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Chapter Thirty-Six
~SO excited to share this! :D That said.
You know, every chapter I do gets harder and harder. I have more to pull together and hint at, more characters to juggle, more canon stuff to research and extrapolate . . . and lately, more fight scenes. Please excuse me for a second. (AAAAAAA!) Okay, um, all better. Please enjoy the chapter! Last time, Sasuke and Gaara's tournament fight came to a halt as, predictably enough . . .
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White feathers appeared—
I dispelled the illusion instantly. Dad and Kato did the same, the latter thanks to constant practice and a healthy awareness of his family's body language. I lost Yakumo's genjutsu and mine on her, but I knew that she and Shisui would dispel this new genjutsu just fine. It was a mass sleeping jutsu, minor yet rather effective for its scale.
The illusion cleared. Now I could hear an army of snake summons throughout Konoha.
Gaara was still screaming below ("Blood, blood!") so hopefully that would keep his Tailed Beast occupied and we wouldn't have the One Tail in the midst of what was becoming a great deal of sleeping civilians.
The Hokage wasn't in his seat. Neither was the Kazekage. Mom was out of sight and running fast. I assumed she was chasing one of the other two.
"I'm going to the Hokage," Daddy said quickly, and vanished.
He wasn't the only person to react and run. Most of the ninja spectators decided that the stadium wasn't top priority. Konoha invasion protocol covered a lot of ground, and it was pretty obvious that the whole village was compromised. The higher ninja ranks would have to do some real miracle work outside.
This left a surprising number of infiltrators inside with us.
Kato and I blinked at each other. "Yakumo," he suggested. I nodded. We tore across two grandstands and found Shisui locked in combat with a clearly fake ANBU while Yakumo trembled nearby. Her parents were nowhere to be seen. They were both jōnin, although since their clan specialized in genjutsu, I suppose they could have been close by. Perhaps one would wake the sleeping civilians.
The ANBU imposter ran off when we appeared.
The imposter's chakra was muted, but I was pretty sure that underneath the disguise was a pair of round glasses and a person that we didn't want anywhere near Yakumo. I wonder if his glasses fogged up under his mask? Maybe that was why he'd seemed so outclassed by Shisui?
Those masks required a surprising amount of skill. Eyesight is a big deal. As is breathing.
Shisui should have been able to finish off Kabuto, no problem. He'd probably been fishing for information. He wouldn't take kindly to an enemy so suspiciously close to Yakumo. Kabuto probably wouldn't have gotten away so cleanly if we hadn't shown up.
"That's flattering," I mused.
Shisui took offence. "No, he was an infiltrator." He frowned. "Right. Form up. Kana, report."
I didn't have ANBU-level perception here! Nonetheless, I summarized, "Snake summons are all over the village. The Kazekage went for the Hokage. There are skirmishes in here. No one's targeting the civilians caught in the genjutsu."
Sure enough, enemy ninjas were everywhere in the stadium. Leaf and Mist ninjas were fighting them. Well. The only Mist ninjas I could see were Zabuza and his functioning two-thirds of a team. The other Mist attendees were chasing after Mom.
"We'll take the summons," Shisui decided. "The fighting here is well-matched, and there are civilians out there and no doubt more Sand ninjas to come. I'll take care of them while you three snare and eliminate summons."
We obeyed and followed him into the village.
Seeing the village was even worse than hearing it. It was chaos. There were so many of the overgrown snakes that our forces couldn't fight back. Covering for evacuating civilians was hard enough as it was.
"Why does it have to be snakes?" Yakumo whined under her breath.
Shisui whipped out his tantō. "Okay, you lot, formation four. Kana? Kana!"
As usual, I was kind of distracted by the busy world around me.
"They breached the gates," I shouted over the nearby shouts, screams, and crashes (and the pervasive, staticky hisssss). "I don't hear fighting that way."
Shisui muttered something ugly. "Keep each other alive. I'll be back."
Yeah, right. He wasn't back for hours.
So we did our best without him.
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After our wonderful bonding experience, I think Team Twelve was well and truly bonded for life. We killed snakes, escorted civilians, directed the occasional "fresh" ninja toward the thick of the fighting, and overall agreed that we would have died if we'd had to fight in the chūnin tournament on top of this.
We saved all of the talking business until we were called off-duty, but that part came much later.
"Due west," I panted.
"I can see it," Kato pointed out. "It's on the library. Well." He paused for effect, and possibly to breathe. "In the library."
"Shut—up," Yakumo wheezed.
We ran for the newest snake and tripped over a family cowering behind some rubble. Yakumo stayed to usher them to the clearest route. Kato ran ahead as bait. I ran through hand seals that would create the illusion of a fireball jutsu. What? I was running out of ideas. The snakes flinched away from fire. I couldn't fault them for that. Just exploit it.
Genjutsu was cheap, whereas fire release wasn't something I could do all day. I also liked the fact that the more I used my genjutsu successfully, the better I felt about fire. Yay! (And it helps that simple genjutsu like this didn't affect my own senses.)
Why didn't I throw seals at the snakes? Because the small ones were the size of my bedroom . . . no, actually because snakes rely on olfactory senses and most of the gag tags were visual. Snaring the creatures with genjutsu was easy enough if I could catch them off-guard. No sense wasting my best tags on them.
Why were there so many snakes?
Enough thinking.
Kato imbued his tantō with lightning and stabbed the serpent's eye as it cringed back. So long, snakey.
"Northwest," I said. "Ten o'clock. Kato, did that method work?"
"Perfectly."
"Great. Yakumo?"
"Still alive. Still terrified."
I shot her a smile. "The Id won't come out," fingers crossed. "The summons haven't recognized you, and I'm keeping us clear of henchmen. We'll keep you safe."
"Well, as safe as we can," Kato pointed out wryly.
"Right, that. Yaks, can you handle the next summon? Convince it that there's fire. Use sight and scent."
She pushed the unbraided half of her hair back from the sweaty, dusty mess that was her forehead. "I don't like fire."
"Great, do it anyway. I'll catch up."
Kato shot me a glance that told me he knew exactly what I was up to.
I grimaced and pretended not to notice.
They ran ahead to ensnare the next monstrous creature of destruction. I ran northeast to where a collapsed building had just caught fire. The people inside were screaming for help. This was a common theme throughout the village . . . but I couldn't be everywhere at once and neither could my team. If we didn't stop the summons, more of the villagers cloistered in the buildings would die.
There were far, far too many snakes for all of my people to escape.
Orochimaru was crueler than I'd imagined. Didn't he want some villagers left over to subjugate?
This was beyond tactics. No one, no one in their right mind targets civilians instead of enemy threats. This was beyond an assault or invasion. He really hated us enough to level the whole village?
Couldn't he hear their pain?
I knew the answer to that. Sometimes it's nice to ask the questions instead of dwelling on the answers, though.
I didn't think of any brilliant ideas while I ran, and skidding up in front of the fire hardly inspired my creativity. I could cast a mass genjutsu to dull pain and perception of smoke, but it would only last until the environment shocked their chakra systems back into full function.
Another option was water, the natural enemy of fire. In theory, I could fight the fire. In practice, the basic techniques I knew wouldn't give me any real volume. Water was one thing. Fighting fire was another.
That didn't matter. I had to help. There was still time to save these people, and by now I'd heard enough people succumb to flames that my innate fear of it? It didn't get to matter.
This time we had finally been close enough. We'd made it in time. Our previous fights hadn't worked out this way.
Kato and Yakumo, bless them, hadn't asked once about our strange, zigzagging path.
"Help, fire! Someone help us, we're trapped!"
They weren't coughing badly yet. Good.
Wood creaked and splintered and told me that my absorbent seals wouldn't be able to help. Not with severe structural damage. Drat.
Well, I still had my chakra reserves, since I'd been thrifty with the snakes.
I folded my hands into the shadow clone seal and focused on the precise amount of chakra that I'd end up with. This wasn't my favorite jutsu. Multiple clones meant sudden chakra depletion, and that always made me feel a bit faint. It was like donating blood. Very inconvenient for some people, not to mention embarrassing. Kana has such fine chakra control that losing chakra so quickly debilitates her? Just what the world needs to know.
Two clones popped into existence beside me while I gagged and winced. The sounds around me blurred in and out. My chakra reacted strangely to that, or maybe the other way around, and I settled in for my little recovery routine.
The clones hadn't gone from full chakra to one-third, so one steadied my shoulders and the other ran towards the smoke and flame. She pronounced the building safe enough and then I was alone.
I covered one nostril and breathed in through the other one. My body slowly adjusted to its new reserves.
Boy, I hoped I'd get some of that chakra back. I really liked keeping it in reserve. On the other hand, since I should really stay with my team and I wanted to save people. . . .
"They must have reinforced this door," a clone said harshly. Ow, the smoke must be really nasty in there. Which reminded me.
"I'm a ninja of Konoha!" I called as loudly as I dared. "I'm sending clones in to get you. Stay as low as you can and think of the best exit point!"
They started to move things around. The clones did, too. Apparently the villagers were in an inner room and the reinforced door was out of their reach. They opted to tap on a wall, instead, which my clones broke through. No one inside the building was talking by that point.
One of my clones yelped when a shower of sparks smacked her arm, but they persevered and helped the victims to escape without any more mishaps. I helped the group get to clearer air.
Could I learn some kind of blasting jutsu? Fire-based things wouldn't work when fire feeds on oxygen. People need oxygen, too.
"Thank y—" one of the victims began before he doubled over in a coughing fit. I nodded and helped him back up.
"You need to run for the Hokage Monument. Don't go near anyone who looks suspicious. If you see any snakes on the way, stay out of their way but don't stop. Their main goal is to bring down buildings, not eat people. Don't get trapped again and you should be fine. There will be field medics waiting for you."
There's nothing superfluous in a war zone.
The group immediately limped on. The oldest in the group turned to their spokesperson. "What did I tell you, Matsu-kun. The ninjas always tell us to flee. Even though they're," cough cough, "younger and younger these days."
My clones and I sized each other up. "You recovered," the unburned one said.
"I'll disperse," the burned one offered.
"Don't," I said, thinking about the not eat people thing I'd told the civvies. "Can you still function?"
Her nose wrinkled. "Yeah, but you won't like it when I disperse."
Shadow clones divide chakra evenly among clones and user (which is why it's sickening to watch Naruto form a hundred, no sweat) and when they disperse, they give the unused chakra back to the user. Unlike normal clones, they can take hits without dispersing. They usually disperse after a significant injury, but if they're formed with the intention of sticking out the pain, they won't. Tobirama knew that chakra depletes the most right after we get hit, so he planned the clones to take a hit and disperse immediately afterward so the user could get as much chakra back as possible.
Getting the chakra back isn't nearly as disorienting as losing it. The big downside of the jutsu is supposed to be receiving the clone's memories, which seem awfully realistic since the clone is, ultimately, the user. I didn't find the mental part to be too terrible. Thus why I was willing to remember running around Konoha with a nasty burn wound later (although later I'd kick myself for not replacing the injured clone with a new one).
Right now, I thought that replacing my clone would take too much time. I needed to get back to my team and get to the next summon, not spend another minute staggering around over here.
"You two go and save people," I said. "And you know, next time we should just skip this part, because I know we're thinking the same things. Try not to die, but disperse if recovering from an injury would take too much chakra. Only don't disperse if there are people counting on you. We each have a lot of chakra, even if it's less than we prefer to work with."
"You're right," one of them smirked. "You're feeding your ego. Talking to yourself?"
I felt a bit irritated with my love of talking. "I'm rejoining the team."
The clones started moving in the opposite direction. They dubbed themselves Team Kana.
Kato finished off Team Shisui's snake as I arrived. "What took you so long?" he panted. "This one saw past the genjutsu. Are we done exterminating yet? There can't be many more snakes in the world."
"Let's make the total smaller," Yakumo said.
Someone screamed further down the street, and we raced to go help. A scream that my teammates could hear was doable. It was only the screams that I could hear that weren't.
We had just finished when I remembered that my clones existed and could help direct me to a better place for my team. We'd done a number on the local snakes and could use a second opinion on where to go next.
I listened as my clones skirted a Suna ninja ("Chūnin," one whispered) to access another damaged building.
"We're an information system," the other breathed. "A surveillance network. Oh. Uh-oh."
"What?" I snapped. My teammates jumped.
"The One Tail is active."
"Is it in the village?"
"No," the clone replied. "Scratch that, it's on its way."
I bit my lip with a vengeance. "Can you hear Dad? I can't from here."
"Barely," she said. "He's near the kages and Orochimaru. I could probably go get him." Her voice all but shivered. "I don't know where Jiraiya is. Or Sensei."
"If Dad's near the kages, ANBU are with him. That's probably about as safe as we can get."
"You'll think again when you have my memories."
True. But we didn't have options. A henge would get her past most enemies, and she had the same supply of seals that I had. If she died, I'd be able to try again. The real worry was the length of time that all of the dodging would take. "Get going!"
"Going now!"
I so didn't want to break this news to my team.
"We're so dead," the first clone said. "It just barreled through Sasuke."
"Focus on saving people," I snapped at her. "Kato, Yakumo, we're moving. The One Tail is on its way."
Then why are we moving towards it?
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The invasion, Kakashi mulled as he chased the mother of his children and his quite-unrelated Hokage, was a really lousy political move. Conquering a Hidden Village was logistically impossible. In fact, it didn't make much sense at all. Why attack Konoha during a chūnin exam?
Surely wanton destruction would be more effective during a cultural festival.
(He took another step while his mind compiled old data and new with typical fluidity.)
Orochimaru. Suna.
Kiri and Konoha were strong allies at this point. All other alliances from the last world war had fallen through. Konoha and Kiri were the only major villages that regularly sent genin participants to each other's exams, and genin squads were no more than a shallow pretense of association.
Mei's installation as Mizukage had triggered entries from most of the major villages. Since then, most gates had remained shut until Suna had sent an official delegation a few months ago.
The reason for that was clear now. Sand and the new ninja village of Sound had partnered together to do this, well, monstrosity of a plan. . . .
Then Kakashi watched the Kazekage seal himself in a barrier with the other kages and reveal himself to be Orochimaru. Ah. That made sense.
Lust for power, disregard for life, and selfishness. He hadn't looked for it in the Kazekage. He'd seen the Kazekage with his children just a few years ago. That kind of love affected the most hardened of men.
Mei had glued herself to Hiruzen's side the moment that widespread genjutsu was cast. The two were allies on paper, but she had a special fondness for Hiruzen. She attributed it to Kana and Kato's calling him Grandfather.
Mei wasn't Kakashi's first or second choice of ninja to be in that barrier with Hiruzen, but she did rank fourth quite nicely.
Pretty eyes flashed as she put the pieces together.
Kakashi's eyes flashed in a different way. Seconds earlier, and he wouldn't be trapped outside the barrier.
Four ANBU arrived at the barrier's corners. Good, maybe they were specialists except—
A second barrier formed just in time to deflect Kakashi's kunai. This one had purple flames and appeared to be the Four Violet Flames Formation, a B-ranked jutsu that was considered impregnable. One millisecond faster and the extra barrier wouldn't have formed. He ground his teeth.
A failure, and what guarantee was there that he would have another chance?
The old memory sprang to life—Rin, transfixed . . . and then vanished. "Kakashi, you idiot," a different memory said, "the past defines who you were in the past, not you right now. Don't dwell on mistakes like an idiot." The Mei in his head rolled her eyes.
(The Mei in the barrier wouldn't thank him for breaking into the barrier now, either. He'd have to think of a safer method.)
ANBU Cougar formed a clone and sent it at the outer barrier. The clone melted into a haze of flames.
Kakashi jumped over to his old associates. "As expected, it's sealed off completely," Wildcat said. "Ceiling, walls, and floor. Beaver, you tried a remote jutsu?"
"Twice."
"Then there's nothing we can do. Looks like the Mizukage's men are in the same boat. If those cursed Sound ninjas hadn't erected a second barrier we wouldn't be stuck." tell sand
"We're not stuck," Kakashi said with calmness he didn't feel. "Cougar, Beaver, Dolphin, defend the village. If you get a chance, spread rumors that the Kazekage has been murdered. It's worth a try. Wildcat and I will join the Mizukage's guards."
Beaver twitched. "But Captain, protocol is— Um, yes, sir."
Wildcat shook his head. "I have every faith in the Hokage, but protocol is to stay and support in any way."
"Hitari, that barrier is sealed. It won't open until the outcome is already decided. We waste our citizens' lives by standing here and doing nothing." That said, Kakashi still intended to snare the four barrier ninjas with the Sharingan.
No matter that their eyes were preemptively shut.
Hiruzen would make the same choice as Kakashi. ANBU were helpful, but Hiruzen was sealed inside a box with a Sannin. It was exactly where Hiruzen would want to be—free to fight without concern for the members of his guard. The barrier couldn't be breached, and there was no reason for the entire guard to stand around waiting. Cougar and Beaver were crowd control specialists, of all things!
Kakashi still had clout with the ANBU and had no problem with sending them where they would be most effective.
There was still no worthwhile reason for Orochimaru to invade Konoha. The purpose was most likely to kill Hiruzen in a painfully public manner, but surely the Sannin would be satisfied with revenge. Even with Suna under his control, conquering Konoha would be no easy task. Suna would take the fall and bear the brunt of Konoha's forces while Orochimaru slithered out, that was how he operated.
The immense number of summons wreaking havoc in Konoha was not at all what Kakashi would have expected. The Orochimaru that he planned to put down would never expend so many of his valuable summons at once in a village that he knew he wouldn't be able to conquer.
Kakashi imagined that a certain chance encounter in a forest might have left Orochimaru in a very, very vindictive mood.
Fortunately, the mother of Kakashi's children probably shared that same mood.
The Hokage would take mercy on his former student, that much seemed obvious.
Mei definitely wouldn't.
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Inside the barriers, Orochimaru promised death to Hiruzen and brandished a kunai. An attempt like that between ninja of this caliber was a joke, but Mei knocked the weapon away anyway. "I've dealt with your kind before," she told the Sannin archly.
"Oh, have you killed a kage to gain power, too?"
She didn't miss a beat. "I did what I had to to keep my people safe. You probably don't know what that's like."
Orochimaru smiled. "Justification hides many sins."
Hiruzen swept forward while Mei ducked to the side. He threw a shuriken that multiplied eighty-fold. Mei respectfully stood back. She would let him fight this battle if he was going to fight and not let a former pupil walk all over him. There was only one kind of closure, as far as she was concerned.
This Sannin was a disgusting man who experimented on humans. She'd found traces of his work in her own country, and held no doubt that he had used her village's old hatred of kekkei genkai to supply himself with test subjects. Even now, three of her clans had reported missing children.
A man who collected kekkei genkai and tortured children? He could be Hiruzen's long-lost son for all she cared. She would take him down, regardless. The only question was how to ensnare a snake.
And where to locate its dens.
Orochimaru, now a good distance back, flashed through seals and summoned three wooden coffins, plain except for the numbers 1, 2, and 3. Two of the coffins fell open. Hiruzen sucked in a breath.
Mei eyed him carefully, watching his eyes constrict with loss and resignation. He knew the corpses, which meant she probably did, too. She wasn't overly concerned. The Impure World Reincarnation jutsu had never been perfected by its inventor the Second Hokage. Orochimaru might have made improvements, but the corpses were bound to be less powerful than their living counterparts. They were bound to be less mobile than whichever poor souls the Sannin had sacrificed for the jutsu, too.
Sure enough, the bodies stumbled forward, leaving their boxes and the third coffin behind. The open coffins vanished with a puff of smoke. The third coffin stayed.
Convenient, Mei decided. If any body parts survived her poison, they'd need a box.
She spat a quick stream of lava at the bodies since Hiruzen wasn't moving. Orochimaru hissed and snatched them out of harm's way, slipping two seals underneath their ashy skin before she could get in the way again. He paused for full effect.
After all, Hiruzen knew these men well.
The First and Second Hokages. The latter had led Hiruzen's own genin team.
"Interesting that you brought an extra coffin," Mei said, weighing the ramifications of those seals in her mind. "Is it yours?" She spat a thicker glob of lava at the bodies, which separated on their own this time. Interesting, Mei thought. She spared a second to glance over their faces. For the most part, she liked what she saw.
Orochimaru sneered. "Actually, I had a certain decrepit old man in mind. I do like to keep good collections."
She couldn't resist. "An old man? I don't see how an old man's face would match your collection." She shrugged. "Maybe yours would match it better, although," she tapped her lips, "I hear you're getting up there yourself."
The deceased kages lunged forward, saving Orochimaru any need to reply. He was very likely controlling them personally. Hiruzen swept forward to meet the bodies in close quarters.
Why? Was he hoping to somehow connect with his old mentors? Mei was pretty sure that the Sannin's rendition of the jutsu had brought the men back without so much as a spark of consciousness. Anyone who invented a reanimation jutsu would plan several ways to regain control of it, after all.
Mei waited until both corpses had been sent flying before using the good old Hidden Mist jutsu. Thick, white fog bled through the air. She crouched down and melted a finger-sized hole into the roof. Orochimaru's barrier went a few feet below the tiles. This left her a decent amount of space in the building's rafters to fill with vapour. She had no wish to dissolve the rafters. The perfect amount of acidity would destroy a person's lungs, and it would be no trouble to leave a few more acidic collections under the roof. Once she broke the Sannin's inner barrier, the four ninjas holding the outer barrier would regret standing so close to the inner one. The question was if they'd form their own inner barrier first.
The deceased Hokages charged. Mei jumped back and spat lava at them, covering over her addition to the tiles. It was no surprise that the mist did not faze her opponents. There was bound to be a sensor-nin among them. Sensor-nins always assumed that the mist was safe if they could sense through it.
She converted the thicker areas of mist into water needles. They wouldn't leave too much of a mark on corpses, but the Sannin still had a circulatory system. Some poisoned needles might draw him into the fight. But she wouldn't have time—the mist informed her of a huge spike of chakra.
The roof erupted into roots and branches before Mei could send the water needles toward Orochimaru. She thinned the mist around Hiruzen just in case and took to the branches, planting explosive tags as she went. The needles would hover as water vapour for a few minutes until the jutsu ran out of chakra.
Hiruzen formed an earth wall and rode it to the top of the barrier. He sent missiles toward the three enemies. The First Hokage's wood release went on the defensive, so Mei triggered her explosive tags. She paused near one of the barrier walls and activated the cloud of water needles behind Orochimaru. He dodged most of them easily. A handful made contact.
Mei repeated her rooftop drilling exercise, plugged the hole with lava, and ran further back before she could be spotted. She needed time to be able to set up her Senbon Storm jutsu. That would definitely help slow down Orochimaru.
The First Hokage's wood release doubled down on Hiruzen, who was slowly losing ground with his earth wall. The Second Hokage chased after Mei. Not what she wanted!
She'd discussed Orochimaru's abilities with Kakashi some time after arriving in Konoha. She hadn't considered the Second Hokage (because she wasn't delusional). There were some people you didn't wish back into existence. She was going to have nightmares about this, and she didn't scare easily. Her nightmares were going to be much worse than this, though—the reanimated kages had less than a tenth of their power.
Mei ran for the corner furthest away from Orochimaru. Her instincts told her that the fight was serious now. The posturing was over.
Her corpse followed at a breakneck pace. He dodged a shower of senbon with ease and threw a kunai of his own. Mei threw herself in the other direction. The Second and Fourth Hokages had used seals to teleport—she couldn't risk that possibility now.
If he could take control of the jutsu, he could probably use a decades-old seal to escape the barriers and get away from Orochimaru. Or just take out Orochimaru. Space-time ninjutsu had their benefits. Especially teleportation, which didn't hurt the user.
She skidded to a halt and strengthened her Hidden Mist jutsu. "Can you hear me? I'm the Fifth Mizukage, allied with Konoha."
Unfortunately, it looked like the dead Hokage was preparing a water jutsu. She prepared her own and kept talking. "Orochimaru is a traitor to your village, Tobirama-sama. He needs to b—"
A water dragon leapt at her, and she spat chakra out of her mouth to form a water pillar. Her jutsu overpowered his and swept him to the side as she went on the offensive. She formed more water senbon and sent them at him, then threw several handfuls more with the intent of paralyzing him. She spat lava to end the quick string of attacks.
Huh.
She'd trapped him.
According to appearances.
Even if he'd been caught, his injuries would heal quickly. She had no way to eliminate him for good. Best to leave him and get back to Hiruzen. Hopefully the First Hokage's wood hadn't released her poison cloud yet. She preferred the thought of Orochimaru slicing into the roof, instead.
She attached a few jutsu-negating tags to kunai and threw them into the man-shaped lava pile.
Then ran back to the other fray.
Hiruzen was faring badly. He'd summoned an ally (for a second, Mei was certain it was the Leaf ninja Jiraiya) that shapeshifted into a staff and back while Mei ran up. Ah, the monkey king summon.
The monkey summon yelled abuse at Orochimaru while fending off wood release. Beside the shapeshifter, Hiruzen panted.
Mei thickened the mist around the First Hokage, who was currently regrowing his arms, and used the same strategy that had worked on his brother. Temporary, but still effective.
She glanced at Hiruzen. He met her eyes solemnly.
In Mei's book, looks like that meant that someone was about to do something suicidal. She signed to him to wait.
After all, her kids really liked this old man. And he'd accepted and protected them, and even treated them as his own grandchildren. It was all according to their alliance. Besides, she knew that Hiruzen's chakra reserves had shrunk in his old age to the point where two shadow clones was all he could safely handle. She couldn't let someone so valuable expend himself in front of her. Not when he meant so much to her family.
Hiruzen waited.
In front of them, Orochimaru smirked. "What a droll friendship. It almost makes me forget that two pathetic villages are tied together because of . . . what could the term be . . . a pair of political hostages." The smirk widened into a nasty grin as Mei's heart dropped.
The snake continued. "But then, they are rather . . . promising, with Hatake's chakra and their kekkei genkai. Such a shame they didn't show it off when they met me last month."
Mei stood, frozen. Waiting. Horrified.
"Of course, I'll have plenty of time to indulge my curiosity. Plenty of time with the Sharingan," he told his old teacher, "and plenty of time," this to Mei, "to see how truly compatible their chakra is. Multiple nature transformations has a nice ring to it. Perhaps the next generation."
Hiruzen snarled. Mei almost didn't notice.
"Yes," the Sannin continued, "with an Uchiha body, the world will truly be at my fingertips. Too bad neither of you will be around to see it. At least, not for long."
"Orochimaru—" the old Hokage growled.
The ground under Hiruzen erupted into a mass of snakes. Hiruzen's summon multiplied to form a platform, but the kage himself seemed to be weakening.
Mei turned, instantly, and found Kakashi's eyes through the barrier. She blinked.
He blinked back.
There was a scream, which cut off a second later as Orochimaru's body appeared thirty feet from where it had been and collapsed, headless.
She rushed to Hiruzen to help, but she was too late. The Second Hokage—Tobirama—had already gotten to him.
Mei wanted to cry. Had it all gone to waste? She'd tried to save her friend, and now the controlled Hokage had finished him off.
Wait.
Orochimaru was dead, and Tobirama was laying Hiruzen next to the other Hokage, whose hands were glowing.
Mei cancelled the Hidden Mist jutsu and ran to the Sannin's headless body. He looked dead. She couldn't sense his chakra. He'd tried to escape Kakashi's kamui by substituting away, which evidently hadn't gone well.
Someone else appeared next to her, and she jumped involuntarily. The silver-headed man beside her crouched down to touch the rooftop. "He's dead."
Mei tried to smile. She had hoped to see a different silver-headed ninja. "Thank you, sir," she said, dipping her head in respect.
Tobirama almost-smiled back and tilted his head. "Looks like the barrier team is surrendering."
So they were. Who wouldn't, with their leader killed so effortlessly?
The fifth Mizukage, huh," Tobirama mused.
"Yes."
"And you married a man from the Hatake clan?"
Mei looked at the crumpled corpse in front of her. Funny how lifetimes were determined more by moments more than long years. This reminded her of a battle years ago, where the silver-haired ally had been Kakashi. Things had changed back then.
"Yes," she admitted.
The man's eyebrows shot up—she had a feeling that was rare—and he shot his brother a glance that went unnoticed. Then he frowned and vanished, reappearing at said brother's side. "How is he, anija?"
Great. Mei was no straggler, but she hated people who popped in and out like that. Thank heaven that Orochimaru hadn't summoned the Fourth Hokage!
"Fading," the First Hokage said. "I wish I'd trained more in the medical arts. I was able to slow the poison, but . . . I can't heal him like I can heal myself."
Tobirama's jaw worked. "I still have a few seals in the area. I don't know where to take him."
Both heads swiveled toward Mei. She blinked. Would Konoha have sent its medics along with its civilians? She didn't know. Hiruzen's summon might, but he had taken the form of a battered staff. And she couldn't just make eye contact with Kakashi.
Fortunately, the remaining barrier took that moment to disappear.
Kakashi gave Tobirama quick instructions (he must have been reading their lips) and the pale-haired man used a henge to mimic one of the nearby ANBU and vanished with Hiruzen in his arms.
There was a very interesting pause.
Kakashi told one of his ANBU to seal away the headless body.
The First Hokage went ahead and shrank the wood he'd formed during the fight.
Mei rushed to neutralize the acidic air.
Orochimaru's team of barrier sealers broke free of their bonds and escaped their small guard. No one chased after. One of Mei's personal guards turned to watch the team depart, but that was the most effort that anyone put forth. Perhaps Kakashi had discussed it with them all before the barrier came down.
Tobirama appeared again. "They're putting him into a healing coma."
Kakashi nodded.
"It also seems that your clone just took down the One Tail. Were those your children nearby?"
Kakashi stiffened. Perhaps his clone had just dispersed? "They are, Hokage-sama."
No, Mei decided. He was probably worried that Tobirama would put two and two together out loud. Kakashi's clone wouldn't leave a Tailed Beast unattended, conscious or not. If there had been an emergency, it would have formed a new clone to relay the information, and Kakashi wouldn't be standing here with them.
Tobirama nodded and said nothing more on the subject.
The First Hokage, who'd been peering out at the village, seized the moment. "I'm surprised that the Fourth Hokage," (he nodded at the faces on the Hokage Rock) "hasn't come by to greet us yet. Even as weak as we are, we're still quite noticeable. I'd say I have what, five percent of my power?" He turned to his brother. "You definitely have more, which explains why you were able to resist his control better."
Mei was definitely going to have nightmares from now on.
"A rare honor," Tobirama said dryly.
The dark-haired man smiled, doing an admirable job of ignoring several ANBU that seemed to be glued to the scene. "From your appearance, little brother, I'd say that Hiruzen-kun is the first Hokage who got to retire. That's splendid!"
Mei glanced toward Kakashi and felt Tobirama's pointed gaze. Kakashi sighed.
"It's an honor to meet both of you," he said, sounding like he could think of several things he'd rather be doing right now. That usually meant that he was paying twice as much attention as usual. "The Fourth Hokage passed away thirteen years ago in battle. Hiruzen-sama came out of retirement and has been acting Hokage ever since."
The First Hokage's face fell. "Has he trained another successor, then?"
Kakashi smiled blandly.
Tobirama's eyes narrowed. Kunai's out of the bag, Mei thought.
"Well, you've certainly proven your strength," the First Hokage said. "Are you from one of our clans?"
"My name is Hatake Kakashi," Kakashi replied, bowing.
"Ah. Few but strong. A good heritage."
Kakashi wasn't one to place stock in family background. He respected individuals, not reputation by association. He'd said once that if his Uchiha student had been foisted on him because of clan politics, he would have rejected the kid. This might have been true—his squad had two orphans and a child from a normal village family.
Mei suspected that he would have taken on his team regardless of their families.
The older Hokage's eyes crinkled in approval before wariness set in. "Tobirama mentioned that your children were near the One Tails. You don't look very old under that mask. Does Konoha really send children to fight?"
"They're genin," Kakashi said. "Their sensei, who should be with them, is an Uchiha who could handle the One Tails without difficulty. We don't give our genin high-risk assignments. Most of our genin are sheltering with the civilians, Hokage-sama."
The pale-haired Hokage nodded. "As they should be."
"Younger and younger these days," the dark-haired one mumbled to himself.
"Hatake-san," Mei said, ignoring one wry pair of eyes, "do you want any help cleaning up? I'd be happy to dispose of more snakes."
Kakashi glanced at his Hyūga ANBU and relaxed minisculely, which naturally meant that he straightened slightly. Backwards man, preparing for action just because relaxing meant letting one's guard down. "The summons are gone and the rest of his forces are retreating. If you can help clean up, I'll send men to follow them. The barrier team is going to leave quite a trail before my suggestion wears off."
"That's easy, then." She turned to her guards. "Ready to finish making history?"
They didn't answer, but she got the impression that Ao winced.
.
My parents made this ninja thing look good.
I looked at the One Tail and realized that I was never going to live up to said parents.
Of course, there was no guarantee that I'd live.
"Is anyone in earshot?" I called when my team rolled to a stop on a blessedly intact rooftop just out of the One Tail's smashing range.
"She's snapped," Kato quipped.
Yakumo just panted.
"Guys?" I called again.
None of my clones replied. Pity.
"Yaks," I said, "here, have a soldier pill. Kato, you good?"
"Yeah, I ate mine before. How many chidori do you think this thing will take?"
I flinched as yet another building went down in a chaotic jumble of sound that I should honestly be toning out by now. I just couldn't see what was going on under all of the dust. "How many you got?"
The way he stilled made my casual thoughts of "okay, Yaks is still physically exhausted" and "I wish I had a dust mask" sputter out.
"Perhaps four," he decided.
"Two it is," I muttered.
He shot me a weary look.
"Because it hates the chidori," I explained. "Obviously chidori works, but I don't think it'll stand for more than two tries. And that's if we're lucky."
Yakumo coughed—understandable, the sand monster was a big fan of dust clouds—and recovered valiantly. "Ummm. Are we seriously going to fight this thing?"
Kato and I watched the One Tail lumber forward.
"That's cheery," I said, "we can see it now."
"Civilians?" Kato asked.
I shook my head. Yaks and I had realized that we could use genjutsu to give instructions to the village's remaining stragglers, but no one had dared remain anywhere near the One Tail's little construction game. "No allies, either."
Because who was going to run interference on a Tailed Beast when there were other, more approachable enemies to deal with?
"Should I run for help?" Yaks suggested.
"Probably, but I think that Dad is the only one who'll be able to help us." I had no idea where Shisui was, and Sasuke was obviously not up to par yet. Hopefully both were still alive. Sasuke was either out of range or . . .
We all flinched as shrapnel from an unfortunate fence streaked over our heads.
Kato glanced at me and took off into the falling debris. I'd know when he stopped, and Yakumo wouldn't be any help in this fight. She'd hover on the sidelines.
I reached into my weapons pouch and fished out a slim pack of explosive tags.
She frowned. "Will it even see genjutsu?"
These explode inwards, I explained while I ran after Kato, who had called that this was the perfect moment. Apply chakra for two seconds and aim somewhere important. They're attracted to chakra.
That's terrifying, she wrote.
Well, yes, but they were still only prototypes, and I stressed that she'd have to throw them immediately. The clone that had tested their predecessors had not fared well.
Kato formed his clones and formed two chidori as the next wave of real estate formed a dust cover.
I found the best spot I could think of to act as bait. I was just behind one of the One-Tail's arms. When I stepped out with a jutsu, it would turn towards me. If it didn't notice Kato, he'd be able to sink his chain chidori into the creature's back. And then . . . maybe we could run the way that the One Tail had come from and keep it distracted.
"Ready!" Kato growled.
I did not want to run into range, but I braved the dust and moved enough to be noticed. Sand stung my face. It brought my mind back to that scroll that Gaara had given me—ahem. The last three hand seals sprang through my fingers and some of my chakra departed in the form of a rather fun little jutsu I'd created a while ago to be an ace up my sleeve.
Five tiny spheres spiraled around each other as they shot toward the One Tail. They spread out as they flew.
A wave of sand solidified in front of the chakra beast before the spheres reached their target. I would have been disappointed if I hadn't been distracted by a slew of sand bullets. I'd hoped that my jutsu would seem harmless.
My jutsu hit the sand and each sphere exploded on contact. The barrier crumbled, but the One Tail's body wouldn't bear the brunt of the damage. One Tail: 1, buckshot jutsu: 0.
Kato's clones darted in with the chain chidori.
Chidori was a loud technique. The One Tail was far from deaf, and I couldn't mask things with a genjutsu. On the other hand, we weren't trying to kill the chakra beast. We were trying to reroute it or at least buy time. Tailed Beasts wasted villages. Invasions were bad, but chakra beasts were worse.
And Hokages died fighting them.
Granted, Hokages tended to lose to the nine-tailed version, not this one.
The One Tail lumbered to the side as quickly as possible but not nearly fast enough to avoid two chidori tied together by a chain of lightning. It had armor. Had. Not any more, not where a huge hole had opened up.
Kato shook out his hands (chidori stung, and clone memories transferred) and moved further away from the groaning One Tail.
Aim for the hole or its head, I told Yakumo.
I had no idea if my experimental seals could be aimed. They might be pulled toward the biggest conglomeration of chakra, likely the hole that the One Tail was refilling right now.
Kunai sailed. Paper whipped along behind.
I ran out, foolishly close, and spat a few globs of fire. While I ran, I laid out a thin strand of ninja wire. Throw some more, I told Yaks. Then move back.
Kato headed over to where I'd been and grabbed the other end. He tied on his own strand and took off in the other direction, also spitting globs as a distraction. The mini sandstorm around the One Tail began to pick up.
The seals had definitely served as a distraction. The problem was, the creature was bound to be angry, not handicapped.
Moving now, Yaks said.
I darted around a hill of sand and nearly ran into Kato. He managed to grab my wire and twist it into his before I regained my footing.
"Get back," he said.
He thought I'd come anywhere near one of his lightning techniques? Naive little brother.
Lightning wire, I warned as I jumped out of there and clapped my hands over my ears. I'd be a lot safer in the air. There was less to trip over, and less sand to conduct along in case Kato lost control.
Okay, I'm back where it came from, Yaks said.
On my way—
Boom.
"Wahooooo!" Kato yelled as he ricocheted past me.
Did it work?
I rubbed at my poor ears and caught up with my teammates. "Did it work?" Yakumo repeated.
Kato grinned. "No idea! Kana?"
"No idea. It's lots of sand either way." Sand and crunching glass, actually, so he'd managed more than with the chidori. Wait. "Heads up!"
We scattered as a rain of glass dropped on our location. The One Tail roared. It had been doing so the whole time. This time it sounded personal.
"I think it took the bait!" I shouted. "Let's move out!"
We ran for better shelter as the Tailed Beast chased after us, firing sand upon sand. Not too shabby. We'd drawn it out and were succeeding at our goal of luring it backwards.
Then one of my clones died and I smacked into a concrete wall. Oof.
I barely dodged the sandy arm that came down after me.
The clone was the one with the injured arm, and it had hurt. She'd made other clones. She'd died of—
I escaped the arm and realized that Yakumo was hyperventilating as she ran. She'd lasted this whole time and kept with us. Yaks, VEER AWAY, I shouted through the genjutsu. If it catches you, you're dead. Get away and you can be recon for us.
Have to help, she countered. I'm the one with the monster that could fight it.
Then back off and save your chakra! Go!
Okay, she said.
The last thing I wanted was my father to show up and have to fight the Id. But if Yakumo agreed to stay out of range, I'd take it.
Kato sneaked over to me after Yakumo ran off. "Any sign of Dad?"
"Not yet. But I got some chakra back from a clone."
"Really?" We both shivered as the building one over from us vanished into a wave of sand. "When did you make one, again?"
"Earlier."
He flashed through hand seals and prepared to light up the wire he'd trailed through the sanded building.
I darted on. "Can anyone hear me?" I called again, choking on the ever-present dust.
"Yes," my voice replied. "You're hard to hear."
"I'm with the One Tail. Do you know where Dad is?"
She said something, but I lost it to the sand. "What?"
"He sent a clone! Should arrive soon."
Great! "And Grandfather? Orochimaru?"
Kato was staring at me.
"Quick!" I urged him.
He shook his head and released his jutsu, which of course prevented me from hearing my clone's reply. This time we hunkered down and stayed quiet. We didn't have much cover left. No sense running out if an angry chakra beast was raining missiles.
"Grandfather and Orochimaru," Kato hissed. "What happened?"
"I don't know," I hissed back, wishing that whispering in a dust cloud didn't have to be so painful. "They were fighting. Dad was with them. Clone says he sent a clone."
That was as comforting as I could do. Ugh, I felt sick. People had been dying around us all day and here I was, frantic about one man. Was his life worth more than theirs?
RUN RUN RUN, Yakumo sent. We obeyed. The concrete wall we'd been under splintered behind us.
Two o'clock, Yaks continued. It's the only building left right here. Perfect for another trap.
My thoughts exactly, I sent back. Shouldn't we keep running?
I don't think we can run fast enough anymore, Kana. I can't. And you two are slowing down. A lot.
Because I can't breathe, I shot back.
I saved some of your seals, she said. When you're in, I'll throw them.
She did just that. Kato and I darted into the building, coughed, and pretended to catch our breath. Kato shook out his mask.
"I'll stall it," I said, sounding like a heavy smoker. "Split up. Three ways this time. Dad's close. It has to—follow one of us. If it turns around, we'll have time."
Time for what, I didn't know.
They agreed and fled the building before the swarm of sentient sand made its way any closer. I reached into my pouch and yanked out explosive tags. Amateur, I know. But if I attached them to kunai and threw them at point-blank range, there wasn't a way to miss. Throw enough and I'd have enough smoke cover to not die instantly.
Unfortunately, the One Tail actually ate the tags. Including the ones that were thrown short so that they'd blow for sure.
I panicked. Froze.
Did I make a shadow clone to hide my escape and take whatever damage was coming? No.
For a second, all I could see was a memory of Sasuke charging a Gaara-shaped lump of sand.
He'd used chidori. I couldn't. I didn't have lightning release, couldn't move fast enough, couldn't—
Ah, but I had something that he didn't. Something that only me and my brother knew about. Something instinctive.
The One Tail loomed over me, much closer than I expected. It lifted one massive arm.
Common sense returned and I ran. Any distance would be beneficial here. My cover was gone. With running, at least I'd have a tiny bit of extra time to react. A bit of space. A bit of air.
The creature slammed its arm down and a tidal wave of sand erupted. I certainly couldn't outrun it. All I could do was close my eyes and take a careful breath.
There was water in the air, somewhere in this mess. There was also a trace of fire, if I wanted there to be. Fire that I could shape and mold . . . a particular mixture of both. Water existed, and fire came. All controlled by my breath, assuming that all went well.
I could never really tell when I was successful with Boil Release. Kato wasn't a big fan of testing it out. He preferred his kunai corrosion-free.
Today was easy, though. I wasn't dead, so it was working great.
Still with us? Yakumo asked.
I kept my eyes shut and didn't answer. From what I could tell, I was inside a bubble of sand. It didn't seem to be part of the One Tail's body. My slow, steady exhalation was keeping it at bay. Or maybe there was barely any sand to begin with.
Kato's going to draw it the other way, Yakumo said, her words obnoxiously bright against the darkness. I'm coming back in case you need help.
That was very helpful. Also not helpful, because I barely knew what I was doing here. This wasn't Boil Release, carefully curated by Mom. This was the version created after a particularly violent cold. It wasn't polished enough to ask Mom about (fine, so it was my traditional Hatake side project and I didn't want her to shut it down).
I wanted to use my little sneeze on the One Tail. Realistically, I needed to flee. The creature's body was going to seek out Kato now. I couldn't melt anything that wasn't right on top of me. And if it was on top of me, upping my firepower would probably backfire.
Kato zipped into my limited sandstorm viewpoint. The One Tail roared at him. It moved, loudly.
I upped my firepower and prepared to jump up and away before my air ran out. If there was resistance, I'd sneeze at it. Simple.
I jumped straight into the One Tail's fist.
Yeah.
The creature roared before I realized what had happened. It made a grab for me before I fell back into the sandpile.
I noticed that I was falling (huh?), saw the mass of sand, and coughed out the rest of my air. There was no time to think. This was my only option, and somehow I trusted it to work.
It did.
I slipped through its fist and managed to land on the sand below. I choked in a breath, got ready to jump, leapt away—
The sand erupted behind me.
Yakumo broke in again. Go! It's getting bigger. Holy—
The One Tail's upgraded fist knocked me out of the air.
I lashed out, desperate and unthinking. I sent a haphazard genjutsu before I could think—the next second, thinking kicked back in and I barely managed to brace for a rebound as I rolled along the ground.
I'd hit it with something that jumbled short-term memory. A stupid move, as genjutsu was ineffective against Tailed Beasts. Not the "I didn't even notice that" ineffective, of course. It wasn't a nice genjutsu.
He'd probably feel it and give it a good slap . . .
Slam.
All of my attention went to resisting the mental blow.
From a Tailed Beast.
Oh, the beauty of idiocy.
Kato drew the One Tail's complete attention and bought time for Yakumo to pull me to my feet. She gave me a zap of chakra while she was at it.
I'm afraid that while I usually try to make a note of genjutsu tactics for later reflection, I gave up this time. With all of the encounters we'd just lived through, and all of the clones I'd made, some of which had dispersed and been added to my memories? And the stifling addition of the One Tail's chakra? It was bad.
But I still gathered everything together and came back to my senses once I'd purged a ton of chakra to get the botched genjutsu out of my system. Which made those first clones I'd formed seem like a piece of cake.
Ah, it was nice to come back to my senses again, such as they were—
The One Tail was forming a Tailed Beast Ball (a sphere of condensed death).
Kato eyed the growing sphere with confusion and formed another shadow clone to absorb whatever damage would come of it.
"Wait!" I shouted.
Kato paused carefully.
I clutched at my head and pointed drunkenly in the direction the One Tail had turned, where our paternal one-man army had arrived in the nick of time.
Daddy ran at the One Tail, Sharingan blazing.
The One Tail spat.
Wrecking empty buildings wasn't very satisfying, though, so it made the mistake of glaring at the Sharingan.
It collapsed in on itself. The gargantuan form crumbled until a redheaded boy lay on the ground, clutching his head. The barely conscious Gaara trembled. "It's . . . quiet," he whispered, torn between relief and terror. His eyes fluttered shut.
Yakumo shivered beside me. "He's so lucky. Shisui-sensei can't do that with me."
"Hush," I said. "I'm basking in my father's awesomeness."
.
~Houston, we have an update! Whoa. WHOA. Hey, I'm not dead! That's good to know.
This time last year, this chapter was a sad little draft missing half of its scenes. I went through the whole thing every few weeks, sometimes staring blankly, sometimes adding a few blessed paragraphs. A few months ago, it became a functional chapter. Then I forgot all about it until a few of you guys left comments recently. Thank you! I'll be replying to your reviews now that I feel less guilty. :P But hey, I write the chapters, and unfortunately I don't have unlimited mental creativity, or I'd spend more of my free time on writing and less time reading to de-stress. Maybe I should try a boring desk job and see if I'd like that . . . nope, I wouldn't. To continue my whiny story-writing story, at this point life bogged down and I spent six months being nice and busy and occasionally filling in gaps that sadly were still in this chapter. I also listened to my brother's advice to publish the chapter. Heh heh. He's your real MVP here. Also, those of you who commented during the past few days while I was working furiously - thanks! :D
Anonymous reviewers, thank you! Here are your replies: Wait, eek, it's back - that happy feeling of reading comments:
SandwichGoddess Ch34 1/11/19: Awwww, thank you! Thank you for the heart!
Wawa4Me Ch35 4/6/19: You sound pretty similar to me on a good day! If my brain has figured things out, I'm good to go. Otherwise I go slow and carefully. I think that you're definitely helping yourself by writing out the blurbs and going back to your main scene. I am in NO way a big planner for stories, but this one takes a TON of consideration about what's going on in the different countries at this time, what's happening in normal canon, how is it different and how is it the same here, etc. When I work on original stuff, I don't spend nearly as much time planning, because those worlds build on their own. I do, however, spend a lot more time "planning" during the second draft of original stuff. For KK, I spend a lot less time refining the worldbuilding/pacing aspects of the second draft. I'm usually fleshing and smoothing KK's second drafts out. Don't worry, it's mostly my job that's stressing me out. I like my job but it takes a lot of creativity out of me. I think I'm over some hurdles with KK now, so that's good.
Guest Ch29 4/7/19: Heeheeheeheehee. He certainly did! Aa, you've got me laughing now and I popped back to read Ch29. Resist the urge, me! I don't want to get stuck in editing mode again. :P Yes, Papakashi. That troll. Isn't he, indeed.
Guest Ch34 & Ch35 4/8/19: Woohoo, glad to hear it - success!
Guest Ch35 4/15/2019: Funnny how things get reworded, isn't it? I love it, too! I'm pretty sure that Kakashi is her dad, and will always be quite close. His screen time will go down somewhat, but he's pretty important. And hey, he's in the title. :) Lots of loving father vibes! Itachi, Kana, and anyone else? Okay, deal. Kisame? Also deal (although that one's more distant and might possibly get dropped). I guess we'll see if Sasuke gets jealous or not - and yeah, you're right. Being ignored is a big deal. I like your thinking about promotions. They're definitely still kids. I thought about that a lot during the last few days - all of this crazy, horrifying business they're going through, and they're children. About Shikamaru . . . maybe no one ever expected him to become motivated. Maybe they just decided to promote him to a desk job so that they could tell him to think of clever ideas because it's his job, and that's that. :D
OLA Ch2 6/16/19: Amen! That's my favorite part about unreliable narrators - that YOU have to remember that the MC is only human and can be wrong, and then you can spend the whole story watching for things the MC missed. I prefer unreliable narrators because they seem so human. It's no fun to read a book where you feel like the MC is intentionally lying to you (unless you're given clues that the MC lies) because that seems like poor writing. But a good limited third person POV should be a little unreliable, so long as the author is careful to give you the truth in a way that the MC doesn't notice. So much fun!
Lica Ch28 6/21/20: Very kind of you to leave some thoughts! Yes, Kana could definitely be preparing harder for the upcoming war. She could be an awe-inspiring ninja machine by now - BUT here's the thing. If I wanted to see a character conveniently Power Up and become Unbelievably Competent, I'd stick with canon and wouldn't be writing fics. I know, that's not an explanation. :) The real explanation is more that Kakashi was that child. He drove himself off the deep end to become stronger and more competent. He would not allow his child to do the same, not until his child is older. He's training his children - I'm sure you've noticed that they have a family regimen to stick to. He is very involved with them and while he lets some things slide, he wouldn't let her wear herself out with chakra training. There are a lot of age-appropriate skills that both kids have been working on. They will come out more as time goes on - but not yet! I'm trying to make the Narutoverse seem realistic here, not like a breeding ground for characters that can warp to keep up with the plot. I'm sure it's obvious that I don't like to describe her training in detail. I'm usually bored out of my mind when I read other people's stories that focus on training. I try to keep my readers happy, but I'm not very good at writing what I don't like. :P So I have a rare genjutsu MC who seems weak. She actually is working on ways to change the future. I just don't talk about them in the story very much (yet). And a question - if you went to the Narutoverse, would you put yourself on the frontline to change things, or would you prefer to influence events from the sidelines? I know which one I'd prefer. You know, it would be convenient for Kana if I wrote her as crazy powerful, able to match the (ridiculously) powerful canon leads, and capable of making smart decisions 100% of the time. Perhaps even nice to read. But that would not be a good story. The best stories have limitations that can't be overcome. Now, I believe that you left a review for Ch29 as well, but I deleted it cuz of language preferences. I'm sorry that you were frustrated. She didn't go from Konoha to Wave Country - I was playing with the point of view. She's telling us the story as she hears it from Team 7. I play around with the point of view sometimes to try to keep things fresh. Otherwise we'd be stuck with Kana all of the time, and she definitely has limitations. :) If you had an account, I would have sent a PM right away to explain!
era24 Ch35 8/18/20: Glad to have you along for the ride! :D
Thinking of leaving a review? I'd love to hear which character said your favorite line of dialogue. I'll announce the winner next chapter!
And for my last rant - it's interesting how similar to canon this is, isn't it? Reminds me of the good old days when people started noticing that wait wait wait, Kiri is allying with Konoha? What? Where did that come from!? Here's the deal. The people are the same people. Orochimaru has a grudge against Hiruzen. Is Kana going to change his plan to kill Hiruzen? Nope. Is she going to change how he goes about it? Nope. But Kana's team sure affected the treatment of Konoha.
This is not a story where everything goes blatantly AU. This is a story where things start to go AU behind the scenes and I'm not necessarily going to point them out.
Ha ha.
~2.14.21 (I'd add a heart if I could. Happy Valentine's Day, hope you enjoyed your gift!) ;)