[W]Secret option: Shisui's notes
[W]How not to be an asshole, by Teyaki
[W]You intervene
When Danzo returns, he is in a trance, and you don't think he will wake up anytime soon.
You are about to collapse due to Chakra exhaustion, you think. But before that, there's one thing left to do. This bastard is responsible for the deaths of so many people, including your parents and possibly Shisui, too! You pick up your discarded kunai, get close to Danzo-
But you change your mind. You sigh and turn away. You know what Izanami does, and Danzo as he was is practically dead.
You suddenly stumble, dropping the kunai. You pick it up and put it back into your pouch, but the entire room is spinning around you. "Chakra- exhaustion," you murmur, and feel somebody catch you as you drop.
Flaw 'Curse of Hatred - moderate-high' has been discovered!
Your sanity has improved!
'Curse of Hatred - moderate-high' becomes 'Curse of Hatred - mild-moderate'
Kakashi is impressed! Rep. Kakashi E- -> D
Asuma rep. E+ -> D
Sarutobi Hiruzen reputation has gone up! E -> D+
You have narrowly dodged getting killed by Danzo's Reverse Four Symbols Sealing! Luck C+ -> B-
-----
After you feel well enough, you are allowed to visit others who are in the hospital. You find out that Sasuke is physically fine, but traumatized; Itachi-san is missing an arm, but otherwise fine, and will be discharged soon; Fugaku-sama is in a healing coma, slated to make a full recovery; same with Mama, except the full recovery part (damn it!). You first visit your mother.
You go to her hospital room, and say some things to her, things you haven't gotten to say enough. In your previous world, you had heard that patients in a coma are capable of hearing things said near them.
Reputation with Korin has gone up! B- -> A+
After seeing and talking at your mother, you go see Itachi-san, but he's not in his room. He's in Sasuke's hospital room, and you decide to leave the two brothers alone. Before you leave, Itachi-san stops you.
He says, "Rin- no, Rin-sama. Thank you very much for saving Sasuke's life!" Bowing down to you.
Sasuke simply looks stunned, but you get embarrassed, saying, "get up, Itachi-san. Get up! Seriously, this is getting creepy!"
You can feel heat in your cheeks, but it's not like you are flattered or anything!
Your Reputation with Uchiha Itachi has gone up! D -> C
After you've left Sasuke's room, you go visit Fugaku-sama's. He is simply lying there, unconscious. You leave him alone after checking out on him.
Finally, another unconscious member of the Uchiha is in the hospital. He is a civilian, around your father's age or a little older. You are certain you've seen him before, but not sure where.
-----
You find out that you have access to ALL the Uchiha jutsu library at any time. A few things catch your eye. You decide to read 'How not to be an asshole, by Teyaki' first. Now that you think of it, wasn't the Uchiha member unconscious in the hospital Teyaki-san?
You read through the pages of his guide, and find out that he knows he stuff! He knows how to navigate a conversation, how to keep oneself on the straight and narrow, how to manage anger and keep oneself from falling into hatred - this is a hidden gem! There is no recipe for Senbei, but that's a secret that has been in Teyaki-san's branch of the clan for generations, if you remember correctly.
Flaw 'Curse of Hatred - mild-moderate' has been weakened! It has become 'Curse of Hatred - slight-mild'!
Skill 'Diplomacy' has gone up! S++ -> S+++
You look around the Academy Student section, not sure what you are looking for, a half remembered sentence hanging in your mind. In a hard to find place, there is… a scroll with a blood seal? An Uzumaki-style blood seal, at that!
You recognize it from your Fuuinjutsu studies. Heck, you could make -and have made- one yourself. You carefully drip some blood onto the seal, and a slew of notes appears. They are in Shisui's handwriting.
You read, and read, and read, completely focused upon the contents. There are all sorts of things in this book - hints of how to use the Shunshin like your brother does, hints and advice for more ninja skills; but, most importantly, there is advice on how to overcome grief, how to work well with others and an apology addressed specifically to you.
The handwriting is a bit blurry there, as if Shisui was crying while writing it. You tear up too, remembering your brother and imagining him writing the very notes you have in front of you. You now know from Haru that Shisui has been killed by Danzo, not committed suicide, but that doesn't diminish the fact that your brother knew he might not live for long.
Flaw 'Curse of Hatred - slight-mild' has become 'Curse of Hatred - null'!
You have overcome the Curse of Hatred until such a time you awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan!
You read the tips on being a ninja and hints on Shisui's own techniques. You realize that there is a lot involved in speed, and lots of kinds of speed: there are reflexes, movement speed; short burst speed, long distance speed; acceleration, agility; mental speed and more. Some shinobi use weights every single day they are not on missions, and their brain cannot keep up with their movement speed when they remove them.
Others are simply indecisive, even in combat. That, too, is a lack of speed of sorts.*
You also realize that to be able to move somewhere, you need to know your surroundings - you need to be aware of everything around you, and how it changes, at any time. You go to a training ground, sealing the notes inside the blood seal again and hiding its scroll on you first.
You activate your Sharingan and use your Mind's Eye of the Kagura at the same time, trying to combine them. Then, you try to be more aware of your surroundings without the Sharingan, simply by blindfolding yourself, then counting how many rocks of a certain size there are around at a glance.
…You might need help from someone to train this better.
Skill 'Omni-Science' has been obtained at F! With the Sharingan's perfect recall, Eye of the Mind's ability to detect weaknesses and paths to victory and your sensing's ability to detect Chakra and living beings, you are able to analyze a battlefield. There may be more to this skill than that, though.
Skill 'Mind's Eye of the Kagura' has gone up! A- -> A
'Hand-seals' have gone up! D- -> D+
'Killing intent' has gone up! D -> D+
Elemental Mastery: Fire has gone up! C -> C+
Elemental Mastery: Wind has gone up! C -> B-
Kawarimi jutsu has gone up! D+ -> C
The next day, Tekka-san tells you that you are both wanted at the Council Chamber. The two of you head toward the meeting; he explains while on the way that this is going to decide the fate of the clan. You find two clan heads at your destination: one looks a lot like an older Shikamaru, except scarred; and the other looks older than most Clan Heads.
They introduce themselves as Nara Shikaku and Kurama Unkai. You pay careful attention to what is said and even what's left unsaid, and conclude this is about reparations being paid to the Uchiha clan.
Tekka-san starts the negotiations, but is blocked at every turn. You can see him losing his cool, and you intervene - was there ever any doubt?
You place your hand on Tekka-san's back, and when he turns around to look at you, you shake your head and gesture for him to trust you.
He looks ready to protest for a moment, but he shrugs in acquiescence instead.
You end up talking circles around the two older Heads, all the while being utterly polite and addressing them as superiors (Shikaku-sama and Unkai-sama). Shikaku looks amused, but Unkai is obviously fuming.
The reparations agreed to are enormous, pretty much. You manage to talk them into Konoha giving the Uchiha clan well over two hundred million ryo per year, tax-free, for at least ten years, though you've had to resort to threatening to take the clan and leave Konoha behind for good.
"And where would the Uchiha go?" Shikaku points out, "Kumo? I think you know how greedy they are. Iwa? The Tsuchikage hates the Uchiha. Kiri? Just no."
"Iwa already sounds better than Konoha - at least Onoki is straightforward with hating us," you say evenly, "and there must be some form of resistance in Kiri that would be willing to take us in."
"You would be willing to leave behind the village you helped found? That's beyond absurd, even treasonous-" Shikaku says.
"That's a reasonable response to the situation that's been going on - even tame. And it's co-founded, not helped found," you tell him frostily.
Shikaku doesn't seem willing to call your bluff. On the other hand, you aren't sure what role Kurama Unkai is playing here - he is not Jounin Commander, he is just another Clan Head. Did the Hokage really authorize him to participate in the negotiations?
What you agree to as your part of the deal is making the Konoha Military Police Force open to non-Uchiha again (which would have been necessary anyway, with such few active ninjas in the clan); it's also agreed that Tekka-san will become the permanent Head of the Police, the position of Uchiha Clan Head and Police Head being separated.
Another concession is that the Vice-head of the Police will always be a non-Uchiha. Tekka-san is visibly disturbed at this, but you tell him that this is necessary, "especially if you and your gang were up to what I think you were, Tekka-san."
Tekka-san recoils, as if slapped. Now, Unkai looks confused for a moment before schooling his features, while Shikaku has a contemplative expression on his face. Before, he simply seemed lazy, but with that expression on his face, he looks like a true super-genius.
The final concession is that the Uchiha district will be open to the other villagers to rent space in, but with the caveat that the opposite also be true: the Uchiha will once again be free to live outside their district.
A few more discriminatory laws and articles were also agreed to be repealed, and you remember Danzo's Sharingan, so you make your final demand the return of the eyes to the clan.
"The investigation will have to be concluded first, and someone destroyed the eye he had in his right socket, but I don't see a reason to deny that request," Shikaku tells you.
In the end, you shake hands with Shikaku, and he tells you, "I wonder if in a decade or two, you'll be in my position of Jounin commander or even Hokage."
Unkai calls that thought absurd. You are about to turn and glare at him, when the feeling of his Chakra freezes you: he's feeling such absolute fear, that it's reflected in his Chakra clearly.
…Did Shikaku-sama just make another Clan Head nearly piss himself by glaring at him?
Reputation with Nara Shikaku has gone up! E -> D
Reputation with Kurama Unkai has gone down! Neg. E -> Neg. D+
-----
Your mother has woken up, according to a messenger bird from the hospital. Instead of feeling elation, all you feel is dread. What if she's just like Aoi was? What if she's even worse off?
Still, you go to the hospital, then reach her hospital room and arrive to see her lying down. Her eyes are red, and not just in the usual literal way, but as if she's been crying.
Mama says, "Rin! You're here!" Smiling, though it seems forced.
"Mama," you say, hope rising within you, "the medic-nin told me-"
"That I had serious brain damage, right? The good news is that I'm sane," your mother tells you, though she still looks depressed.
"What's the bad news?" You ask, but you already have an inkling of what is going on, seeing how she moves.
"I'll never walk again," Mama tells you, her voice trembling, confirming your suspicions.
You hug her gently, carefully, and she bursts into tears, saying some things about 'Suiho' and 'Yui-chan'.
You've been a terrible daughter, but you will make sure to do better! You have a second chance; you had better not waste it!
Gained two extra Social slots!
-----
"You want me to what?!" You tell Tekka-san, stunned.
Haru says, "I had already told you, Rin-sama. You were and are the only option for Clan Head, especially now that you've proven your mettle in the field of politics."
"But, but-" you say, still finding it hard to wrap your mind around the idea that you are going to lead a clan of over forty people. Being Second Owner didn't prepare you for this!
Tekka-san says respectfully, "Rin-sama; you are not only the only choice, you are a good choice all told. You would still attend the Academy to attain an official rank, and Clan Heads are not extremely busy," calling you '-sama' for the first time.
You can't offer a rebuttal to that - words have failed you, which is a very rare phenomenon for you.
The official Uchiha Clan Head position has been offered to you; if you accept, you start your duties in five months, on your eighth birthday. You-
[]Accept
+You will unload much of the burden to whoever you can convince (definitely Haru, possibly Itachi)
[]Decline
There is also the schedule for the next five months. You have many options for training, a few new ones, too. Itachi-san has suggested that he teach you a new jutsu, along with helping you improve Housenka Tsumabeni, and Hollow-san can teach you Medical Ninjutsu.
You have books and scrolls in the Uchiha jutsu library you haven't read, and a whole slew of skills to train.
On the social side, you can reconnect with your remaining family. Fugaku-san has just woken up, you are giving the benefit of the doubt to Itachi-san again, you can hang out with Haru… even Sasuke.
There's also Ino and Naruto outside of the Uchiha clan, and Naruto is also family. There is Hollow-san, too. Not to forget Kakashi-san and Shigaru-san, either.
You have 5 social actions and 3+3 = 6 Training actions (Training and Studying have been combined, so you may suggest any non-social action for 'training'). If you suggest fewer options, the ones that are first in your order will be afforded an extra action. Vote by plan!
[]Write-in
*Thought this up (the lecture on various kinds and aspects of speed) thanks to Rihaku's Jounin Quest. I hope he doesn't mind.
I feel like plan clanhead would be better if instead of planning a council party we planned the council wake.
Unless that is the "party". A solemn annual affair to remember the dead? With an emphasis on how it was caused by disloyalty to the village and the clan.
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Story 15 (Rin accepts a particular position of authority)
I don't own the song referenced in the chapter (Bad to the Bone). Nor do I own the 'Naruto' manga and related media. Nor do I own Fate/stay Night or its related media.
[W] Plan Clanhead and honoring Shisui
-[W] Accept
-[W] Social
--[W] Itachi
--[W] Mama
--[W] Sasuke
--[W] Naruto
--[W] Ino
-[W] Training
--[W] Read Scroll - How to become a Lightning God, by Mikoto
--[W] Read Scroll - Illusion Art - Tomb of the Living
--[W] new Jutsu with Itachi
--[W] Housenka Tsumabeni with Itachi
--[W] Omni-science with Itachi
--[W] Medical Ninjutsu with Hollow
I didn't expect the Clan Head vote to be nearly unanimous.
Yes, it lives!
-----
"You want me to what?!" You tell Tekka-san, stunned.
Haru says, "I have already told you, Rin-sama. You were and are the only option for Clan Head, especially now that you've proven your mettle in the field of politics."
"But, but-" you say, still finding it hard to wrap your mind around the idea that you are going to lead a clan of over forty people. Being Second Owner didn't prepare you for this!
Tekka-san says respectfully, "Rin-sama; you are not only the only choice, you are a good choice all told. You would still attend the Academy to attain an official rank, and Clan Heads are not extremely busy," calling you '-sama' for the first time.
You can't offer a rebuttal to that - words have failed you, which is a very rare phenomenon for you.
The official Uchiha Clan Head position has been offered to you; if you accept, you start your duties in five months, on your eighth birthday. You decide to accept. Your extended family in their time of need have asked for your leadership. What else could and will you do, but accept?
You tell Haru and Tekka-san, "it would be my honor; I will be the next Head of the Clan."
Haru smiles at you brightly, giving you a glimpse at what she was like before all this situation. Then, she hugs you tightly, making you let out an 'oof!'.
She lets go of you immediately, apologizing for her rash action and her 'impertinence'. You reassure her that you aren't angry at her, or offended.
Tekka-san nods at you, his expression less tight than usual. You nod back, acknowledging him.
Haru rep. has gone up greatly! A++ -> S
Have gotten Trait 'Spring Tide'
+Your Water element training progresses greatly faster
+Your Fire element training progresses slightly-mildly more slowly
Tekka rep. has gone up! B+ -> A
Haru also asks you how high your talent for Water Release is.
"I'm good at using all the elements," you tell her, "though I haven't tried anything beyond the basics in Water and Lightning yet. Why?"
Haru looks impressed. She offers to tutor you in the element of Water.
"I might just take you up on that," you tell her, smiling awkwardly at what is essentially your fangirl.
The resulting smile takes away your breath for a moment.
-----
You decide to spend time with Itachi-san, to train and otherwise - even if he's a manipulative bastard, he did save your life indirectly by teaching you Izanami and giving you that extra eye.
The first thing he tells you he wants to teach you is a B ranked clone jutsu, the Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow Clone jutsu).
He explains that it is non-elemental, nor is it Yin Release or Yang Release. It doesn't even need skill in shape manipulation. What it needs is the capability to put a little of yourself into them -including an even split of your Chakra- and a relatively high Chakra reserve.
He describes the talent needed for it as similar to what is needed for Medical Ninjutsu, not in terms of Yang Release or such, but the ability to share your Chakra; the Shadow Clone is most like the Chakra Transfer Technique, according to Itachi.
You try to get it; really, you do. Unfortunately, you can only do it with trial and error. This jutsu takes a lot of Chakra, so you need over a week of trying to accomplish it to make only one stable clone, and after all that effort, you are near Chakra exhaustion. Itachi-san is off doing something else while you are training, but you go find him when you manage it.
Shadow Clone jutsu has been learned at E
Skill 'Ninshu' has been learned at F
Chakra has gone up! C+ (1 of 4) -> C+ (2 of 4)
You find him in a park, speaking to an old woman. She seems to be threatening him, so you decide to break them up. You say, "hey, Itachi-san! I was just looking for you!" Very loudly, with seeming perkiness, ignoring your fatigue.
The old woman turns to look at you, opening her half-closed eyes, and her expression freezes you. It contains so much rage that it almost scares you.
Almost. You have faced down Herakles as a Berserker, after all. You keep your eyes on hers until she turns away.
When she's left, you ask Itachi-san who she is.
Itachi-san replies with, "she is council member Koharu. A most unpleasant person, with Danzo political leanings."
"I see," you say, contemplative, "is she angry at me because of my role in Danzo's incarceration?"
"It is possible," Itachi says, "but I find it more likely that something else set her off. In your negotiations with the representatives of Konoha, was somebody there who did not belong?"
You tell him about Kurama Unkai, and how even the Jounin Commander made sure to keep him on a leash.
Itachi-san sighs. He then says, "a mole for her, then. Whatever happened during those negotiations must have been what angered her."
You snort, feeling more rested already, saying, "that's one way to put it."
It's not just the money. It took you a while to realize (and some help from Tekka-san), but your thoroughness in stopping discrimination against the Uchiha means that even laws from the time of the Second Hokage have been, or are on the way to being repealed. The Uchiha clan no longer has to worry about not getting any missions unless there is nobody else available, and larger clans tend to get a greater leeway on choosing their missions.
In short, your clan is finally getting the privileges other clans have enjoyed for decades, Police force or not.
Itachi-san doesn't pry. Instead, he changes the subject, saying, "so, did you get the Shadow Clone?"
You tell him that you did.
"Impressive," he tells you, his expression not changing, "it took me twelve days, when I was eleven*, to manage that jutsu - not nine days like you. Of course, I also did not have your Chakra reserves; it might be because of that."
You hum noncommittally. Other than the Chakra expenditure, it's a very simple jutsu. Even Naruto shouldn't have much trouble with it, considering he has about as much Chakra as you do, possibly more. When the two of you reach the training ground, Itachi tells you he will help you improve the Housenka Tsumabeni this time. You ask him for a soldier pill, which he hands you after reminding you of the rules for using them safely.
Itachi's manual dexterity is incredible enough that his own Housenka Tsumabeni is still usable, though greatly weakened, with being used one-handed. He also has already mostly adjusted to having only one arm, though he sometimes loses his balance or makes strange motions, which he has to compensate for.
You put your all into training the jutsu, improving yourself in the process, during the three weeks that you try it.
Itachi-san is totally impressed with your progress!
Strangely enough, he is the one who broaches the topic of what he did the previous time you two trained together. At some point, he suddenly says, "Rin, about what I did with the eye and-"
"Don't," you say softly, "I've decided to erase that from my mind. Just know that you saved my life and maybe my sanity with what you did, and leave it at that. A bit of short-term trauma was worth it."
He looks at you carefully, probably gauging how sincere you are, and then smiles (more of a lilt of the edges of the lips, really), which is a rare thing for him. He says, "still-"
"All is forgiven, Itachi-san. I won't even ask what that other thing was - I have my suspicions anyway," you say, mildly annoyed by his persistence.
He simply nods. Smart guy. Still, you have more to say to him.
You know that Shisui is a sensitive topic for Itachi, but you can't help your need to know. So, you say, "Itachi-san. Haru told me that Danzo killed nii-chan, but not much in the way of details. Do you know how it happened?" Feeling your own Chakra twist in grief again.
Itachi nods and looks at you intently.
You don't know what he's looking for, but you do your best not to show any outward signs of your anguish. You are impatient, but manage to keep your mouth shut until he speaks. Barely.
Itachi says, his face expressionless in a different way than usual, "Hokage-sama has also told me his side of the story, and what he pieced together; Shisui sent a Shadow Clone to him, while the original Shisui met with me. From what I know, Danzo was after Shisui's eyes, which possessed a special ability that the man coveted. Danzo himself, along with an exiled Yamanaka by the name of Fuu, distracted him enough that a former Aburame by the name of Torune, the one you killed when he shielded Danzo, touched him, poisoning him with a deadly insect."
"…Shisui managed to get away, of course, even like that - Danzo alone would never be able to best him. He talked to me, made me swear that I would make sure you'd survive. Then, he eliminated his body so that his eyes wouldn't fall into the wrong hands," Itachi finished, looking more numb than expressionless.
Itachi looks like he needs a hug; you aren't one for such physical gestures, but you swallow your apprehension and hug him. He stiffens at first, but relaxes into the hug and hugs you back eventually.
You feel yourself tearing up, but instead of Shisui, your mind keeps going back to the Aburame you accidentally killed. You took revenge for Shisui by killing him, and to be a magus, or a shinobi, means that you walk with death; you and that boy both were shinobi. So why are you so torn up over killing the guy!? Is it that he can't have been more than thirteen - maybe even eleven at worst?
Itachi, bless his soul, doesn't try to talk you through your first kill. He keeps his arm around you and simply asks, "first kill?" And leaves it at that.
You feel nauseous, but don't end up throwing up. You go to sleep early tonight, though.
Have gotten Skill 'Shape Manipulation' at F-
Skill 'Elemental Mastery: Fire' has gone up! C+ -> B-
Your Chakra Control has gone up! B- -> B- (2/6)
Dexterity&Flexibility has gone up! B -> B (2/7)
Projectile Throwing has gone up! C+ -> B-
Housenka Tsumabeni jutsu has gone up! F -> F+
Reputation with Itachi has gone up greatly! C -> B
The final thing you ask to train with him the next day is your situational awareness and observation skill. You tell him how you've tried to train those on your own, with mixed results.
Itachi-san tells you he's surprised you want to learn such a thing and that most ninjas your age, in-training or otherwise, prefer the flashy jutsu.
"I'm not most, Itachi-san," you tell him confidently. ('Not cockily?' Says a voice in your mind that sounds a lot like Archer.)
"True," he tells you, and is that the ghost of another smile on his face?
The first part of the training is similar to what you've tried on your own, except more refined. Each time, Itachi-san has you memorize a scene, then asks you questions about the details - without your Sharingan.
For the combined Chakra Sensory-Sharingan-intuition part of your skill-set, he has gotten the idea of enhancing rocks with badly-controlled Water-element Chakra Flow and having Shadow Clones lob them at you, mostly (but not purely) from blind spots.
Water Element Chakra Flow is used to control projectiles after they've been launched, so it serves the dual purpose of alerting you to the rocks and making it more of a task to track them, paradoxically. Those clones gradually lower the level of Chakra they put into the rocks, also refining it better, and suppress their own Chakra more skillfully, making it harder to keep up with them.
Itachi-san is especially good at teaching this stuff, despite being only thirteen years old; you progress very quickly, especially when he makes you use the skills in a simulated combat situation, in which his Shadow Clones behave like enemy combatants (mostly).
Intelligence goes up! A++ (5/14) -> A++ (7/14)
Skill "Omni-Science" goes up greatly! F -> E-
Mind's Eye of the Kagura goes up! A -> A (1/3)
Eye of the Mind (False) goes up! D -> D (1/3)
In the meanwhile, you meet up with Naruto - it isn't hard to track him down with your sensing skill. He's on top of the Hokage Rock; to be exact, on the head of the Fourth Hokage.
As soon as he sees you, he shouts, "Rin!" And tackle-hugs you.
He says something about the people at the hospital not letting him visit you, and how worried he was, and how he didn't find you at the Academy, and how Iruka-sensei wouldn't tell him much… all that in one breath.
You return the hug awkwardly.
When Naruto's motor-mouth tendencies stop affecting him (for the time being), you say, "as you can see, I'm fine, Naruto. Sorry I didn't come find you sooner," softly.
When you two part from the hug, Naruto's eyes are suspiciously wet. So, of course, you tease him.
He says, "something got in my eye - that's all!" Indignantly.
"With those goggles of yours, there's no way something could get in your eyes. Ba~ka," you reply, making your tone deliberately obnoxious.
Naruto pouts and tells you that he is offended, and only serious 'repair-nations' will satisfy him.
"Reparations, Naruto," you tell him, "now, shall we go for Ramen at Ichiraku? The first three bowls are my treat!"
Naruto acts as if the magic words have been said and that is, in a way, true.
At Ichiraku's, the man who runs the stand -as well as his thirteen-year-old daughter- greet Naruto enthusiastically.
Teuchi-san also tells you, "it's great to see you - we haven't seen you in a while, Rin," kindly.
"It's good to see you too, Teuchi-san," you tell him politely, "unfortunately, I was hospitalized with Chakra exhaustion."
When the two of you have finished your ramen (with Naruto reaching five bowls!), you go and do some after-meal exercise, starting off lightly and steadily increasing the strain. You show Naruto a lot of tricks to improve more quickly and steadily, and try to get stronger yourself.
Dexterity&Flexibility has gone up! B (2/7) -> B (3/7)
Strength has gone up! D -> D (1/3)
Rep. Naruto has gone up! C+ -> B
After you and Naruto say your farewells, you decide to train further.
You have already memorized all the scrolls that caught your eye at the library, but memorization doesn't mean comprehension. So, you decide to learn Genjutsu first in a training ground.
It was one of your brother's most favored ninja disciplines, and despite Genjutsu being connected to mind control, you decide to grit your teeth and learn the damn jutsu - to honor Shisui, if nothing else.
Illusion Art - Tomb of the Living is deceptively simple, and a surprisingly hard to learn jutsu. It also is pretty useless against most shinobi unless it's layered with another Genjutsu, and starts out very mild in effect (but escalates like crazy), according to the scroll. If combined well, though, it's one of the most dangerous jutsu in existence.
…Or it could be the author of the scroll's ego talking. What kind of alias is 'Age of Mythology' anyway?** It reminds you of the Age of Gods back in your previous world. Speaking of which, are there gods here? Well, that's a question for later.
…Either way, changing someone's perception of time is not very subtle on its own, but layered with another Genjutsu, you can think of at least one subtle way to keep the target trapped. Unfortunately, you need three tomoe in a Sharingan to cast Genjutsu without hand-seals.
The hand-seals are Tiger, Rat and Monkey. You practice Tomb of the Living until you've gotten it well enough to immobilize a Shadow Clone if said clone deliberately takes more than six seconds to dispel it (which is pathetic, but you'll get it down better eventually).
You also practice Narakumi no jutsu (Hell Viewing jutsu) and Kokoni Arazu (False Surroundings) on your Shadow Clones. After the first time you use the Hell Viewing on a clone, you refrain from trying that again - it's too traumatizing to risk.
As for the False Surroundings, you improve that a lot over the next two weeks; same with Tomb of the Living. Your clones now have to wait 'only' five seconds before the jutsu renders them unable to dispel it.
Itachi's genjutsu are no longer able to affect the original you; only your own genjutsu, cast be your clones work on you. Your Shadow Clones are less resistant, but are nonetheless highly resistant.
Stat Genjutsu has gone up! B -> B (2/5)
Stat Chakra Control has gone up! B- (2/6) -> B- (3/6)
Skill 'Genjutsu - Kai!' has gone up! A (4/5) -> A+ (2/6)
Skill 'Tomb of the Living jutsu' has been learned at E-
Skill 'Hell Viewing jutsu' has been learned at F
Skill 'False Surroundings jutsu' has been learned at E
Skill 'Hand-seals' has gone up! D+ -> C
The only other scroll's contents you have the time to practice is Mikoto's.
'How to become a Lightning God' is not really a beginner's book, but you find yourself eventually understanding the concepts in it thanks to other books from the jutsu library you've memorized and are now analyzing, as well as what your grandmother taught you.
It takes you close to a month, but you manage to not only improve your Lightning manipulation, and progress to the stage of splitting a waterfall by piercing it without electrifying it (with Haru providing the waterfall and you making the wall of earth from which it falls), improving your control over the vibration aspect of Lightning; you also learn a new jutsu or two.
Elemental Mastery: Lightning has gone up! D- -> C
Raiton - Jibashi (Lightning Release - Electromagnetic Murder) has been learned at E-
Chakra Flow: Flying Swallow (Lightning) has been learned at E
You are at step 1 of (?) for learning Hell Stab and Raiton Chakra Mode
Your mother is getting out of hospital today, so you go there and wheel her home. Silence ensues between the two of you.
Mama breaks the silence suddenly, saying, "are you mad at me, Rin?"
What?! Where did this come from? You ask your mother why she thinks that, and her reply takes you aback.
Mama says, "well, I reached Suiho too damn late to do anything - I didn't even manage to kill that masked fucker, even though I blew him to smithereens!" Obviously disappointed with herself, not even bothering to censor her words.
You reassure her that she couldn't have done anything more to save your father against that foe, but you suddenly pause and say, "wait, you blew him up?"
Mama tells you yes and describes how the fight went. "…I think I heard the name of a deity near the end; it was-"
Your head shoots up and you say, "Izanagi?!"
Just how many have access to that accursed jutsu?!
"You know what he did?" Your mother asks you.
You nod, and are on the verge of telling her about it when it occurs to you that it's a secret. So, you only give her the bare-bones version. You tell her it's an Uchiha forbidden jutsu that can save someone from death, and that Danzo employed it in your fight.
Mama falls silent. After a few moments, she says, "so, Shimura Danzo could use it too? And you fucking fought the man?!"
"I got backup soon enough, Mama," you tell her calmly, "besides, I doubt Danzo is anywhere as dangerous as the masked man."
"Still," Mama says, "you shouldn't have put yourself at risk like that."
"I AM training to be a ninja, Mama," you reply, still speaking calmly.
"True, but fighting someone who's a contender for S-class isn't for someone your age," she tells you seriously.
"Nobody else was available," you say softly, "I couldn't just let Sasuke die."
Your mother nods in understanding, but says, "just make sure to always return home alive; I wouldn't be able to handle it if I lost you too," barely loud enough for you to hear.
"Oh Mama," you say and hug her tightly (but carefully). By this point, the two of you have reached the new house that has been allocated for you.
Korin reputation has gone up! A+ -> A++
You go visit your cousin Sasuke the very next day, and he seems to be adjusting well enough to you. But that's on the surface - who knows what might be lurking beneath.
"Sasuke," you greet him neutrally.
"Rin," he tells you coolly, "what do you want?"
"I came to see you," you tell him, not very surprised by the mild hostility.
"You came to check on one of your subjects, you mean," he tells you, not looking you in the eye.
"What?" You say, a bit surprised by his choice of words.
"Why did the clan do that to Dad?!" Sasuke says, shaking, "he has always given his all to being the clan head… why!?"
You let Sasuke rant until he runs out of steam. Silent tears are running out of his eyes. It hits you that Sasuke has just lost his mother, AND had the whole Clan Head mess dropped on him, so you refrain from snapping at him.
You simply put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder - he doesn't immediately shrug it off, fortunately. To cheer him up, you decide to teach him something; maybe he'd like the chance to show you up? You are going to bank on him having even half of the late Mikoto's talent for the Lightning Element. After all, according to Grandma-
Arkidi stabbing Fugaku, then moving on to Nanako; damn it. DAMN IT!
You shake your head, trying to dislodge the memory and telling Sasuke you are fine. Anyway, according to your late grandmother, Affinities are passed on from mother to son and from father to daughter more often than not.
You decide to frame it as a kind-of challenge. You say, "oi, Sasuke, how would you like a competition between the two of us?"
He looks up, looking at you with obvious suspicion. He says, "what kind of competition?"
You tell him that it took you twenty-three days or so to shrink a leaf, which is the first exercise for Lightning Element manipulation without hand-seals. "Can you do that faster than me?" You say.
Sasuke says, "so you want me to try beating you… in your primary element?" Still suspicious of you.
"All the elements are pretty much my primary element," you tell him, "besides, I have a hunch you'll be really good at it."
Sasuke's eyes light up a bit, but he says, "what's in it for me?"
"You mean apart from learning a second element, which is supposed to be something chuunin and Tokubetsu do in preparation for promotion to Jounin?" You tell Sasuke, pausing for a few seconds. Seeing that you have his full attention, you continue by telling him you will teach him a C-ranked Lightning Release jutsu, 'Electromagnetic Murder', if he can beat your time.
Sasuke nods enthusiastically and is about to leave to find some, well, leaves, but you stop him and give him a few tips on handling the Lightning Element, mainly safety instructions. He pretends not to care, but you can tell he has taken your warnings seriously.
Exactly fifteen days later, he drags you to a training field and shows you that he has managed to shrink the leaf.
He looks at you smugly, but you simply congratulate him on beating you, and you take it as a victory that he looks a bit annoyed at not having riled you up. "A promise is a promise," you tell Sasuke, "so, are you ready for learning Electromagnetic Murder?"
Sasuke blinks a few times and says, "right now?"
"Why not?" You reply, smirking, "now is as good a time as any," and ignoring Fugaku's Chakra as if he weren't there, while Sasuke is completely unaware thanks to his father's stealth skills.
Sasuke nods and pays careful attention as you show him the hand-seals, as well as a passable rendition of the jutsu.
Before you have the chance to tell him the hand-seals, Sasuke starts the sequence. He does them correctly, too, damn it. How are you supposed to show your brilliance when you are surrounded by other prodigies?
"Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)," Sasuke whispers, aiming his jutsu at the nearest boulder.
It's a slight difference, but you can tell that Sasuke's attempt at the jutsu is more stable than yours, though noticeably weaker, from the range at which he manages to strike that boulder and the feel of the Chakra. He has also only finished the first exercise of elemental re-composition. He isn't even panting much, despite not having been fully rested! Just how good is he at the Lightning Element?
You hear someone slowly clapping, and are unsurprised to see a healthy -or mostly healthy- Fugaku nearby; though he also seems deeply fatigued, and not just physically.
Sasuke turns to look at him, his expression similar to a child who got caught with his hands on the cookie jar.
Fugaku is visibly impressed; this is more emotion than you have ever seen from him, you think.
You leave father and son to their conversation and leave, despite your desire to speak to Fugaku.
Sasuke reputation has gone up greatly! D- -> D+
-----
"It's your fault, you know, Rin. You abandoned me just to chase after revenge; now I can't walk," Mama says in a matter-of-fact tone.
You flinch, but Mama isn't finished.
She says, "I could have ended up like Aoi, you know. And who's to say I won't anyway? After all, the brain is a delicate thing."
You shiver; you haven't heard Mama say such things before. Could it be a genjutsu, or maybe-
You end up in your new bed, covered in cold sweat. That answers your question.
You look at your bedside clock, still shivering, and it's too damn early and way too cold; it's late November, after all. Still, it's around the time Ino usually wakes up to prepare for the Academy, earlier than most.
You leave a note for your mother after getting dressed and start on the way for a particular flower shop. You can tell that everyone inside is awake with your sensory capabilities. So, you signal Ino's father with your Chakra.
A few minutes later, he reaches the side entrance, where you are waiting. He lifts an eyebrow, but makes no comment on the black circles around your eyes.
"Ino will be out in a minute," the man says, unaffected by the cold.
You nod.
Inoichi-san speaks to you about various things. While you start out answering by way of nods and head-shakes, he manages to get you talking in no time.
The subject reaches sensor-ninjas at some point, and he gives you a few tips on how to remain aware of everything without getting distracted, and how to hide from other sensors.
Soon enough, Ino gets out of her home and reaches you. Inoichi-san leaves discreetly, and Ino fusses over you.
"Let's get you inside to cover those hideous panda-eyes. You're coming with me to the Academy today!" Ino declares, with a force of personality that reminds you of yourself.
Well, yourself when you are well-rested ('and not depressed', an Archer-like voice says in your mind. Well, screw you too, brain).
Ino expertly puts some make-up on you (and how did an eight-year-old get so good at applying make-up?!), and you put up a token protest, but still end up following her to the Academy. She also lends you a few blunted kunai and shuriken, since you only carry real ones with you nowadays.
The two of you are early, and only Shikamaru and Sasuke are around. Sasuke is studying one of the Academy's texts and Shikamaru is taking a nap.
You decide not to bother either of them - needling Shikamaru while he is trying to sleep is hilarious, according to Ino, but you just don't feel like it.
Eventually, the classroom fills partway (being too large for the number of students); the way the classroom -or rather lecture hall- is set up reminds you of a university, or maybe the Clock Tower.
Recently, some memories you had lost have returned. You believe you've had more, but you have remembered exactly what Kirei -no, the fake priest Kotomine- did to make you hate him; you also have recovered a lot of missing memories between the Fifth Holy Grail War and starting your apprenticeship with Zelretch, and from the Clock Tower during said apprenticeship.
You remember pining after Shirou, who was oblivious and pined after Saber, in turn. (That idiot!) You remember showing up Edelfelt by learning how to open a portal to a parallel world without help from a Kaleidostick or Jewel Sword first, and the relationship between the two of you turning into more of a friendly rivalry than anything… somehow.
When you snap out of your daydreams, Iruka has already arrived and is taking roll-call. He pauses at your name, but gives no other indication he is surprised.
The material the lessons are covering today is made up of things you know, so you give the answer a couple of times (the correct one!) when Iruka quizzes the class.
Eventually, the time to spar comes up, and you are put up against Hyuuga Hinata. The girl seems reluctant to fight, so you-
[]Encourage her
[]Berate her
[]"Do you have a little brother/sister? Imagine I'm an enemy nin trying to kill/abduct them, and you are the only thing between me and them"
Thanks to Inoichi's tips….
Mind's Eye of the Kagura goes up! A (1/3) -> A (2/3)
Stealth goes up! D+ -> C-
Your mental health and stability improves thanks to Ino's support!
After the Academy's classes end (luckily, it's a Saturday, so it's only a half-day), you go to your new house, after Ino gives you a hug and bids you farewell.
You offer to cook lunch, but your mother insists that she's not a complete invalid and fixes something herself, though you do help a bit.
"I didn't know you knew how to cook," Mama says, her eyes wide open in surprise at how efficient you are in the kitchen.
"Grandma had showed me a few things," you say, bending the truth.
Your grandmother DID show you a few things about cooking… once or twice, at most. Your expertise in the kitchen doesn't come from that. You ARE a bit rusty in that skill, though.
Once you have eaten, you decide to train. To be exact, you decide to make full use of Hollow-san's offer to teach you the medical arts, so you bid your mother farewell and head for the orphanage.
When you reach the place, there is nobody around except the woman you are here for.
"You came!" Hollow-san says, a smile on her face.
"I did," you reply, "now shall we find a better place for this?"
The older woman remains silent for a bit, then bids you to follow her. After a few minutes, during which you are wary of a potential ambush and use your sensor skill to make sure you are safe (still not trusting the woman fully), you reach a forest clearing.
You decide to clear the air between the two of you, so you say, "Hollow-san, I have a question, but it will probably sound strange."
Hollow-san simply says, "go ahead."
"Are- are you dead? As in, a ghost or something like that?" You say seriously.
Hollow-san regards you with an emotion you can't identify. Then, she says, "you are direct. I like that. Yes, apparently, the Pure World won't accept me for some unfathomable reason."
"The Pure World?" You ask, curious over this term. You have heard it, and the term existed in your old world too, but she is speaking as if it's a real, tangible thing.
She laughs for a bit, though her laughter is tinged with bitterness. She says, "I nearly forgot how young you are."
Then, she goes on to explain this world's afterlife to you.
So, there is only one afterlife, and everyone goes there, without exception apart from Hollow-san apparently? This lines up with your suspicion that you're in a different multiverse.
You did suspect that Hollow-san might have been a ghost, but you didn't seriously believe it.
…Wait, what was that about the Pure World not accepting her?
"Hollow-san," you say, trembling a bit, "could it be something about your physiology or soul that kept you out of the Pure World?"
"I don't know. It could be," Hollow-san replies, brows furrowed.
Does that mean that you will never see Shisui again? If her Magic Circuits are the reason Hollow-san was kept out of the afterlife, then you are going to be stuck as a ghost… unless, of course, you make sure that you survive, and that you get a body back by using the Second Magic if you die and are stuck in the living world as a ghost. Still, no loved ones in the afterlife…?
"Anyway," you say, snapping out of your thoughts, "shall we start the lesson?"
"I thought you would never ask," Hollow-san says and quizzes you on your medical knowledge. Then, she starts teaching you about first aid and human anatomy, continuing where your grandmother had left off. It's not yet time to learn medical ninjutsu, though Hollow-san does promise that she will teach you a diagnostic jutsu and Yang Release next time if you do really well.
You are motivated be that, so you put all your heart and soul into learning what she's teaching you. Fortunately, Hollow-san has a trick where she can go solid for enough time to simulate wounds on herself, so she is the 'patient' you practice on. (Though you do wonder briefly why she didn't use it to talk to her children, you are too focused to linger on the thought long.)
You start practicing in early afternoon; when you stop, it's- wait, is that the sun rising!? Shit, your mother will kill you!
Tutor bonus: Second best in the world, Hollow's Trait: Super Teacher activates
You are very motivated!
First Aid has gone up Beyond Colossally! D+ -> B
Anatomy has gone up colossally! C- -> B
Reputation with Hollow has gone up! E- -> E
"I've got to go; thank you for the lesson, Hollow-san!" You tell the older woman, and bow formally, then run off.
Your mother is fortunately asleep when you reach your house. Maybe she knew you were fine - she is a sensor-type too, after all. You lie down in your bed, but you are unable to fall asleep; too excited for that. Maybe you should invest in a sleep genjutsu? Perhaps you will ask someone for such a thing - you remember Hollow-san saying during your lesson with her that she has some skill in genjutsu that causes sleep….
You wake up in early afternoon - you didn't even realize you had fallen asleep! You can hear knocking on the door, and shower and get dressed quickly (or as quickly as you can in your 'morning zombie' condition).
When you enter the living room, your mother along with a man with an ageless (though definitely not handsome) face is there. He is very, very tall and has long white hair.
Before you can realize what you are saying, you say, "good morning Mama; who's this ugly stranger?"
The tall stranger laughs, and your mother glares at you.
Then, the stranger introduces himself by saying, "little lady, it is I, the great Sage of Mount Myoboku! The one who can make rich women beg; good women steal; old women blush and young girls squeal with his words only!"
…Did he just steal the lyrics from that rock song, Bad to the Bone? Does it even exist here? Damn that Luvia, for getting it stuck in your head!
You say, "lame!" Giving him a thumb down.
He exaggeratedly hangs his head… and a small cloud is hanging over his head.
Your eyes sharpen; this can't have been a genjutsu - you are all but immune. It's either Water or Fire manipulation without hand-seals. This is a high-level ninja - and now that you think of it, he does fit the description of Jiraiya of the Sannin.
You had been fooled, partially because your passive sensory reported him as genin-level at most. You make a one-handed hand-seal, and-
You are flooded with power. This person has refined and very dense Chakra, and while sensor-types aren't very good at judging Chakra reserves, this man is most likely at least Kage-level in his reserves.
You look at the man in surprise, and see a serious expression on his face. He says, "you are a lot more perceptive than I gave you credit for, little lady."
You are fully awake now. You say, "Jiraiya-sama. What brings you to little old me?"
He smiles slightly, as if you had passed a test of some kind, and says, "well, I think you will be a great help for this mission - Naruto was right."
"Mission?" You and your mother both echo.
Mama says, "Jiraiya-sama, isn't she a bit too young for a mission with you?"
Jiraiya says, "relax. It's not something very dangerous or glamorous. I simply want to go retrieve Tsunade to persuade her to become the Godaime Hokage."
"That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence," your mother says, sighing.
"Don't worry, if she comes with, Naruto will also be there, and a chuunin or Jounin of her choice to round out the numbers," Jiraiya says, smiling again.
"So, Naruto was your first choice, and I'm HIS choice, Jiraiya-sama?" You tell Jiraiya, brow furrowed.
"Ah, don't sweat the small details, little lady," Jiraiya says, waving your words off, "so, do you accept?"
"My name is Rin," you tell him grumpily. Then, you-
[]Go on the mission
+There is still over a month until your eighth birthday; you still have time until you become clan head - you will still have to appoint proxies for the clan head position, though
+Naruto won't follow Jiraiya without you
+You can gain experience on a real mission!
-[]Pick someone to take with you on the mission (Write-in)
+If it's somebody from the Uchiha clan, you won't be able to appoint that person as a proxy
[]Say no to Jiraiya
+Jiraiya probably becomes the Fifth Hokage, or maybe Kakashi
+No medic-nin to heal your mother and get a prosthetic for Itachi
+You won't have to leave your clan alone in their time of need
Who will be your proxy as clan head? Regardless of your answer to Jiraiya, you need to appoint someone (Up to 3 people) to represent you as clan head.
[]Korin
[]Itachi
[]Fugaku
[]Haru
[]Tekka
[]Teyaki
*In the anime (not manga), Itachi knew the Shadow Clone as an Academy Student. Here, it was the Water Clone.
**Yes, Tomb of the Living is my own original jutsu.
As for the Sasuke situation, I know better than to give SB/SV the opportunity to call Sasuke an emo in-story and/or slap him, so no voting there.
It's my birthday today; I'm 28 now. This is my birthday gift to my readers (a bit backwards, there, but whatever).
In canon, IIRC, Sasuke spent half of the chuunin exams break bedridden due to the sealing, so he had ~15 days to learn the first stage of Lightning manipulation (which took him 'quite a few days') AND get used to moving like Lee (and copy the Chidori with his Sharingan, though that probably didn't take long). So, head-canon is that it took him a bit over half of those 15 days (9 days?) to manage the Lightning exercise, and that the Sharingan couldn't help with something that lacks hand-seals at its then-current level of development. He took a lot longer here because he has much less Chakra at this point. (This statement sounds familiar. Did I say something like it before?)
-----
It's been a while since you last visited your godson. The last time, you left him a gift - a toad-shaped wallet he named 'Gama-chan'. It brings a tear to your eye.
You approach the boy stealthily, and observe him (no, you don't stalk him!) as he goes through his day.
At some point, Naruto stiffens. He says, "come out – I know you're there!"
Wait… what! With nobody else coming forward, you jump out of the roof you were on-
And land on your face. Ow! Hopefully, your faked clumsiness will break the ice. Fortunately, you're insanely durable.
Naruto is looking at you in disbelief. He says, "oh, come on! How can a ninja be so clumsy?"
You shake yourself and say, "congratulations; you've discovered me. I'm on the market for an apprentice, and you seem like a talented young man. After all, you did notice me."
On the inside, you are berating yourself for getting careless enough that an Academy student was able to detect you, and hoping that Naruto will buy the lie – you don't really intend to get a new apprentice, though you will give him a chance anyway.
Naruto looks at you in disbelief. He says, "me, talented? Who you trying to fool, ossan?!" Dismissing the possibility immediately.
Your eyes sharpen. So, he's that kind of ninja, eh? You know exactly how to handle someone like that. You say, "so, you're saying that you detected me by a fluke, then?"
Naruto shakes his hands around, saying, "of course not! My hearing is na- naturally good, and Auntie Korin has been helping me get better; she's better than you at hiding, even- never mind. Well, if you put it like that… I must seem pretty talented, huh?"
Interesting…. Now, let's check something. You say, "so, kid, what do you think is the most important thing for a ninja to possess? What leads a shinobi to success?"
Naruto's face scrunches up. He mumbles to himself, "probably not jutsu. It must by something phi- pilo- whatever."
You tell him, "it doesn't have to be about a high-level ninja. What has helped you in your life as an Academy Student, and what do you think will give you the best chance to succeed as a shinobi going forward?"
Naruto mulls over your words for a bit. Then, he says, "I've never given up, no matter how difficult everything might have seemed; for me, it's the guts and grit to never give up that has kept me in the Academy and has let me find family 'ttebayo."
O ho ho?! You… weren't expecting this kind of answer. Even Minato didn't answer this same question so well. You tell him to put his money where his mouth is - that you will check how long it takes him until he gives up under hellish training.
Naruto scoffs. He says, "why would I want to train with you, ossan! You're, like, super clumsy!"
"If you manage it, I will teach you a D-rank jutsu," you tell Naruto.
"Okay!" Naruto says cheerily, in a complete turnabout of attitude.
He then introduces himself, which causes you to do the same out of trained habit – to be exact, Tsunade 'beating the rudeness out of you'. That hypocrite. By the shudder you see run through him, someone did something similar to him – probably a female, too.
So, that's how you've gotten roped into teaching an eight-year-old the basics. You've got to hand it to him, though – he's a fast learner if you frame the explanations the right way, and he's really good at learning… kinesthetically, you believe it's called? Either way, Naruto learns best by doing, though he's decent at copying what you do, so you make sure not to tell him too much, and let him discover what works best by himself, only correcting him when he's doing something outright stupid.
And when you say the basics, you mean the absolute basics. Taijutsu, tactics, reading and writing (he can read and write, but he's not very good at either; if left like that, he will probably end up hating books because they confuse him); simple math (though he's naturally good at that, the lack of instruction in some basics of math is appalling)….
He seems to know the basics of the Whirling Tide decently, but he hasn't been taught the slightly more advanced principles very well, as if he learned from someone who is too old to get off his ass out of bed, or even from a scroll or book. You know enough of the style to plug the gaps in his taijutsu, but not any further.
That Korin woman (you remember a cousin of Kushina's by that name; it's probably her. You wouldn't forget an S-class hottie like her, in both senses of the word) has done a good job in developing Naruto's strengths, and much of Naruto's current skill in academics is thanks to her, but she hasn't detected every problem. She might have gotten to him only recently or something.
You decide to try and make Naruto think – you don't believe anyone has ever managed to get Naruto to do that.
The boy eventually tells you that he has been having trouble with the Transformation and the Clone jutsu; you tell him that you'll help him with those, later.
"Now, it's time to make your body tougher!" You tell him, and show him how to do various exercises; strangely enough, he already knew how to do most of them correctly.
You soon realize that he hasn't been pushing himself as hard as he could, probably out of ignorance.
You tell him, "Naruto, why do you do only a hundred reps of each exercise in a day?"
"Huh? Oh, my next door neighbor told me that any more than that means that I will get hurt if I do them every day!" Naruto says, "did old woman Akeno* lie to me?" Looking a bit hurt, mumbling something about the old woman making him red bean soup when he was down.
You shake your head and say, "is your neighbor a civilian?"
"Huh? Why are you asking?" Naruto says, scratching his head.
You look at him pointedly, and he gets the hint and tries to reason it out for himself.
He says, "ninjas are stronger and tougher and can last longer," after a bit of thought, "so, exercise that could kill a civilian might not be much for a ninja."
"Exactly," you tell him, glad at the fact he has started thinking for himself. "So, give me two hundred and fifty push-ups with eight kilos of weight on your back," you say, presenting Naruto with a belt-like training weight.
Well, eight kilos AND two hundred fifty push-ups might have been a bit too much. Still, Naruto doesn't even complain. When he reaches two hundred and twenty-four, you stop him.
When he tells you he can keep going in a strained voice, you bop him on the head and tell him that he's overdoing it.
You show Naruto a few calisthenics to improve his balance and flexibility, and he takes to them… well, not like a fish to water, but you can tell he has been trained well already. Either his family is responsible for that, or the Academy teachers aren't as bad as you initially thought.
You decide to finish the day with a bit of mental and Chakra Control training, so you teach him the Leaf Concentration Exercise.
"Iruka-sensei has already showed us how to do the leaf thingy, and it's boring!" Naruto tells you, pouting.
You try to pound into his thick skull the necessity of having enough Chakra Control for higher level jutsu, but you aren't sure he has understood. Then, you say, "I won't teach you the D-rank jutsu until I'm sure you can handle it."
"Whaaat! Stingy!" He tells you, pouting again.
But either way, Naruto does the exercise, even if this time, he complains constantly.
You look at Naruto with sharp eyes – is that…?
Yes - every time Naruto has managed to balance the leaf near-flawlessly, a burst of Chakra eventually interferes and makes him fail. So, you make Naruto try again and again, until he can learn to compensate for it; his natural stubbornness wins over his desire to complain, and he throws himself into the exercise with gusto.
Well, you need to check the seal; you are certain it's meant to inject Chakra from the beast into Naruto, but is it supposed to do so so overtly this early on?
If you were working under a time constraint that was something like a month or two, rather than the four years Naruto has until he graduates (four and a half or so, if you count up to the point that he takes his future first C-ranked mission), you would have mostly given up fine control in favor of teaching him how to control large amounts of Chakra. As it is, you believe you can do both.
…And there you are, already thinking of Naruto as an actual apprentice. It is now evening, and the two of you sit on a bench somewhere within Konoha, eating some takoyaki. He seems surprised at how delicious it is. You ask him about his eating habits, and apparently he likes ramen a bit too much and most other foods too little – you should get him to eat his vegetables, at least.
Naruto does eat foods other than Ramen, of course, especially his neighbor's and his aunt's home cooking, but 'vegetables are yucky. Octopus is too, or so I thought!'
Naruto then regales you with tales of his cousin, Rin, and how smart and amazing she is. Apparently, she's the one who showed him how to exercise, not his Academy sensei. On a whim, you decide to take Naruto with you on your mission – after all, you can't leave him to the Academy's teachers, with such a 'stellar' job they've done so far.
You bring it up with Naruto and he says, "okay, but we should totally take Rin with us! She's very com- com-pe-tent. She'll be a great help!"
You try to argue, but Naruto digs his heels in, saying that he won't follow you on the mission without Rin.
You roll your eyes when he's not looking, but you do acquiesce. You might as well make it a full four-man squad, too; who the girl picks to follow will tell you a lot about her.
Hopefully, Tsunade won't be too alarmed by the presence of a full squad.
-----
-----
"Hello, Fugaku-san. May I have a few minutes of your time?" You tell your former Clan Head, a bit frostily.
Fugaku sighs. He says, "so it's time for that talk. I can't say I haven't been expecting it. So, ask away."
You signal him to follow and take him to the Uchiha jutsu library, which fortunately happens to be empty. Then, you take out a small scroll; it's a variation of your barrier-in-a-scroll seal, and it keeps sound from being carried from inside its range to the outside. You leave a Shadow Clone to watch the entrance, go to the lowest level (the one accessible only to the Clan Heads) and activate the silence barrier.
Only then do you say, "all right. I have suspicions on what exactly happened, but I want to hear everything from your mouth."
Fugaku raises an eyebrow and says, "so, what have you concluded so far?" Looking genuinely interested.
You give him a look that tells him you know that he's trying to take control of the conversation, then decide to humor him anyway. So, you say, "Danzo made sure to ostracize the Uchiha, and somehow got the rest of the leadership of Konoha to go along with it. You and much of the clan couldn't stand it anymore, so you decided to do something drastic. Possibly kill the Sandaime Hokage and take his place by force…?" Your tone even. You aren't exactly pleased with the Third either.
"On general principle, you are spot on, Rin," Fugaku says, "though you are missing a few pieces of the puzzle. The Kyuubi attack was orchestrated by the Masked Uchiha, as the Sandaime found out when he fought the man. Apparently, he is a user of high-level Space-Time jutsu, which explains why the Kyuubi appeared so suddenly then. But at the time, the loyal Uchiha clan were under suspicion because Madara's Sharingan was known to have controlled the Kyuubi. It didn't help that at the time, most of the clan were in a meeting at the Naka shrine."
He breathes in and continues, saying, "when we realized what was happening, we went to join the forces of Konoha, only for individuals with masks similar to the ANBU's to intercept us and claim that they had Danzo's authorization to stop us if we tried to get near the Kyuubi. Danzo later denied all involvement and used our absence as evidence against us. Afterwards, we were personae non grata in the upper echelons, and the Sandaime passed more and more discriminatory laws at the behest of Danzo and Koharu, his old teammate and current advisor. I'm not sure about his other teammate and advisor, Homura. Either way, the Uchiha were no longer allowed to live outside the District; many were forced out of their homes by the ANBU.
>>The pressure was getting greater and greater; the common person saw that the Uchiha weren't trusted and shunned us as well. In retaliation, I made the Military Police Uchiha-only, ousting all other members. Not my best decision in hindsight. That only made things worse; the clan were all but calling for blood, and I couldn't see a way out. That's when someone proposed a coup d'etat, and I couldn't find it in me to disagree. So, we intended to assassinate the Sandaime, along with Danzo and the Sandaime's other advisors, hopefully without anyone knowing it was us; then, use the turmoil to seize power, by force if necessary – thus, a potential coup d'etat. "
"So, you intended to become Hokage? And who was the first to propose a coup?" You tell him, eyes narrowed.
He shakes his head, saying, "no, being Clan Head and leader of the Military Police was already stressful enough. Funnily enough, the answer to both questions is Mikoto. She was the first one to propose a coup, and the one I intended to place as Hokage. She would rule for a few years, and when Itachi was in his late teens, he would replace her, becoming the youngest to be Hokage, and silencing the sexists within the clan. That was the plan."
"Wait, Mikoto-san was the one behind the idea? What were her reasons?" You say, blinking repeatedly in surprise. You have only known of her as a housewife and Itachi and Sasuke's mother, so it comes out of left field for you.
Fugaku smiles a bit, but this smile is filled with nostalgia and grief, and unshed tears are in his eyes. He says, "yes, she was one of the most affected by the situation. She never said it outright, but not being given custody of her godson -and the treatment he and the Uchiha clan got by the village- affected her greatly."
"Godson?" You ask him, dreading the answer.
"Yes, the Sandaime told both Mikoto and your mother that along with Kushina, the woman's child had perished. But Mikoto saw through that lie eventually and confronted the man. I don't know what exactly was said in that conversation, but Sarutobi's very mention made her react terribly from then on, though she could hide it from most. I hadn't seen her smile for real even once since that day," Fugaku says, his tone cold.
You start. Naruto is Mikoto-san's godson? Is that why Fugaku-san never showed any animosity towards him? Wait. "Why didn't Mikoto-san say anything to my mother about Naruto being alive?"
"I don't know," Fugaku says, "perhaps the Sandaime made her swear not to let her find out, or maybe she thought Korin might do something stupid; they weren't close to one another, though they were both close to Kushina. Either way, Mikoto only told me. Frankly, I think that Kushina made Mikoto godmother on a whim – she was spontaneous like that. The last time the two of them spent a lot of time together was before Mikoto even gave birth to Itachi. It might have been Kushina's way of reconnecting with Mikoto."
Something occurs to you. You say, "should we reveal what happened -and the planned coup- to the public?"
Fugaku says, "what!" Looking startled. "Why would we do such a thing…!"
"Hear me out, Fugaku-san," you tell him, "that bitter old shrew, Koharu, might release the information out of spite. It's better if we told everyone our version of the events, before that woman distorts the truth. Even if it leaks in another way, we still would be served well by releasing the information ourselves."
Fugaku-san sighs and says, "that might actually be a good idea, Rin. But I'd rather keep living, so please get the Sandaime to give me an official pardon first. Tekka too."
You nod – that sounds reasonable.
You expected there would be more conflict between you and Fugaku-san, but he seems more relieved not to be head than anything.
-----
You ask for a meeting with the Third Hokage, but the secretary, a woman in her late twenties, isn't very cooperative, and not for the reasons one might think.
"Oh, you're so adorable!" The woman says, smiling at you in a familiar -and scary- way. Not good!
The woman, who hasn't even introduced herself, proceeds to hug you tightly. You form a hand-seal, making a Shadow Clone, and have it use Kawarimi on you.
…It's a weird sensation, being taken along by a clone's Kawarimi; you feel weightless and nauseous at the same time. You escape quickly with a Body Flicker, and go up to the windows of the Hokage's office. You knock on one of the windows, and the Sandaime tells you to enter.
You open the window and see the Third Hokage, looking at you, brows furrowed.
You say, "my apologies, Sandaime-sama, but the secretary wouldn't let me escape her clutches for long enough to ask for an audience," you say, as dignified as you can in such a situation.
"Escape her cl- oh," the Third says, putting his face in his hands, "I am the one who needs to apologize, child. That girl is too fond of cuteness for anyone's good."
'Child'? Well, you suppose you look that way to him; he's over sixty, after all, and he even called a woman nearing her thirties a 'girl'. Still, you can barely keep from gritting your teeth.
Trait 'Façade of a Magus' has activated.
You straighten up, close the window and say, "my greetings, Sandaime Hokage-sama. I have come before you to ask for a pardon for certain clansmen of mine," as formally as you can.
The Third is impassive; his poker face is impeccable, and his Chakra is suppressed masterfully. He says, "is that so? What crimes is that for?"
You scrutinize him. So, this is the way he wants to play it? Fine. "I'm certain Itachi-san has told you all about it," you tell him, cool as a cucumber.
A proverbial crack in the man's façade shows up as a twitch in his cheek, but it disappears quickly. He lifts an eyebrow as if saying, 'you are going to have to do better than that'
It's pretty obvious, true, but- oh, of course! You say, "and nii-chan, of course – I mean, Uchiha Shisui must have told you too, Sandaime-sama," taking a shot in the dark.
The Sandaime twitches again. Then, he says, "so, you are Shisui's sister. I keep underestimating that particular line." He sighs and says, "very well, I will stop playing this game."
There is no way he hasn't known who, exactly, you are related to. Oh, well.
He takes out a few official looking documents, which pardon crimes committed by Fugaku, Tekka and 'anyone who was an accomplice'. You ask him if there needs to be a witness, or maybe they need to be filed in triplicate.
He marks them with a particular stamp, and says, "I have already filed them in triplicate and they have Jiraiya's signature. See?"
You smirk lightly; the Sandaime has thought of everything, but you frown immediately afterwards; if only he had trusted in one of the founding clans of this village.
"Tell me," the Sandaime says, hands held at the chin in the 'Gendo pose' (and damn that Edelfelt for introducing you to anime!), "what do you think is a shinobi, Uchiha Rin?"
[](To Sandaime) Write-in
-----
Your mother, Korin, has brought a kid around two years older than you home. She says, "this is Yukio, Yui-chan and Reo-san's son. He's my godson. I hope you don't mind him living with us from now on."
Oh. This came out of left field. You were distantly aware that Yui-san was your mother's best friend, but you didn't know her son was Mama's godson.
You look at this Yukio; he has black eyes and
[](Yukio) Is very feminine and has black hair
+You might have mistaken him for a girl if not told his gender
+His Chakra feels… cold, chilly
+Must have gotten his feminine looks from Yui-san, who was a refugee from the Land of Water
+Yuki clan…? What?
[](Yukio) Looks ordinary and has brown hair
+His Chakra feels a bit like that guy, Kurama Unkai's
+Yui-san was from a Konoha clan which has been in decline for a long time
+Obviously, it's the Kurama clan
He looks at you and sneers, saying, "hello there, Rin-sama,"
"Yukio, is it?" You say, "I hope you won't be a burden," mercilessly.
"Why, you!" He grits out.
It seems like he resents your position above him or something. It might be because of your age, or your gender, or both.
"Children, play nice!" Your mother says.
You decide to be subtle in needling this little shit.
-----
The funeral service for the fallen members of the Uchiha clan has taken a while to set up, and what looks like all of Konoha is attending.
You feel… resentful. Where were all those people when the Uchiha were ostracized by the leadership of Konoha, when they were forced out of most of the village and made to live in the Uchiha district only, when one discriminatory law after the other was passed?
Haru and Teyaki-san are side by side, crying silently. You hadn't realized before that they were related; apparently Haru is the man's daughter. She lost her brother to Arkidi's genjutsu, which forced him to commit suicide; but she also lost her mother, Uruchi, to Danzo's Root. You itch to go comfort her for a moment, but you stay alone; it hits you right now that a clan head has to mostly stand alone. Teyaki-san is not completely over his injuries to your trained eye; he might never be. The real ANBU saved him from the Root, but he was injured in the ensuing fight.
A selfish thought, but too bad Teyaki-san's bakery will remain closed for a while – you rather like his senbei. Though you can't begrudge him his grief.
Itachi is standing side by side with a girl slightly older than him – is she his girlfriend? You recall her name to be Izumi, and that according to Fugaku she unlocked the Sharingan at an age about as low as you (though not quite as early as Itachi, who unlocked it when he was four or five and reached three tomoe when eight years old), and that her mother married a civilian outside the clan without permission, and Izumi is thus not a true member of the clan.
Your mother is next to Yukio; you'd like to be there with your mother, but you have your duty as clan head.
The labeled urns with the ashes of the Uchiha members are put in the mass grave, and everyone who has lost family (pretty much all of the Uchiha) shovels some dirt, the rest being left for the graveyard's workers.
You hadn't known that the Uchiha clan has the tradition of burning their dead immediately until the massacre happened, but it makes sense in hindsight. Both because the Uchiha are generally Fire-natured and because the Sharingan might be stolen otherwise.
The Sandaime Hokage is attending next to his sons, Shigaru (who lacks his trademark cigar and sunglasses) and Asuma. Neither seems to appreciate his father's presence much, and you can empathize with that, at least.
You activate your Sharingan secretly, and scan the crowd, also activating your sensory and something else; you only activate them for a second, but it's enough. You signal to those who noticed that you thought someone who didn't belong was there, but it was nothing after all.
You are called upon to give a speech, and-
[](Funeral) You release the information about the discrimination and coup carefully in your speech
[](Funeral) You keep the information to yourself
Omni-Science bonus: The subconscious knowledge that Shigaru will almost certainly support the Uchiha and Asuma will likely follow his older brother's lead enters your mind.
(The speech will refer to the consequences of a lack of trust and loyalty. If you wish to add something, a Write-In is allowed under
[](Funeral) You release the information about the discrimination and coup carefully in your speech
-[](Funeral) Write in
)
-----
In the Academy. when you snap out of your daydreams, Iruka has already arrived and is taking roll-call. He pauses at your name, but gives no other indication he is surprised.
The material the lessons are covering today is made up of things you know (they are way too easy, if you are honest), so you give the answer a couple of times (the correct one!) when Iruka quizzes the class.
Eventually, the time to spar comes up, and you are put up against Hyuuga Hinata. The girl seems reluctant to fight, so you try to encourage her. There is no need to risk making enemies with her, and she might be a good challenge if she shapes up.
You say, "your name is Hinata, right?" You tell her, though you already know the answer.
She starts a bit, then says, "y- yes, Rin-san!"
"Let's do our best, all right? You would be insulting me if you held back," you tell Hinata.
Hinata says, "I'm not very strong, though-"
"Nonsense," you tell her, having noticed whom she steals glances at, "you simply have to believe in yourself. Isn't that right, Naruto?" You tell your Uzumaki cousin, smirking devilishly.
Naruto blinks, confused, but he does eventually say, "yeah. Do your best, Hinata!"
Fortunately, he goes along with your idea. Your encouragement didn't do much, which is why you enlisted Naruto. Hopefully, he won't tell her that he considers her a weirdo.
Hinata stiffens like a board and blushes a little bit. Then, she straightens up and tells you, "Rin-san, prepare yourself."
The two of you make the seal of confrontation, and Iruka signals the start of the spar.
Hinata is using Juuken, or maybe something derived from it – you aren't sure. You haven't seen a Hyuuga fight before.
She- charges at you, coming at an angle.
You are startled, but quickly recover your composure.
You manage to hit Hinata in the temple with a palm strike, holding back on power a bit. You made sure not to let her strikes get you – there's no need to form bad habits.
Still, Hinata gets into a stance again after shaking herself off. You say, "why don't we raise the stakes?"
Hinata pauses, then says, "what do you have in mind, Rin-san?" Looking intrigued. Less meek too.
"Iruka-sensei, Hinata, what do you think about changing the rules of the spar a bit? Allowing the use of doujutsu and Chakra-charged strikes?"
Hinata looks at you as if you were suicidal. You know the look; you have directed it towards Shirou enough times.
Iruka-sensei looks thoughtful. He says, "I have no problem with that if Hinata doesn't. But if I say 'stop', you both had better stop attacking."
Hinata stays silent for a bit, her head lowered. Then, she lifts her head and you can see a (proverbial) fire in her eyes; is it the thirst to prove herself? You don't think she is fired up for the actual spar; she has little to no fighting spirit.
Hinata then says, "what if Rin-san gets hurt?"
You can see that for the token protest it is. So, you say, "if I get hurt, I get hurt. Training spars are for the purpose of getting stronger so that one doesn't get killed in actual combat. A few bruises -even if they are bruises to the internal organs- are worth it."
Hinata is silent, so you continue. You say, "Hinata, remember what I said earlier? You insult someone if you hold back against them, and you might lead to them getting an over-inflated opinion of their own skills."
The Hyuuga girl finally gives you a slow nod and gets in a slightly different stance. She makes a few hand-seals, activating her Byakugan. This is your first time seeing an active Byakugan, so you study it for a bit, before getting into something resembling a stance.
[]Use your Sharingan immediately
Justified Arrogance - Mild has activated
Nope, you want to see how far you can get without your own doujutsu. You will only activate your Sharingan if it proves necessary.
Hinata waits for you to attack as you are waiting for her to do the same.
You make the first move, and your opponent pokes at your shoulder… only for you to catch her by the wrist and kick her ankle.
Then, Hinata uses her superior flexibility to get the rest of her body close to yours, and pokes the forearm on the same side. Your arm feels numb, and you are forced to let go of her wrist and retreat, activating your Sharingan in the process.
Even with only one arm being usable, you manage to push Hinata out of the circle soon enough.
Unfortunately, Hinata doesn't seem pleased with you.
She catches her breath, then says, "Rin-san, did you not say that to hold back is an insult to your sparring partner? Then, why did you keep your Sharingan deactivated until later?"
You swallow your retort, realizing that she is right; you are a hypocrite.
What do you tell her? You can tell that she will see through any lies.
[](Hinata) Write-in
-----
"So, Naruto was your first choice, and I'm HIS choice, Jiraiya-sama?" You tell Jiraiya, brow furrowed.
"Ah, don't sweat the small details, little lady," Jiraiya says, waving your words off, "so, do you accept?"
"My name is Rin," you tell him grumpily.
You consider the fact that you will have to leave your clan alone at an important junction, but the opportunity to influence the process of finding a new Hokage is too tempting, not to mention getting to go on a mission.
Besides, it's not as if the Uchiha will be completely leaderless; you will appoint some people to – well, to do your job for you.
You say, "I'll go on the damn mission, Jiraiya-sama," a bit annoyed at him for presenting you with such a dilemma.
It's not really his fault and it's not fair to him, but you don't really care anyway.
Jiraiya-sama looks at you in amusement, as if he knows what you are thinking. He says, "ah, you're such a breath of fresh air! Most kunoichi are either overly respectful, or treat me like a useless pervert; often both, changing the way of addressing me from sentence to sentence. You're a spitfire, apparently – literally and figuratively. Hahaha!"
"Wait," you say, "why do women treat you like a useless pervert?" Looking at him in suspicion.
He stammers a bit, but your mother answers that one. She says, "he sometimes peeps into the women's side in bathhouses. Don't worry; he never tried that with me," smiling in a way that you recognize from the mirror when you are ready to inflict violence on someone.
You don't know what to say to that, except that it's pathetic. You say, "as long as you don't touch anyone who doesn't consent and keep away from me and mine in the bath, I won't treat you like the scum of the E- Elemental Nations. Still, peeping in the baths sounds kind of… pathetic."
"It's for research. Research! I write the Icha Icha series!" Jiraiya says and produces an orange book and a red book from his pocket that say 'Icha Icha Paradise 3' and 'Icha Icha Violence 1', respectively.
Wait… your mother has books that are identical to those in her bedroom's bookshelf. Seriously? Korin reads this idiot's books?
You look at your mother in suspicion, but she simply says to Jiraiya, "put those away! There is an impressionable child here!" Blushing a bit.
You really, really hope she won't ask for his autograph.
Jiraiya puts the books away, smirking. The bastard saw through your mother, didn't he? Without dropping the smirk, he says, "so, little lady – let's spar. I want to see what you've got; I heard good things about you."
You decide to accept, but sure enough, Jiraiya crushes you. In the fight, you use only a handful of skills, which Jiraiya has apparently noticed.
After he gives you a bit of water to drink, he says, "why didn't you use all the elements in our spar, or more than four jutsu or so? You are perfectly capable of doing so, right? So, why?"
"I haven't learned the rest of them well enough to use them quickly; they take too many hand seals for such a fast and quick opponent," you tell him, realization dawning upon you.
"Do you understand what I'm getting at?" Jiraiya says, still perfectly unruffled, both literally and figuratively.
"I've spread myself too thin," you say, gritting your teeth because you made such a rookie mistake.
"Indeed," Jiraiya says, "you should concentrate on getting one or two skills to a high enough level that they need only one hand-seal, then branch out. I'm not saying you should abandon any of your skills, but if there is combat against adult shinobi in the upcoming mission, you will have a hard time. You did well against Danzo, but that might have been because your Sharingan is better at copying and assimilating jutsu than is the norm for your clan; copying might be your particular Sharingan's best point."
"Point made," you say, then you ask him something else. You say, "am I going to be able to train on the mission?"
Jiraiya nods and says, "yes, we will probably have time on the road for me to teach Naruto and you to train whichever skill you pick."
(You have three slots to pick for training on your journey to Tsunade, but you may only pick two completely different things. In other words, you will pick something similar twice or even thrice. (Note that the Great Fireball is already at its limit for your Ninjutsu stat.))
[](Training) Write-in
-----
"Hey, Ino," you tell one of your closest friends – your closest one outside of your family.
"Hey, Rin," Ino says, watering a plant in the meanwhile, greeting you with a smile on her face.
"Ino," you tell her, "I'm going on a mission tomorrow."
Ino leaves the pail she had been using to water plants on the ground, and looks at you in suspicion. She says, "how come you get a mission before even graduating, and I'm stuck watering plants and 'learning' how to do multiplication? Do you know for how many years I've known how to multiply? Huh? Do you?!
You look at Ino in as condescending a way as you can manage and roll your eyes.
She simply smiles and hugs you, then tells you to be safe.
Well, it's supposed to be a relatively safe mission, and- what are you thinking! Knowing your luck, the mission will escalate, and you will have to fight against a mind controlled Jiraiya AND Tsunade, then Orochimaru will show up, and then-!
Calm down, Rin. Deep breaths, deep breaths. There is no need to panic; you are a smart and competent young woman, girl, whatever.
Ino is looking at you as if she considers you insane, but you wave her off.
Your sanity has been improved by Ino's mere presence!
Your reputation with Ino has gone up! D- D (Ink Well's Omake) -> C-
-----
Now, you have one and a half hour (ninety minutes) until you have to go to sleep to make sure you are well-rested.
Your mother has given you a few seals and a lot of weapons, and with those, you have:
-An extensive first-aid kit or two (some of that having been your grandmother's)
-Hundreds of shuriken and nearly as many kunai (all are mission-ready)
-10 weak explosive tags (more like flash-bangs, at most, and firecrackers at worst) (takes 2 minutes for you to make one)
-10 moderate yield explosive tags (takes you 4 minutes)
-0 high yield explosive tags (takes you 7 minutes)
-6 moderate yield raiton shock tags (takes you 6 minutes)
-1 weak barrier-in-a-scroll (takes you less than a minute, but it's useless except as practice for novices
-1 moderate barrier-in-a-scroll (takes you 5 minutes)
-2 strong barriers-in-a-scroll (which is exactly what it sounds like; you haven't learned this one yet, though)
1 privacy/silence barrier-in-a-scroll (Takes 6 minutes. No combat applications, you don't need any right now.)
You intend to make more seals, yourself. How many of each will you make? Note that you are good enough that there is no risk of getting hurt, but you can still use a Shadow Clone to make about twice as many, the penalty being to your Chakra reserve, of course.
(Also note that making seals has a Chakra cost, itself, but probably not enough to lay you out with Chakra exhaustion, even with a clone. The issue is that you want to be well-rested tomorrow morning.)
Use a Shadow Clone?
[](Clone) Yes
[](Clone) No
What should you concentrate on the most? Only from the above mentioned options, up to two options. (You don't have enough time to imbue a weapon with anything.)
[](Seals) Write-in
-----
"Mama," you tell your mother, "I'm going to need people to govern the clan for me."
Your mother thinks it over a bit. She then says, "do you need my help to find proxies? Or do you want me to be one?" Frowning a bit.
"The latter," you tell her, "I've already picked two people, three including you."
"Who are the others?" Your mother asks, giving you her full attention.
"Itachi-san and Teyaki-san," you say calmly.
"Teyaki-san? He is a civilian, a baker to be exact, and not in the best of physical states. You are going to have three cripples do the duty? That will make the Uchiha clan look weak," Your mother says flatly.
"Please don't call yourself that, Mama," you tell her, unused to seeing her act so jaded.
She shrugs her shoulders, saying that she IS a cripple, there's no two ways about it. "Now go on – what made you choose Teyaki-san?"
You tell her that Teyaki-san is an excellent diplomat, and not just because he knows how to market his wares. You tell her of the book he wrote and how it helped you.
"You've gotta show me that book someday," Mama says, sighing, "unfortunately, I'm going to have my hands full raising Yukio, so I can't accept."
You can see that your mother is not going to accept, no matter how much you try, so you will have to pick someone else. Perhaps you will ask Haru…?
-----
"Itachi-san," you tell the older boy, "I need to ask you something."
Itachi nods and waits for you to speak.
You tell him that you need proxies to govern the clan for you.
"Very well. I assume that you would like me to be one?" Itachi says, completely unruffled.
"That is correct," you tell him, "will you do it?"
He tells you that he's not very popular with the rest of the clan right now.
"There isn't exactly a plethora of options, Itachi-san," you tell him, your jaw set.
Itachi shakes his head, saying, "you have already made up your mind, haven't you, Rin?"
You answer in the affirmative.
"Very well then. I will do it," he says, his expression not changing.
You smile at him despite yourself, saying, "thank you, Itachi-san."
-----
You seek out Teyaki, and find him outside his bakery staring into space.
You say, "hello, Teyaki-san."
"Oh, Rin-sama," he says, a sad half-smile on his face, "to what do I owe the honor?" Without any sarcasm at all.
"I will get to the point, Teyaki-san. I need people to govern the clan as my proxies, and your name was among the first I thought of," you tell him.
His body language immediately changes, to something much more formal, though his injured leg shows. He says, "so, it has come to this," smiling bitterly.
"If you didn't want such a position," you tell him, "you shouldn't have written that book," smirking at him.
"Book?" He asks. "Oh, you mean 'How not to be an asshole'? I thought nobody was going to read that!" He then says, realization dawning upon his face.
"Scripta manent," you say under your breath; it was part of a Latin proverb in your previous world. Then, you say out loud, "so, what is your answer, Teyaki-san?"
He gives you a very convincing tirade, about how he's a civilian, a simple baker at that, and a few other reasons.
You say, "that was a very convincing speech, Teyaki-san – which only makes me more certain that you are a good choice," smirking again, "besides, there will be two more proxies, and those will be shinobi."
Teyaki-san doesn't sigh, nor does he hang his head, but it's obvious from his body language that he's resigned to his fate. He says, "if you think it best, Rin-sama."
"Now," you say, "I have already found two proxies, and need help to find a third. What do you think of your daughter, Haru? Does she have what it takes? My mother was an option, but she refused – so, I only have you and Itachi-san."
"Haru?" Teyaki says, thoughtful, "well, she doesn't have the diplomatic skills that you possess – then again, neither does Itachi-sama. What she does have is Charisma."
You stand straighter after hearing that. You say, "Charisma?" Voice trembling a bit, remembering the Personal Skill that Saber possessed, and Saber herself.
"Yes indeed. I would say that Haru could be a Jounin Commander, if not for her rank; and according to an impartial source, she is as strong as a rookie Jounin too – though I wouldn't know how to judge a shinobi's strength and skill," Teyaki says, pride in his voice.
Added Uchiha Haru's information to the Character Sheet. Added the Charisma skill at C rank to Haru's stats
You can tell that Teyaki-san fully believes what he is saying through your Mind's Eye of the Kagura. You
[](Proxy) Will pick Haru
[](Proxy) Will leave the proxies at two
[](Proxy) Will pick someone else (Write-in)
Vote using plans, please!
-----
*Old Akeno is an OC – probably not going to be important to the plot.
As for my health, I've got some exams scheduled.
[W] Plan Insightful Rin
-[W](To Sandaime) A Shinobi is one that protects their home and family, no matter what they need to do.
-[W](Funeral) You release the information about the discrimination and coup carefully in your speech
-[W](Hinata) Apologize for the unintended insult. You wanted to gauge the difference between your ability with the Sharingan assisting and without.
-[W](Training) Shape Manipulation
-[W](Training) Shape Manipulation x2
-[W](Training) Mind's Eye of the Kagura
-[W](Clone) No
-[W](Seals) C-Rank Earth Sealing Method
-[W](Seals) C-Rank Wind Sealing Method
-[W](Yukio) Is very feminine and has black hair
-[W](Proxy) Will pick Haru
This is the most voted full-fledged plan. It was on SV.
Interlude: Danzo and setting out
-----
You are free at last. Your Root soldiers have taken you from the holding cells you were in, awaiting your execution. But then, why does this victory feel like ash in your mouth?
You have always had Konoha's best interests in mind, haven't you? You sacrificed–
NO. You are not going to lie to yourself anymore.
You believed that Konoha could and would prosper under you once. When did that turn into 'Konoha can only prosper under me'? You never truly understood self-sacrifice, so you could only sacrifice others for the good of Konoha.
Escaping Izanami has a requirement that is not very well understood. It is not only about stopping altering reality; it is about accepting reality as it is. And that means facing one's self-imposed delusions as well.
You have been so foolish; all those years, wasted! 'I am the state'; that is the kind of nonsense, of SHIT you were shoveling, without even being the head of said state. You wanted to rule, to become Hokage, to have power; at its core, your motivation was selfish! You weren't a necessary evil, but a cancerous growth in Konoha's gut!
This ends now. You tell your remaining Root this: "My soldiers; my tools. The time of my reign in Konoha's underbelly is over. Root is hereby disbanded. Everyone loyal to me is to report to the Sandaime Hokage and tell him: 'the dancing leaves reach the Heavens, yet the air itself is rotten; perhaps it is time for a second sunrise – the branches may hang heavy, but the bird is swift.' Then, you are to swear loyalty to him -if he's still Hokage- or whoever the current Hokage is and obey their commands as if they were mine."
As a final act, you remove the seal from the operatives' tongues and give names to those who lack even a codename. You tell them to cooperate with the Hokage, even if they are told to give information on you.
Two particularly resilient and sane trainees, to whom you have now given the names 'Shin' and 'Sai' are handed over most of the books and jutsu scrolls you have accumulated during your relatively long life to do with as they will; the rest, you destroy.
'You were right all along. I was a fool. I'm joining Akatsuki to spy on them on behalf of Konoha to at least make myself useful,' is the meaning of the message you've left Sarutobi -no, Hiruzen- in code by way of your Root operatives. They know to be discreet.
The young Uchiha kunoichi who stalled you, then trapped you last time is has been on a mission for the past few days, and Kakashi and Jiraiya have gone with her. That is good; you'd prefer little to no conflict with loyal shinobi, if at all possible. You briefly wonder why the Jinchuuriki went with them, but you quash that curiosity; that boy is not your weapon to claim. Unfortunately, old habits die hard.
Your alignment has been discovered: Lawful Evil
Heel-Face Turn! Your alignment has been altered: Lawful Evil -> Lawful Neutral
Reputation with Senju Hashirama('s arm) has gone up by Are You Even Human! Negative C- -> Positive D
The Chakra expenditure of your implanted arm is now near-negligible (the Sharingan have already been removed); there is no need to seal it anymore
You have gained access to Mokuton that will eventually be nearly on par with Kinoe/Tenzo! (AKA Yamato)
Your vitality is now much higher!
You now possess a moderate healing factor in all your body!
Your range of motion and response time with that arm is better now!
-----
-----
The Third takes out a few official looking documents, which pardon crimes committed by Fugaku, Tekka and 'anyone who was an accomplice'. You ask him if there needs to be a witness, or maybe they need to be filed in triplicate.
He marks them with a particular stamp, and says, "I have already filed them in triplicate and they have Jiraiya's signature. See?"
You smirk lightly; the Sandaime has thought of everything, but you frown immediately afterwards; if only he had trusted in one of the founding clans of this village.
"Tell me," the Sandaime says, hands held at the chin in the 'Gendo pose' (and damn that Edelfelt for introducing you to anime!), "what do you think is a shinobi, Uchiha Rin?"
You think your answer over a bit, then say, "a shinobi, in my opinion is one who protects their home and family, no matter what they need to do or what happens to the shinobi him- or her- self."
"I see," the Sandaime says, not changing his expression, "and what if the loyalty to their home and family become incompatible at some point?"
"Shinobi are not tools, or at least they are not only tools, Sandaime-sama," you say, "so I'd say they should use their own judgment. If one of the sides is irrevocably corrupt, then it might be time to abandon it or turn on it," unsmiling.
"I see," he says again, frowning a bit this time.
"Not quite the answer you were hoping for, Sandaime-sama?" You say neutrally.
"I will admit, I was hoping for something more similar to Shisui," the Third says.
You shrug, as if to say, 'well, tough, old fart,' and judging by the way his expression tightens, he's gotten the message. Then, you say out loud, "that's not to say I support the idiocy certain clansmen of mine perpetrated. If Konoha violated the terms of agreement between the two parties, it was time to seek out a new home."
"Is that what YOU would have done, had you been Clan Head then? And what, in your opinion, is the reason many of the Uchiha pursued another course of action?" The Sandaime says, looking intrigued.
"Most likely, I would have pushed for the option of defecting en masse to another village, yes; it would be less likely to cause a new Shinobi World War, though a war between Konoha and whoever we picked might have been inevitable," you say after considering the question, "as for why my clansmen didn't choose to leave, I would say it was because of both their pride, and because, in their own way, they were fully loyal to Konoha."
"So, you do not think it was to squash the Senju ideals?" The Third says, still looking intrigued.
"Which Senju ideals?" You say immediately.
"Pardon me?" The Third says, looking a bit confused.
"I mean that, if my studies of history are correct, Shodai-sama and Nidaime-sama had opinions –on the Uchiha clan and possibly in general– so conflicting, that such a phrase as 'Senju ideals' makes no sense in this context," you say, "and Danzo, I suspect, followed neither of the Senju brothers' will. So, no, if anyone in the Uchiha clan said such a thing, it was probably out of ignorance."
The Sandaime looks thoughtful for the next few minutes, and you leave him to his contemplation. At some point, he seems to realize that you're still around and dismisses you.
Your reputation with Sarutobi Hiruzen has gone up colossally!
D+ → B-
-----
Your mother, Korin, has brought a kid around two years older than you home. She says, "this is Yukio, Yui-chan and Reo-san's son. He's my godson. I hope you don't mind him living with us from now on."
Oh. This came out of left field. You were distantly aware that Yui-san was your mother's best friend, but you didn't know her son was Mama's godson.
You look at this Yukio; he has black eyes and is very feminine and has black hair; you might have mistaken him for a girl if not told his gender. He must have gotten his looks from Yui-san, who was a refugee from the Land of Water – something about a clan named the Yuki clan…?
His Chakra reserve is average at best for an Uchiha his age, you think, but it's definitely more refined than is usual. Perhaps the Yuki clan were known for mediocre Chakra reserves but great Control.
-----
The funeral service for the fallen members of the Uchiha clan has taken a while to set up, and what looks like all of Konoha is attending.
You feel… resentful. Where were all those people when the Uchiha were ostracized by the leadership of Konoha, when they were forced out of most of the village and made to live in the Uchiha district only, when one discriminatory law after the other was passed?
The Sandaime Hokage is attending next to his sons, Shigaru (who lacks his trademark cigar and sunglasses) and Asuma. Neither seems to appreciate his father's presence much, and you can empathize with that, at least.
You are called upon to give a speech, and-
…You release the information about the discrimination and coup carefully in your speech. As a supposed parable, though everyone will be able to understand it's a true story; you need to keep up appearances.
You tell the people of Konoha a story about a family scorned because the higher-ups did not trust them, though it was proven later that they truly were innocent in what they were accused of; that certain elements in that family wanted to rebel; that certain other elements of that family disagreed vehemently, and it nearly led to a violent conflict within the family; that a vulture or two took advantage to satisfy their own craving for power.
You finish this 'parable' with how a lack of trust and loyalty, on all sides, was what led to terrible consequences.
For a moment, everyone is silent. Then, Shigaru starts clapping. Asuma follows suit, then even Kakashi claps, though not as enthusiastically.
Over half the ninja population claps at one point or another. You don't fail to notice that the clans, other than the Kurama clan, are in support of the Uchiha; Hyuuga Hiashi was one of the first people to start clapping, even though your clans were kind-of rivals. You truly hope this won't cause the rest of the clans to rebel against the village.
Then, the Third Hokage gives his own speech. At the end of it, he says, "on an unrelated note, and I apologize for picking this venue for this piece of information, I am going to retire soon. There will be a Fifth Hokage by the start of April at the latest."
-----
You want to see how far you can get without your own doujutsu. You will only activate your Sharingan if it proves necessary.
Then, Hinata uses her superior flexibility to get the rest of her body close to yours, and pokes the forearm on the same side. Your arm feels numb, and you are forced to let go of her wrist and retreat, activating your Sharingan in the process.
Even with only one arm being usable, you manage to push Hinata out of the circle soon enough.
Unfortunately, Hinata doesn't seem pleased with you.
She catches her breath, then says, "Rin-san, did you not say that to hold back is an insult to your sparring partner? Then, why did you keep your Sharingan deactivated until later?"
You swallow your retort, realizing that she is right; you are a hypocrite.
What do you tell her? You can tell that she will see through any lies. You think it over, then say, "I apologize for the unintended insult, Hinata – I wanted to gauge my strength when I have my Sharingan activated versus when I do not."
She scrutinizes you for a few seconds, then says, "you are telling the truth, or so you believe… but there is more, isn't there, Rin-san?"
Huh? "What do you mean, Hinata?" You tell her, a bit confused.
"I mean that you are overconfident, and getting arrogant, used to learning things easily, to being better than your peers; faster, more durable, more skilled, more intelligent – just… more. What you showed today… is overconfidence, even arrogance, and I know the concept inside and out. Granted, it is much more justified than the usual, but it still is arrogance.
>>You fooled yourself into believing that you were only testing yourself, Rin-san, but the truth lies elsewhere," Hinata says, her shyness all but gone for the time being.
Everyone present falls silent and, for a moment, you seethe. But after putting a bit of thought to Hinata's words, you realize that she might have a point. Not that you'd ever admit it outright.
You say, "well, this got heavy fast. Apparently, everyone has underestimated you, Hinata. Where did the super-shy girl go? How come nobody knew that you're smarter than Sakura?" In a light tone.
Hinata lets out a breath she probably didn't even realize she was holding, then, after some kind of realization, she says, "eep!" And blushes to the roots of her hair.
It's easy to forget that she's a Hyuuga, with how much of a wallflower she usually is.
Your rep. With Hyuuga Hinata goes up! E rank → E+
-----
Now, you have one and a half hour (ninety minutes) until you have to go to sleep to make sure you are well-rested.
You decide to concentrate on C-ranked Earth and Wind Sealing Methods, you aren't sure why, but you expect to need them – intuition tells you that. So, you make three of each, which takes you a bit over an hour. You have twenty-four minutes or so left, and you make two high yield explosive tags and two moderate barriers-in-a-scroll with the remaining time.
Your mother has given you a few seals and a lot of weapons, and with what you made, you have:
-An extensive first-aid kit or two (some of that having been your grandmother's)
-Hundreds of shuriken and nearly as many kunai (all are mission-ready)
-The first aid kit includes 2 mild soldier pills
-10 weak explosive tags (more like flash-bangs, at most, and firecrackers at worst) (takes 2 minutes for you to make one)
-10 moderate yield explosive tags (takes you 4 minutes)
-2 high yield explosive tags (takes you 7 minutes)
-6 moderate yield raiton shock tags (takes you 6 minutes)
-1 weak barrier-in-a-scroll (takes you less than a minute, but it's useless except as practice for novices)
-3 moderate barriers-in-a-scroll (takes you 5 minutes)
-2 strong barriers-in-a-scroll (which is exactly what it sounds like; you haven't learned this one yet, though)
-3 C ranked Earth Sealing Methods
-3 C ranked Wind Sealing Methods
-1 privacy/silence barrier-in-a-scroll (Takes 6 minutes. No combat applications, you don't need any right now.)
(Note that the way the Wind Sealing Method works is by covering the defender (it's used with large scrolls) and absorbing the jutsu as is, including the air AND inertia, allowing the Fuuinjutsu user to use it against an opponent in the future.
The Earth Sealing Method is mainly useful against defensive ninjutsu such as the Earth Style Wall; you lay it upon / throw it at the wall (or Iwa Bunshin, or Tsuchi Kage Bunshin) and the dirt or mud or rock within is absorbed. The Fuuinjutsu user is then able to use the earth sealed to blind their foes or use as fuel for their Doton in buildings.)
-----
"Now," you tell Teyaki-san, "I have already found two proxies, and need help to find a third. What do you think of your daughter, Haru? Does she have what it takes? My mother was an option, but she refused – so, I only have you and Itachi-san."
"Haru?" Teyaki says, thoughtful, "well, she doesn't have the diplomatic skills that you possess – then again, neither does Itachi-sama. What she does have is Charisma."
You stand straighter after hearing that. You say, "Charisma?" Voice trembling a bit, remembering the Personal Skill that Saber possessed, and Saber herself.
"Yes indeed. I would say that Haru could be a Jounin Commander, if not for her rank; and according to an impartial source, she is as strong as a rookie Jounin too – though I wouldn't know how to judge a shinobi's strength and skill," Teyaki says, pride in his voice.
You can tell that Teyaki-san fully believes what he is saying through your Mind's Eye of the Kagura. You decide to pick Haru; you will see whether she can handle the position.
-----
"So, Haru," you tell the older (?) female, "what do you think about being one of my proxies for governing the clan?"
Haru stands up straighter. She says, "...wait, you picked both Dad and me? Won't that seem… strange to outsiders?"
You shake your head, saying, "I'm not exactly drowning in options right now – my mother refused the position, both because she's busy with other matters and because she thinks I shouldn't have three cripples governing the clan; it's a sign of weakness. Her words, not mine."
Haru grimaces, but she doesn't try to refute Mama's words.
"So, will you do it?" You tell Haru.
She stands up straighter again, and says, "of course Rin-sama! I will do my best!"
"Thank you, Haru," you say, smiling at her.
Her own smile is dazzling, and now that you are looking for signs of Charisma, you can tell that her father was correct in his assessment.
-----
You are at Konoha's entrance, along with Naruto and Jiraiya, waiting for your fourth member in this mission.
At exactly fifty seconds after the appointed time, you see Kakashi walk towards you three. Is this a habit of his? You wonder… though going by his reputation, he's usually much worse.
Jiraiya unfolds a map of the Land of Fire, ignoring Kakashi's near tardiness. He points
[](Location) West, close to the Land of Grass
[](Location) North, close to the Land of Rice
Saying, "this is where Tsunade was last seen, or around here anyway. Close to the border of the Land of Fire, but still inside our country."
He also gives everyone some last-minute instructions, mainly pertaining to Tsunade's temper, and how her age is a forbidden subject. Naruto seems to zone out, making you tell (order) him to pay attention.
From then on, Naruto doesn't miss a word Jiraiya says.
The four of you set out. At some point, you stop to rest (after hours of tree-hopping. All of you are stamina monsters).
You four make camp. Kakashi asks to speak to you, and you oblige him.
He says, "so, kid, why is it that you asked for me by name? You had a lot of options, right?" His single eye sharp.
You say,
[](Kakashi) "I wanted to personally thank you for your help with Danzo"
[](Kakashi) "I've heard you are one of the strongest shinobi in the village"
[](Kakashi) "I wanted to show that there is little ill will towards you from the clan"
[](Kakashi) Write-in
"I see," Kakashi says, "you ARE aware that I just came out of the hospital, right?"
What? You say, "does that mean you are not fully recovered?"
"Maa, maa – I didn't say that. But not everyone has an Uzumaki's constitution. I've never before used such dense Earth Style Walls – Danzo's Wind Release was something else, especially with that summon of his helping – soon after you collapsed from Chakra exhaustion, the exact same happened to me," Kakashi says.
"I see," you say, "it seems like I owe you even more than I thought. Thank you, Kakashi-san."
He rubs the back of his head in a similar way to Naruto, saying, "you are making me blush, kid."
In the meantime, you've kept an eye on Naruto and Jiraiya. The man had Naruto… trying to walk up a tree…!
You decide to copy them (without the Sharingan).
Stat check, Chakra Control! You need A- to succeed fully on the first try, B- to need a few tries, D+ to take a few days etc.*
You have B- rank Chakra Control
You put Chakra into your feet, immediately grasping the general principles of this exercise, remembering how you stuck a leaf and a spoon to yourself in the past. It's more difficult in the feet, you feel; possibly because they have fewer tenketsu. You go up a tree – one, two, three, four, five, oops!
You slip off the tree, losing traction. You make a Bird seal and breathe out air in a weak Wind Ninjutsu, pushing you towards another tree, which you use as a springboard, as well as another tree as the same, all to land softly.
Why did this happen? You think for a few moments and conclude that you used too little Chakra.
This time, you make sure that you keep your Chakra flow constant… and blast off the tree on the first step. Too much Chakra?
On your third try, you reach the top. Then, you walk up and down the tree a few more times to make sure you've got the hang of it.
You hear clapping from Jiraiya, and he says, "well, little lady, I'm officially impressed. Few people have so high Chakra reserves AND Chakra Control at such an early age."
"Jiraiya-sama," you say, blinking, "shouldn't you be supervising Naruto?"
He waves his hands, saying, "it's all right, it's all right. I have a Shadow Clone near him."
You can't even detect another Jiraiya! Of course, he IS a Kage level ninja, but you judged him by his seeming level of Chakra Control, which is not much better than the average Jounin. He apparently knows a lot of tricks to compensate, though.
"So," Jiraiya says, "what are you going to train in, now that we've stopped to rest?"
One would think that training when you are supposed to rest is counter-productive, but tree-hopping is unexpectedly physically taxing for you and Naruto – possibly because the two of you haven't learned this Chakra Control training. Considering both of your recovery speeds, it's probably for the best that you train in this right now. Besides, Kakashi needs his rest, considering he is fresh out of the hospital.
You think it over a bit, then say, "I think I will train my weakest point."
"And that is…?" Jiraiya asks, leaning forward in curiosity.
"It's Shape Transformation," you say, taking on one of your lecture poses, "I've noticed that, while I can make shapes with my Chakra, I cannot hold them in place for long. Observe."
Then, you take out a blank paper from your Storage Seals, use Katon Chakra to make a triangle… but it soon spreads. The next try, with a new paper, sees your fire fizzle out after a few moments of keeping it in a vaguely circular shape.
"Interesting," Jiraiya says, smiling, "you aren't that bad at this – you've gotten used to learning things with ease, I think, so you might get disappointed easily."
"I know the value of hard work," you say, a bit annoyed.
"I never said you don't," Jiraiya says, lifting his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying. It's good advice, don't you think? 'Don't get disappointed if you don't learn everything quickly'."
You nod, begrudgingly. This man has a way of getting under your skin that few others possess.
The day after the next, the four of you set out, regardless of Naruto's protests; he can finish the exercise next time. Jiraiya gives him something to do while walking when the team is out of the forests; he hands him over a perfectly spherical balloon for him to break using only his Chakra.
Naruto makes a fuss so that you also be given a balloon and the same instructions, saying, "I'm not doing it if Rin isn't too! It's not fair!"
Jiraiya's reply is that Naruto is his apprentice, and that this is the prelude to a secret jutsu.
Naruto says that he's not asking him to teach you the entire jutsu, only this exercise. "After all," he says, "this can really help her with her weak point, right?"
You didn't realize that Naruto was listening a couple days ago! You tell Naruto that that is not necessary, but the boy won't take 'no' for an answer.
"Bah!" Jiraiya says in surrender, "you win, brat! I'll teach her too! Just don't expect me to do this again!"
You try to apologize to Jiraiya, but he waves you off, saying that it's not your fault Naruto is stubborn. It's a good thing that he stopped you, because you really don't like apologizing.
So, that's how you've ended up walking with a water balloon in your hand, using your Chakra to try and break it. Ten days on the road pass, and you reach your destination: the town in which Tsunade was supposedly last seen. Naruto has started breaking the balloon, but according to Jiraiya, he is not doing it quite right.
On the other hand, you haven't managed much. You try not to let that get to you, but it's difficult. You nearly exhaust your Chakra more than once – this exercise is rather Chakra-intensive.
1 slot of Shape Manipulation! F- → F+
Chakra Control has gone up! B- (3/6) → B (0/8)
Intelligence has gone up! A++ (7/14) → A++ (10/14)
Chakra has gone up! C+ (2/4) → B- (0/5)
-----
*Yes, that does mean Sakura had Jounin level Chakra Control during the Wave mission in canon
I wasn't sure just how well or badly I wanted the funeral speech to go, so I rolled d20 with a +2 modifier, which gave me a 15 → 17, then again, and I got a 17 → 19. Lucky busters
By the way, the rest of the training will be in the next chapter.
[W](Kakashi) "I wanted to show that there is little ill will towards you from the clan"
[W](Kakashi) "I wanted to personally thank you for your help with Danzo"
-----
You are at Konoha's entrance, along with Naruto and Jiraiya, waiting for your fourth member in this mission.
At exactly fifty seconds after the appointed time, you see Kakashi walk towards you three. Is this a habit of his? You wonder… though going by his reputation, he's usually much worse.
Jiraiya unfolds a map of the Land of Fire, ignoring Kakashi's near tardiness. He points West, close to the Land of Grass, saying, "this is where Tsunade was last seen, or around here anyway. Close to the border of the Land of Fire, but still inside our country."
He also gives everyone some last-minute instructions, mainly pertaining to Tsunade's temper, and how her age is a forbidden subject. Naruto seems to zone out, making you tell (order) him to pay attention.
From then on, Naruto doesn't miss a word Jiraiya says.
The four of you set out. At some point, you stop to rest (after hours of tree-hopping. All of you are stamina monsters). You four make camp. Kakashi asks to speak to you, and you oblige him.
He says, "so, kid, why is it that you asked for me by name? You had a lot of options, right?" His single eye sharp.
You say, "the reason is two-fold: I wanted to personally thank you for the help with Danzo –both Sasuke and I would be dead now if you hadn't showed up– and wanted to make overtures towards the village's shinobi, especially you, because you've been in disfavor with the previous administration of the clan."
"I see," Kakashi says. Then, he says, "are you aware that your father was the one who taught me how to use the Sharingan better?"
You nod – you've been told that before.
"Then, you know just why I clapped at your speech," Kakashi says, unblinking and stern, "I am loyal to Konoha, and was loyal to the Sandaime too, but I can't let Suiho-san's death go; it was the Sandaime turning a blind eye to Danzo's doings that caused Suiho-san's death. I'm certain that Shigaru agrees; it's the first time he has truly been at odds with his father. You do know there's a risk of the rest of the clans rebelling now, though, right?"
You say you do know, but couldn't risk Koharu getting out her own version of the events. "Besides," you say, "I phrased it as carefully as I could, to not put the blame directly onto the Sandaime, and he is retiring anyway."
"True," Kakashi says, his face still carved from stone, "but I hope that you will take responsibility if something like that happens."
"I will do my best to calm the rest of the clans down," you say.
"That's what I wanted to hear," Kakashi says, his visible eye curving in a way that gave the impression of a smile. Then, he said, "you ARE aware that I just came out of the hospital, right?" Changing the subject.
What? You say, "does that mean you are not fully recovered?"
"Maa, maa; not quite. I'm simply informing you that I may or may not be at less than full form for today and tomorrow; not everyone has an Uzumaki's constitution. I've never before used such dense Earth Style Walls – Danzo's Wind Release was something else, especially with that summon of his helping – soon after you collapsed from Chakra exhaustion, the exact same happened to me," Kakashi says.
"I see," you say, "it seems like I owe you even more than I thought. Thank you, Kakashi-san."
He rubs the back of his head in a similar way to Naruto, saying, "you are making me blush, kid."
Reputation with Hatake Kakashi has gone up sharply! D → C-
-----
The four of you reach Shiruku Town a few days later. In the meanwhile, you train your Mind's Eye of the Kagura and manage to expand your range from less than six kilometers to nine or so! Not to mention the fact even mundane animals don't go unobserved by your sensor skill now!
The new environment and the presence of ??? nearby has allowed you to soar to new heights!
Mind's Eye of the Kagura: A (2/3) → A++ (0/5)
You can now detect small animals!
You can now tell someone's elemental affinity!
You can now recognize people other than those related to you by their clans!
At some point, you sense something strange; it's faint, but what feels like an Uzumaki is around; you can barely feel their Chakra, and you think it's coming from a village near the border. You ignore the strange second Chakra source that comes from Naruto, the breezy, cutting nature of his own and the common characteristics his Chakra shares with those with the potential for being sensor-types, filing the information for later.
Wait… the Chakra of this new Uzumaki is more volatile than it should be! Is that because of distress?
You tell Jiraiya immediately, and-
[W]Ask to go there and find the Uzumaki
[]Nothing – you have a mission
You won't abandon family ever again! For any reason! A memory comes to your mind unbidden: of Sakura* dead, having committed suicide by putting explosives on her chest over her heart. You burned down the Mato mansion then without hesitation after you found out just what had gone on in that house.
You shudder and barely keep from shedding tears. You, of course, ask Jiraiya for permission to go find that Uzumaki right now.
"Are you sure you didn't imagine their presence, Rin?" Jiraiya asks seriously, and for the first time, you fully realize just how much he towers over you.
You bite down an angry retort and say, "of course I'm certain."
"Then take Kakashi with you," Jiraiya says, voice and face still serious, "I'll continue the mission with Naruto in the meanwhile; a full squad would make Tsunade more likely to hide anyway."
You swallow a sarcastic retort over why he took you with him then, and set out with Kakashi at a fast walk pace so as not to alert Tsunade if she's around.
When you reach the village, it has been burned and pillaged; the smell of burned corpses is heavy in the air. You continue towards where the Uzumaki is hidden. Wait… is that? Your Chakra sense tells you that she (and it is, indeed, a she; you can tell) is an active sensor, and yet her Chakra is suppressed to an extreme point. For an unknown reason, you can still sense her easily.
You increase your pace, with Kakashi matching you without speaking. You reach a small forest outside of the village; you can feel the Uzumaki's Chakra fluctuate, possibly in fear. Unfortunately, actual empathy is beyond the scope of any sensor other than an Uzumaki by the name of Mito, according to your mother.
You knock on a certain tree, saying, "are you there, Uzumaki-san?"
By this point, you are certain that the girl is around your age; indeed, a girl only slightly older-looking than you comes out of the hollowed-out tree. She's shivering, likely in fright - then, she does a double-take. Her mouth opens wide, she looks you up and down... then, she closes her eyes, making a single-handed hand-seal.
From this close up, you can make out a 'wet' or 'watery' feeling from her Chakra; is that her element? Though you could vaguely feel the 'color' of a person's Chakra before, you can feel more now. You can feel something like 'numbness' from Kakashi, and have a sense of static electricity; then there's the 'edge' and 'breeze' you felt from Naruto earlier.
You say 'hello', not able to think of anything more complicated; after all, you can only see Sakura*, at the time she was being given away to Zouken, when you look at her face and expression.
The redheaded little girl adjusts her glasses and says, "y-you haven't come to take me back to Kusa (Grass), ha-have you?" Stuttering in fright.
You look Kakashi in the eye and he shrugs, as if telling you to take the lead.
You now look at the redhead's eyes through her spectacles, then say, "no, we aren't here for that. I am Rin, by the way."
You notice the color of her eyes, and it's the exact same shade as your mother's; that realization throws you off further.
"I'm Karin," the girl says, introducing herself.
The name... can't be a coincidence. You force a smile and say-
(Pick up to three (3) though more choices mean more in-game time passes)
[]You look a lot like my mother, Uzumaki Korin; are you my close relative?
[]Are you all right?
[]What exactly happened?
[]Would you like to come with us?
[]Write-in
...After you finish your talk with Karin, you see a fox kit nursing on its mother's teat; the little fox paws on the breast, and suddenly, you get an idea for how to progress in the Chakra manipulation exercise Jiraiya-sama taught you.
1 slot of Shape Manipulation! F+ → E- (0/2)
Chakra Control has gone up! B (0/8) → B (4/8)
Intelligence has gone up! A++ (10/14) → A+++ (0/16)
-----
*Mato Sakura, AKA Tohsaka Sakura. Not Haruno.
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Story 19 (Snake Near the Grass & Interlude: Konoha)
[W]You look a lot like my mother, Uzumaki Korin; are you my close relative?
[W]Are you all right?
[W]Would you like to come with us?
-----
Meanwhile, in Konoha (Interlude Yukio, Haru); Encounter with a snake in (near the) Grass
-----
"So, Yukio, what was that with Rin a few days ago?" Korin-san says casually.
You stiffen, not sure how to answer. You've hoped she's forgotten about that, but no – the moment Rin and Naruto are away, she pounces.
Korin-san shrugs a few seconds later, and you let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding.
She says, "I know you're normally a good kid, Yukio. I won't hold it against you, but you know I'll be there if you want to talk, right?"
You take a moment to scoff – you, a 'good kid'? Everyone else says you're a troublemaker! Korin-san looks into your eyes, and you can't look at her for long, so you turn away.
She says, "yes, you are a good kid, Yukio. I don't care what trouble you've gotten into – I know you didn't start most of that!" Smiling at you.
It's your turn to shrug – people can believe what they like, it's not like it changes anything. You'd be lying if you said that you weren't affected by what she said, though – and you don't like lying to yourself.
-----
You jog to the closest weapons shop – the closest one away from the Uchiha district, that is; you don't want to stay there for now.
After you get in, the –rather tall, but not very pretty– woman there looks at you for a few seconds, then says, "you're an Uchiha, aren't you? Out! Backstabbers, the lot of you!"
You decide to spit at the door of the shop, then you leave immediately. You go to the next closest shop, 'Quality Supplies Fer Ninjas'. When you enter, the man there (a true bear of a man, and not exactly good looking, either) greets you politely.
You ask if he has any Chakra paper, and he says, "yer lucky, young man – I got a shipment of that just yest'rday. Say, ya wouldn't happen ta be an Uchiha, would ya?"
You hesitate, and he thumps you on the back, making you bend at the waist – ouch!
He says, "bad business, what happened – tell ya what, I'll give the paper –an' anything else ya wanna buy today– at half price," looking down at you.
Hell, he could look down at you while seated!
"Tha name's Rubius*, kid. What's yours?" He then says when you don't say anything.
You shake yourself off and say, "I'm Uchiha Yukio. It's nice to meet you, Rubius-san; I'll be in your care. You look strong – are you a shinobi?"
"Nah," the man says, waving you off. "I could nevah stomach violence, even if I'm built like a bear. 'Sides, I don't got a head fer the a-ca-de-mic side of ninja life neither – except basic math – arit'metic an' such," he says afterwards.
You can't say you can empathize with the latter, since academia always came easily to you, but you aren't exactly a violent person either. Of course, if those bullies come at you again, you'll make sure they regret it – okay, maybe you're a little bit violent.
You shake yourself off again and decide to get some sharpened, ninja-grade weapons for the first time, because you are going to take the graduation test next year. You get lots of shuriken and senbon, and a few kunai.
Rubius-san brings the Chakra paper, then rings you up; the prices are way lower than normal – you've carefully researched what the price of Chakra paper is supposed to be, and it should have wiped out most of your savings. He really is charging you half price.
You put your purchases into your bag and go back to Korin-san's- no, you've got to get used to calling it home.
You remember the comment Korin-san made which convinced you that you need Chakra paper; when you told her about your troubles with the Great Fireball, she said that sometimes, a ninja's primary element interferes with elemental jutsu that that ninja uses. That you need to learn how to use your primary element first in order to keep it back when using another element.
By now, it's obvious that your Affinity isn't Fire. It's time to see what exactly your Affinity is – you can feel yourself sweating in nervousness, but you grit your teeth and put Chakra into one of the papers (Chakra paper comes in packets of thirty (like yours) and a hundred, which is why it's so expensive).
The Chakra paper... is cut into two wet, perfectly identical pieces.
Wind and Water. It explains why it took you over two months for the Great Fireball; you haven't learned to separate your Water Release Chakra from your normal Chakra, so Fire jutsu are weakened. It might have been even worse, had you not had a Wind element too, which can strengthen Fire.
Chakra theory is one of your stronger points. Which is why you know that most people who have two affinities have an elemental Bloodline. Your mother only told you a bit about her clan- you shudder a bit when you remember the last time you saw her-
Shit. You must have zoned out, because Korin-san is back. She shouts 'I'm home' to which you reply 'welcome home' reflexively.
"Ooh!" Korin-san says, wheeling herself close to you, "you finally found your element? Well, what is it?"
"Wind and Water," you tell her, "those are your main elements too, right?"
She says, "yeah, I'm a Wind type and my second element is Water. So, wanna learn?"
You hesitate for a moment, then say yes.
"That's great, Yukio! Wanna start immediately?" She says, smiling.
"Really? Right now?" You say, a bit surprised.
"Why not?" She says.
"Okay," you say, "can we start with Water?"
"Not that I mind, but why Water?" She says.
"Because I want to keep it from weakening my Fire Release," you tell her.
By the way she grimaces, you can tell she doesn't like what you've said. She says, "are you still hung up about that?"
You say, "is it that bad, that I want to be doing well in the clan's specialties? It's bad enough that I'm half an Uchiha-"
"If you're letting those bullies get to you, it's like they have scored a victory against you," Korin-san says, frowning, "besides, my childre- my daughter is 'half an Uchiha' too. Please don't say that in front of me- wait, is that the problem you have with Rin?"
You tense. "What do you mean, Korin-san?" You say.
"You envy Rin because she has been recognized by the clan, while you were mocked by the children your age for being 'half an Uchiha', and bad at Katon," she says….
And hits the nail on the head! You let out a strange sound that resembles a growl, and Korin-san backs off. "Let's just train," you say.
You try for over an hour to get the water out of the leaf, but Korin-san stops you, saying, "that's enough, Yukio; you are close to Chakra exhaustion."
You sigh, frustrated with your complete lack of progress. You know it normally takes months, but you hoped… well, that a miracle would happen. Foolish, in hindsight.
Korin-san puts a hand on you; she can't reach your shoulders and head, so she pats your back.
-----
Daikoku, your sensei at the Academy, claps his hands and has you and your class follow him to the Academy's training ground.
You are average at taijutsu, your strength is relatively low and you bruise easily, so you sigh in relief when your sensei says that instead of sparring, your class will be having a weapons throwing contest.
You can hear someone coming up behind you, and you have a feeling that you know who it is. Sure enough, you feel an elbow on your back and a feminine voice say, "hey, girly boy. Ready to lose?" Making you relax when you hear the voice.
You turn around, keeping from wincing at the hit, and say, "Tenten. I clearly remember you losing the last time we had a throwing contest," smirking.
Tenten hisses and says, "that was a fluke, Yukio!"
"Oh, so you remember my name now?" You tease her.
"You will always be a girly boy to me," Tenten says, a teasing smirk of her own on her face.
"What about Neji. Isn't he pretty girly, too?" You ask her a bit too loudly, making Neji turn and glare at you.
"Who gives a damn about Neji…?" Tenten says, and you can tell she's telling the truth.
Well, it's good that there's no chance Tenten will ever become a fangirl.
Daikoku shouts Tenten's name along with yours, and the two of you have to aim at the targets at the same time.
After a great barrage of weapons, Daikoku declares your contest a tie for first place.
-----
Most of Konoha supports the Uchiha, especially the ninja clans; the civilians are split. That's what Korin-san says, but you don't need to hear that to know how many different opinions there are of the Uchiha in Konoha.
Lately, by Itachi-san's decision and with Haru-san and Teyaki-san's approval, the gates to the Uchiha district are always open during the day so that the Uchiha are always open to Konoha- no, to the rest of Konoha.
-----
Haru
-----
You've been hard at work for the past months; you don't want to disappoint Rin-sama, so you've been studying so that you can best serve her, and more recently, govern the clan well in her place. You also have asked Shigaru-san for tips on leading a clan; he is the Sarutobi clan's head, was Rin-sama's father's best friend and supported the Uchiha publicly in the funeral, so you are going to trust in his words.
You have also rectified your lazy training as much as you can in these months; you are actually relatively good at the Fire element now, and have improved your primary, Water, a lot!
You are alone at this moment; sometimes, keeping up your smile and perkiness to reassure others gets really hard, so you are in a tea house outside the Uchiha district, smelling the aroma of the freshly-made tea in your cup.
You used to truly be that perky and cheerful... then, the attack on your clan happened- no, Danzo, Arkidi and the Masked Uchiha attacked your clan! You raged on the inside; fortunately, your father, Teyaki, sat you down for a talk. He was furious too, but he knows that turning into a hate-filled person is harmful to one's own self.
After that talk with your father, you gave up on tracking down Danzo and the Masked Uchiha and executing them yourself - even if part of the reason is so that you can serve Rin-sama better. You were worried when Rin-sama revealed those things at the funeral, but it was all for the best - now, you and the rest of the clan can tell immediately who is your enemy in Konoha.
...Wait, is that Rin-sama's mother and Fugaku-san?
-----
-----
You now look at the redhead's eyes through her spectacles, then say, "no, we aren't here for that. I am Rin, by the way."
You notice the color of her eyes, and it's the exact same shade as your mother's; that realization throws you off further.
"I'm Karin," the girl says, introducing herself.
The name... can't be a coincidence. You force a smile and say-
"You look a lot like my mother; her name is Uzumaki Korin; are you my close relative?"
Karin looks a bit confused. She says, "is that why your Chakra feels familiar? Wait, how did you know that I was an Uzumaki before seeing me?"
"I'm a sensor too," you say, "shouldn't you able to tell that I am one? Every time I've met another sensor, I could tell. Are you all right? You seem out of sorts, not to mention scared."
Karin shakes her head and says, "n-no. The village I hid in was destroyed by bandits, the Grass are after me to take me back - I'm pretty much their slave... everything is terrible!"
You see a baby fox drink milk from its mother's breast and get an idea for Jiraiya's Chakra manipulation exercise; you are getting a bad feeling after seeing foxes around - you had better hurry.
You look at Kakashi, and he nods. So, you say, "would you like to come with us, Karin? Leave those backstabbing Grass bastards?"
Karin says, "yes, please! I don't care which village you are from; just save me from being used to death!"
'Used to death'? The phrasing makes you shiver-
No, wait - that was something else. The animals that were around have scurried away, and yet you haven't detected anything else - which means that someone is deliberately letting you know that they are here, indirectly.
This is starting to seriously creep you out - you activate your perception jutsu along with your Sharingan and active sensory. Unfortunately, while you now can directly tell that someone is around, you can't tell much about them, their position and their Chakra.
From what you can tell, Kakashi in also seriously on guard; he has removed his Hitai-ate from his eye, the Sharingan scanning the surroundings.
"Hahaha! Kuhuhuhuhu!"
A long-haired man walks out from behind a tree, and he is laughing. His appearance gives you shivers: he has black, well cared for hair (which is normal), but from the glimpse you got of his eyes, they are yellowish and shaped like a snake's.
What's worse, you still can't tell much about him, though your perception is slowly improving. It could be that he is relaxing his stealth jutsu, though.
Omni-Science: E- -> E rank
From what you can feel and see in Kakashi's Chakra and on his body, you can tell he is terrified and that you three are in deep shit. Karin, also terrified, is cowering between you and Kakashi.
The creepy man says, "what an eclectic bunch; the young new clan head of the Uchiha, who is also an Uzumaki clan descendant; a pure Uzumaki... oh, the copy-ninja too, I suppose. Or should I call you cold-blooded Kakashi...?" Talking in a deep but oddly hissing voice.
"Orochimaru," says Kakashi, Sharingan spinning and prepared to go all out.
You recognize that name - the Snake Sannin, a Kage-level missing-nin - you stiffen up. Danzo was a fool; you can tell that this guy is even more dangerous, far smarter and a bit less arrogant than the old fossil to boot.
"Tell me, girls. What are your dreams? What motivates you in life? Is it revenge?" Orochimaru says, looking you and Karin up and down, disgusting you.
He is looking at you and Karin like you are specimens in a lab, not in a sexual way, but this is still very creepy. It makes you shiver.
Kakashi shouts, "run! I'll hold him off!"
You-
[]Attack Orochimaru immediately
[]Humor him and reply truthfully
[]Lie about your motivations
[]Run away
-[]Take Karin with you
-[]Take Kakashi with you
-[]You don't abandon comrades or family. Take both
[]Write-in
If it comes to a fight, regardless of who starts it, the plan is-
[]Write-in
(You need to plan for possible scenarios; make sure to specify if you are going to switch off the Sharingan or Omni-Science or take a soldier pill if you run low on Chakra. Don't forget that Rin is smart (a genius) in her own right, so don't make it overly specific.) (Vote by plan in this chapter.)
-----
*Yes, he's pretty much Hagrid from Harry Potter. Not sure if I got the accent right.
As for Orochimaru appearing undetected, that's what Presence Concealment that rivals the Second Tsuchikage is for. Yes, I planned his appearance from the moment I planned Karin's.
Here I am, planning to pick up an Uzumaki girl nobody is going to miss, and what do I find? That idiot of a former teammate is in the vicinity, and brings along the only two children in Konoha with Uzumaki blood of all things. He didn't even bother to disguise them and seems to think that his mere presence would scare away any threats. For a supposed spymaster, his arrogance as well as lack of forethought and caution is simply atrocious.
From my sources in Konoha, the half-Uchiha girl is quite the prodigy and has already awakened her Sharingan during the recent massacre of her clan. A shame that all those precious eyes were incinerated, but at least I managed to obtain a single pair by having them swapped with fakes (long-since prepared for just such an occasion) before the bodies were incinerated at the funeral. Oh the secrets they hold... if it weren't for the chance to get another potent bloodline to study, I would still be in my lab, advancing my understanding of those eyes.
But enough of that. It is trivial to deduce why Jiraiya is here. Tsunade is still wasting away her life in the border regions of the Land of Fire, too weak to face her fears yet too sentimental to leave entirely. With Hiruzen no longer having the trust of the clan council and Jiraiya himself being unsuitable for any sort of responsibility, it seems that the Slug Princess is going to be offered the hat that I would have deserved.
It has been some time since I had the chance to manipulate someone who proved a challenge. Preying on her deepest desires to get her to betray the very village that wants her to lead them... Yes, I can already taste the delicious irony. But then again, should I even bother? That idiot Jiraiya could never convince her to return to Konoha, and seeing him fail and despair over having lost both of his teammates never ceases to amuse me. Oh well, a decision for later,
when I have my new specimen and have a more detailed view of the situation.
Oh? The clone tracking Jiraiya's group just dismissed itself. From what it just heard, the reports of Uchiha Rin's skills were, if anything, understated. To detect her clan member's chakra at several kilometers distance... truly, those two bloodlines are incredible tools.
So she wants to find that girl I have my eyes on, Karin Uzumaki? I could just whisk her away and be on my way, but this situation offers so many opportunities... no, it is only right if I see for myself how far she has come, especially since she is one of the more promising potential hosts I have my eyes on. I shall simply let the meeting play out and only appear once they try to leave. And that idiot is even careless enough to split up, leaving only Hatake to defend the Uchiha prodigy - basically serving her to me on a silver platter.
It is tempting to just inject her with my cursed seal so that her body is primed for my eventual takeover, but... I don't have a clear image of her character yet. Reliance on the seal's granted power would cause the stagnation of her growth (and with it her worth as a host). Besides, if I later choose another Uchiha's body it would be suspicious to have marked them both.
I already wrote for hours and could probably spend hours more on this, but unless I want to completely ignore my need for sleep, I'll have to stop here. I might continue on this tomorrow...
@Nachtigall : what should I call this Omake in the Threadmarks?
As for the rewards:
Marked as Semi-canon
A full rank up to Luck (temporary)
(I had forgotten to add a previous Omake (on SB) by someone else, so I added that (++) to the Sheet, too.)
Edit: Not quite canon because:
The bodies were incinerated almost immediately after the massacre; the funeral was done with the urns being buried, but the ashes had been in the urns for a while. I might make it so that a spy managed to obtain a pair of eyes by swapping them immediately after the massacre with the fakes on his/her own initiative.
The Omake is very nearly canon, so I am adding another reward:
Your Dexterity&Flexibility stat will rise significantly more the next two times you train it, directly or indirectly.
(Training that can affect that stat: shurikenjutsu, Housenka Tsumabeni (mainly the Dexterity side); taijutsu, calisthenics (mainly Flexibility) etc.)
[W] Plan Subtle Explosion
-[W]Humor him and reply truthfully
-[W] Run away
--[W] Take Karin with you
--[W] While it pains you to leave Kakashi behind, staying would just force him to defend you and fleeing with him would give Orochimaru the chance to pick you off one by one. Additionally, he is your superior and he gave you an order.
-[W] Cover your retreat with the biggest and loudest explosion you think you can safely make (in terms of chakra exhaustion and drawing Orochimaru's interest). Try to alert Jiraya with it without tipping Orochimaru off.
-[W] If you can contact Shisui's spirit, now would be a really good time if he could assist you with his legendary skill at the Body Flicker.
-[W] Try to find Jiraya.
-[W] Assume that while Orochimaru himself will fight Kakashi, he'll send clones after you.
--[W] From what you know about him he's like an amoral magus who would just try harder to catch you for your secrets. Not showing those of our abilities that would most catch his interest is preferred, but you'll do it if the sole other alternative is death or permanent harm of anyone on our side.
--[W] Likely attention-grabbing skills, from least to most important: Seamless Jutsu Fusion, Average One, and Magecraft. That said, we may not get around showing Average One since he knows all five elements too, and we might have difficulty defending against that without using Type Advantage.
--[W] Conserving energy is not a high priority. Take a chakra pill if you need to, but you only need to last long enough for Jiraya to join the fight and for Kakashi to take over protecting you and Karin. Keep your Sharingan active, and unless his clones are entirely undetectable, do the same for your sensor skills.
--[W] Clones by themselves are worthless since he'll immediately see through the ruse and dismiss them as threats, but you might be able to exploit that with the Clone Great Explosion jutsu.
--[W] Our highest combat skill is Genjutsu, but we're not at the point of casting them without hand seals. It's worth a try, but don't expect to catch him in one for very long, especially not if he sees it coming. Instead, try to keep the two of you away from him, and keep him busy with thrown weapons and ranged jutsu.
"Tell me, girls. What are your dreams? What motivates you in life? Is it revenge?" Orochimaru says, looking you and Karin up and down, disgusting you.
He is looking at you and Karin like you are specimens in a lab, not in a sexual way, but this is still very creepy. It makes you shiver.
Kakashi shouts, "run! I'll hold him off!"
You say, "wait, Kakashi-san. Are we certain he's here to fight?" A false contemplative expression on your face.
You carefully and subtly maneuver to have Karin right behind you and signal her to be ready to get on your back.
"What?" Kakashi says, looking at you shocked.
Orochimaru laughs, then says, "so what is your answer, Uchiha Rin?"
"My motivations... that's difficult. My most important goal is to protect those I hold dear; I also wish to understand the mysteries of the universe," you say.
"Oh?" Orochimaru says, looking at you intrigued, an eyebrow raised. "We are not that different after all, you and I. I am a man of curiosity and science."
...Can a person get more "cliche villain' in his words?
"Don't tell me," you say, "you have been misunderstood because people don't get that science needs 'sacrifices'...."
He is just like the usual magus back in the other world. Not to mention Danzo and his tendency to sacrifice everyone but himself.
You can see it in the way his snake-like eyes light up when you say that. Well, fuck it. You give Karin the signal and immediately make three Shadow Clones; you see Kakashi tense again from the corner of the eye.
Orochimaru seems to have realized that negotiations have broken down. He licks his lips with- ugh, that tongue! He says, "oh well - seeing your skills first-hand is good, too. Entertain me, Uchiha Rin."
His Chakra shines through for a moment, and it's absolutely terrifying; it is excellently controlled, very powerful and a disgusting, sickly purple that makes you want to shudder, then vomit; you somehow keep your composure.
You slap down a high-yield explosive tag on two of the three clones and signal Kakashi to stay back - far, far back. The other one attacks head-on, knowing your plan. It hugs Orochimaru for long enough to let the other clones latch on to him too.
The Snake Sannin dispels the first clone with his tongue, which gives you and the other two clones back her Chakra, but the other two have already activated their tags; you release a Wind ninjutsu while one of your remaining clones spits out some water to produce steam and smoke, and the other a Fire jutsu... while preparing to explode in the Clone Great Explosion.
The moment you get the Wind jutsu out, you are pushed away by it, along with Karin who is hanging onto your back; with the momentum, you push off a tree (while reinforcing your body with Chakra), using the Body Flicker with a hand-seal.
'Nii-chan,' you think in your mind, 'if you can help from where you are, now is the time.'
Luck check! B- -> A++ Luck means that your Body Flicker goes up from B+ to A rank permanently and by a (+) temporarily to A+. Your Clone Great Explosion has also been successfully modified to produce more noise.
Clone Great Explosion: D -> C-
You no longer have any temporary Luck boosters (for now)
A truly enormous explosion somewhere behind you and the uncomfortable memory of dying by exploding yourself twice over tell you that your window of time is running out, because your Shadow Clones could tell that there was at least one more Orochimaru around - he wasn't even rattled!
You follow the path you took earlier, but navigating with far more competence thanks to your sensory skills -including the Sharingan- all being active and very quickly thanks to multiple consecutive Body Flickers. The pressure is still on, though, and your breath is coming out as panting.
Your blood goes cold. You first feel, then see an Orochimaru waiting for you outside the forest. 'Did he station a clone here, expecting me to pass through this way? Or did his clone catch up with me?' You think, but ultimately, it doesn't matter. You drop two certain different scrolls in a way Orochimaru won't see what they are.
You have expected clones, so once this Orochimaru copy makes the motion for a Bird seal, you make a Tiger seal, faking a Fire jutsu- only to substitute yourself with the Wind Sealing Method scroll you dropped earlier in such a way as to activate it in 'mirror' mode immediately.
The snake-man's clone is dispelled by its own ninjutsu; you can almost taste the awe Karin feels toward you. 'It actually worked...?' You think.
Unfortunately, you hear clapping; another Orochimaru is blocking your way towards Jiraiya; by this point, you've realized that Orochimaru knows about his pervy former teammate being around. At least Kakashi is near again, having dispelled the Orochimaru clones he was dealing with.
You throw multiple shuriken at this Orochimaru, but he dodges them easily
"I must admit," the new Orochimaru says while weaving around the shuriken without strain, "I did not expect you to get that idiot Jiraiya's attention quite so quickly, Uchiha Rin."
The man then makes a Snake hand-seal, ironically. You prepare to use your Earth Sealing Method, but the guy simply stomps on the ground and makes it shake.
Shit! Karin has nearly slipped off your back! She didn't fall with the Body Flicker earlier, but the quake is unexpected, even with all your sensing abilities on. Fortunately, Kakashi is coming to the rescue.
Orochimaru keeps the Snake seal, making an earthen sword, but you can see Kakashi making three seals out of the corner of your eye, his hand screeching, being covered in super-dense Lightning Release Chakra.
Raikiri has been learned at G
Chidori has been learned at G+
After seeing Kakashi's jutsu, you've been inspired! Hell Stab / Raiton Chakra Mode 1/? -> 3/?
You make a few hand-seals and cast a genjutsu to immobilize Orochimaru as best you can, but you can tell it didn't work. You use the Kawarimi no jutsu on a stone with one hand-seal now; Orochimaru (likely the real deal, not a clone) throws the earth-made sword at you point-first, making Kakashi hesitate for a moment, but you've already predicted the snake man's intentions.
Unfortunately, the sword doesn't go towards your previous position, so Kakashi has to save you anyway... damn it! Karin's grip turns painful while Kakashi hits the Earth construct with his Lightning-enhanced hand.
Orochimaru sinks into the ground, making you feel like the world is tilting - vertigo, or so you think; it is some kind of teleportation, not Earth Release - you can tell. Fortunately, you knowing the Second Magic helps you with the craziness of seeing and otherwise sensing such a jutsu.
Once you are certain that Jiraiya is arriving (with two unknown creatures on his shoulders) and Orochimaru is nowhere near, you let yourself collapse. Your legs are really sore after that Chakra Reinforcement and those Body Flickers back-to-back.
Karin squeaks, having been forced to drop down.
You have made Orochimaru retreat!
Ninjutsu stat has gone up! C+ -> B (2/8)
Strength stat has gone up! D (1/3) -> D+ (0/4)
Speed stat has gone up! B- (1/6) -> B- (3/6)
Chakra stat has gone up! B- (0/5) -> B- (1/5)
Intelligence stat has gone up! A+++ (0/16) -> A+++ (4/16)
Chakra Control stat has gone up! B (4/8) -> B+ (0/9)
Ninshu has gone up! F -> E-
Wind Elemental Mastery has gone up! B- -> B
Fire Elemental Mastery has gone up! B- -> B
Earth Elemental Mastery has gone up! C -> C+
Lightning Elemental Mastery has gone up thanks to seeing Kakashi's jutsu! C -> C+
Space-time Jutsu Affinity has been found at C- ! It has gone up to C+
Reduced Incantations&Hand-seals has gone up! B -> A (1/2)
(You can now use Gandr without an Aria!
You can now use Great Fireball with a single Tiger seal near-flawlessly!
You can now use Shinkuuha (Vacuum Wave) with three hand-seals rather than four!
You can now use Kawarimi without hand-seals, though slowly!
You can now use Body Flicker near-flawlessly with a single one-handed hand-seal and passably without one)
Shadow Clone has gone up! E -> D+
Clone Great Explosion has gone up! C- -> C+
Body Flicker has gone up! A -> A++ (1/3)
Kawarimi (Body Replacement / Substitution) has gone up! C -> B
(You can now use Kawarimi without hand-seals relatively quickly!
You can now use Body Flicker with a single one-handed seal flawlessly; it doesn't need more seals at all. You can also use it without seals relatively well!)
Chakra Reinforcement has been discovered at E+ ! It has gone up! E+ -> D
Omni-Science has gone up! E -> D-
Mind's Eye of the Kagura has gone up! A++ (0/5) -> A++ (2/5)
Eye of the Mind (False) has gone up! D (1/3) -> D+ (0/3)
Projectile Throwing has gone up! B- -> B
Sealing has gone up! A -> A+ (0/3)
(You can now use the Finger Carving Seal - all times to make a seal are halved;
you can now imbue any weapon, with varying success (preferably a newly forged one), with two minor (or one of moderate importance) properties and/or concept(s) and/or more durability;
You can now use the Five Elements Seal and Five Elements Unseal with two hand-seals each
You can now make strong Barriers-in-a-scroll
You can now make high-yield Raiton shock tags
You can now use Japan's kanji in near-perfect conjunction with the Elemental Nations' kanji to make a seal more potent and faster - all times to make a seal are halved further; Chakra cost is reduced significantly)
True Magic: Second has gone up! E -> D- ! You can now turn one attack into two through Dimensional Refraction! You can now teleport to places you've been to, but really slowly! (The teleportation is instantaneous; actually activating it is what takes long until you level up True Magic.)
You sit at the edge of the forest, trembling after coming down from your adrenaline high. Karin is also trembling, touching your shoulder. 'That's it?' You think. "Well, that- that was anticlimactic," you say out loud, your voice cracking.
"Be glad it was like that, little lady," Jiraiya says from behind you, the two creatures gone, "you could have died or worse -much worse- if Orochimaru had been given half an opportunity. Apparently, when your life is at risk, you take a level or two in badass - usual Uzumaki and Uchiha fare."
"So, Uzumaki and Uchiha tend to be like Shounen manga protagonists?" You say, having a hard time believing what's coming out of your mouth.
Jiraiya laughs, then says, "something like that."
Kakashi gets near you, squats to look you in the eyes and says, "for a moment there, I thought you would disobey my order."
"I was tempted," you say, "I really didn't like leaving you behind, but I knew you weren't the target, so I used my brain and made as much ruckus as I could to bring Jiraiya-sama while running away."
"I see," Kakashi says, "your plan was really well-thought-out. Your positions of power are well-deserved."
Well, it's not like you look up to the former stalker, so you are not flattered or anything!
You take care of your minor injuries, disinfecting cuts and scratches and taking care of your muscle strain by wrapping parts of your legs. Karin is hanging onto you again, so it's a bit difficult and extra painful.
"What now?" You think out loud.
"Well," Jiraiya says, "Tsunade will probably hear of the explosion, so we need to go find her soon. Can you run, little lady?"
You think it over; your pride dictates that you say you can, but with you being a medic-nin in training, practicality wins out. You say, "...no - I can't."
"We will have to carry you," Jiraiya says.
Kakashi is just coming down from his recovery, though. Speaking of which-
"Kakashi-san," you say, "it's been four months since we caught Danzo. How come it took you so long to recover?" Having been a bit out of it mentally when Kakashi told you about his Chakra Exhaustion.
Kakashi laughs nervously. He says, "that's a funny story, kid, but it might take too long-"
"He hates hospitals, so he escaped too early and ended up running himself into the ground again," Jiraiya says, making you frown.
"That's... really stupid," you say, "then, let me examine you, Kakashi-san - did you get any injuries from Orochimaru's clones? Did you use any jutsu?"
"That's not necessary, kid. We have a job to-" Kakashi says, but you won't take 'no' for an answer.
"The faster you go still, the faster we can go back to searching for Tsunade-sama," you tell him, glaring at him.
Kakashi goes still as a rock, and you check him for injuries, physical strain and Chakra exhaustion the mundane way, because you haven't learned a diagnostics jutsu yet. Of course, you also sneak a Structural Analysis his way, but he doesn't have to know that.
You patch up the man's wounds with added difficulty but are getting used to Karin's weight, nearly force-feeding Kakashi a bit of orange juice to give him more energy. You've found a few more problems with your Structural Analysis, but you have no way of resolving them right now.
Discovered Structural Analysis at A- ! It has gone up; A- -> A
For some reason, Jiraiya is looking at you in- nostalgia? You aren't certain. You have the time to ask the two men and Karin a few more questions. You say-
(Up to four (4) options)
[]Where is Naruto? Is he safe, Jiraiya-sama?
[]What do you two recommend that I learn first in my training?
[]Used to death? What did you mean, Karin?
[]What was that Lightning jutsu, Kakashi-san?
[]Write-in
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Exploding Orochimaru to call for Jiraiya was truly a stroke of genius - so much so, that the fight ended up anticlimactic.
Also, True Magic CAN be used without Kaguya intervening... as long as you don't try to affect the entire world, such as by traveling back in time.
