I think you missed a few chapters. The rebels won and kiri was dissolved, with Kousuke establishing a new village so the old ordinary kiri ninja have an option that is not become a bandit. Haruki just went with the other members of kiri who decided to give the new village a shot.
Snapping Turtle [Naruto SI]
- Thread starter Chairtastic
- Start date
Vaalintine
Wild Wondorous Wolfalope
The only method of attacking the new village I can think woukd work is a seige. Cut them off from outside resources and wear them down.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Unless they grow their own food. Then that plan will fail.
Honestly the only thing that would be able to destroy the underwater city would be if Momoshiki decided to pay a visit to the village after sensing his fellow Ootsosuki Noburu, imprisoned him, then blew a hole through his city just for the shits and giggles.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
They probably have a lot of sushi.
Fanart: Noburu
Ch 17
Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
Ch 17: Beneath the Waves
---
Isobu
When Noburu relinquished control during his escapades underwater, it was like balm on wounds Isobu didn't know he had. He could feel the water on his skin again -- not just feeling it from Noburu's experience. The Seal of Hooks kept him from fully manifesting his form, but he could partially manifest his carapace and tails to give Noburu's body the strength to push Saiken's bubbles.
While Saiken and Isobu brought the materials to build the new ninja village -- one which would honor them and their siblings, per Kousuke -- the two jinchuuriki talked shop.
"We have to do this in a way that doesn't pollute the sound," Noburu's mind chatted with Kousukes through the bond of the bijuu. "We're going to be creating a lot of reef just from our construction -- and I'm not going to disrespect Isobu by seeing it bleached and dead in ten years."
"Thank you for that," the turtle spirit rumbled and noted an elder Kaizoku kraken's lair as they passed. That would provide a lot of food for the humans and make room for new krakens to move in. "Waste can be processed into fertilizer for the seabed, particularly if you allow kelp to grow near the village."
Kousuke mentally nodded. "Thank you for your wisdom, Isobu." The monk considered, and spoke again his tone less sure. "Though… kelp forests would help the village remain hidden, but it would also get into the propellers of ships."
"Then we need to create the port a little removed from the kelpy area," Noburu commented, He twitched a bit, in his mind-space. "Hopefully there's no kelpie area. That would be downright unpleasant."
Isobu forwarded a mental image from Noburu of a corpse-like horse which dragged men down into the waters to Saiken, who passed it along to Kousuke.
The monk shuddered. "What a nasty way to die."
"Yeah. I was so excited to finally get to live a life in Scotland, and…." Noburu shrugged. "Death by drowning. I'm glad I died before they started eating me, though."
"I know of no such creatures in the seas," Isobu rumbled. While he swam through the physical seas, his chakra seeped out and let him notice each small creature in his proximity. He had swam the whole length of the oceans before that damned Senju got involved. "Saiken, do any linger in your swamps?"
"I don't got your sensory powers, yeah?" The slug gurgled defensively. "I ain't seen 'em, it don't mean they aren't there."
"So your fascination with art has seen you neglect your duties, has it?"
"Oy, oy! Just don't go riding no swamp horse! Leave my art outta it, yeah?"
"Please don't argue," Kousuke implored the spirits. "We will keep a watch out for anything like that, but back to the issue of kelp?"
Isobu grunted, and bubbles rose from him in the physical world. "Kelp grows in shallower water than that which the village is situated at -- simply keep the area clear."
"Depending on the species, it might be useful to farm it." Noburu shrugged again in the mindspace of the bijuu. "Some are good for making things like toothpaste or shampoo, others you can make pharmaceuticals out. Also those wraps you put on sushi rolls, I guess."
Kousuke chuckled. "Maybe the village will become famous for its sushi, wouldn't that be a nice break from renown via murder?" The monk and Noburu sat in silence for a moment while their bijuu hauled the bubbles through the sea. "The jounin want to know who they answer to."
"You," Noburu said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"I'm not a ninja." Kousuke's tone was also as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"And I'm a genin. I know like, five jutsu. I've never even been on a mission before." Noburu crossed his arms, a defensive tinge to his thoughts. "I've been a jinchuuriki for two months and change -- and I'm just starting to really learn medical stuff. I haven't even started on any byakugan utilization yet -- there's too much catching up I have to do." He scoffed, disgusted with himself. "I can't even beat Princess in a taijutsu match."
Kousuke nodded, and conceded the point. "If I'm in charge -- they'll see this as a prison. As confinement for them. That will definitely breed resentment, and then all this work will be undone. They need someone with the will to forge a community. Someone with a plan."
"...If he wasn't already stressed the fuck out -- I'd say Raiga would be your guy, then."
Isobu rumbled in the physical world. "That man has consistently disrespected you, and by extension me. And you disrespected him in turn."
"I disrespected him because he was too much of a coward to go for what he really wanted," Noburu commented, conversational. That surprised everyone except Saiken -- who had never paid much attention to the man. "I saw him in the future as a bitter shell of himself who had let his skills atrophy as he spent time not fighting equal opponents. What he craves, deep in his heart, is camaraderie -- a sense of community and family. In the original timeline -- that's why he became a missing ninja -- Kiri didn't offer what he wanted, so he left."
Isobu flitted between Noburu's thoughts and began to see what Noburu saw. It was an odd thing -- the Seal of Hooks' barbaric design let the two communicate as if they were two parts of one whole. Perhaps because they'd expected Isobu to devour Noburu's mind right away.
"You… want someone you consider a coward to lead the Kiri ninja?" Kousuke, without the insight Isobu had, was confused.
Noburu shook his head. "Are you familiar with something called 'what you are in the dark'?"
Kousuke nodded.
"When Raiga was in the dark, he killed the cancer which had poisoned Kirigakure for decades. No one will ever find Ryukotsusei's body. If he had helped Ryukotsusei, he would enable all the evil that man would do from then on. He chose to be a man, not a monster."
Kousuke's surprise spilled over into Saiken, and then into Isobu through their bond. "...Well then. That's something entirely different."
--
Third Hokage.
It is as Noburu said, Sarutobi thought to himself as he looked at where the alleged corpse of Madara Uchiha had been mere seconds before. In his hand, the Hokage held a kunai with a chakra disruption tag hanging from the ring pommel. A quick jab to Madara's corpse, and it revealed itself to be a shadow clone.
A familiar figure watched as the cloud from the clone dispersed. Owl, without his mask, watched as the deception was revealed. Fugaku Uchiha, heir to the Uchiha clan head, Anbu black-ops medic-nin, and one of Sarutobi's bodyguards. His hair was greyer than most of the Uchiha clan heads in the past, and his jaw noticeably squarer.
"Lord Hokage," the Uchiha said after the dust had settled. "No one in the Uchiha clan knew about this -- I swear it."
"I believe you, but I have to verify that with an investigation." Sarutobi hid the kunai away in his robes and pulled the stone lid of Madara's casket closed. "The First Hokage's body is also missing." Sarutobi watch surprise and horror bloom on Fugaku's face, his own a visage of steel as he looked for any sign of duplicity. "Yet the Second's remains where it is. We cannot rule out that whoever robbed his brother's grave will come back for the set."
Spirits, did he hope Noburu's words about Madara having stiched the First Hokage's face to his nipple were exaggerations. But if it wasn't… the man was mad. A deranged animal which had to be put down.
"I'm certain your investigation will confirm you have nothing to fear. The Uchiha remain loyal to Konoha, and Fire Country."
"That's encouraging to hear." Sarutobi puffed his pipe and started toward the door out of the tomb. "Give my regards to your wife, and be ready in case something happens regarding the fox."
"Lord Hokage?"
Sarutobi stopped and looked back to Fugaku's confused expression. "Today is the day," he reminded his bodyguard. "The fox will be transferred later tonight. And your genjutsu skills, along with your medical talents, will be helpful in casse the worst comes to pass."
He turned back, and left the tomb then. Sarutobi hadn't known Mito well. She had been his first sensei's wife, and his second sensei's sister-in-law. Her time had been consumed with mothering the Senju children -- even as they died out around her. She had outlived her husband, her children, and some of her grandchildren. That entire time, she never made a fuss about the fox, or how the village treated her for it. But since he'd talked to Noburu, Sarutobi had made inquiries.
After the First Hokage had died, Mito had been harassed and assaulted until the Second Hokage had brutally punished those responsible. Tobirama's legendary vicious temper partially explained why he and Ryukotsusei had once been friends, after all.
That probably said something about how Tobirama-sensei would have ruled long-term if he hadn't been viciously pounded to death by the Kinkau Force. Sarutobi forcibly stopped that line of thought as he envisioned an alternative meaning to it. His sensei would be irate that Sarutobi's perversion had twisted the man's death into that, even if only for a moment.
I'm starting to think like Jiraiya, Sarutobi thought to himself and dragged his hand across his face. He pulled himself back to his original train of thought. Kushina, the new jinchuuriki, was likely to face much of the same prejudices that Mito had endured. And Noburu had ominously said she would only have twelve years left to live.
Noburu had challenged him to change the future -- Hiruzen, the Professor and God of Shinobi, would meet that challenge. He swore it to himself.
Which was why he called Orochimaru to his office as soon as he returned to the tower. He allowed the snake Sannin to be visibly irritated with him when Orochimaru arrived.
"Mito is not stable -- unless you've summoned me to tell me Tsunade has returned, could this not wait a day?" Orochimaru didn't tend to shout, he hissed venomously when upset. Which, from the signs of a long shift in the hospital, Sarutobi guessed him to be.
It had been unfair for Hiruzen to ask Orochimaru to fill in for Tsundae, he realized in that moment. Orochimaru had skill with medicine, but not in treating patients. The man didn't have the gift with saving lives that Tsunade had.
"It concerns Kushina, the next nine-tails jinchuuriki." Hiruzen puffed on his pipe, unconcerned with the exasperated glare Orochimaru gave him. "I worry for her welfare after she becomes host to the fox."
Orochimaru put on the front of calm understanding. "Yes, that is a serious concern, but you know when it might have been appropriate to discuss it? Any point in the past month, and not the day the transfer is supposed to take place."
"I had work to do." Hiruzen produced a scroll from his desk's drawers and offered it to Orochimaru. "I put together a team I want you to take with you when you visit Otogakure."
Orochimaru calmed down a bit and took the scroll. "How does this relate to Kushina Uzumaki in any… way…." Orochimaru opened the scroll and read its contents. While he did his words slowed down to a total stop. Slitted yellow eyes snapped to Hiruzens and for a moment, Hiruzen was afraid Orochimaru would jump at him -- such was the man's anger. "You're giving me a genin team. You're giving me a genin team on the day Jiraiya and I have to keep Mito alive for a six-hour sealing. You're giving me a genin team when we could all be dead at any moment because I'm not there to keep Mito alive right now."
"I am." Hiruzen braced for the worst. He had legitimately taken great pains to find genin who had lost their senseis to the last war, or hadn't been a good fit for their original teams. Orochimaru seemed to have a gift with the otherwise unwanted people of the village, and Hiruzen wanted to play into that. Though, perhaps he had overestimated how much he could put onto the man's shoulders in one day.
Orochimaru nodded. "I see, Sarutobi-sensei. I see what you're doing." His tone was light, but Hiruzen could tell that Orochimaru had gone beyond merely upset and was furious. The snake Sannin rolled the scroll up, put it into his jounin vest, and bit his thumb. A moment later, the same red messenger snake which had delivered news to Hiruzen was wrapped around Orochimaru's arm. "Please tell Lady Biwako that the Hokage has broken her embargo on lesbian pornographic books again."
Betrayal and visceral terror filled Hiruzen as Orochimaru's messenger poofed into smoke. "But I haven't…." His blood ran cold as he waited for Biwako to respond to Orochimaru's messenger.
"See, you've betrayed Lady Biwako's trust by peeping with Jiraiya so often that it doesn't really matter." Orochimaru smiled, upbeat, and turned to leave the office. "I forgive you for pulling this today, Sarutobi-sensei."
"Hiruzen!" A woman's voice shouted with such force that the birds fled the trees outside.
"This is forgiveness?" Hiruzen said as he heard stomping feet approach his office.
"I'm told that forgiveness sounds like screaming and then silence," Orochimaru commented with a smile. "I have an operation to oversee. Your wife will be by to visit shortly."
When the door closed there was nothing for Hiruzen to do other than wait for his wife, and the thrashing to ensue. She'd only see his attempts to escape as further proof.
--
Mercenary-nin Kanzaki.
Sayaka and her mother weren't on speaking terms. They hadn't been for days. She'd been getting ready for the boat to Wave when her mother called her into the living room. That was the last Sayaka remembered before she woke up on a boat bound for Neck Country.
Her mother had used a neck chop and drugs to keep Sayaka asleep for days on end while they sailed out of Kiri. Sayaka managed to weedle out of her mother that she'd only run out of the drugs when some spoiled due to the cabin's humidity. Otherwise she would have been asleep until they'd arrived in Neck Country.
"I couldn't bare the thought of living in a prison ruled by… that demon," her mother had said and clutched at her prosthetic. "We couldn't go there. Neck Country was the only other available ship."
There were a whole host of problems with that. So many that Sayaka struggled to put them into order because -- her mother had attacked and drugged her, and she was only awake because it hadn't gone to plan.
If it was anyone but her mother -- they'd be dead. No ifs, buts, or maybes -- dead. In pieces, all over the floor.
Because it was her mother though, Sayaka just refused to talk to her. She kept her back to a wall as often as possible so that her mother wouldn't get another chance, and waited.
"Sayaka," her mother croaked from the cabin's bed as Sayaka returned from the bathroom. "It'll be better in Neck Country -- you'll see."
That, on top of everything else, made Sayaka snap. "No. You will see, but I'll be getting on a boat to Wave. You want to live in Neck -- you can. But I want to be a ninja -- and the rest of my team probably went to Wave."
Her mother looked devastated, and it hurt Sayaka to see it. She thrust her prosthetic arm forward and gestured at it. "Look at what that creature did to me. You think everyone there isn't getting this same treatment?!"
"He's a man, not a monster! At least… at least I think he is." Sayaka didn't want to shout at her mother, it took away her desire to fight. "But Raiga-sensei knows what he is better than either of us -- and he wanted to go to Wave. Maybe Kousuke will take my arm, and you'll be right -- or maybe I can finally serve as a ninja for a place that doesn't lie to my face all the time!" She still wore her Kirigakure headband, and fixed that in a fit of rage. The bandana and metal plate flew and hit the wall, then landed on the floor with a clang.
Sayaka's mother was confused, it showed in her face. She stood and approached Sayaka who promptly unsheathed her sword to keep her mother at arm's reach. "Sayaka -- the village never lied to you…."
"No, it did! It told us our enemy was a pack of demons, led by a bigger demon!" Tears gathered in her eyes as she remembered the faces of rebels her traps had killed. She'd been proud to liberate them from Kousuke's demonic influence. All that pride turned to ash. "But they were people! People who wanted to be free, and we were killing them!"
"Sayaka, sweetie -- Kousuke was controlling them…."
"No he wasn't! Because he's not a demon!" She could already tell by the irritated look on her mother's face that she wouldn't believe Sayaka about what Haruki had told her. "That's a stupid superstition, and I believed it until they put me on a team with the three-tails host."
Immediately, her mother took a step back. Horror bloomed on her face, then anger. "Sayaka, I'm so sorry. If I had known -- "
"If you had known, I'd still be that girl who got people killed and was happy that they were dead!" Sayaka kept her sword out and returned to her spot on the wall. "But I'm not. I know better now. And I'm going to Wave, to be better."
"And how are you going to be better, huh?!" Sayaka's mother snapped, her face red with fury. "There's no castes there, there's no way to know how to treat people! Kousuke isn't going to sort people out into what they're good at -- you'll have nobility pushing brooms, and janitors making important decisions!"
"That's still better than how Kiri did things." Sayaka pulled her legs up to her chest, partially because she needed a hug, and partially in case she needed to roll to one side to evade an attack. Though, she'd never known her mother to care about castes before. Perhaps she just hadn't seen how her mother treated foot caste people when she wasn't around. "I'm going to Wave. You can stay in Neck and do whatever you want, I don't care anymore."
But she did. Even if she didn't look like it, under the surface she really wanted her mom to see reason and come with her. She wanted it, but she knew it wasn't going to happen from the way her mother looked at her. Outside, Sayaka was calm, stoic like a shinobi should be. Inside, it was a totally different story.
The rest of the trip was spent in silence.
---
I forgot to do this last time, so here's Fuguki's cast entry!
Cast:
Fuguki Suikazan: One of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of Kirigakure. A jounin who used his hair as a weapon an extra limb, as the Suikazans are known for. He wields the monstrous sword Samehada which feeds on chakra. An information-warfare specialist, he is just as terrifying in an office as on the battlefield. He spent the tail end of the rebellion in a coma after a fight with Kousuke.
---
Isobu
When Noburu relinquished control during his escapades underwater, it was like balm on wounds Isobu didn't know he had. He could feel the water on his skin again -- not just feeling it from Noburu's experience. The Seal of Hooks kept him from fully manifesting his form, but he could partially manifest his carapace and tails to give Noburu's body the strength to push Saiken's bubbles.
While Saiken and Isobu brought the materials to build the new ninja village -- one which would honor them and their siblings, per Kousuke -- the two jinchuuriki talked shop.
"We have to do this in a way that doesn't pollute the sound," Noburu's mind chatted with Kousukes through the bond of the bijuu. "We're going to be creating a lot of reef just from our construction -- and I'm not going to disrespect Isobu by seeing it bleached and dead in ten years."
"Thank you for that," the turtle spirit rumbled and noted an elder Kaizoku kraken's lair as they passed. That would provide a lot of food for the humans and make room for new krakens to move in. "Waste can be processed into fertilizer for the seabed, particularly if you allow kelp to grow near the village."
Kousuke mentally nodded. "Thank you for your wisdom, Isobu." The monk considered, and spoke again his tone less sure. "Though… kelp forests would help the village remain hidden, but it would also get into the propellers of ships."
"Then we need to create the port a little removed from the kelpy area," Noburu commented, He twitched a bit, in his mind-space. "Hopefully there's no kelpie area. That would be downright unpleasant."
Isobu forwarded a mental image from Noburu of a corpse-like horse which dragged men down into the waters to Saiken, who passed it along to Kousuke.
The monk shuddered. "What a nasty way to die."
"Yeah. I was so excited to finally get to live a life in Scotland, and…." Noburu shrugged. "Death by drowning. I'm glad I died before they started eating me, though."
"I know of no such creatures in the seas," Isobu rumbled. While he swam through the physical seas, his chakra seeped out and let him notice each small creature in his proximity. He had swam the whole length of the oceans before that damned Senju got involved. "Saiken, do any linger in your swamps?"
"I don't got your sensory powers, yeah?" The slug gurgled defensively. "I ain't seen 'em, it don't mean they aren't there."
"So your fascination with art has seen you neglect your duties, has it?"
"Oy, oy! Just don't go riding no swamp horse! Leave my art outta it, yeah?"
"Please don't argue," Kousuke implored the spirits. "We will keep a watch out for anything like that, but back to the issue of kelp?"
Isobu grunted, and bubbles rose from him in the physical world. "Kelp grows in shallower water than that which the village is situated at -- simply keep the area clear."
"Depending on the species, it might be useful to farm it." Noburu shrugged again in the mindspace of the bijuu. "Some are good for making things like toothpaste or shampoo, others you can make pharmaceuticals out. Also those wraps you put on sushi rolls, I guess."
Kousuke chuckled. "Maybe the village will become famous for its sushi, wouldn't that be a nice break from renown via murder?" The monk and Noburu sat in silence for a moment while their bijuu hauled the bubbles through the sea. "The jounin want to know who they answer to."
"You," Noburu said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"I'm not a ninja." Kousuke's tone was also as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"And I'm a genin. I know like, five jutsu. I've never even been on a mission before." Noburu crossed his arms, a defensive tinge to his thoughts. "I've been a jinchuuriki for two months and change -- and I'm just starting to really learn medical stuff. I haven't even started on any byakugan utilization yet -- there's too much catching up I have to do." He scoffed, disgusted with himself. "I can't even beat Princess in a taijutsu match."
Kousuke nodded, and conceded the point. "If I'm in charge -- they'll see this as a prison. As confinement for them. That will definitely breed resentment, and then all this work will be undone. They need someone with the will to forge a community. Someone with a plan."
"...If he wasn't already stressed the fuck out -- I'd say Raiga would be your guy, then."
Isobu rumbled in the physical world. "That man has consistently disrespected you, and by extension me. And you disrespected him in turn."
"I disrespected him because he was too much of a coward to go for what he really wanted," Noburu commented, conversational. That surprised everyone except Saiken -- who had never paid much attention to the man. "I saw him in the future as a bitter shell of himself who had let his skills atrophy as he spent time not fighting equal opponents. What he craves, deep in his heart, is camaraderie -- a sense of community and family. In the original timeline -- that's why he became a missing ninja -- Kiri didn't offer what he wanted, so he left."
Isobu flitted between Noburu's thoughts and began to see what Noburu saw. It was an odd thing -- the Seal of Hooks' barbaric design let the two communicate as if they were two parts of one whole. Perhaps because they'd expected Isobu to devour Noburu's mind right away.
"You… want someone you consider a coward to lead the Kiri ninja?" Kousuke, without the insight Isobu had, was confused.
Noburu shook his head. "Are you familiar with something called 'what you are in the dark'?"
Kousuke nodded.
"When Raiga was in the dark, he killed the cancer which had poisoned Kirigakure for decades. No one will ever find Ryukotsusei's body. If he had helped Ryukotsusei, he would enable all the evil that man would do from then on. He chose to be a man, not a monster."
Kousuke's surprise spilled over into Saiken, and then into Isobu through their bond. "...Well then. That's something entirely different."
--
Third Hokage.
It is as Noburu said, Sarutobi thought to himself as he looked at where the alleged corpse of Madara Uchiha had been mere seconds before. In his hand, the Hokage held a kunai with a chakra disruption tag hanging from the ring pommel. A quick jab to Madara's corpse, and it revealed itself to be a shadow clone.
A familiar figure watched as the cloud from the clone dispersed. Owl, without his mask, watched as the deception was revealed. Fugaku Uchiha, heir to the Uchiha clan head, Anbu black-ops medic-nin, and one of Sarutobi's bodyguards. His hair was greyer than most of the Uchiha clan heads in the past, and his jaw noticeably squarer.
"Lord Hokage," the Uchiha said after the dust had settled. "No one in the Uchiha clan knew about this -- I swear it."
"I believe you, but I have to verify that with an investigation." Sarutobi hid the kunai away in his robes and pulled the stone lid of Madara's casket closed. "The First Hokage's body is also missing." Sarutobi watch surprise and horror bloom on Fugaku's face, his own a visage of steel as he looked for any sign of duplicity. "Yet the Second's remains where it is. We cannot rule out that whoever robbed his brother's grave will come back for the set."
Spirits, did he hope Noburu's words about Madara having stiched the First Hokage's face to his nipple were exaggerations. But if it wasn't… the man was mad. A deranged animal which had to be put down.
"I'm certain your investigation will confirm you have nothing to fear. The Uchiha remain loyal to Konoha, and Fire Country."
"That's encouraging to hear." Sarutobi puffed his pipe and started toward the door out of the tomb. "Give my regards to your wife, and be ready in case something happens regarding the fox."
"Lord Hokage?"
Sarutobi stopped and looked back to Fugaku's confused expression. "Today is the day," he reminded his bodyguard. "The fox will be transferred later tonight. And your genjutsu skills, along with your medical talents, will be helpful in casse the worst comes to pass."
He turned back, and left the tomb then. Sarutobi hadn't known Mito well. She had been his first sensei's wife, and his second sensei's sister-in-law. Her time had been consumed with mothering the Senju children -- even as they died out around her. She had outlived her husband, her children, and some of her grandchildren. That entire time, she never made a fuss about the fox, or how the village treated her for it. But since he'd talked to Noburu, Sarutobi had made inquiries.
After the First Hokage had died, Mito had been harassed and assaulted until the Second Hokage had brutally punished those responsible. Tobirama's legendary vicious temper partially explained why he and Ryukotsusei had once been friends, after all.
That probably said something about how Tobirama-sensei would have ruled long-term if he hadn't been viciously pounded to death by the Kinkau Force. Sarutobi forcibly stopped that line of thought as he envisioned an alternative meaning to it. His sensei would be irate that Sarutobi's perversion had twisted the man's death into that, even if only for a moment.
I'm starting to think like Jiraiya, Sarutobi thought to himself and dragged his hand across his face. He pulled himself back to his original train of thought. Kushina, the new jinchuuriki, was likely to face much of the same prejudices that Mito had endured. And Noburu had ominously said she would only have twelve years left to live.
Noburu had challenged him to change the future -- Hiruzen, the Professor and God of Shinobi, would meet that challenge. He swore it to himself.
Which was why he called Orochimaru to his office as soon as he returned to the tower. He allowed the snake Sannin to be visibly irritated with him when Orochimaru arrived.
"Mito is not stable -- unless you've summoned me to tell me Tsunade has returned, could this not wait a day?" Orochimaru didn't tend to shout, he hissed venomously when upset. Which, from the signs of a long shift in the hospital, Sarutobi guessed him to be.
It had been unfair for Hiruzen to ask Orochimaru to fill in for Tsundae, he realized in that moment. Orochimaru had skill with medicine, but not in treating patients. The man didn't have the gift with saving lives that Tsunade had.
"It concerns Kushina, the next nine-tails jinchuuriki." Hiruzen puffed on his pipe, unconcerned with the exasperated glare Orochimaru gave him. "I worry for her welfare after she becomes host to the fox."
Orochimaru put on the front of calm understanding. "Yes, that is a serious concern, but you know when it might have been appropriate to discuss it? Any point in the past month, and not the day the transfer is supposed to take place."
"I had work to do." Hiruzen produced a scroll from his desk's drawers and offered it to Orochimaru. "I put together a team I want you to take with you when you visit Otogakure."
Orochimaru calmed down a bit and took the scroll. "How does this relate to Kushina Uzumaki in any… way…." Orochimaru opened the scroll and read its contents. While he did his words slowed down to a total stop. Slitted yellow eyes snapped to Hiruzens and for a moment, Hiruzen was afraid Orochimaru would jump at him -- such was the man's anger. "You're giving me a genin team. You're giving me a genin team on the day Jiraiya and I have to keep Mito alive for a six-hour sealing. You're giving me a genin team when we could all be dead at any moment because I'm not there to keep Mito alive right now."
"I am." Hiruzen braced for the worst. He had legitimately taken great pains to find genin who had lost their senseis to the last war, or hadn't been a good fit for their original teams. Orochimaru seemed to have a gift with the otherwise unwanted people of the village, and Hiruzen wanted to play into that. Though, perhaps he had overestimated how much he could put onto the man's shoulders in one day.
Orochimaru nodded. "I see, Sarutobi-sensei. I see what you're doing." His tone was light, but Hiruzen could tell that Orochimaru had gone beyond merely upset and was furious. The snake Sannin rolled the scroll up, put it into his jounin vest, and bit his thumb. A moment later, the same red messenger snake which had delivered news to Hiruzen was wrapped around Orochimaru's arm. "Please tell Lady Biwako that the Hokage has broken her embargo on lesbian pornographic books again."
Betrayal and visceral terror filled Hiruzen as Orochimaru's messenger poofed into smoke. "But I haven't…." His blood ran cold as he waited for Biwako to respond to Orochimaru's messenger.
"See, you've betrayed Lady Biwako's trust by peeping with Jiraiya so often that it doesn't really matter." Orochimaru smiled, upbeat, and turned to leave the office. "I forgive you for pulling this today, Sarutobi-sensei."
"Hiruzen!" A woman's voice shouted with such force that the birds fled the trees outside.
"This is forgiveness?" Hiruzen said as he heard stomping feet approach his office.
"I'm told that forgiveness sounds like screaming and then silence," Orochimaru commented with a smile. "I have an operation to oversee. Your wife will be by to visit shortly."
When the door closed there was nothing for Hiruzen to do other than wait for his wife, and the thrashing to ensue. She'd only see his attempts to escape as further proof.
--
Mercenary-nin Kanzaki.
Sayaka and her mother weren't on speaking terms. They hadn't been for days. She'd been getting ready for the boat to Wave when her mother called her into the living room. That was the last Sayaka remembered before she woke up on a boat bound for Neck Country.
Her mother had used a neck chop and drugs to keep Sayaka asleep for days on end while they sailed out of Kiri. Sayaka managed to weedle out of her mother that she'd only run out of the drugs when some spoiled due to the cabin's humidity. Otherwise she would have been asleep until they'd arrived in Neck Country.
"I couldn't bare the thought of living in a prison ruled by… that demon," her mother had said and clutched at her prosthetic. "We couldn't go there. Neck Country was the only other available ship."
There were a whole host of problems with that. So many that Sayaka struggled to put them into order because -- her mother had attacked and drugged her, and she was only awake because it hadn't gone to plan.
If it was anyone but her mother -- they'd be dead. No ifs, buts, or maybes -- dead. In pieces, all over the floor.
Because it was her mother though, Sayaka just refused to talk to her. She kept her back to a wall as often as possible so that her mother wouldn't get another chance, and waited.
"Sayaka," her mother croaked from the cabin's bed as Sayaka returned from the bathroom. "It'll be better in Neck Country -- you'll see."
That, on top of everything else, made Sayaka snap. "No. You will see, but I'll be getting on a boat to Wave. You want to live in Neck -- you can. But I want to be a ninja -- and the rest of my team probably went to Wave."
Her mother looked devastated, and it hurt Sayaka to see it. She thrust her prosthetic arm forward and gestured at it. "Look at what that creature did to me. You think everyone there isn't getting this same treatment?!"
"He's a man, not a monster! At least… at least I think he is." Sayaka didn't want to shout at her mother, it took away her desire to fight. "But Raiga-sensei knows what he is better than either of us -- and he wanted to go to Wave. Maybe Kousuke will take my arm, and you'll be right -- or maybe I can finally serve as a ninja for a place that doesn't lie to my face all the time!" She still wore her Kirigakure headband, and fixed that in a fit of rage. The bandana and metal plate flew and hit the wall, then landed on the floor with a clang.
Sayaka's mother was confused, it showed in her face. She stood and approached Sayaka who promptly unsheathed her sword to keep her mother at arm's reach. "Sayaka -- the village never lied to you…."
"No, it did! It told us our enemy was a pack of demons, led by a bigger demon!" Tears gathered in her eyes as she remembered the faces of rebels her traps had killed. She'd been proud to liberate them from Kousuke's demonic influence. All that pride turned to ash. "But they were people! People who wanted to be free, and we were killing them!"
"Sayaka, sweetie -- Kousuke was controlling them…."
"No he wasn't! Because he's not a demon!" She could already tell by the irritated look on her mother's face that she wouldn't believe Sayaka about what Haruki had told her. "That's a stupid superstition, and I believed it until they put me on a team with the three-tails host."
Immediately, her mother took a step back. Horror bloomed on her face, then anger. "Sayaka, I'm so sorry. If I had known -- "
"If you had known, I'd still be that girl who got people killed and was happy that they were dead!" Sayaka kept her sword out and returned to her spot on the wall. "But I'm not. I know better now. And I'm going to Wave, to be better."
"And how are you going to be better, huh?!" Sayaka's mother snapped, her face red with fury. "There's no castes there, there's no way to know how to treat people! Kousuke isn't going to sort people out into what they're good at -- you'll have nobility pushing brooms, and janitors making important decisions!"
"That's still better than how Kiri did things." Sayaka pulled her legs up to her chest, partially because she needed a hug, and partially in case she needed to roll to one side to evade an attack. Though, she'd never known her mother to care about castes before. Perhaps she just hadn't seen how her mother treated foot caste people when she wasn't around. "I'm going to Wave. You can stay in Neck and do whatever you want, I don't care anymore."
But she did. Even if she didn't look like it, under the surface she really wanted her mom to see reason and come with her. She wanted it, but she knew it wasn't going to happen from the way her mother looked at her. Outside, Sayaka was calm, stoic like a shinobi should be. Inside, it was a totally different story.
The rest of the trip was spent in silence.
---
I forgot to do this last time, so here's Fuguki's cast entry!
Cast:
Fuguki Suikazan: One of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of Kirigakure. A jounin who used his hair as a weapon an extra limb, as the Suikazans are known for. He wields the monstrous sword Samehada which feeds on chakra. An information-warfare specialist, he is just as terrifying in an office as on the battlefield. He spent the tail end of the rebellion in a coma after a fight with Kousuke.
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- Pronouns
- he/him
Loving the orochimaru-hiruzen interactions
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
Giving Oro a team? Isn't losing one part of what drives him crazy in canon? (I might be getting fanon bleedthrough)
Yeah...I'm not sure what Orochimaru 'understood' about his new orders, I do agree that it could probably wait a single day for the transfer to be complete. Then he can get sent off to meet family and push back burgeoning sociopathic tendencies.
On a side note, Noburo has made it clear that Madara lives, and is positively bonkers by now. When is he going to get into the real puppeteer though? Kaguya's last-minute back-up plan, and the one who has likely been behind no small amount of conflict in the Warring States period? Though maybe that'd freak the Bijuu out a bit too much...
On a side note, Noburo has made it clear that Madara lives, and is positively bonkers by now. When is he going to get into the real puppeteer though? Kaguya's last-minute back-up plan, and the one who has likely been behind no small amount of conflict in the Warring States period? Though maybe that'd freak the Bijuu out a bit too much...
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Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
Nah, it's being on-scene when Dan and Nawaki died, combined with the horrors of the third shinobi world war and working for Danzo all on his own with only Anko to balance the crazy. Y'all know Anko, that was never going to work.
Orochimaru has an edge on the reader here -- he's seen the other names on the scroll.
And... I'm honestly debating if I want to even run with that part of canon -- because it's stucking fupid. Plus it doesn't really gel with what I have in mind for the zero-tails. 'Your hint is that her name is Kaguya.'
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
Yeah I meant that Orochimaru was (in some fanon at least) Nawaki's sensei. (which explains why he was onscene)
Ch 18
Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
Ch 18: From dark, light / From silence, music
---
Legendary Sannin Orochimaru
"Of all the complete idiotic, utterly imbecilic, outright insulting…." Orochimaru muttered as he formed medical chakra and used it to stabilize patient one due to a shift in the boiling red chakra bridge between her and patient zero. The two of them were in paired hospital beds, next to each other and covered in bandages which bore the repeating sealing mantra: Shed Hate, Gain Love.
It was Jiraiya's idea, and it honestly worked great at keeping the nine-tails' chakra from going anywhere but where the Sannin wanted.
"You're still distracted by what Sarutobi-sensei dropped on you?" Jiraiya asked, surprised. "It's been hours. Did it really piss you off that much?"
"How long is he going to keep testing me?" Orochimaru snapped, his face a vision of outrage as he kept little Kushina alive enough until he could transition to Mito. "How many false assassination attempts, how many impossible tasks, and how many bizarre, out of nowhere curves is he going to throw?" Orochimaru's breath was uneven for a moment before he forced himself to calm down and glance at Kushina. His student, since Sarutobi-sensei decreed it so.
"Gee," Jiraiya said from his place at the sealing apogee. Around him, boiling red chakra emerged from patient zero and transitioned to patient one through a tunnel created by paper tags marked with the symbol for karma. "It sucks so much to have Sarutobi-sensei's direct attention so often. I'm so sorry." His sarcasm almost bent the karma tags he used to repel the nine-tails' chakra.
"His direct attention is driving me to hate him," Orochimaru muttered, and turned to focus on Mito. When Jiraiya didn't say anything, Orochimaru looked over and saw the toad Sannin looking at him in confusion. "I can't just… be myself around him anymore. I have to be on guard all the time for some random test, or some new challenge he's invented for me. I can't just enjoy his company, or trust his word at face value like you can."
The toad sage nodded. "I get it. You want me to talk to him while you're visiting Oto?"
"I will talk to him myself, when I come back. Some distance will help me figure out what to say." He had wanted to distance himself from Sarutobi-sensei for a while. If not out of the country, then perhaps he'd try and infiltrate Root. Maybe get Danzo to give him a reason to put the old dog down. That thought made him smile, which he turned on Jiraiya. "Thank you for the offer, though."
"Hey, we're a team. You'd do the same for me, yeah?"
"Of course." They worked in silence for a while more. Orochimaru would pass between the two jinchuuriki and see that they remained alive through the transfer. It was in the second half of the operation that Orochimaru began to notice something odd with the nine-tails' chakra. It had boiled in terrible anger when they started, but as he watched it, the malefic red energy began to calm, and even out.
"I see it too," Jiraiya commented as he warily looked at the stream which passed over him. "Something's happening. I can feel… something from the chakra as it leaves Mito's seal."
"Is this some ploy by the fox?" Orochimaru focused on the torii-gate seal Mito had on her abdomen, in a search for any sign of structural failure.
"I don't think so…. It doesn't feel like the fox at all." Jiraiya began to visibly sweat, his focus had shifted to probing closer to the red stream of chakra. "The fox is all anger and hate. But this is… calm, soothing. Serene, even. It feels like tiny bits of other chakra mixed in with…." Jiraiya's eyes snapped open wide. "Make sure Mito isn't trying to go with the fox into Kushina."
Orochimaru channeled a bit of his chakra into the sealing bandages wrapped around Mito's torso, and glanced at the monitor for her brain activity. It had indicated a deep dreaming state, and hadn't changed. "I'm not seeing anything on my end. If she's trying to seal herself with the fox, either I can't stop her or it's completely unintentional."
"Damnit." Jiraiya made a pained face. "There wasn't anything in the seal's key about this… I'm going to risk interrupting the stream, just to see if that's what we're dealing with."
Orochimaru nodded and quickly grabbed a roll of the sealing bandages. In moments, one of Jiraiya's hands was wrapped up, and the toad sage dared touch the stream of the fox's chakra. He watched Jiraiya for any signs that rescue was needed, suddenly alone in the operating theater.
"I sense," Jiraiya muttered with his eyes closed, "Mito. And someone else. Two people -- they're… singing." He opened his eyes, his face the picture of confusion. "They're singing to the nine-tails, and it's asleep."
"What." Orochimaru had been prepared for any number of responses, but not that. It boggled his mind to think about -- the nine-tails' rage could be calmed with music? "What… what are they singing about?"
"Something, something, high roads and low roads, and a place called Scotland?" Jiraiya closed his eyes and focused on the input from the bijuu chakra. "It's… a sad song. There is pain in it. Pain and loneliness. Mito sounds like she's about to cry."
The snake Sannin uncovered the elder jinchuuriki's eyes and noted a bit of moisture there. "Are they interfering with the sealing?"
"Not really," Jiraiya muttered. "With the fox asleep, the chakra is moving faster -- it can't fight the sealing. We might just shave an hour or two off if they keep it asleep."
Something was amiss, Orochimaru's instincts told him so. "Try and determine anything about the additional chakras in there with Mito." Could she be being visited by the spirit of the First? Someone from her past?
"One of them's easily Kage-class, they're not even trying to hide." Jiraiya frowned. "The other is… slippery. I try to get a read on it, and it changes."
Something was definitely happening, but they hadn't the means to intercede further. If Tsunade had been there, Orochimaru could trust her to watch the jinchuuriki while he called in assistance. Had the Yamanaka shinobi not taken advantage of their vacation days, they could be activated to find out additional information.
"Really wish Sarutobi-sensei, the man who allegedly knows all the hidden techniques in the village, could be here right now." Jiraiya cracked open an eye. "Shame he's being kicked about the head by his wife for some unknown reason."
"I regret nothing," Orochimaru responded.
--
Rebellious Monk Kousuke.
"It's the terror of knowing what this world is about… watching some good friends scream: Let me out!"
Kousuke watched as a bubble containing a strange black metal and plastic rectangular device passed by and played music through the water. The device was a clone Noburu had made, which then used the transformation technique to become a 'boom box'. The song was unlike anything he'd heard before, but the strong beats reverberated through the deep water. He could see the pulses ripple far away.
All around the village under construction, Kousuke's bubbles floated. Inside them was a viscous fluid that shined light as bright as a flashbang -- incredibly useful for Kousuke's fellow monks, the Hoshigaki and Hozuki shinobi who helped them, and for the people high above. None of whom had bijuu boosting their senses to see in the dark. The light was so bright, due to how many were there, that Kousuke imagined people on the surface were finally able to see the village as it was constructed.
Beside him, in a bubble fused to Kousuke's own, sat Raiga Kurosuki -- the one most likely to lead the ninjas. If he didn't have an emotional breakdown.
Always a tall order for ninja.
"It's… entirely underwater?" Raiga asked as he rubbed his eyes then looked at the village under construction again.
"Yes and no." Kousuke answered, and waggled his hand as Noburu would to indicate complications. "The vast majority of it will be underwater. But the Wave Temple we're going to build for monks will be above the water, along with some structures to easily get clients down to the village to hire your ninja."
"How are you going to get air in the buildings?" He watched as three Hozuki in the shape of water moved the bow section of a split ship into position as the cap on a tower, and Noburu sealed it over with coral.
"Once we have all the big structures completed, we will dig tunnels into the side of the cliff up to the shore and pump the water out. We'll rely on those tunnels for airflow until we can transplant some trees down into the dome." Kousuke indicated the enormous dome beneath the village, which had been grown over the deepest part of the seabed. "That will be our agricultural area -- after I teach others how to make these kind of bubbles." He demonstrated, and blew a bubble the size of his fist, which began to fill with a fluid that emitted bright light. "Past jinchuuriki of the six-tails have noted that algae will grow on these bubbles if left underwater for too long. Noburu suspects that we can use them as an artificial source of sunlight." He released the bubble into the water through his personal bubble, and watched it drift off with the currents.
"Cause love's such an old-fashioned word. And love dares you care for the people on the edge of the night…"
"The music is… surprisingly nice." Raiga looked as the half-ship from earlier began to bloom with specific coral species. Elkhorn, encrusting, and digitate corals from what Kousuke could immediately identify. "All this reef will make for good fishing."
"And splendid, peaceful scenery." Kousuke reclined against the back of his bubble, and tilted his hat down as if he were about to nap. "Do you know what we monks do with our chakra?"
"Um, no."
The monk smirked, he could just imagine Raiga's confused expression. "We dance on the surface of water on the tips of our toes. Elaborate dances where we're weighed down with heavy disks. We play instruments in storms and near waterfalls until we can make our music heard over the noise of nature. Through the expression and perfection of art, we develop the skills which give us great skill in battle and something to entertain guests with." Kousuke tilted his head, his hat still in place, to Raiga's direction. "Noburu tells me that not many of your ninja have… hobbies, he calls them. My monks and I would offer to teach you these skills. Something for you Kiri ninja to… find expression. It will likely take a long time before Otogakure is in a fit state to begin advertising to people about accepting missions, you see. Something to kill the time."
Raiga was quiet. Kousuke could see the young man's figure shift to look at the village below. It was easy to believe that it was almost ready -- but they still had years of work ahead of them. They would soon have living space for the people on the shore -- but that was not the same as having a fully realized village.
"When I was young -- there was a type of instrument they played in a holy place," Raiga started, soft. "It was all pipes, and it had a deep, sorrowful tone when played."
"A pipe organ," Kousuke said. His smirk became a smile. "An immigrant from the southern continents."
"Yeah. Could… I learn how to play it?"
"Well, a couple clones could easily transform into one until we get a real one built." The monk scratched his chin. "But yes, you could learn." Kousuke tilted his hat, and looked around. "Hmm. Perhaps we could place the chamber for musical performances there." He pointed in a gulf of deep water between the village's structure and the dome below. "However there's certainly room for more verticality if that's your preference."
"I don't have a preference." Raiga steepled his fingers and rested his elbows on his crossed legs, with his chin on his hands. "We're going to have a lot of ninja who won't want to do something as silly as 'art' to stay in shape."
"They are free to leave, or let their skills wither. Winter on the Kaizoku is not kind to anyone, as they will find out." Kousuke glanced out in the direction of the open sea. "Especially not with Kaizoku krakens out and about."
"Oh." Raiga's expression lit up with a sudden wave of realization. "That's where all these wrecks came from!"
"Mhm. In the winter, when the whales all leave, the krakens still have to eat."
--
Mother Jiang.
Akami had her hands full with two boys in the tent. Haruki and Noburu were always sniping at each other, cracking jokes, and getting into scraps. It had taken her a while to learn that none of their 'fights' were serious, and often they were just sparring.
Noburu worked almost as much as she did, so it was nice to see him be a kid again. She had unexpected help in the form of one of Kiri's medical ninja -- the woman who had sealed the turtle spirit in Noburu to begin with. Suzume Ruan, an eyes caste woman.
At first, Akami had been willing to beat her with a ladle for suggesting the help, but she saw how remorseful and tired the medic-nin was. It made her remember -- everyone in the village leadership had been the Mizukage's captive. He could have killed them all, and no one would have been able to do anything about it. It was enough to give Suzume a chance.
It was nice to have another woman to speak to, converse with, and decompress from the horrors they'd endured. Arata's wife had never been very friendly.
And Suzume was handy in a kitchen, with her medical ninjutsu, even if she turned it into a lesson. Akami watched Suzume's hand, slightly glowing, pass over a cut of salmon she had cut. "I'm counting four bones in this," she told Noburu, and showed him some handsigns. "Boar, bird, horse -- and focus the chakra into your dominant hand. Tell me where those four bones are, and then pinch them out with the jutsu." Suzume stepped back and let Noburu test the jutsu on the fish.
While Noburu worked on the bones in the fish on the background, Suzume and Akami talked. "I got this recipe from a sailor from Sea Country," Akami told her as she worked the other ingredients in her wok. "They don't use the same cooking stuff we do, so I'm improvising a little bit."
"It looks like this requires a lot of butter, both in the filling and in that… puffed pastry?"
"Puff," Akami corrected with her wooden spatula. "Because it puffs up when you cook it." The large chef set some seasoning shakers down on the folding table next to Suzume, while she went back to the fillings. "When you're done with the salmon, cut off four seventeen centimeter sections and season them, would you?"
"Of course." Suzume took the shakers aside and watched Akami's wok. "Is the spinach supposed to… wilt like that?"
"I was told so, but now I'm not sure." Akami smiled awkwardly. "I've never actually done this before. But it's a special day today, I decided I wanted to be brave and try something new."
"Oh? What's the occasion?" Suzume, despite the bags under her eyes, had enough pep to be curious. It somehow didn't distract her from Noburu's lesson as she deftly showed him the correct pinching proceedure.
"It's someone's birthday today." It made Akami a little sad to admit. They'd had plans for the day -- a restaurant in Kiri which likely had been burned down since. She'd saved up for ice cream and found adorable bug-themed wrapping paper for the presents. She and Noburu had plotted together about it before… before the worst had happened. "And, even if we don't have a home yet -- I wanted to celebrate this."
"Um," Noburu cut in awkwardly. "I think I have this stuck."
Suzume helped the trainee medic then looked at Akami with a confused expression. "Shouldn't he be… you know, somewhere else while you get this ready?"
Akami shook her head. "If you weren't here to help -- he'd be helping me right now. I can't do it all myself with… this to work with." She indicated the pavilion tent and checked the white rice to ensure its quality. "So thank you for being here."
"Oh, I… no problem." Suzume shook her head to clear out whatever emotion had gotten in the way. "I'm glad to help. So… did you get the chance to see the village today?"
"Under the water, yeah?" Akami allowed herself to cook on autopilot to make a pleased expression at Suzume. "We're going to have fresh fish every day, it looks like. And I love that. Truly I do. Maybe even…" Akami looked around, as if there were people out to overhear such information. "Fresh octopus?"
"There is a kraken offshore," Noburu commented, then focused on his work.
"Oh that would be magnificent. How many chefs can say they cooked with kraken?"
"There was a place in Kiri that had something they claimed was kraken meat," Suzume commented as she set the seasoned salmon cuts beside Akami. "I think it was just giant octopus, myself. But given krakens… is there a difference in taste?"
"Oh, don't wound me like that." Akami mimed being stabbed in the chest. "The thought of kraken meat being unremarkable in taste hurts me so."
After the cooking had finished, Suzume and Akami set the table. Four cross-hatched pastry dishes filled per the recipe rested on four small plates with rice side dishes and an assortment of sauces for extra seasoning. Before they sat down, however, Akami unfolded a small table and set it against the back wall of the tent.
Noburu went to her bags, and brought her several small things she'd pre-wrapped in that bug-themed wrapping paper. While she arranged them, he ran off to grab a framed photograph from her bags.
When she made a fifth bowl of rice, it looked like Haruki and Suzume had figured out something was not as they'd expected. Akami placed the bowl of rice in front of the framed photo and kneeled next to Noburu, who had been in the position already. Their guest and Haruki soon joined them.
"Happy birthday, Yuuko," Akami said to the photo. Even with it being just a picture, it was hard to meet the girl's eyes. She looked so happy in the picture -- showing the camera a rhinoceros beetle she'd found, sticks in her cream-colored hair. Happy and bright.
The Jiangs and their guests clapped their hands together and prayed for the departed girl. Dinner afterward was a tad awkward but lightened up after the boys started to snipe at each other again.
She'd unfortunately overcooked the salmon.
---
Mito didn't take the news that Hashirama wasn't going to be there in the afterlife very well. See -- the thing about reincarnations is that there is no after life, just new life. Hashirama is just a face that Asura wore for a few decades, same for Madara and Indra. That just makes the face-nipple thing worse, really. Songs in this chapter are Loch Lomond and Under Pressure.
It's the story canon that the 'Europe' equivalent continent is to the south of the Shinobi continent and sub-continent.
---
Legendary Sannin Orochimaru
"Of all the complete idiotic, utterly imbecilic, outright insulting…." Orochimaru muttered as he formed medical chakra and used it to stabilize patient one due to a shift in the boiling red chakra bridge between her and patient zero. The two of them were in paired hospital beds, next to each other and covered in bandages which bore the repeating sealing mantra: Shed Hate, Gain Love.
It was Jiraiya's idea, and it honestly worked great at keeping the nine-tails' chakra from going anywhere but where the Sannin wanted.
"You're still distracted by what Sarutobi-sensei dropped on you?" Jiraiya asked, surprised. "It's been hours. Did it really piss you off that much?"
"How long is he going to keep testing me?" Orochimaru snapped, his face a vision of outrage as he kept little Kushina alive enough until he could transition to Mito. "How many false assassination attempts, how many impossible tasks, and how many bizarre, out of nowhere curves is he going to throw?" Orochimaru's breath was uneven for a moment before he forced himself to calm down and glance at Kushina. His student, since Sarutobi-sensei decreed it so.
"Gee," Jiraiya said from his place at the sealing apogee. Around him, boiling red chakra emerged from patient zero and transitioned to patient one through a tunnel created by paper tags marked with the symbol for karma. "It sucks so much to have Sarutobi-sensei's direct attention so often. I'm so sorry." His sarcasm almost bent the karma tags he used to repel the nine-tails' chakra.
"His direct attention is driving me to hate him," Orochimaru muttered, and turned to focus on Mito. When Jiraiya didn't say anything, Orochimaru looked over and saw the toad Sannin looking at him in confusion. "I can't just… be myself around him anymore. I have to be on guard all the time for some random test, or some new challenge he's invented for me. I can't just enjoy his company, or trust his word at face value like you can."
The toad sage nodded. "I get it. You want me to talk to him while you're visiting Oto?"
"I will talk to him myself, when I come back. Some distance will help me figure out what to say." He had wanted to distance himself from Sarutobi-sensei for a while. If not out of the country, then perhaps he'd try and infiltrate Root. Maybe get Danzo to give him a reason to put the old dog down. That thought made him smile, which he turned on Jiraiya. "Thank you for the offer, though."
"Hey, we're a team. You'd do the same for me, yeah?"
"Of course." They worked in silence for a while more. Orochimaru would pass between the two jinchuuriki and see that they remained alive through the transfer. It was in the second half of the operation that Orochimaru began to notice something odd with the nine-tails' chakra. It had boiled in terrible anger when they started, but as he watched it, the malefic red energy began to calm, and even out.
"I see it too," Jiraiya commented as he warily looked at the stream which passed over him. "Something's happening. I can feel… something from the chakra as it leaves Mito's seal."
"Is this some ploy by the fox?" Orochimaru focused on the torii-gate seal Mito had on her abdomen, in a search for any sign of structural failure.
"I don't think so…. It doesn't feel like the fox at all." Jiraiya began to visibly sweat, his focus had shifted to probing closer to the red stream of chakra. "The fox is all anger and hate. But this is… calm, soothing. Serene, even. It feels like tiny bits of other chakra mixed in with…." Jiraiya's eyes snapped open wide. "Make sure Mito isn't trying to go with the fox into Kushina."
Orochimaru channeled a bit of his chakra into the sealing bandages wrapped around Mito's torso, and glanced at the monitor for her brain activity. It had indicated a deep dreaming state, and hadn't changed. "I'm not seeing anything on my end. If she's trying to seal herself with the fox, either I can't stop her or it's completely unintentional."
"Damnit." Jiraiya made a pained face. "There wasn't anything in the seal's key about this… I'm going to risk interrupting the stream, just to see if that's what we're dealing with."
Orochimaru nodded and quickly grabbed a roll of the sealing bandages. In moments, one of Jiraiya's hands was wrapped up, and the toad sage dared touch the stream of the fox's chakra. He watched Jiraiya for any signs that rescue was needed, suddenly alone in the operating theater.
"I sense," Jiraiya muttered with his eyes closed, "Mito. And someone else. Two people -- they're… singing." He opened his eyes, his face the picture of confusion. "They're singing to the nine-tails, and it's asleep."
"What." Orochimaru had been prepared for any number of responses, but not that. It boggled his mind to think about -- the nine-tails' rage could be calmed with music? "What… what are they singing about?"
"Something, something, high roads and low roads, and a place called Scotland?" Jiraiya closed his eyes and focused on the input from the bijuu chakra. "It's… a sad song. There is pain in it. Pain and loneliness. Mito sounds like she's about to cry."
The snake Sannin uncovered the elder jinchuuriki's eyes and noted a bit of moisture there. "Are they interfering with the sealing?"
"Not really," Jiraiya muttered. "With the fox asleep, the chakra is moving faster -- it can't fight the sealing. We might just shave an hour or two off if they keep it asleep."
Something was amiss, Orochimaru's instincts told him so. "Try and determine anything about the additional chakras in there with Mito." Could she be being visited by the spirit of the First? Someone from her past?
"One of them's easily Kage-class, they're not even trying to hide." Jiraiya frowned. "The other is… slippery. I try to get a read on it, and it changes."
Something was definitely happening, but they hadn't the means to intercede further. If Tsunade had been there, Orochimaru could trust her to watch the jinchuuriki while he called in assistance. Had the Yamanaka shinobi not taken advantage of their vacation days, they could be activated to find out additional information.
"Really wish Sarutobi-sensei, the man who allegedly knows all the hidden techniques in the village, could be here right now." Jiraiya cracked open an eye. "Shame he's being kicked about the head by his wife for some unknown reason."
"I regret nothing," Orochimaru responded.
--
Rebellious Monk Kousuke.
"It's the terror of knowing what this world is about… watching some good friends scream: Let me out!"
Kousuke watched as a bubble containing a strange black metal and plastic rectangular device passed by and played music through the water. The device was a clone Noburu had made, which then used the transformation technique to become a 'boom box'. The song was unlike anything he'd heard before, but the strong beats reverberated through the deep water. He could see the pulses ripple far away.
All around the village under construction, Kousuke's bubbles floated. Inside them was a viscous fluid that shined light as bright as a flashbang -- incredibly useful for Kousuke's fellow monks, the Hoshigaki and Hozuki shinobi who helped them, and for the people high above. None of whom had bijuu boosting their senses to see in the dark. The light was so bright, due to how many were there, that Kousuke imagined people on the surface were finally able to see the village as it was constructed.
Beside him, in a bubble fused to Kousuke's own, sat Raiga Kurosuki -- the one most likely to lead the ninjas. If he didn't have an emotional breakdown.
Always a tall order for ninja.
"It's… entirely underwater?" Raiga asked as he rubbed his eyes then looked at the village under construction again.
"Yes and no." Kousuke answered, and waggled his hand as Noburu would to indicate complications. "The vast majority of it will be underwater. But the Wave Temple we're going to build for monks will be above the water, along with some structures to easily get clients down to the village to hire your ninja."
"How are you going to get air in the buildings?" He watched as three Hozuki in the shape of water moved the bow section of a split ship into position as the cap on a tower, and Noburu sealed it over with coral.
"Once we have all the big structures completed, we will dig tunnels into the side of the cliff up to the shore and pump the water out. We'll rely on those tunnels for airflow until we can transplant some trees down into the dome." Kousuke indicated the enormous dome beneath the village, which had been grown over the deepest part of the seabed. "That will be our agricultural area -- after I teach others how to make these kind of bubbles." He demonstrated, and blew a bubble the size of his fist, which began to fill with a fluid that emitted bright light. "Past jinchuuriki of the six-tails have noted that algae will grow on these bubbles if left underwater for too long. Noburu suspects that we can use them as an artificial source of sunlight." He released the bubble into the water through his personal bubble, and watched it drift off with the currents.
"Cause love's such an old-fashioned word. And love dares you care for the people on the edge of the night…"
"The music is… surprisingly nice." Raiga looked as the half-ship from earlier began to bloom with specific coral species. Elkhorn, encrusting, and digitate corals from what Kousuke could immediately identify. "All this reef will make for good fishing."
"And splendid, peaceful scenery." Kousuke reclined against the back of his bubble, and tilted his hat down as if he were about to nap. "Do you know what we monks do with our chakra?"
"Um, no."
The monk smirked, he could just imagine Raiga's confused expression. "We dance on the surface of water on the tips of our toes. Elaborate dances where we're weighed down with heavy disks. We play instruments in storms and near waterfalls until we can make our music heard over the noise of nature. Through the expression and perfection of art, we develop the skills which give us great skill in battle and something to entertain guests with." Kousuke tilted his head, his hat still in place, to Raiga's direction. "Noburu tells me that not many of your ninja have… hobbies, he calls them. My monks and I would offer to teach you these skills. Something for you Kiri ninja to… find expression. It will likely take a long time before Otogakure is in a fit state to begin advertising to people about accepting missions, you see. Something to kill the time."
Raiga was quiet. Kousuke could see the young man's figure shift to look at the village below. It was easy to believe that it was almost ready -- but they still had years of work ahead of them. They would soon have living space for the people on the shore -- but that was not the same as having a fully realized village.
"When I was young -- there was a type of instrument they played in a holy place," Raiga started, soft. "It was all pipes, and it had a deep, sorrowful tone when played."
"A pipe organ," Kousuke said. His smirk became a smile. "An immigrant from the southern continents."
"Yeah. Could… I learn how to play it?"
"Well, a couple clones could easily transform into one until we get a real one built." The monk scratched his chin. "But yes, you could learn." Kousuke tilted his hat, and looked around. "Hmm. Perhaps we could place the chamber for musical performances there." He pointed in a gulf of deep water between the village's structure and the dome below. "However there's certainly room for more verticality if that's your preference."
"I don't have a preference." Raiga steepled his fingers and rested his elbows on his crossed legs, with his chin on his hands. "We're going to have a lot of ninja who won't want to do something as silly as 'art' to stay in shape."
"They are free to leave, or let their skills wither. Winter on the Kaizoku is not kind to anyone, as they will find out." Kousuke glanced out in the direction of the open sea. "Especially not with Kaizoku krakens out and about."
"Oh." Raiga's expression lit up with a sudden wave of realization. "That's where all these wrecks came from!"
"Mhm. In the winter, when the whales all leave, the krakens still have to eat."
--
Mother Jiang.
Akami had her hands full with two boys in the tent. Haruki and Noburu were always sniping at each other, cracking jokes, and getting into scraps. It had taken her a while to learn that none of their 'fights' were serious, and often they were just sparring.
Noburu worked almost as much as she did, so it was nice to see him be a kid again. She had unexpected help in the form of one of Kiri's medical ninja -- the woman who had sealed the turtle spirit in Noburu to begin with. Suzume Ruan, an eyes caste woman.
At first, Akami had been willing to beat her with a ladle for suggesting the help, but she saw how remorseful and tired the medic-nin was. It made her remember -- everyone in the village leadership had been the Mizukage's captive. He could have killed them all, and no one would have been able to do anything about it. It was enough to give Suzume a chance.
It was nice to have another woman to speak to, converse with, and decompress from the horrors they'd endured. Arata's wife had never been very friendly.
And Suzume was handy in a kitchen, with her medical ninjutsu, even if she turned it into a lesson. Akami watched Suzume's hand, slightly glowing, pass over a cut of salmon she had cut. "I'm counting four bones in this," she told Noburu, and showed him some handsigns. "Boar, bird, horse -- and focus the chakra into your dominant hand. Tell me where those four bones are, and then pinch them out with the jutsu." Suzume stepped back and let Noburu test the jutsu on the fish.
While Noburu worked on the bones in the fish on the background, Suzume and Akami talked. "I got this recipe from a sailor from Sea Country," Akami told her as she worked the other ingredients in her wok. "They don't use the same cooking stuff we do, so I'm improvising a little bit."
"It looks like this requires a lot of butter, both in the filling and in that… puffed pastry?"
"Puff," Akami corrected with her wooden spatula. "Because it puffs up when you cook it." The large chef set some seasoning shakers down on the folding table next to Suzume, while she went back to the fillings. "When you're done with the salmon, cut off four seventeen centimeter sections and season them, would you?"
"Of course." Suzume took the shakers aside and watched Akami's wok. "Is the spinach supposed to… wilt like that?"
"I was told so, but now I'm not sure." Akami smiled awkwardly. "I've never actually done this before. But it's a special day today, I decided I wanted to be brave and try something new."
"Oh? What's the occasion?" Suzume, despite the bags under her eyes, had enough pep to be curious. It somehow didn't distract her from Noburu's lesson as she deftly showed him the correct pinching proceedure.
"It's someone's birthday today." It made Akami a little sad to admit. They'd had plans for the day -- a restaurant in Kiri which likely had been burned down since. She'd saved up for ice cream and found adorable bug-themed wrapping paper for the presents. She and Noburu had plotted together about it before… before the worst had happened. "And, even if we don't have a home yet -- I wanted to celebrate this."
"Um," Noburu cut in awkwardly. "I think I have this stuck."
Suzume helped the trainee medic then looked at Akami with a confused expression. "Shouldn't he be… you know, somewhere else while you get this ready?"
Akami shook her head. "If you weren't here to help -- he'd be helping me right now. I can't do it all myself with… this to work with." She indicated the pavilion tent and checked the white rice to ensure its quality. "So thank you for being here."
"Oh, I… no problem." Suzume shook her head to clear out whatever emotion had gotten in the way. "I'm glad to help. So… did you get the chance to see the village today?"
"Under the water, yeah?" Akami allowed herself to cook on autopilot to make a pleased expression at Suzume. "We're going to have fresh fish every day, it looks like. And I love that. Truly I do. Maybe even…" Akami looked around, as if there were people out to overhear such information. "Fresh octopus?"
"There is a kraken offshore," Noburu commented, then focused on his work.
"Oh that would be magnificent. How many chefs can say they cooked with kraken?"
"There was a place in Kiri that had something they claimed was kraken meat," Suzume commented as she set the seasoned salmon cuts beside Akami. "I think it was just giant octopus, myself. But given krakens… is there a difference in taste?"
"Oh, don't wound me like that." Akami mimed being stabbed in the chest. "The thought of kraken meat being unremarkable in taste hurts me so."
After the cooking had finished, Suzume and Akami set the table. Four cross-hatched pastry dishes filled per the recipe rested on four small plates with rice side dishes and an assortment of sauces for extra seasoning. Before they sat down, however, Akami unfolded a small table and set it against the back wall of the tent.
Noburu went to her bags, and brought her several small things she'd pre-wrapped in that bug-themed wrapping paper. While she arranged them, he ran off to grab a framed photograph from her bags.
When she made a fifth bowl of rice, it looked like Haruki and Suzume had figured out something was not as they'd expected. Akami placed the bowl of rice in front of the framed photo and kneeled next to Noburu, who had been in the position already. Their guest and Haruki soon joined them.
"Happy birthday, Yuuko," Akami said to the photo. Even with it being just a picture, it was hard to meet the girl's eyes. She looked so happy in the picture -- showing the camera a rhinoceros beetle she'd found, sticks in her cream-colored hair. Happy and bright.
The Jiangs and their guests clapped their hands together and prayed for the departed girl. Dinner afterward was a tad awkward but lightened up after the boys started to snipe at each other again.
She'd unfortunately overcooked the salmon.
---
Mito didn't take the news that Hashirama wasn't going to be there in the afterlife very well. See -- the thing about reincarnations is that there is no after life, just new life. Hashirama is just a face that Asura wore for a few decades, same for Madara and Indra. That just makes the face-nipple thing worse, really. Songs in this chapter are Loch Lomond and Under Pressure.
It's the story canon that the 'Europe' equivalent continent is to the south of the Shinobi continent and sub-continent.
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Ralyx
Seeking Balance
- Location
- The Realm Between
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That interpretation doesn't really track at all, though, given how Hashirama and Madara were both resurrected while Naruto and Sasuke were alive.
- Location
- England
Giant (Well, colossal) squid tastes entirely awful, btw. Lots of ammonia.
Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
That's because Kishimoto said that Naruto and Sasuke were reincarnations of those guys after they'd already been edo tensei'd and sealed or what have you. Reincarnation doesn't make new souls, it lets the same soul live multiple lifetimes. It makes about as much sense as edo tensei'd people having literally unlimited chakra.
- Location
- America
Dritch put it in a believable way, Edo Tensei uses the person soul directly as fuel for chakra, and the longer they're active the more it burns.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
I assumed it was less "Reincarnation" and more "Transmigration"
they aren't the same soul, but the souls of Asura and Indra hang around inside the souls of some of their descendants that are similar to them, like automatic Jinchuriki...
they are still separate individuals, but they have enough similarities that their souls are able to stick to their descendants while being unnoticed.
probably not aware of whats going on most of the time though.
they aren't the same soul, but the souls of Asura and Indra hang around inside the souls of some of their descendants that are similar to them, like automatic Jinchuriki...
they are still separate individuals, but they have enough similarities that their souls are able to stick to their descendants while being unnoticed.
probably not aware of whats going on most of the time though.
Ralyx
Seeking Balance
- Location
- The Realm Between
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So you're blaming Kishimoto for a contradiction that you are introducing? Classy.
Don't get me wrong, Kishimoto included plenty of dodgy and contradictory writing in the series as it progressed, but this specific thing isn't necessarily one of them unless you insist on using an interpretation of reincarnation that was never explicitly confirmed.
Citation needed. It sounds like you're trying to shoehorn in your own external interpretation of reincarnation without accounting for the specifics of how it's been shown to work in the Naruto-verse.
Like @Krazyfan1 mentioned, it's entirely plausible that Asura and Indra's souls are tagging along with new souls for every incarnation. Such a hypothesis does not violate any of the data points we have from the series, unlike yours.
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Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
The page on that doesn't address the plot hole either, so you know.
I wanted to use the same style of reincarnation for all characters who do so in the fic, so the 'same soul, new body' one is the one used. Which, at least allegedly, is what canon uses too. Noburu's just aware of his because his past life achieved spiritual perfection, and caused a cosmic fatal error.
- Location
- Washington, USA
Spoiler no work, dunno if it's firefox or not.
The page on that doesn't address the plot hole either, so you know.
I wanted to use the same style of reincarnation for all characters who do so in the fic, so the 'same soul, new body' one is the one used. Which, at least allegedly, is what canon uses too. Noburu's just aware of his because his past life achieved spiritual perfection, and caused a cosmic fatal error.
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
Glitching the universe enough to manifest the dead? It wouldn't surprise me if that sort of thing lets the revenant continue to channel whatever was sustaining it in the akashic record and that is presumably close enough to infinite. The creature before you is still over there as much as it is over here.
I'm sure a price is paid somewhere, though, even if human beings are too dense to notice.
Ralyx
Seeking Balance
- Location
- The Realm Between
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Having checked your citation, as well as the official chapters, nowhere does it state that the reincarnates do not have their own souls on top of the reincarnated ones. On the contrary, Chapter 671 even explicitly states that Madara was no longer Indra's incarnation.
The page on that doesn't address the plot hole either, so you know.
I wanted to use the same style of reincarnation for all characters who do so in the fic, so the 'same soul, new body' one is the one used. Which, at least allegedly, is what canon uses too. Noburu's just aware of his because his past life achieved spiritual perfection, and caused a cosmic fatal error.
Chairtastic
Anything's a chair if you're brave enough
- Location
- Breakfast nook
- Pronouns
- He / Him / It
It's the opening paragraph for this page. Reincarnation
Then we have a language disagreement because we can't agree what the words mean.
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