead, lifeless thing, and for one of the Hakubi, that more than anything stoked a deep-seated feeling of unease. The ever-changing wind lived a life of stone here.
It was wrong. Unnatural.
"Kamasutra," Kagato whispered. And he could feel the summon leave her patrol route and approach. Of the three stealth summons that he'd contracted with for this mission, she was neither the youngest nor the oldest nor the most skilled. The younger Kamasitari was off pinpointing an escape route, while the eldest Kamaleon was keeping an eye on the Shōidan, ready to alert them when the appointed time arose.
"Summoner," Kamasutra spoke from behind him, her voice a soft, undulating chitter. Kagato did not need to turn to look, for he could feel her presence. She was hidden from sight via one of her stealth techniques regardless.
"Do you feel anything strange about the air?"
Kamasutra cocked her head, her antennae feeling about for a moment. "The air is heavy. It is too humid?"
Kagato shook his head. "No, not that. Thank you. Please return to your duties."
"Summoner."
Perhaps I'm just getting old, Kagato thought. It was a worry that had crossed his mind more than once by now, especially the last few months. He had no idea what manner of damned spirit or minor god it was that had— apparently— altered his memories of young Hatake and Shizuka, but it was an extremely disconcerting thought. He took the tiniest thimbleful worth of solace in the fact that he wasn't just losing his mind.
Kagato waited patiently. It took another hour for Kamaleon to report back. A small, excited young insect flew into his sensory range.
"My lord!" Kamanta whispered. Kagato winced at the volume of the young summon's voice. "Kamaleon is ready."
Kagato nodded. "Return to the Seventh Path. I will see to things from here."
Kamanta disappeared with a puff of smoke.
It is time.
The wind picked up as Kagato moved to signal the others. With it, the downpour intensified. The stuttering, staccato rhythm of Amegakure's winds spoke to him of loss, misery, and the death of heroes.
But above all else, there was a sense that the city itself was in terrible, excruciating, overwhelming pain.
o-o-o
"Shizuka and I will close in on the location. She'll genjutsu the Clan Head, and I'll grab the scroll while he's under. Hopefully this won't set off any Tar Release technique he has keeping the scroll under lock and key."
Shizuka followed Kamaleon as she, in turn, followed Rain Lord Shōidan. The small, purple-skinned—or perhaps purple-chitined?—insect was currently cloaked under some sort of camouflage technique that allowed her to blend in with the colors of her surroundings. It was one of those powerful techniques that brought to mind phrases like "I'd trade my first-born child for that one".
She didn't know about that, but she'd certainly offer up a few toes. Kamaleon's technique was a subtle but stark reminder that even the utility ninjutsu that some of the summoning clans had access to were so powerful that they beggared belief. She made a mental note to never get on the Mantis Summoner's bad side.
Shizuka turned to look at Shōidan.
Lord Masao Shoidan was an imposing figure. He was tall, probably six and a half feet high, and thin as a reed. The man wore a jet black robe, cut just above the shins, as standard shinobi formal garb usually was. There was a soggy black beard to match the dark robe. If Shizuka hadn't known better, she would have guessed him to be the evil vizier out of some troupers' theater performance, but she knew better. The man was a wielder of the Tar Release, an exceptionally powerful elemental bloodline. The wielder, given that he was the Clan Head, one of the five Rain Lords of Amegakure.
Fighting was not an option that could be considered, not even if they were miles away from Amegakure where the Usurper slept, licking his wounds. Shizuka had seen Kakashi and Kagato fight before, and while together the three of them would maybe stand a chance… a 'chance' was simply not good enough for her.
Shizuka froze as Shōidan turned sharply, but he was just quickly turning a corner down one of Amegakure's many cluttered alleyways and sidestreets. She let out a breath.
He must have taken the bait, at least, Shizuka thought. There was no other reason that the man had left his compound in such a rush. He hadn't even bothered to bring a raincoat or an umbrella as he left, by the looks of it.
Though soaking wet, Lord Masao cut an intimidating figure as he walked through the desolate streets, alone, save for the air of purpose, nobility, and 'do not fuck with me I am busy' that he brought with him.
And us, of course.
The three of them followed Lord Shōidan to the interior of a large warehouse. A grain store of some sort, with bushels and crates of rice and wheat stacked in neat little rows. The Rain Lord walked down and stopped on one row in particular, turning to walk down it. He stopped in front of a particular crate of grain and pulled it out into the aisle. The hefty wooden box was about four feet to a side, and it left a a trail of sticky black pitch in its wake as it was moved.
That must be it.
Shizuka made the hand seals for her genjutsu, picturing exactly what she wanted the man to see, modifying the details to fit the environment they were in.
Shizuka cast the genjutsu. Lord Shōidan blinked owlishly for a moment, and fear bubbled up in her stomach.
Would it work? Will he notice?
The Rain Lord twisted to the side in confusion as he looked over his shoulder.
"Nephew!? Ryūji, what in blazes are YOU DOING!?"
Shōidan Masao started hollering and running as an illusory image of one of his nephews— a description she acquired in great fidelity from practicing with Hatake— sauntered over, plucked the scroll from the crate, and began a Substituting across the warehouse. Shizuka maintained the distance to keep the genjutsu up.
Now all that was left was for Hatake to grab the scroll.
"My Lord, what is the matter?" another voice rang out in the warehouse. "You ran out of dinner so suddenly, is there…"
The voice trailed off. Shizuka's mind raced.
SHIT!
They didn't put together a plan on how to deal with more than just the Shōidan head going to the location.
Kagato had brought it up, but Hatake had just shrugged and said that he'd handle it. Shizuka felt her heart leap up into her throat as a knife made of frozen terror plunged into her intestines.
Is he going to just kill them? Is he going to use that loud lightning technique, or that flashy fireball? Should we wait for them to leave or— no, if I don't keep this illusion up, the clan head will notice when we take the scroll. I need to follow him and maintain it.
Shizuka cursed silently as she darted behind the clan head. She didn't have the luxury of worrying about what Hatake was going to do right now. Her only priority at the moment was keeping the older jounin with the ridiculously powerful bloodline tucked safely away behind a blanket of false reality.
Oh, and he's on a pile of crazy custom stimulants too. Great, that's probably not going to hurt his reaction time in a fight.
Shizuka maintained the illusion as the clan head moved away, following him in the shadows as best as she could, and hoped with all her heart that Hatake could still figure out how to grab the scroll without alerting half of Hidden Rain.
o-o-o
"Copy Ninja, do you have contingencies in place to handle multiple ninja?"
"Eh, I'll figure it out."
"There is a second of this clan approaching," a whirring voice chittered in his ear.
Ah shit. Of course there is.
"My Lord!" Some Shōidan ninja said. Chuunin? Chuunin. Kakashi was already done evaluating most of his options when the Shōidan girl entered the warehouse.
Flashy lethal ninjutsu isn't an option, it might alert others or tip off the Clan Head to Shizuka's genjutsu. Can't rely on taijutsu. I'm good, but not one-hit-kill on a chuunin good, and I'm injured. Oh brain of mine, please figure something clever out.
The solution came together instantly.
Kakashi thanked his past self for the foresight, and uncovered Obito's eye. He formed a hand seal.
Well, here goes nothing.
Kakashi cast the genjutsu, and forced the comical image of her clan head comically chasing his nephew into the Shōidan chuunin's skull.
It was a short-lived illusion, just a brief glimpse of the boy's features as he ran around the warehouse. Kakashi wasn't good enough by half to create an illusion of the entire warehouse, so he just did the dim form of the nephew along with some audio, but with as much attention to detail as he could manage.
And with a lightning bolt of inspiration, Kakashi had even used the slight-amount of foresight that Obito's eye granted him to make the motions of the genjutsu-nephew appear more realistic. For a brief moment, the chuunin girl below saw a comedic chase sequence that, moment to moment and movement to movement, perfectly matched up with the portions of reality she was viewing.
The girl trailed off mid-sentence. Her eyes widened and she began the pursuit, conveniently moving away from the crate where the Salamander Scroll was probably tucked away in.
This way the girl chases Lord Shōidan, who Shizuka can keep on the run, and I'm free to nab the scroll and get.
"Kamaleon," Kakashi whispered. "Keep an eye out while I grab the scroll. Get Shizuka immediately once I have it."
"Understood."
Kakashi blurred and soon he was prying open the crate in question. He hefted the lid off with a grunt of effort and a surge of chakra enhanced strength and gently placed it on the warehouse floor, taking care not to get any of the sticky gobs of tar trailing behind it on his clothes. Kakashi stuck an arm in the crate, which was three quarters full with a pile of rice grains, and fished around. His hand caught ahold of something and he pulled out a large cylindrical container. Kakashi popped it open and upended it, and an ancient scroll of incredible power dropped down onto the bed of starchy rice.
The Salamander Scroll.
BINGO!
Thinking quickly, Kakashi placed the scroll on the ground, carefully. His hands blurred through hand seals as he cast a ninjutsu of his own creation.
"Fire Element: Forge Flame," he whispered, sending the barest trickle of fire element chakra into his hand. The searing jet of flame the technique produced was still hot as hell, but it was greatly diminished in size. Kakashi crouched down as best as he could to block the light with his body.
Kakashi focused the fire jutsu on the summoning scroll. Shizuka somersaulted into his peripheral as he began running the makeshift torch over the artifact.
"What are you doing?" Shizuka hissed. "We need to leave!"
Kakashi kept his focus on the scroll as the searing flames washed over it. "If I was him, I would have put some tar on the scroll as well." He finished the technique and cast another. "Fire Element: Hot 'N Cold."
His skin cooled to the touch and he picked up the lightly smoking scroll from the scorched ground. The heat was still uncomfortable and slightly painful, even through his gloved hands soaked with the night's rainfall, even with the cooling jutsu active.
"This way, to the summoner," Kamaleon whispered.
The two of them followed the sound of the mantis's whirring voice, leaving the building and into the rainy night.
o-o-o
"Then we all escape and run like hell to the nearest border."
Kakashi's lungs heaved as his legs propelled him through the treeline. The downpour above made it more difficult to navigate at peak speed, and he found himself constantly blinking away equal parts rain and sweat.
They were ten miles north of Amegakure, and they had about ten miles to go before they hit Grass Country's border. It was a larger distance than he would've liked, especially given that they'd have to continue on past the border by a fair margin before they could safely stop at some country village and rest.
"We have done," Sugiyama panted. "Entirely too much running." The medic's fragmented speech was interleaved with equal parts ragged gasps and coughing fits. "The last month." There was the distinct sound of a gob of phlegm and mucous being spat to the side. "I demand some proper rest and relaxation."
Kakashi couldn't argue with that. He was looking forward to putting this damned backpack down.
New rule. No recruiting anyone that can't carry their own stuff at a sprint.
"Half an hour at this pace," Kakashi said. "No more, we'll be over the border soon. Pretend we've got deadly predators on our heels, if it helps."
Experienced ninja in good shape could run at a pace that approached fifteen miles an hour, and keep that pace up for the better part of a day, so long as they had the chakra to do so. For a short amount of time, ninja could travel at a drastically faster pace, but doing so would hit the body hard.
The group was currently running as fast as they could towards Grass, the closest neighboring minor country if one was to leave from Amegakure proper. Kakashi estimated that they could keep the pace up for another twenty minutes before Sugiyama collapsed and needed to be carried, but it wasn't wise to voice that estimate if he wanted them to push themselves. Perhaps he would be surprised.
Their escape needed to be a sprint, not a marathon. Once word of the stolen scroll got out, Hidden Rain would be a kicked hornets nest of truly epic proportions. It would make the Sasu Clan's buzzing beehive look tame by comparison.
Kagato jerked his head around sharply to look over his shoulder. Kakashi's eye darted over to the Mantis Summoner, as a four foot-tall insectoid form buzzed into view from behind them. That's Kamasitari.
The summoned creature started speaking.
"Summoner, there are four pursuers three hundred meters behind. They are closing the distance quickly."
Shit.
"Describe their appearances and apparent age," the Mantis Summoner responded.
"Three look to be adults of your species, or older adolescents. One is older than the others by a significant margin. I did not acquire any other specifics. Kamaleon had me pass along the information, before she attempted to perform further reconnaissance. I do not know her status."
Kagato's face went grim, and he nodded. "Thank you."
Three chuunin and a jounin, probably, if not worse. One of them probably has sensor capabilities or a bloodline. Kagato is good, but he must have used up a lot of chakra on summoning these three earlier. Shizuka's good, but she's no jounin, Sugiyama is useless, and I'm still handicapped by my chakra coils.
Ninja squads in the elemental nations usually operated in groups of four as a standard practice, but it was unusual for a full squad to be out patrolling. While it was possible that the group of shinobi pursuing them were a full strength squad that had just happened to notice them sprinting by…
They must be coming after us specifically.
"Shit!" Kakashi cursed. He quickly glanced around. Shizuka was in the midst of the same mental combat arithmetic that he had just gone through. Sugiyama just looked tired.
Kakashi ignored the feeling of the bottom dropping out of his stomach as adrenaline shot through his tired form. He put a hand up to the straps of the heavy pack slung across his shoulders, as his mind raced to figure out what in the name of Hashirama's enormous wood he could do to get out of this one.
Shizuka, Stealth: ???
Kakashi, Stealth: 27 + 6 (dice) + 4 (-1FP, Invoke 'Hometown Girl in the Party')= 37
Summons + Kagato: ???
The squad does some stealth.
Shizuka, Genjutsu: 4? + 9(dice!) + 5 (tag 'Stimmed to the Gills') + 5 (-1 FP, Invoke 'Fastidious and Precise') +5 (-1 FP, Invoke 'Shizuka Did Her Homework')= ???
Clan head, Alertness: ???
He's fooled. Shizuka is actually pretty dang good at illusions, and the dice gods apparently think so too.
Kakashi is going to spend 1 FP to invoke The Copy Ninja and use his Copycat stunt to use Shizuka's Genjutsu Aspect Bonus instead of his own, since he's got a bunch of tags on this one.
Kakashi, Genjutsu: 14 + 3(dice) + 5 (tag 'Shizuka Did MY Homework') + 5 (tag 'Good Enough for the Mook') + 5 (-1 FP Invoke 'Ex-Anbu, Ex-Jounin, Ex-Leaf Ninja') + 6 (Sharingan) = 38
Mook, Alertness: ???
And it's justtttt barely good enough. I am inclined, in this instance, to give Kakashi the Sharingan buff to this roll, mostly because it was a cool way to apply it in this specific situation that I think he would have thought of. While this is important and Kakashi is swinging for the fences, it is incredibly unusual to run into multi-target illusions or multiple genjutsu users at once. This mook is going to follow the incensed clan head.
Kakashi runs over and rips the scroll out, giving it a quick Forge Flame to torch it of any Tar Release specks that might be stuck to it for good measure. He tosses the scroll to Shizuka, they proceed to commence Operation Fuck Off At Speed.
Other relevant rolls (i.e. for the poison) were done but omitted since it's not anything Kakashi was around to observe.
The characters are spent on FP and Kagato is not doing swell on chakra. Kakashi ends this encounter with 332 Chakra left.
Kakashi, Stealth: 27 + 6 (dice) + 4 (-1FP, Invoke 'Hometown Girl in the Party')= 37
Summons + Kagato: ???
The squad does some stealth.
Shizuka, Genjutsu: 4? + 9(dice!) + 5 (tag 'Stimmed to the Gills') + 5 (-1 FP, Invoke 'Fastidious and Precise') +5 (-1 FP, Invoke 'Shizuka Did Her Homework')= ???
Clan head, Alertness: ???
He's fooled. Shizuka is actually pretty dang good at illusions, and the dice gods apparently think so too.
Kakashi is going to spend 1 FP to invoke The Copy Ninja and use his Copycat stunt to use Shizuka's Genjutsu Aspect Bonus instead of his own, since he's got a bunch of tags on this one.
Kakashi, Genjutsu: 14 + 3(dice) + 5 (tag 'Shizuka Did MY Homework') + 5 (tag 'Good Enough for the Mook') + 5 (-1 FP Invoke 'Ex-Anbu, Ex-Jounin, Ex-Leaf Ninja') + 6 (Sharingan) = 38
Mook, Alertness: ???
And it's justtttt barely good enough. I am inclined, in this instance, to give Kakashi the Sharingan buff to this roll, mostly because it was a cool way to apply it in this specific situation that I think he would have thought of. While this is important and Kakashi is swinging for the fences, it is incredibly unusual to run into multi-target illusions or multiple genjutsu users at once. This mook is going to follow the incensed clan head.
Kakashi runs over and rips the scroll out, giving it a quick Forge Flame to torch it of any Tar Release specks that might be stuck to it for good measure. He tosses the scroll to Shizuka, they proceed to commence Operation Fuck Off At Speed.
Other relevant rolls (i.e. for the poison) were done but omitted since it's not anything Kakashi was around to observe.
The characters are spent on FP and Kagato is not doing swell on chakra. Kakashi ends this encounter with 332 Chakra left.
There was an absolutely terrible first draft of this that I wrote and then promptly destroyed any record of, before burning my harddrive and scattering the remains in several different dimensions, otherwise you would have gotten this one a few days earlier.
The team is being pursued. Kakashi still has the combat abilities of a particularly snarky chuunin, Kagato used up most of his chakra summoning earlier, and Sugiyama is about as deadly as a sack of potatoes. In addition to this, Kakashi and Shizuka each have a single Fate Point they've earned from surviving this far.
Whatcha gonna do?
Voting time! What do you do now? Here are a couple options to get you started:
[] It's time to Chidori some motherfuckers. Put the backpack down and start making handseals. Together, you can probably deal with them and quickly escape to Grass before backup arrives, right?
[] Range is key. Spam ranged lightning ninjutsu from the treetops at the oncoming foes. That, plus Kagato and Shizuka's own contributions should make quick work of these ninja before more show up.
[] Continuing your escape uninterrupted is mission critical. Summon four Shadow Clones and have them attempt to bog the enemy down with numbers, but do not look back. Run run run!
[] Don't engage, but attempt to dodge the pursuers with the aid of everyone's various jutsu. While you escape, have everyone cast various ninjutsu to create obstacles to slow them down.
[] (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 5pm London time, Saturday, October 22nd.
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- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Shizuka's sister is a civilian, isn't she?
That's why she's so desperate to save her. Shizuka grew up, directing their father's attention/abuse onto herself to spare her civilian (and therefore, second class) sister the tender mercies of their father.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
SMALLER SHIZUKA: "Omg big sis is this your boyfriend?"
KAKASHI: "I refuse to engage in this literary cliche"
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
SUGIYAMA: As I understand it, he clove lightning in twain to protect her.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
getting hyperbolic here but dam shizuka was really like 'omg haha we're just like characters in those dumb romance novels you read right lol jk unless...'
and kakashi was like 'what? no. that's stupid'
Astra Myst
Do you want a wish?
- Location
- Milky Way Galaxy
[X] Continuing your escape uninterrupted is mission critical. Summon four Shadow Clones and have them attempt to bog the enemy down with numbers, but do not look back. Run run run!
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
...Hm. What if we shadow clone'd, and then double Fire Dragon Bullet'd them?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Shadow clone can't use copycat so it's not nearly as good
We've also got a limited amount of FP to work with (1, apparently)
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
I mean, yeah, but it could still burn FP/subs from our targets.
e: Also makes it easier to hit the "chakra overdraw repeatedly, get bonus AB to the roll" stage of things.
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MMKII
The Shining One
- Location
- Trapped in an extradimensional rift.
- Pronouns
- She/They
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I know I already mentioned this on discord, but just so people here can also see it:
They're probably not going to need to burn FP or Sub to dodge the clone's attack.
FDB (40) + 7 (Boost) + 0 (Clone can't use sharingan) + 0 (no invokes) - 10 (Consequence malus) = 37
A genin might dodge that without substitution, chuunin and jonin definitely should be able to.
And it would be a waste to use any invokes on a much worse AB, with prime using copycat we can use a +9 instead of a +5
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
Yeah this is fair.
Brought this up on discord, but @MMKII @Paperclipped is using one clone's FDB to create an aspect the other can tag something we could do? The downpour makes that a bit unlikely, but...
Also, would using the tag on the second FDB on the environmental aspect use the first FDB's AB or the second's? It's relevant, because of copycat. Generally, I am aware that jutsu provide their own AB to things, but FDB in particular creates an environmental aspect, which might be different.
- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Action Plan: Purple Flames Fanned by Teamwork
- Prepwork:
- Put on masks/seals for protective air to resist poison.
- Give Shizuka explosives (she's probably better at RW than we are right now)
- Kakashi:
- Fire Dragon Bullet, boosted with Wind Jutsu from Kagato
- Shizuka:
- Throw poison bombs at range.
- If range can be boosted via wind jutsu, do that, too.
- Use senbon and explosives to attack enemy ninja at range.
- poisoned senbon and genjutsu to generate aspects and tags for allied use?
- Throw poison bombs at range.
- Kagato:
- You're in melee.
- Direct your summons as you will (you know their abilities better than we do)
- Sugiyama:
- cast the Fire Shroud jutsu and be prepared to substitute.
- Your goal is to dodge and stay unharmed.
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- Location
- Book Fort
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Jutsu Proposal Drop
Idea Twenty-Two: Territory Claim
Description: The Earth of the Zone becomes pliable to the caster's Earth Jutsu, but resistant to anyone else's.
Idea Twenty-Two: Territory Claim
Description: The Earth of the Zone becomes pliable to the caster's Earth Jutsu, but resistant to anyone else's.
| Type | Block | Strain |
| Element | Earth | 0 |
| Effect | 1 to AB | +10, +30, +60, +100, +150... |
| Duration | Half Minute | +30 |
| Durability | ||
| Range | 0 (Same Zone) | +40 |
| Cast Speed | Standard (seconds) | |
| AOE | Entire Zone | +40 |
| Advantage | Affects Chakra Cost | +40 |
| Disadvantage | Breaks Painfully | (-20) |
| Cost | 28, 32, 46... CP | 140, 160, 230... strain |
Your chakra saturates the ground within the Zone, making the ground resistant to Earth jutsu cast by anyone who is not the caster (allies included), and more pliable to your own Earth jutsu.
For the duration of the jutsu, Earth Element jutsu halfcost for the caster, within the Zone that it was cast.
If enemy jutsu AB is below this jutsu AB, then the enemy jutsu fails.
If the enemy jutsu AB is above this jutsu AB, then the enemy jutsu is cast at 2x (or maybe only 1.5x?) chakra cost. If the enemy doesn't have the requisite chakra, then their jutsu fails.
If the enemy jutsu AB is 2x (or maybe only 1.5x) the AB of this jutsu, then the enemy jutsu works flawlessly. When this occurs, this jutsu breaks painfully, creating a Fragile Aspect on the caster to the effect of "Concentration Backlash," upon which the enemy gets a free tag.
Requires Stunt: Apprentice Earthshaper (or perhaps a higher-level elemental stunt?)
For the duration of the jutsu, Earth Element jutsu halfcost for the caster, within the Zone that it was cast.
If enemy jutsu AB is below this jutsu AB, then the enemy jutsu fails.
If the enemy jutsu AB is above this jutsu AB, then the enemy jutsu is cast at 2x (or maybe only 1.5x?) chakra cost. If the enemy doesn't have the requisite chakra, then their jutsu fails.
If the enemy jutsu AB is 2x (or maybe only 1.5x) the AB of this jutsu, then the enemy jutsu works flawlessly. When this occurs, this jutsu breaks painfully, creating a Fragile Aspect on the caster to the effect of "Concentration Backlash," upon which the enemy gets a free tag.
Requires Stunt: Apprentice Earthshaper (or perhaps a higher-level elemental stunt?)