KageYuuki
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
Yuuki carefully studied a tag in his hands, looking over the intricate pattern that made up one of his seals. It was one of the first seals he ever learned, Star-Crossed Degree. Sure, he was capable of performing the jutsu now without the use of tags, but he also couldn’t deny the advantage of adding range to the summoning seal.
While Yuuki had picked up the habit of regularly checking over his gear from Nagisa, he was also leaving for a mission in a few hours. The orders kept playing over in his head.
You are to be part of Lord Hokage’s escort to his meeting in Takahoma. While ANBU will be following at a distance, you will be the only public member of the guard.
It made no sense to him. Sure, his father was more than capable of defending himself, you didn’t get the title of Hokage by being weak. But this was still the kind of assignment given only to jounin, typically the closest and most trusted among them.
Was this a test of some kind? But a test of what…? His awareness, perhaps? Yuuki stood with a groan. Well, whatever the reason, he’d likely find out.
It seemed like, no matter the occasion, seeing the Hokage walking through the village always attracted quite a bit of attention. Even more so when dressed in the regalia of the position. The white haori and hat were almost like a beacon for the people of the village.
Eventually, the pair made it past the village gates and actually on their way to Takahoma. It was still morning and the summer heat was already in full swing. Yuuki sighed, summer was great and all, but he never was a fan of the hot, humid days. He could hardly imagine doing a mission in the Land of Wind.
They walked in silence for long while, not that Yuuki minded the quiet. He walked with a light step despite the heat. Gou was the first to speak up, “Where do you want to go from here?”
A pause. “I mean… the town’s-“
The older shinobi gave a soft chuckle, “No, as a shinobi. You’ve grown a lot in the past few years, but where do you want to end up? Regular jounin forces? The Intelligence Division? Sealing corps?” He smirked, “...Hokage?”
“Fuck no!” The words left Yuuki’s mouth before he could process what he said. His eyes widened, “I- uh- I mean…” Shit, shit, shit!
Gou laughed, “what’s wrong with being Hokage?”
“It-it’s just not for me.” Yuuki cleared his throat, “I don’t want the fame or to have to deal with trying to command an entire village.”
“Then what do you want?”
“I just…” Yuuki ran a hand over his eyes with a sigh, “I want to support the village from the background. I don’t need to be front and center, Hideki and Mai are better suited for that anyway. Maybe ANBU?”
Gou nodded, ”ANBU may be a good option. If you improved your stealth first.”
“Daaaad!”
“Even Mai is more stealthy than you are.”
Yuuki grumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets. It wasn’t like he could argue that.
Gou chuckled, lightly ruffling his son’s hair. “How’s that project of yours coming along, anyway?”
Yuuki gave a frustrated sigh and shrugged. “It works, but everything still feels like pins and needles.”
“I don’t think I’d call that ‘working’.”
“I can feel stuff with it,” The younger Uchiha grumbled. “I'm not sure what’s wrong with it though. All mom can say is that it’s something small in the seal but she doesn’t know what.”
Gou nodded, studying his reaction, “Well, when you do figure it out, are you going to finally ask Nagisa out when you give it to her?”
“W-what?” Yuuki shook his head, “No, that’s a horrible idea.”
“How so?”
“Because…” Yuuki raked his fingers through his hair, “she’d feel obligated to say yes and go. Whether she actually wanted to or not wouldn’t matter. It’d just be another favor to pay off.”
A thoughtful hum, “I see… Is that why you haven’t asked her yet?”
“I… what makes you think I even want to?” His father only raised an eyebrow. He huffed, “I just don’t want to mess it up and lose a friend, alright?”
“Then maybe you should-”
As the two made it through the forest, a swoosh of air could be heard in the background. Several kunai and daggers aimed at both of them. However, they weren’t thrown by regular shinobi, these shuriken were several times faster and more precise. They were thrown by experts. They seemed to be aimed mostly at the shoulders, though one was aimed at Yuuki’s Uchiha crest.
Both shinobi spun towards the sound, Gou having been the first to move showing the difference in experience between the two. The Hokage drew his sword as he spun, a large gust of wind following the blade to disrupt the incoming shuriken. Summoning a kunai, Yuuki barely deflected what shuriken were still headed his way. A few of them cracked on impact with his kunai. Two sets of red eyes glared at their attackers.
Behind them three Shinobi stood, each wearing porcelain masks, though they didn’t stand for long. One shinobi leapt at Gou, holding a Jian with a heavily decorated tassel. He had a wide stance, his arms crossed before cutting at Gou. He was a fairly burly man, wearing simple ripped clothes, and long white hair in a ponytail. His cuts were precise. They’d have to be to challenge the Hokage himself.
Of the two left, a kunoichi and another shinobi, the kunoichi made a series of quick handsigns, a wall of water between father and son, leaving the last shinobi to approach Yuuki. He, too, made a series of handsigns but had yet to have an obvious effect. He was also fairly muscular and had eyes of granite. His blackened hair was tied in a short bun, and a black beard covered his face.
“Bodyguard to the Hokage, eh? I’m curious if you can dance. The Hokage has to be strong. Big ego to protect someone like him. I like that. I’m Goro.”
Shiiiit, Yuuki shot a quick glare at the kunoichi as she retreated from view. Of course, one of the few times he gets to spend some time with his father some asshats just have to attack them. He eyed the shinobi approaching him, pissed as he may have been, it was still an enemy. Chakra was concentrated in the man’s head, it reminded him of one of Nobushige’s techniques, heightening the jounin’s accuracy in even the worst conditions.
Yuuki’s own body was flooding with chakra, making sure Dance of the Shikigami was ready. Though his transformations were still too slow to handle weapons at that speed from such a short range. I need to get back to dad- No, I need to get back to Lord Hokage… He was just going to have to wait for an opening and stay alive for the time being.
A breath to calm down, and a series of handsigns. A small fireball left Yuuki’s lips as he leapt back, aiming more towards the wall of water beside the man. Hopefully, the blast of flame and scalding steam would buy him time.
Fire Release: Flame Mortar
The man started his handsigns the same time Yuuki started his. Jagged ridges of earth rose between the two, and the man seeing the aim of the fireball, created more to the side.
The man smiled to himself in the earth semi dome as he made another handsign. He wanted to make a wager. A moment afterward, another ridge of earth would shoot up directly in front of the nearest escape route, straight between Yuuki and the Lord Hokage.
“Think about it, lad. He’s the Lord Hokage. If you leave me to help him, you’re letting me be free to attack him again. And he can deal with two on one a helluva lot better than you can. And I won’t miss my next kunai at the old fart, I guarantee that. Against an experienced ninja, the same tech never works twice. Relax. Fight me. Have a good time. We’re not going to kill him.“
Yuuki worked through a series of handsigns, shuriken clutched between his fingers. He fought best at a range, he needed more space between the two. Not that he hadn’t given returning to Gou then and there serious thought. He had a feeling he was sorely outmatched here. Where the fuck are all the ANBU?
He frowned, “Then just what are you doing?” Finishing the handsigns, the shuriken left his hands.
Temporal Shredders
A single kunai flew out of the rock dome preceding the shurikens, a small glare on it. Then nothing for about five seconds. Yawning, Goro walked out the dome, calmly making a series of short handsigns.
“You missed, laddy.”
A clone appeared between them, charging at Yuuki. The hand signs and chakra gave it away as a mere academy clone, as did the lack of shadow.
The discarded kunai glinted in the light, Goro reflecting on its polished surface for a brief second. Son of a… And like that, Yuuki had blown one of his best techniques. He’d hoped the weapons passing straight through the man’s defenses would shock him enough for one to strike.
The Uchiha warily eyed the clone that appeared. Why was the man using an academy level clone of all things? The only thing they could really do is serve as a… Yuuki summoned and threw a fan of shuriken through the clone, leaping to the side. No matter where he moved, he was probably putting himself in the path of whatever this guy had planned next. The sharingan was useless if he couldn’t see his opponent.
A medley of shurikens collided on top of the clone as several the man had thrown collided with Yuuki’s, showing similar thinking. The man was using the clone to hide a medley of weapons. However, a medley of weapons meeting a medley of weapons just meant scattered weapons on the ground.
“As far as what we’re doing, shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. What IS the Hokage? Define the title. What has he done recently to prove it? Guess you could call us malcontents. Or curious. And we could call you unfortunate.”
And the man quickly threw another volley of kunai, seemingly out of nowhere. He seemed to much prefer them to ninja stars. And another volley. And another. His hands seemed to slip past each other in set ways each time.
Yuuki gritted his teeth, watching the incoming kunai, Goro’s movements as he threw them. They matched the movements he made when summoning and throwing weapons. Lightning Flash Blade Creation, there was no telling just what was going to be stored in those seals then. The tomoe in his sharingan spun, faint blue threads connecting to the incoming weapons and crashing them together.
The ninja smiled and put his hands together. One of the kunai that hit another cracked. Then it exploded, with a great deal of force, launching all the other kunai at Yuuki as shrapnel. Each piece of shrapnel, however, seemed to be perfectly aimed at a limb.
He threw several kunai through the smoke, just to be sure.
In the distance, a massive explosion dwarfed the fighting arena, a mushroom cloud raining wood and debris. Goro looked more than perturbed, though he refused to take his eyes off the fight. He did, however, curse under his breath.
“Damnit, Ago. That is NOT securing the perimeter…”
The clash of steel resounded again in the woods as the swordsman disengaged again. His flurry of blows had been repelled each time. To be fair, only a single scratch lay on him, but he looked significantly more winded than the Hokage.
The woman stood to the side, leaning against a tree watching, she didn’t seem to have any intention to interfere.
The swordsman moved suddenly, reaching for his mask, and threw it to the side. It revealed a fairly average looking face. It was pale, and had some serious dark circles under the eyes, but didn’t seem that unique. It would seem eerily familiar to Gou, but it would be unlikely the man could pin down exactly where it was from.
"That’s better. I’ve got a wife and kids, can’t exactly afford a mistake against the Great Gou. Though… is he as great as he used to be? Is he better than your average Jonin?”
The older shinobi frowned, his attacker’s features far too familiar. “So, that’s what this is all about.” Gou’s blade returned to its sheath once more with a soft clack. “If you have a family waiting for you, then is this really the best choice?” He didn’t want to drag this out if it wasn’t necessary, particularly with Yuuki at risk.
“If I feared you, I would hardly try to even grace the battlefield with your presence on it. Honestly, I fear more FOR you these days. The Great Gou Uchiha, behind his desk as his own son takes on the threats of the world. What all did that rogue take from you? No other jounin, however, had an ego as large as that of mine, so it fell to me to see. Are you the Gou we loved, or something else?
Well, I suppose I’ll have to kick it up a notch. Even if your eyes are as bad as rumors say, I wouldn’t dare try and take even another jounin lightly after taunting him. Let me give you a taste-”
The man’s sword stance changed. Heavy and straight chops disappeared as he started to wheel the blade around his wrists, looping it back and forth around him, his chakra starting to rise. His other hand held behind his back.
Thousands of blades circled him in the air.
Leaf Style Willow
“I see…” Gou’s eyes narrowed, recognizing the genjutsu. “I wonder how bad the rumors make them out to be.” His own chakra flared in response, and with it was a wave of killing intent. The moment their eyes would meet, the world around them seemed to fall away. What was once the sound of a soft breeze was now howls and screams.
Anguished figures lurked just out of the corners of his vision and no longer was the Hokage standing before him. A monstrous figure steeped in blood loomed in his place, its crimson eyes giving the jounin a baleful glare.
The man actually smiled at the genjutsu. It would shred through his morale in no time at all, that was certain, but no time was exactly how long he planned to spend in it. His hand behind his back ripped forward, throwing several tags in the air that read ‘flash’ on them. Gou had a choice for his eye contact. Try and break the swordsmen and be blinded, or end it. The man then moved forward at high speeds for a single stroke.
Afterglow
Due to the genjutsu, Gou would be met with blades from every direction. In reality, he just made one, a downward slash towards Gou’s arm holding his sword. Iaido would be costly if it worked well.
“Do you have anything to say, ‘hokage’? Do you understand how many of us are watching?”
“Tch,” A flash of silver and the sharp clang of clashing steel cut through the air as their swords met once again. It had been a massive risk, not looking away from the tags, but it had paid off at least. “And what would you like me to say? That I’ll step down here and now? Perhaps you believe you’re worthy of the title of Hokage.”
The man’s hand quivered as he still saw red everywhere with the sharingan in the distance. However, he clenched his blade, actually pushing against Gou’s blade. He snarled, his hand going white.
“You don’t understand, do you, you senile codger? That’s the last thing I want. But do you really think I’d last this long against Reiji? Or Kurou? I’m here to make sure you DON’T get hurt. If forcing you to step down is what it takes, so be it. If anything, she’s more suited to be Hokage, but, well, couldn’t bring herself to clash with you. Any average Jonin would do. If you’re the Gou I knew though… You’ll stop dickering around.”
He leapt back disengaging, before twirling his sword around, gaining faster and faster spins. The sharingan was still in the distance to him, but, he glared back.
Suddenly the man was still as he prepared himself for the next strike. He reached into his side pocket as he prepared for a lunge, and brought up an inhaler.
“Damn fool,” Gou returned his blade to its sheath, “I was trying to avoid wounding you. But if it’s a show of power you want so badly… then so be it.” He formed a handsign, two shadow clones appearing alongside him.
Yuuki’s eyes widened at the blast and incoming kunai. He didn’t have much time to react, let alone think. The threads were still connected to the storm of incoming blades, he couldn’t make a big enough movement to direct them away from him, but focus them where he was actually armored?
Chakra flared through the Uchiha’s body as kunai bit into his armor. Yuuki staggered back a step, a few kunai catching his arm as he fell. Tags slipped from his hand, sticking to the ground. Most were just explosive tags though one had star written on it.
Goro cracked his neck as he watched his opponent fall. It was a bit anticlimatic, but, just the way it was. His facade cracked a little as he ruffled his hair, slouching a bit. The shrapnel did NOT go where it was supposed to, which indicated interference. Suicidal interference, but interference all the same. He made as if to go after the Hokage, then stopped, looking back. He SHOULD just go kill the Hokage with a number advantage, but his eyes lingered.
Making several handsigns in preparation, he approached and knelt down to the boy.
“Can’t be done already. A bodyguard’s gotta be tougher than that.”
It had been hard to remain so still, he’d expected Goro to just set off the rest of the explosive kunai and move onto attacking Gou. So why did he stop? Why did he care enough to check on him? The whole thing wasn’t sitting right with Yuuki.
The tip of a kunai hovered at the man’s throat, “and an assassin needs to be more perceptive than that.” Yuuki hissed, the hand on his wounded arm painfully making the sign of confrontation. Outside of the blades that struck his arm, there seemed to be no blood on his jacket. His crimson hues narrowed, the Goro’s chakra was much lower than it had been a few moments ago. A clone?
“I don’t recall calling myself an assassin. Well, if I go out today, it will be as a true shinobi, to the mission.”
And like that, the man ripped off his jacket, revealing a string of tags across his chest.
“Goodbye, little bodyguard!”
Regardless of getting stabbed or not, the man made the handsign.
Heavenly Punishment.
Yuuki’s eyes widened, an icy dread gripping him at the sight of the tags. The ground beneath Goro glowed faintly as the Uchiha drove the kunai into his throat out of spite. This wasn’t the plan, but then again when had he ever had that much luck with battle tactics actually working as intended? Thin wisps of smoke emanated from the ground towards Goro.
Enclosing Technique
The man laughed loudly as the kunai was driven into his throat, chakra gathering in his tags, lighting his body, flaring up to explode, reaching the detonation trigger just as the enclosing technique went off, seemingly too slow, then nothing. The body was gone, and the enclosing technique started to cool down, its job done in the nick of time.
Yuuki let out a shaky breath, ripping out the kunai lodged in his armor and sealing them away. Crimson eyes were rapidly searching the searching the surrounding area. In terms of experience and skill, Goro had him far outmatched. There was no way this was over yet.
A precious few seconds was given before Goro’s voice sounded again.
“Not bad. Didn’t think you had it in you, Uchiha brat.”
Yuuki whipped towards the sound, immediately recognizing the voice. ‘Goro’ stood against a tree, looking mighty pleased with himself.
“Couse, the number of mistakes I could see was unbelievably high. You’re starting to get the skills of an elite, but not the polishment. Your Dance of the Shikigami needs to be faster. You prepped it earlier, but wasted it because no chance came. I think we’ll start there. You didn’t probe genjutsu, I’m particularly weak at it, could have seen an opening perhaps. Didn’t question a kunai cracking, and didn’t give it a second glance. An opponent as deadly as you are won’t have shoddy equipment. There’s a trick. You also underestimated my clones. E-and D-rank jutsu are the most likely to kill you. Not some flashy trick.
The use of enclosing technique was nice though, thought those flash bombs would have left you seeing stars for weeks.
And while it failed horrifically, the playing possum was a nice touch.
I’d give you a B, but you’re not the one being graded here, I suppose.”
Clutching a kunai in a white-knuckle grip, the Uchiha’s lip twitched upward in a snarl. Sure, it explained the fighting style and what jutsu had been used. “You…” He bared his teeth at the man, “you son of a bitch!” The kunai cut through the air towards Nobushige followed by several others.
Nobushige held up his hand in a snake seal, catching the kunai with the sign.
“We’re still going?”
Behind Yuuki, several dozen kunai Nobushige had thrown at the beginning exploded, sending fragmentations towards him to hit entire body below the neck. It was much, much less merciful than before.
“You’d be well to remember while I might hate fighting, I am, in fact a veteran jounin of the Leaf. Would it have been better for a Jonin of the Mist to be attacking you? It's not your fault, the man giving the mission needed reminding it seems. You shouldn’t be nearly as talented as you are at your age.”
Yuuki saw the handsign, his own chakra flaring in response to body flicker away. While he did indeed manage to use the jutsu, it wasn’t enough to fully evade the incoming barrage. A sharp breath hissed between clenched teeth as shrapnel tore into his leg and already wounded arm. His face twisted in a grimace as he struck the ground with a dull thud.
“So… what did we learn?”
Nobushige threw the kunai into the ground, though he knew better than to get closer.
“Seriously though. I hate fighting, and kicking the shit out of you isn’t my idea of fun. Well, at least not like this. And I try not to interfere too much with your home life. Thoughts on what’s going on? You’re approaching my level in skills, I’m pretty much beat. Not like I needed to kick your ass to know that myself. But being a valuable member of the Leaf is so much more than being strong.
Oh, and throw another kunai at me, and I’ll break your femur. If its anything more than a kunai, expect it to be all your limbs. I know Koma’s around here, you won’t die.”
While his sharingan faded, Yuuki continued to glare at him. Backwards as Nobushige’s veiled praise may have been, it felt meaningless. Getting stronger? He was still completely powerless here, had it been a real battle he likely would have died several times over. His nails dug into the earth as he slowly pushed himself up to one knee, trying to keep weight off his wounded leg.
“You think he’s too weak to be Hokage.”
Nobushige laughed, though Yuuki might note that he refused to turn off Mind of Zhuge, or look away from Yuuki, even as his reserves started to burn low.
“No. The rest of these idiots think he’s weak. I’ve served your father for many years, he is perhaps the strongest of the kage, and that hasn’t decreased too much. That’s not the problem. The problem is your father doesn’t recognize just how strong he is. To him, the difference between my power and yours is negligible. He’s too strong to think things like this through. That’s why he needs people like you and me. He thinks he can handle everything, and that will get him killed. He needs to be able to rely on people like me and you to tell him no once in a while, and give him what the perspective from the ground is like sometimes.
For example, you should have told him no to being his bodyguard. Not because you’re weak, but because a bodyguard’s job is to die. If the Mizukage and his cronies attacked right now, the job of a bodyguard is to hold him off until the Hokage has escaped. Answer me this honestly, would your father have let you die and run off to save himself?”
Yuuki was silent for a long moment. He couldn’t look Nobushige in the eye, though the tension still hadn’t left his body. “...No, I doubt it.”
“A Hokage’s bodyguard isn’t stronger than him, by definition. So why bother having them? Because the village needs its symbol. If another village kills our symbol, morale falls, and many more ninja die. So a Hokage’s bodyguard should be strong, dependable, and disposable. For the sake of the village. Your dad can’t afford to think like that though, because that’s not who he is. So… he needs people like me and you.
If it helps any, Susumu’s probably got his ass kicked by now. My only regret in all of this, is that I don’t get to see the exact moment his heart is ripped in half. I have a bet with Umichi that he cries. 50,000 Ryo. I am buying the entire squad a steak dinner if I win it.
I hope your first chance at being the Hokage’s bodyguard has been a valuable lesson. You’re too valuable to say yes to a mission like that. You’re one of the few people Lord Hokage trusts, and so one of the few who can say no to him. Honestly, I can only count a few.”
Yuuki was silent, finally taking his eyes off Nobushige to look back in Gou’s direction. Probably just trusted because I’m his kid. It was what had led to the entire mission.
While Yuuki had picked up the habit of regularly checking over his gear from Nagisa, he was also leaving for a mission in a few hours. The orders kept playing over in his head.
You are to be part of Lord Hokage’s escort to his meeting in Takahoma. While ANBU will be following at a distance, you will be the only public member of the guard.
It made no sense to him. Sure, his father was more than capable of defending himself, you didn’t get the title of Hokage by being weak. But this was still the kind of assignment given only to jounin, typically the closest and most trusted among them.
Was this a test of some kind? But a test of what…? His awareness, perhaps? Yuuki stood with a groan. Well, whatever the reason, he’d likely find out.
It seemed like, no matter the occasion, seeing the Hokage walking through the village always attracted quite a bit of attention. Even more so when dressed in the regalia of the position. The white haori and hat were almost like a beacon for the people of the village.
Eventually, the pair made it past the village gates and actually on their way to Takahoma. It was still morning and the summer heat was already in full swing. Yuuki sighed, summer was great and all, but he never was a fan of the hot, humid days. He could hardly imagine doing a mission in the Land of Wind.
They walked in silence for long while, not that Yuuki minded the quiet. He walked with a light step despite the heat. Gou was the first to speak up, “Where do you want to go from here?”
A pause. “I mean… the town’s-“
The older shinobi gave a soft chuckle, “No, as a shinobi. You’ve grown a lot in the past few years, but where do you want to end up? Regular jounin forces? The Intelligence Division? Sealing corps?” He smirked, “...Hokage?”
“Fuck no!” The words left Yuuki’s mouth before he could process what he said. His eyes widened, “I- uh- I mean…” Shit, shit, shit!
Gou laughed, “what’s wrong with being Hokage?”
“It-it’s just not for me.” Yuuki cleared his throat, “I don’t want the fame or to have to deal with trying to command an entire village.”
“Then what do you want?”
“I just…” Yuuki ran a hand over his eyes with a sigh, “I want to support the village from the background. I don’t need to be front and center, Hideki and Mai are better suited for that anyway. Maybe ANBU?”
Gou nodded, ”ANBU may be a good option. If you improved your stealth first.”
“Daaaad!”
“Even Mai is more stealthy than you are.”
Yuuki grumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets. It wasn’t like he could argue that.
Gou chuckled, lightly ruffling his son’s hair. “How’s that project of yours coming along, anyway?”
Yuuki gave a frustrated sigh and shrugged. “It works, but everything still feels like pins and needles.”
“I don’t think I’d call that ‘working’.”
“I can feel stuff with it,” The younger Uchiha grumbled. “I'm not sure what’s wrong with it though. All mom can say is that it’s something small in the seal but she doesn’t know what.”
Gou nodded, studying his reaction, “Well, when you do figure it out, are you going to finally ask Nagisa out when you give it to her?”
“W-what?” Yuuki shook his head, “No, that’s a horrible idea.”
“How so?”
“Because…” Yuuki raked his fingers through his hair, “she’d feel obligated to say yes and go. Whether she actually wanted to or not wouldn’t matter. It’d just be another favor to pay off.”
A thoughtful hum, “I see… Is that why you haven’t asked her yet?”
“I… what makes you think I even want to?” His father only raised an eyebrow. He huffed, “I just don’t want to mess it up and lose a friend, alright?”
“Then maybe you should-”
As the two made it through the forest, a swoosh of air could be heard in the background. Several kunai and daggers aimed at both of them. However, they weren’t thrown by regular shinobi, these shuriken were several times faster and more precise. They were thrown by experts. They seemed to be aimed mostly at the shoulders, though one was aimed at Yuuki’s Uchiha crest.
Both shinobi spun towards the sound, Gou having been the first to move showing the difference in experience between the two. The Hokage drew his sword as he spun, a large gust of wind following the blade to disrupt the incoming shuriken. Summoning a kunai, Yuuki barely deflected what shuriken were still headed his way. A few of them cracked on impact with his kunai. Two sets of red eyes glared at their attackers.
Behind them three Shinobi stood, each wearing porcelain masks, though they didn’t stand for long. One shinobi leapt at Gou, holding a Jian with a heavily decorated tassel. He had a wide stance, his arms crossed before cutting at Gou. He was a fairly burly man, wearing simple ripped clothes, and long white hair in a ponytail. His cuts were precise. They’d have to be to challenge the Hokage himself.
Of the two left, a kunoichi and another shinobi, the kunoichi made a series of quick handsigns, a wall of water between father and son, leaving the last shinobi to approach Yuuki. He, too, made a series of handsigns but had yet to have an obvious effect. He was also fairly muscular and had eyes of granite. His blackened hair was tied in a short bun, and a black beard covered his face.
“Bodyguard to the Hokage, eh? I’m curious if you can dance. The Hokage has to be strong. Big ego to protect someone like him. I like that. I’m Goro.”
Shiiiit, Yuuki shot a quick glare at the kunoichi as she retreated from view. Of course, one of the few times he gets to spend some time with his father some asshats just have to attack them. He eyed the shinobi approaching him, pissed as he may have been, it was still an enemy. Chakra was concentrated in the man’s head, it reminded him of one of Nobushige’s techniques, heightening the jounin’s accuracy in even the worst conditions.
Yuuki’s own body was flooding with chakra, making sure Dance of the Shikigami was ready. Though his transformations were still too slow to handle weapons at that speed from such a short range. I need to get back to dad- No, I need to get back to Lord Hokage… He was just going to have to wait for an opening and stay alive for the time being.
A breath to calm down, and a series of handsigns. A small fireball left Yuuki’s lips as he leapt back, aiming more towards the wall of water beside the man. Hopefully, the blast of flame and scalding steam would buy him time.
Fire Release: Flame Mortar
The man started his handsigns the same time Yuuki started his. Jagged ridges of earth rose between the two, and the man seeing the aim of the fireball, created more to the side.
The man smiled to himself in the earth semi dome as he made another handsign. He wanted to make a wager. A moment afterward, another ridge of earth would shoot up directly in front of the nearest escape route, straight between Yuuki and the Lord Hokage.
“Think about it, lad. He’s the Lord Hokage. If you leave me to help him, you’re letting me be free to attack him again. And he can deal with two on one a helluva lot better than you can. And I won’t miss my next kunai at the old fart, I guarantee that. Against an experienced ninja, the same tech never works twice. Relax. Fight me. Have a good time. We’re not going to kill him.“
Yuuki worked through a series of handsigns, shuriken clutched between his fingers. He fought best at a range, he needed more space between the two. Not that he hadn’t given returning to Gou then and there serious thought. He had a feeling he was sorely outmatched here. Where the fuck are all the ANBU?
He frowned, “Then just what are you doing?” Finishing the handsigns, the shuriken left his hands.
Temporal Shredders
A single kunai flew out of the rock dome preceding the shurikens, a small glare on it. Then nothing for about five seconds. Yawning, Goro walked out the dome, calmly making a series of short handsigns.
“You missed, laddy.”
A clone appeared between them, charging at Yuuki. The hand signs and chakra gave it away as a mere academy clone, as did the lack of shadow.
The discarded kunai glinted in the light, Goro reflecting on its polished surface for a brief second. Son of a… And like that, Yuuki had blown one of his best techniques. He’d hoped the weapons passing straight through the man’s defenses would shock him enough for one to strike.
The Uchiha warily eyed the clone that appeared. Why was the man using an academy level clone of all things? The only thing they could really do is serve as a… Yuuki summoned and threw a fan of shuriken through the clone, leaping to the side. No matter where he moved, he was probably putting himself in the path of whatever this guy had planned next. The sharingan was useless if he couldn’t see his opponent.
A medley of shurikens collided on top of the clone as several the man had thrown collided with Yuuki’s, showing similar thinking. The man was using the clone to hide a medley of weapons. However, a medley of weapons meeting a medley of weapons just meant scattered weapons on the ground.
“As far as what we’re doing, shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. What IS the Hokage? Define the title. What has he done recently to prove it? Guess you could call us malcontents. Or curious. And we could call you unfortunate.”
And the man quickly threw another volley of kunai, seemingly out of nowhere. He seemed to much prefer them to ninja stars. And another volley. And another. His hands seemed to slip past each other in set ways each time.
Yuuki gritted his teeth, watching the incoming kunai, Goro’s movements as he threw them. They matched the movements he made when summoning and throwing weapons. Lightning Flash Blade Creation, there was no telling just what was going to be stored in those seals then. The tomoe in his sharingan spun, faint blue threads connecting to the incoming weapons and crashing them together.
The ninja smiled and put his hands together. One of the kunai that hit another cracked. Then it exploded, with a great deal of force, launching all the other kunai at Yuuki as shrapnel. Each piece of shrapnel, however, seemed to be perfectly aimed at a limb.
He threw several kunai through the smoke, just to be sure.
In the distance, a massive explosion dwarfed the fighting arena, a mushroom cloud raining wood and debris. Goro looked more than perturbed, though he refused to take his eyes off the fight. He did, however, curse under his breath.
“Damnit, Ago. That is NOT securing the perimeter…”
The clash of steel resounded again in the woods as the swordsman disengaged again. His flurry of blows had been repelled each time. To be fair, only a single scratch lay on him, but he looked significantly more winded than the Hokage.
The woman stood to the side, leaning against a tree watching, she didn’t seem to have any intention to interfere.
The swordsman moved suddenly, reaching for his mask, and threw it to the side. It revealed a fairly average looking face. It was pale, and had some serious dark circles under the eyes, but didn’t seem that unique. It would seem eerily familiar to Gou, but it would be unlikely the man could pin down exactly where it was from.
"That’s better. I’ve got a wife and kids, can’t exactly afford a mistake against the Great Gou. Though… is he as great as he used to be? Is he better than your average Jonin?”
The older shinobi frowned, his attacker’s features far too familiar. “So, that’s what this is all about.” Gou’s blade returned to its sheath once more with a soft clack. “If you have a family waiting for you, then is this really the best choice?” He didn’t want to drag this out if it wasn’t necessary, particularly with Yuuki at risk.
“If I feared you, I would hardly try to even grace the battlefield with your presence on it. Honestly, I fear more FOR you these days. The Great Gou Uchiha, behind his desk as his own son takes on the threats of the world. What all did that rogue take from you? No other jounin, however, had an ego as large as that of mine, so it fell to me to see. Are you the Gou we loved, or something else?
Well, I suppose I’ll have to kick it up a notch. Even if your eyes are as bad as rumors say, I wouldn’t dare try and take even another jounin lightly after taunting him. Let me give you a taste-”
The man’s sword stance changed. Heavy and straight chops disappeared as he started to wheel the blade around his wrists, looping it back and forth around him, his chakra starting to rise. His other hand held behind his back.
Thousands of blades circled him in the air.
Leaf Style Willow
“I see…” Gou’s eyes narrowed, recognizing the genjutsu. “I wonder how bad the rumors make them out to be.” His own chakra flared in response, and with it was a wave of killing intent. The moment their eyes would meet, the world around them seemed to fall away. What was once the sound of a soft breeze was now howls and screams.
Anguished figures lurked just out of the corners of his vision and no longer was the Hokage standing before him. A monstrous figure steeped in blood loomed in his place, its crimson eyes giving the jounin a baleful glare.
The man actually smiled at the genjutsu. It would shred through his morale in no time at all, that was certain, but no time was exactly how long he planned to spend in it. His hand behind his back ripped forward, throwing several tags in the air that read ‘flash’ on them. Gou had a choice for his eye contact. Try and break the swordsmen and be blinded, or end it. The man then moved forward at high speeds for a single stroke.
Afterglow
Due to the genjutsu, Gou would be met with blades from every direction. In reality, he just made one, a downward slash towards Gou’s arm holding his sword. Iaido would be costly if it worked well.
“Do you have anything to say, ‘hokage’? Do you understand how many of us are watching?”
“Tch,” A flash of silver and the sharp clang of clashing steel cut through the air as their swords met once again. It had been a massive risk, not looking away from the tags, but it had paid off at least. “And what would you like me to say? That I’ll step down here and now? Perhaps you believe you’re worthy of the title of Hokage.”
The man’s hand quivered as he still saw red everywhere with the sharingan in the distance. However, he clenched his blade, actually pushing against Gou’s blade. He snarled, his hand going white.
“You don’t understand, do you, you senile codger? That’s the last thing I want. But do you really think I’d last this long against Reiji? Or Kurou? I’m here to make sure you DON’T get hurt. If forcing you to step down is what it takes, so be it. If anything, she’s more suited to be Hokage, but, well, couldn’t bring herself to clash with you. Any average Jonin would do. If you’re the Gou I knew though… You’ll stop dickering around.”
He leapt back disengaging, before twirling his sword around, gaining faster and faster spins. The sharingan was still in the distance to him, but, he glared back.
Suddenly the man was still as he prepared himself for the next strike. He reached into his side pocket as he prepared for a lunge, and brought up an inhaler.
“Damn fool,” Gou returned his blade to its sheath, “I was trying to avoid wounding you. But if it’s a show of power you want so badly… then so be it.” He formed a handsign, two shadow clones appearing alongside him.
Yuuki’s eyes widened at the blast and incoming kunai. He didn’t have much time to react, let alone think. The threads were still connected to the storm of incoming blades, he couldn’t make a big enough movement to direct them away from him, but focus them where he was actually armored?
Chakra flared through the Uchiha’s body as kunai bit into his armor. Yuuki staggered back a step, a few kunai catching his arm as he fell. Tags slipped from his hand, sticking to the ground. Most were just explosive tags though one had star written on it.
Goro cracked his neck as he watched his opponent fall. It was a bit anticlimatic, but, just the way it was. His facade cracked a little as he ruffled his hair, slouching a bit. The shrapnel did NOT go where it was supposed to, which indicated interference. Suicidal interference, but interference all the same. He made as if to go after the Hokage, then stopped, looking back. He SHOULD just go kill the Hokage with a number advantage, but his eyes lingered.
Making several handsigns in preparation, he approached and knelt down to the boy.
“Can’t be done already. A bodyguard’s gotta be tougher than that.”
It had been hard to remain so still, he’d expected Goro to just set off the rest of the explosive kunai and move onto attacking Gou. So why did he stop? Why did he care enough to check on him? The whole thing wasn’t sitting right with Yuuki.
The tip of a kunai hovered at the man’s throat, “and an assassin needs to be more perceptive than that.” Yuuki hissed, the hand on his wounded arm painfully making the sign of confrontation. Outside of the blades that struck his arm, there seemed to be no blood on his jacket. His crimson hues narrowed, the Goro’s chakra was much lower than it had been a few moments ago. A clone?
“I don’t recall calling myself an assassin. Well, if I go out today, it will be as a true shinobi, to the mission.”
And like that, the man ripped off his jacket, revealing a string of tags across his chest.
“Goodbye, little bodyguard!”
Regardless of getting stabbed or not, the man made the handsign.
Heavenly Punishment.
Yuuki’s eyes widened, an icy dread gripping him at the sight of the tags. The ground beneath Goro glowed faintly as the Uchiha drove the kunai into his throat out of spite. This wasn’t the plan, but then again when had he ever had that much luck with battle tactics actually working as intended? Thin wisps of smoke emanated from the ground towards Goro.
Enclosing Technique
The man laughed loudly as the kunai was driven into his throat, chakra gathering in his tags, lighting his body, flaring up to explode, reaching the detonation trigger just as the enclosing technique went off, seemingly too slow, then nothing. The body was gone, and the enclosing technique started to cool down, its job done in the nick of time.
Yuuki let out a shaky breath, ripping out the kunai lodged in his armor and sealing them away. Crimson eyes were rapidly searching the searching the surrounding area. In terms of experience and skill, Goro had him far outmatched. There was no way this was over yet.
A precious few seconds was given before Goro’s voice sounded again.
“Not bad. Didn’t think you had it in you, Uchiha brat.”
Yuuki whipped towards the sound, immediately recognizing the voice. ‘Goro’ stood against a tree, looking mighty pleased with himself.
“Couse, the number of mistakes I could see was unbelievably high. You’re starting to get the skills of an elite, but not the polishment. Your Dance of the Shikigami needs to be faster. You prepped it earlier, but wasted it because no chance came. I think we’ll start there. You didn’t probe genjutsu, I’m particularly weak at it, could have seen an opening perhaps. Didn’t question a kunai cracking, and didn’t give it a second glance. An opponent as deadly as you are won’t have shoddy equipment. There’s a trick. You also underestimated my clones. E-and D-rank jutsu are the most likely to kill you. Not some flashy trick.
The use of enclosing technique was nice though, thought those flash bombs would have left you seeing stars for weeks.
And while it failed horrifically, the playing possum was a nice touch.
I’d give you a B, but you’re not the one being graded here, I suppose.”
Clutching a kunai in a white-knuckle grip, the Uchiha’s lip twitched upward in a snarl. Sure, it explained the fighting style and what jutsu had been used. “You…” He bared his teeth at the man, “you son of a bitch!” The kunai cut through the air towards Nobushige followed by several others.
Nobushige held up his hand in a snake seal, catching the kunai with the sign.
“We’re still going?”
Behind Yuuki, several dozen kunai Nobushige had thrown at the beginning exploded, sending fragmentations towards him to hit entire body below the neck. It was much, much less merciful than before.
“You’d be well to remember while I might hate fighting, I am, in fact a veteran jounin of the Leaf. Would it have been better for a Jonin of the Mist to be attacking you? It's not your fault, the man giving the mission needed reminding it seems. You shouldn’t be nearly as talented as you are at your age.”
Yuuki saw the handsign, his own chakra flaring in response to body flicker away. While he did indeed manage to use the jutsu, it wasn’t enough to fully evade the incoming barrage. A sharp breath hissed between clenched teeth as shrapnel tore into his leg and already wounded arm. His face twisted in a grimace as he struck the ground with a dull thud.
“So… what did we learn?”
Nobushige threw the kunai into the ground, though he knew better than to get closer.
“Seriously though. I hate fighting, and kicking the shit out of you isn’t my idea of fun. Well, at least not like this. And I try not to interfere too much with your home life. Thoughts on what’s going on? You’re approaching my level in skills, I’m pretty much beat. Not like I needed to kick your ass to know that myself. But being a valuable member of the Leaf is so much more than being strong.
Oh, and throw another kunai at me, and I’ll break your femur. If its anything more than a kunai, expect it to be all your limbs. I know Koma’s around here, you won’t die.”
While his sharingan faded, Yuuki continued to glare at him. Backwards as Nobushige’s veiled praise may have been, it felt meaningless. Getting stronger? He was still completely powerless here, had it been a real battle he likely would have died several times over. His nails dug into the earth as he slowly pushed himself up to one knee, trying to keep weight off his wounded leg.
“You think he’s too weak to be Hokage.”
Nobushige laughed, though Yuuki might note that he refused to turn off Mind of Zhuge, or look away from Yuuki, even as his reserves started to burn low.
“No. The rest of these idiots think he’s weak. I’ve served your father for many years, he is perhaps the strongest of the kage, and that hasn’t decreased too much. That’s not the problem. The problem is your father doesn’t recognize just how strong he is. To him, the difference between my power and yours is negligible. He’s too strong to think things like this through. That’s why he needs people like you and me. He thinks he can handle everything, and that will get him killed. He needs to be able to rely on people like me and you to tell him no once in a while, and give him what the perspective from the ground is like sometimes.
For example, you should have told him no to being his bodyguard. Not because you’re weak, but because a bodyguard’s job is to die. If the Mizukage and his cronies attacked right now, the job of a bodyguard is to hold him off until the Hokage has escaped. Answer me this honestly, would your father have let you die and run off to save himself?”
Yuuki was silent for a long moment. He couldn’t look Nobushige in the eye, though the tension still hadn’t left his body. “...No, I doubt it.”
“A Hokage’s bodyguard isn’t stronger than him, by definition. So why bother having them? Because the village needs its symbol. If another village kills our symbol, morale falls, and many more ninja die. So a Hokage’s bodyguard should be strong, dependable, and disposable. For the sake of the village. Your dad can’t afford to think like that though, because that’s not who he is. So… he needs people like me and you.
If it helps any, Susumu’s probably got his ass kicked by now. My only regret in all of this, is that I don’t get to see the exact moment his heart is ripped in half. I have a bet with Umichi that he cries. 50,000 Ryo. I am buying the entire squad a steak dinner if I win it.
I hope your first chance at being the Hokage’s bodyguard has been a valuable lesson. You’re too valuable to say yes to a mission like that. You’re one of the few people Lord Hokage trusts, and so one of the few who can say no to him. Honestly, I can only count a few.”
Yuuki was silent, finally taking his eyes off Nobushige to look back in Gou’s direction. Probably just trusted because I’m his kid. It was what had led to the entire mission.