Side Story: Big Trouble in Toy Town - Complete

Nagisa Kanazawa, Yuuki Uchiha & Tsuchinoko


Birds of a Feather



"Brat, are you still hopeless with hand seals?" Tsuchinoko asked breezily, between mouthfuls of rice and miso. They were all sitting around the table in Kunoshita's house eating breakfast. Nagisa wasn't really used to people cooking for her this early in the morning, but doing stuff like that was extremely inconvenient with her leg broken and Kunoshita wouldn't have had it, in his own, gentle way the man could be surprisingly overbearing.

Nagisa scowled darkly. "I don't really use them much if that's what you mean, it's not worth the effort I could spend learning something else that works better for me,"

"You mean, you don't wanna do anything you're bad at in front of your boyfriend," Tsuchinoko shot back slyly, inspiring Nagisa to launch her chopsticks directly at his eyes, which the old man caught with his own pair, cackling the whole time. Yuuki was left choking on a bite of rice.

"What I mean," Tsuchinoko said, after tossing back the sticks so Nagisa could continue eating. "Is that you still don’t have much in the way of traditional ninjutsu in your arsenal right? Well there’s a way to kinda get around that. Have you heard of a summoning contract?”

Nagisa looked suspicious. “What that thing where you bite your thumb and get like, toads to do shit for you?”

“Yeah, well not toads specifically,” Tsuchinoko looked scratched his nose.

“Tsubaki has a contract with snakes,” Yuuki added, “And Hideki can summon… I don’t really wanna call them rabbits after the other day…”

“Toads are kind of weird and uppity, always on their sagely high horses. But there’s plenty of animals for shinobi to form contracts with. It’s all about who you know and I happen to have an in with a clan of eagles if you’re interested. They’re good at scouting and the like, but they can also use some wind release techniques,” Tsuchinoko explained between mouthfuls of rice.

“ I can see how that would be useful,” Nagisa said thoughtfully, “What’s the catch though,”

“Well you have to form a contract like I said,” said Tsuchinoko. “The main thing is that you have to use your chakra to call them to your side and maintain the summon. Nin animals can also be a bit… finicky. They have their own personalities, depending on which one you summon they won’t want to do certain things or work with certain people, some of them can be right nuisances sometimes, but their abilities usually make up for that,”

“That sounds okay… I guess,” Nagisa said, trying to sound nonchalant, it wasn’t hard to tell from the sparkle in her eyes that she was secretly pretty excited. The idea of an animal partner sounded useful and eagles in particular seemed kind of awesome. Had the old man finally come up with something cool without a weird catch?”

“Why don’t you come along as well Uchiha boy?” rumbled Tsuchinoko, “It’ll be an educational experience I’m sure,”

“Hm? Uhh, sure,” Yuuki shrugged and stood, not really having a reason to say no. Without giving the gesture much thought, he held out a hand to help Nagisa to her feet.

“I-I’m fine!” Nagisa said shortly, reaching for the crutch Kunoshita had found for her…

Which had somehow ended up on the other side of the room. Had it been moved during breakfast?

“Don’t dawdle brats!” Tsuchinoko chuckled, leaping from his own seat with uncanny agility “We haven’t got all day!

“Wait! Urgh!” Nagisa looked around helplessly for a moment and then sighed in defeat and took Yuuki’s hand, turning away as he helped her up. “Gonna kill that old man one day,” she mumbled under her breath, as they passed by the door so she could pick up her crutch.

The Uchiha snorted, “Yeah, I have a feeling he’s the one that moved it. Unless he’s roped in Kunoshita…?”

“I don’t trust either of ‘em,” Nagisa muttered darkly, as Kunoshita hummed softly to himself as he cleaned the kitchen




Tsuchinoko lead the two chunin out onto a grassy hill just outside the village, the sun was shining and a soft breeze was blowing, making the atmosphere rather pleasant.

“Eagles don’t much care for small spaces,” Tsuchinoko explained as they caught up with him. “It probably won’t matter too much in the future but it would make a bad first impression to summon one for the first ti,e indoors,”

“Right,” Nagisa had gradually been leaning more and more on Yuuki as the terrain had gotten steeper but when Tsuchinoko spoke she seemed to become aware of how close they were and moved away as if zapped. “Let’s do this then,” she said, trying to fold her arms over her chest, but the gesture didn’t really work with one arm. Yuuki shifted, averting his gaze as she jerked away.

Tsuchinoko snorted at their antics but for once seemed to have other things on his mind, from a satchel he had taken with him he produced a large scroll that he unfurled along the ground.

Nagisa leaned forwards slightly, unable to contain her curiosity, as Tsuchinoko wove a few handseals and then bit his thumb, smearing a drop of blood onto the scroll. There was a large puff of smoke than a huge eagle, a few times larger than Tsuchinoko himself, with a wickedly curved beak marked with blue symbols.

“Aw fuck it’s you,” the eagle said disdainfully, jabbing at Tsuchinoko with his enormous talons. “You know I was watching my daughter’s first hunt right?” He jabbed again, forcing Tsuchinoko to hop back with surprising agility for a man with his injuries. “This is why I asked you not to summon me on Wednesday’s, so I can be a part of these important, family moments you dig?”

“Nono I get that,” Tsuchinoko said hastily, holding up his hands placatingly. “Tenwashi, budddy! I wouldn’t bring you all the way out here on your day off for my own sake!”

“You would,” said the giant eagle, without missing a beat. “You absolutely would. But let’s say for the sake of argument that you haven’t this time. What’s going on?”

“Remember how you told me you were having trouble contracting off that one nephew of yours? Well it just so happens my charming young student is in the market for a summon! Win, win right?”

“Hmmm,” rumbled Tenwashi, turning to Yuuki and Nagisa for the first time. “Human hatchlings huh?” he leaned in towards them, until his sharp, golden eyes were only inches from their faces.

Nagisa leaned back slightly. Up close it was apparent just how sharp and nasty looking that beak was. “Wait what did what does he mean ‘had trouble contracting off? Is he defective or something?" she asked, shooting tsuchinoko a suspicious glance. "I don’t wanna be summoning someone incompetent,”

There was a tense silence and then Tenwashi snorted. “Heh, I like this one,” With a beat of his wings that launched a gust of wind outwards Tenwashi lifted himself high enough to pat Nagisa on the head with his talons, making her flinch. “Don’t worry, Bakuwashi’s a talented up and comer he’s just… a little strange. It’s a phase, he’ll grow out of it… I hope,” Tenwashi contorted one of his talons, forming handseals and a scroll appeared in his other talon that he handed to Nagisa.

“Lemme see..” Nagisa mumbled to herself, frowning with concentration as she scanned through the fine print of the contract. “I the undersigned… hereby undertake to… signified by this exchange of blood..”

“Oh I should mention Hatchling,” Tenwashi rumbled. “On account of us eagles being the rulers of the sky, our contracts are traditionally forged in midair,”

“Under the condition tha- wait what?” Nagisa looked up just in time to see Tenwashi weaving more seals. Then he lowered himself and slammed a talon to the ground.

Wind Release: Uplifting Gale

Without warning a powerful stream of wind erupted underneath Nagisa, slingshotting her up into the sky.


SSHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIT-”

“Huh. You know I had forgotten about part,” Tsuchinoko said mildly, his gaze tilting upwards to follow Nagisa’s journey. “Maybe I should have waited until after her leg healed.”

“No shit!” Yuuki snapped, watching Nagisa’s ascent.


Meanwhile Nagisa was experiencing what felt a lok like falling upwards, the air rushing around her as the ground shrank and started to blur out beneath her.

Up,

Up,

Up,

Then there was a brief moment of floating weightlessness that was almost, tranquil. The sun flared in the corner of her vision and the sky was blue, brilliant and cloudless.

Then she began to fall.

“SHITSHITSHITSHITGONNAKILLTHATOLDMANSHIT-CONTRACT! GOTTA SIGN THE-”

Struggling against the air pressure as she began to accelerate downwards, Nagisa unfurled the scroll, its length was instantly caught by the wind and ripped out of her hand but she managed to to maintain her grip. Now Nagisa had another problem, namely that she didn’t have a free hand to get her blood on the scroll, she was forced to waste a few precious split seconds wedging the scroll between her knees, then biting down on her now free thumb and jabbing it at the fluttering pape to roughly sign her name. Would it work? Did the blood need to be somewhere specific? Was the frantic scrawl even clear enough to be read? It was hard to tell if she’d done it right when the scroll was moving around so much-

A puff of smoke answered some of her questions, but brought more.

Bwaa, Bwaa, ~bwa chkchssh ~bwa chkchssh
“YO YO YO Beaky G In Da house, lemme break you off a fresh verse!”

Despite the incredible peril she was in, for a few, brief moments all Nagisa could do was stare. She’d managed to summon not one, but two birds. One was an eagle, like Tenwashi but much closer to a regular eagle in size rather than giant. More notably the eagle was wearing a bright orange beanie and a gaudy, gold chain with a ryo sign on it. Perched on the eagle’s shoulder was a much smaller, fluffier eagle, clearly still in its infancy, wearing a bucket hat and covering its tiny beak with one wing, it seemed to be the one producing the strange noises while the larger bird launched into some kind of odd poetry.

-Uhh! Beaky G on the mic and you know I’m Fly!”
~Bwa chkchssh ~bwa ~Bwachkchssh


-Started on the Streets now we soarin’ through skies!-
~Bwa chkchssh ~bwa ~Bwachkchssh


Nagisa stared openmouthed for just an instant longer than the spell was broken and she seized one of the eagle’s legs in a white-knuckled deathgrip.

“SHUT THE HELL UP AND FLY YOU UNBELIEVABLE MORON!”

Nagisa screamed, her voice was mostly carried away by the wind but the sentiment must have gotten across or maybe the eagle was motivated by instinct but it began to flap its broad wings with sufficient urgency to mollify the now rather frazzled kunoichi.

“Yoo I got’chu guuurl, Beaky G knows how to treat da ladieeeez,” The eagle said soothingly. On his shoulder the smaller bird continued to beatbox, so that the conversation was punctuated with a persistent “Bch chkchshhhh,” repeating in the background.

Nagisa tried to ignore the bird’s inane prattling and looked down to gauge her velocity. WIth the eagle flapping upwards Nagisa was definitely falling slower, she was pretty confident at this rate she’d survive the fall but the landing was going to hurt like hell. Was she about to break her other leg?

She’s still falling too fast, Yuuki looked from Nagisa to the pair next to him and back. Tenwashi and Tsuchinoko hadn’t so much as moved to help. “This is ridiculous,” the Uchiha said finally, his body becoming innumerable sheets of paper that shot skyward.

Reaching Nagisa, he had to think fast. It wasn’t like he could use Dance of the Shikigami on her. So he did the very first thing that came to mind. Reforming just enough to catch her, Yuuki directed all of the remaining paper towards his back, forming massive wings. With any luck, it’d slow her down enough for a safe landing. If not… well, this form could take the brunt of the blow without much injury.

Between Bakuwashi lifting from above and Yuuki from below the ungainly trio managed to slow down quite a bit and they landed with a loud, but relatively safe thump.

“Th-thanks,” Nagisa said shakily, relinquishing her grip on Bakuwashi to cling tightly to Yuuki’s shoulder.

“Yo Yooo thanks for the help an all,” said Bakuwashi, eyeing Yuuki suspiciously and, perhaps unconsciously, puffing his chest feathers out. “But I saw her first you di-”

With lightning speed Nagisa let go of Yuuki to snatch the bird up by his beak, holding it shut with an iron grip. “If this whole contract thing is gonna work out then you need to learn how to shut up,” Nagisa whispered dangerously. “Now go get my crutch, there’s an old man I need to violently murder.

But Tsuchinoko, sensing danger with the honed instincts of a grizzled survivor, had already fled, leaping onto Tenwashi’s back the pair of old timers took off into the sky.

“Recovering here is gonna be the death of me,” Nagisa sighed wearily.

KageYuuki KageYuuki
 
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Nagisa Kanazawa & Yuuki Uchiha

Light Reading


“I am so disappointed in you!” The voice was Kunoshita’s but it was a sterner tone than the kindly mayor had ever displayed before. His hands were on his hips and he was looming imposingly over Tsuchinoko who, to his credit looked genuinely chastised.

Meanwhile Nagisa was propped up in two chairs to the side, trying to keep the shiteating grin off her face.

“What were you thinking!?”

“Well see, the thing is-” Tsuchinoko tried to defuse the situation but was cut off again.

“I mean she has a broken leg and you launched her into the air! Your own student!”

“I mean I didn’t know he was going to-”

“And then you just stand around! While she’s falling to her death! Thank goodness someone responsible was around to handle things!” Kunoshita said, glancing over at Yuuki and nodding approvingly.

Yuuki shifted slightly and shrugged. It wasn’t like he could just stand around and do nothing. Granted, seeing Tsuchinoko getting what he deserved was more than a little amusing.

“Well.... It’s not like I wouldn’t have figured something out eventually,” Nagisa mumbled, as much fun as it was seeing the old man squirm she wasn’t sure how much she enjoyed the implication that she’d been helpless without Yuuki.

“In any case!” Kunoshita said firmly, cutting her off. “You aren’t leaving the house, you need to rest that leg or it’ll never get better,” he said to Nagisa, before turning back to Tsuchinoko “And as for you Mister, you are grounded! At least until you make up for this mess by fixing young Nagisa’s arm!”

“W-Wait-” Tsuchinoko spluttered, Nagisa looked uncomfortable as well.

“I can’t just sit around for days on end,” she said quickly. “I need something to do or I’ll go insane,”

“You need bedrest!” Kunoshita said primly. “I’m sure Yuuki can find you some reading material to keep you occupied,”

“I could probably find you something,” Yuuki murmured, idly playing with a paper shuriken. “If you want.”

‘Urgh, I guess,” Nagisa slumped back in defeat. “The old man’s books are all technical manuals and I’ve read them all anyway,”

“Yumi’s the closest to you two in age,” Kunoshita suggested. “Why don’t you try asking her, I’m she won’t mind lending some stuff,”

“Well, worth a shot I guess.” Yuuki finally stood, “anything in particular you like?”

“Uhh, I dunno,” Nagisa said, shrugging. “I don’t really read all that much so I guess I’m good with whatever,”




The village was full of bustling activity even this late in the afternoon. Repairs were still being made to the houses near the entrance that had been damaged in the attack and some of the craftsmen were even fixing up the whole in the palisade, apparently determined to be more prepared in the future.

Yumi, like the rest of the village children, lived with a chosen instructor in one of the tidy little cottages dotting the village, decorated with a charming and practical herb garden out the front.

“Oh Yumi? I haven’t seen her since this morning,” said the kindly looking, middle aged woman who answered. “She took off after breakfast for the woods along the outskirts, said she had something she wanted to practice?”

With a brief word of thank Yuuki was on his way again, the sounds of construction fading into the background as he ventured away from the village centre and deeper into the surrounding woods. Gradually, as Yuuki continued, a new sound would become audible and gradually grow louder. A thunk, then an exclamation from a soft female voice.

*thunk

“Darn!”


*thunk

“Argh!”


The exclamations were regular, but the thunks only came in at odd intervals, as if whatever was making the noise was often failing to connect. Eventually Yuuki stumbled onto a small clearing in the woods. Yumi was there, and one of the nearby trees had a paper target tacked onto it and a dozen or so kunais scattered around its vicinity.

“This time! This time I’ll…” Yumi was staring at the target with a look of intense concentration, a final kunai held in her hand.

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, studying the scene. It was obvious what she was trying to do, the why easy enough to piece together as well. “Shuriken are a lot easier to learn how to throw,” Yuuki said finally.

“Warrgh!” Yumi jumped at the sudden intrusion and spun around wildly, accidentally letting go of the kunai in the process so that it spun out towards Yuuki

After a year of having a jounin throwing kunai and shuriken at you, catching the errant knife seemed simple. “See, kunai aren’t really balanced. Makes it harder for them to actually stick in whatever you throw them at.” With a shrug he threw the kunai, easily embedding it in the center of the target.

“So, what’s got you taking kunai from Tsuchinoko?”

“Ohh jeez I’m sorry!” Yumi sighed, recognising Yuuki now. “You just startled me,” Yumi walked over to begin picking up the scattered kunai. “Not balanced... I was worried with the shurikens I would cut myself. I guess there’s no easy way to start huh? After the battle I decided I wanted to… get stronger… to not have to rely so much on other people to protect me. I was going to ask Tsuchinoko to teach me but I thought it would be helpful to practice on my own for a bit, to kind of make a good first impression y’know?”

“Makes sense enough,” Yuuki leaned back against a tree, “though at this point you’re more likely to just develop bad habits that’ll get in the way.”

“Oh I guess I didn’t think of it like that,” said Yumi thoughtfully. “Anyway, I’m surprised we bumped into each other out here,”

“Was looking for you actually. Nagisa’s kind of trapped at Kunoshita’s, so I was looking for something to keep her occupied. Heard you have a decent collection of books.”

“Oh well uh, books is probably a strong word to use,” Yumi said, blushing slightly. “Whenever we send stuff out to trade I get them to bring back manga and stuff. Were you looking for something to read?”

“It’s for Nagisa,” Yuuki shrugged, he really was heading into this blind. Not even Nagisa had much of an idea on what she’d like to read. “But manga might work.”

“Oh right! Because of the whole leg thing, of course! Well Nagisa is welcome to borrow them, I hope she enjoys them though, she seems really um… serious,” Yumi looked away shyly and shook her head. “Anyway!- Why don’t you come back to my place and we’ll pick them up,”


The journey back through the village was meandering and slow, everyone they passed seemed to know Yumi and stopped her to chat, between these interruptions Yumi herself prattled on nervously.

“So Hideki can do like, Earth ninjutsu, and some of the others were saying you can do fire ninjutsu and also stuff with like paper? What other kinds are there? Is there a way to tell what sort I would be… good at? Or maybe less bad?”

“Well, you have five basic elements: earth and fire - like you mentioned - then also lightning, water and wind.” Yuuki shrugged, “everyone’s chakra has a natural affinity for one of those elements, but you’d need to be able to make and control chakra before you could find that out.”

“Uwaa it’s all so complicated,” Yumi sighed, as they reached her cottage, Yumi quickly ducked inside and came out a few minutes later staggering slightly under the weight of a bulky cardboard box stacked full with comics, most of their covers varying shades of pink and white.

“I wasn’t really sure what kind she would like and they’re all kind of short,” Yumi explained, her voice muffled by the cardboard. “So I kinda just brought them all,”

“Honestly,” Yuuki looked over the volumes sitting at the top of the pile, “I’m not sure either.” Though he had a feeling it wouldn’t be any of these…

“Ohh well hopefully…” Yumi trailed off. “I mean this one, “ sha glanced down at a particular volume near where Yuuki was looking. “Little Witch Seduction is rightly considered a classic of the genre, at the time its flawed, complex characters and dreamy, surreal aesthetic sensibilities were considered revolutionary and the chemistry between the lead characters just leaps off the page.. Like in chapter 153 where they finally share their first kiss and- uh…”

“It was such a slow burn though, got kind of old after awhile.” Yuuki pulled one of the books from the box, studying the cover art. “Did you even get through Clock Tower? Don’t seem like the type for horror.”

“Oh you read it? I don’t know anyone else who has!” Yumi said, her eyes sparkling. “I didn’t really realise it was a horror at first, a lot of the time I don’t get to pick the specific books the caravan brings back for me. It gave me nightmares for weeks but the pacing and the mystery behind the death of Professor Y was so compelling I had to finish it.”

Yumi teetered a little as she took one hand out from under the box she was carrying to gesture at another book. “If you like Clocktower you should try this one, the author worked on Clock tower as an assistant before getting his own work published. It’s set in a strange, science fiction world where there’s no ninjutsu and people mostly fight with these tubes that use small explosions to propel out little lead projectiles. The premise sounds zany I know but if you can suspend your disbelief the plot is very engrossing,”

“Really?” He glanced at the cover, making a mental note of the title. With the unusual weapons they used, maybe Nagisa would be interested in it. “Here,” Yuuki took a hold of the box, “You look like you’re about to drop it.” While not entirely too heavy, it was awkward to get a good grip on through normal means. “Ever read Shield of the King?”

“Oh ahaa thank you, I’m sorry to be a nuisance,” Yumi said awkwardly as Yuuki took the box, “I started on Shield of the King but dropped when they TOTALLY BOTCHED the romance subplot! How could Lux end up with princess whatsherface when he had so much more of a connection with his loyal companion Romulea? They were so much cuter together too,”

“Because politics,” Yuuki said flatly, “you should have finished it, though.”

“I don’t know I just find that unsatisfying, Isn’t the point of it being a story so that the star crossed lovers can end up together? ” said Yumi wistfully, folding her hands behind her back now that they were empty.

“I’m not spoiling the story.”




Without quite realizing it the pair had arrived back at Kunoshita’s house.

“Oh gosh! We’re already here,” said Yumi, sounding surprised. “Well I had a fun time talking to you, make sure you pick out a few issues to read for yourself,” Yumi edged away. “I might not come in, to be honest it kinda seems like Nagisa doesn’t like me and I don’t really know how to talk to her,”

Yuuki chuckled, “She really isn’t that bad, just blunt most of the time.”

Yumi put a finger to the corner of her mouth. “Mmm, maybe that’s it. Maybe she’s just nicer to you than to most people cause she likes you?”

The Uchiha scoffed, adjusting his hold on the box. “We’re just teammates, that’s all.” Despite the dismissive tone he avoided Yumi’s gaze.

“Hmmm I wonder…” Yumi said playfully, she opened her mouth to say something else when the front door swung open, revealing Nagisa leaning on her crutch and staring at them with a flat expression.

“You guys seem like you’re having fun,’ she said, her tone brittle, it wasn’t clear how long she had been standing there, behind the door.

“Turns out we’ve read some of the same stuff,” Yuuki said with a slight shrug. He tilted his head slightly at Nagisa’s tone, maybe she really didn’t like Yumi… “Surprised you escaped Kunoshita,” perhaps it was best to change the subject for the time being.

“Must be nice finally having someone you can relate to,” Nagisa said, then her frown flickered as she caught sight of the box Yuuki was carrying. “That’s uh.. A lot, you probably didn’t need to-”

“Nononono, no” Yumi said hurriedly, looking a little nervous. “I insist, I’ve read them all anyway, it’ll be great to get some more use out of them,” she backed up slightly before turning on her heels. “Well I’ll leaveyoutoitIhope youenjoyembye!”

“Um…” Yuuki blinked, watching Yumi take off. “Anyway, looks like there’s a bunch of different genres in here. Maybe we’ll find something you’ll like?”

“Yeah I mean I’ll take a look through them...” Nagisa said, maneuvering herself to the side so that Yuuki could bring in the box. “I dunno how interesting that’s going to be for you though, if you wanna go do something else you might as well,”

He shrugged, stepping inside. “I don’t mind, can always tell you about anything I’ve read. Sure there’s several series in here I’ve read at some point.”

“Wh- I don’t need help to read comic books!” Nagisa said, a little hotly. “My leg’s broken, not my eyes,”

Yuuki rolled his eyes, “You know damn well that’s not what I meant.”

“Fine whatever, I give up.” Nagisa said, throwing up the hand she wasn’t using to support herself with the crutch. “Getting rid of you is gonna be too much work in this state,” she added. Although it was hard to pick out, there was a warmth to her tone that was rare for Nagisa.

The corners of Yuuki’s mouth twitched in a faint smile. “Let’s see if we can’t find a spot to hide before Kunoshita finds us. God knows he’ll just want to baby you more like this morning.”

“Urghh, don’t remind me,” Nagisa sighed. “Come on I think they have a sort of library in the village centre we can use,”
 
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