SHINOBI: The RPG - Act 2 (Naruto/Fallout SI)

[Miestwin]

Ah the Meeting Kurama scene in base Naruto. For my money, the anime pulled off making him fucking scary WAY more than the manga did. Then they took more and more of that raw presence away with time in Shippuden.

Honestly though going by the size of the eyes alone I think Kurama was actually portrayed significantly physically larger than he was in Shippuden. Like that time he took a claw to the bars to scare the kid, and you don't even see any of the hand. Just the claws at the end and they're multiple of the kid's body lengths on their own.

Compare this to Shippuden where Kurama uses his entire hand to hold Naruto down. That is some SERIOUS size nerfing.

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From what I remember, someone (it might even be me) measured Kurama when he attacked Konoha, using environment (buildings, etc.) for scale. And I think measuring him in his later appearances outside confirm this.
Base on those, Kurama is around 100 meters at the shoulders, when on all fours, and about 400 meters from the tip of his nose, to the end of his butt, with another ~400 meters for his tails.
When he's shown in Naruto's mindscape, he positively minuscule.
In my headcanon, it's because of Naruto's twisted perception.

 

[MMMm]

Base on those, Kurama is around 100 meters at the shoulders, when on all fours, and about 400 meters from the tip of his nose, to the end of his but, with another ~400 meters for his tails.

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Wow, that's really interesting. I went looking for the height of the other tailed beasts and found this page below.


https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:Dariel_Senju/Height_of_some_Tailed_Beast_and_Toads

Apparently Shukaku is 1559 feet tall. Makes Naruto seem even more courageous to stare down something so large.

 

[Fulcon]

In my headcanon, it's because of Naruto's twisted perception.

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I think 'twisted perception' fits Naruto a bit more in this fic than in canon, but I think it fits in canon too.

Base on those, Kurama is around 100 meters at the shoulders, when on all fours, and about 400 meters from the tip of his nose, to the end of his but, with another 400 meters for his tails.
When he's shown in Naruto's mindscape, he positively minuscule.

Click to shrink...

Apparently Shukaku is 1559 feet tall. Makes Naruto seem even more courageous to stare down something so large.

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That's frigging awesome.

...

Wait, how high did I say the Kaiju was?

1.61 Kilometers? 5280 feet?

I wonder what the reaction would be for Shukaku or Kurama if/when they meet that monster.

 

[Garganator]

I think 'twisted perception' fits Naruto a bit more in this fic than in canon, but I think it fits in canon too.

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Also important to note - rampaging Kurama is in his full form, while in Naruto there is pretty much only 50% of him. So if we take this into account, his smaller size later on kind of makes sense.

Also if Daisuke only just realised that Biju are fully sapient, i wonder what he'll do now?

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Seeing Daisuke's reaction in this chapter, negotiations will happen and afterwards I think Daisuke will do something to grant them freedom, while not kill current hosts. Because in the end Hashirama's idea to grant other villages Bijuu didn't secure peace, but instead created new type of... let's be honest slaves and potential nuke-like weapons. I still wonder what he was thinking back then x_X.

...

Wait, how high did I say the Kaiju was?

1.61 Kilometers? 5280 feet?

I wonder what the reaction would be for Shukaku or Kurama if/when they meet that monster.

Click to shrink...

Funny thing is that for example other Kaijuu-like creatures, which are Endbringers from Worm compared to those are tiny. Quotations:

Leviathan, from Extermination 8.2:

He was there, too. I could see his silhouette through the rain and the spraying water that was the tidal wave's aftermath, much as I had on the television set. Thirty feet tall, the majority of him was was muscled but not bulky. His hunched shoulders, neck and upper torso were the exception, bearing cords of muscles that stood out like steel cables. It gave him a top-heavy appearance, almost like an inverted teardrop with limbs and a tail.
His proportions were wrong – his calves and forearms seemed too long for his height, his clawed fingers and digitigrade feet doubly so. He moved with a languid sort of grace as he advanced through the spraying water. His arms moved like pendulums, claws sweeping against the water's surface, while his upper body swayed left and right, as if to give counterbalance to his great height. His tail, forty or fifty feet long and whiplike, lashed behind and around him in time with his steps, perhaps borne of the same need for balance that gave him his teetering gait.​

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Behemoth, from Colony 15.z:

Really big.
Forty-five feet tall at the very least, he climbed forth from underground. His skin was crusted with black stone that might have been obsidian, layers of what might have been cooled magma sloughing off of him as he planted his feet on the ground and stood straight.
'Straight' might have been too generous. He was built like a caricature of a bodybuilder, or a bear-human hybrid. He rippled with muscle, his skin gray, thick and leathery like the hide of a rhinoceros or elephant. His black obsidian horns were so heavy his head hung down. They weren't rooted in his forehead, but in the middle of his face, a half-dozen curved shafts of black crystal twisting their way out of his face and back over the top of his head, some ten feet long. A single red eye glowed from between the gap in two horns, positioned too low. His mouth was a jagged gap in his lower face, twisting up to a point near his temple, lined by jagged horn-like growths that were too irregular to be called teeth.
His claws were the same, not hands in the conventional sense, but mangled growths of the same material that made up his horns, many of the growths as large as Alexandria herself. He could flex them, move them, but they were clearly weapons and nothing else.​

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The Simurgh, from Migration 17.1:

She seemed human, but fifteen or so feet tall, waif-thin, and unclothed. Her hair whipped around her, nearly as long as she was tall and platinum-white. The most shocking part of it all was the wings; she had so many, asymmetrical and illogical in their arrangement, each with pristine white feathers. The three largest wings folded around her protectively, far too large in proportion to her body, even with her height. Other wings of varying size fanned out from the joints of others, from the wing tips, and from her spine. Some seemed to be positioned to give the illusion of modesty, angled around her chest and pelvis.
Each of her wings slowly unfurled as she stretched them out to their limits, and the snow and dust around her was gently pushed away. The tips of the largest three wings raked through the building faces on either side of the four lane road, tearing through concrete and brick and bending the steel girders that supported the structures.​

(For reference, a four lane road is roughly 80ish feet wide when accounting for sidewalks and such, according to my quick Googling)

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So yeah, pretty much most scary beings in Wormverse (after Entities like Zion) are only 30 Feet Tall (Leviathan), 45 Feet Tall (Behemoth) and Simurgh almost miniscule 15 Feet Tall. There are more, but pretty sure none of the sizes are mentioned for others.

Yeah, I think Bijuu in Worm would be a fun thing to read about, just to see reactions of those people and this Kaijuu as well .

 

[Galacticplumber]

Late stage Kurama is significantly less than half the size of early portrayal Kurama, and he doesn't magically get sized right when he gets his other half either. Luckily for us, Fulcon hasn't given size measurements in universe, and is free to use the frankly UNREASONABLY large sizes shown in early canon for presence. Also I'm pretty sure Shukaku had much less dramatic change in size than Kurama. We see Shukaku having a stare-down with Gamabunta, with Naruto standing on his head being roughly equal height with the Gaara forehead protrusion.

Compare this to Gamabunta when Minato used him to hold Kurama down. Kurama towered over him due to much longer limbs. Gama really only managed the feat due to having a good weight comparison to the torso.

As for why this happened? I'm pretty sure they just had no idea how big they actually wanted him to be, and settled for big but manageable later on. I'll except perspective shenanigans as the excuse for why.

Best arguments for why to do this is that since we aint animating reasonable to draw doesn't matter, and the undeniable fact that having to look.... up, and up.... and up some more just to see something properly is COOL!

 

[Fulcon]

The Following is a fanbased work of fiction: Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden are owned by Shueisha, Viz Entertainment and Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release.

---

"That's when I realized I needed to put cash in that company as fast as possible," I finally finished explaining as we appeared in the mountains of the Land of Iron. "So, I had to find a broker that served internationally, then shoved a massive cash infusion into them so they didn't fall over. That's why I was gone for three and a half hours."

"Ah, okay." Anko nodded, looking down the path and bridge to the Capital. "I should've figured that it was something to do with Naruto. Are you sure he's going to be okay?"

"He's going to be fine," I said with a smile.

"Good," Anko said, getting a warm smile on her face. "I'd hate to meet my new brother-in-law while he's in the hospital. Might not set the best impression, you know?"

"Oh, he's going to love you," I said, returning the smile.

Anko hummed curiously. "Why?"

"You both love screwing with people," I replied.

"That's true!" Anko laughed. Then she looked over to the gates of the Capital. "You know, I've only been this far north once."

"Really?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, there was this diplomat sent from the Daimyo to talk to the shogun over a possible trade deal," Anko explained as we started walking forward. She started holding her arms. "Nothing, whew, came of it though."

"Here," I said, snapping my fingers and giving her a set of form-fitting winter clothes to cover the fishnets, emerging beneath the trench coat. "That'll help keep the cold out."

"Thank you," Anko said with a smile. "That's much better. What about you? That suit doesn't look very warm."

"My old life, I was raised in the mountains," I explained with a shrug. "I refuse to let cold bother me on principle."

Anko hummed. "Big, tough mountain man?"

I was not a big, tough anything. But now, though? "Yeah. Anyway, I'm really annoyed with the Fourth right now."

"Because he didn't tell you he sent Naruto to destroy your bridge?" Anko asked curiously.

"Oh yeah," I nodded. "That's one of the first things that should've been out of his mouth when I got back. But no."

"He probably thought he could do the mission, get paid, then tell you that they 'just learned that the bridge was destroyed' once we got back from our honeymoon," Anko explained with a deep frown. "It probably morphed from 'we can use this to get him to come back' to 'we can use this to earn favor with him' once you got back."

I groaned in disgust, shaking my head. "I had no time for politics before I got my charisma figured out, I don't have time for it now."

"I know what you mean," Anko said with an exasperated expression of her own. "Why can't it just be 'here's a mission, the last one you did turned into this, we didn't know about x, we're sorry'? It drives me crazy."

"Because then, you know, they'd have to stop trying to manipulate things in the background and take responsibility for their mistakes," I replied with a nasty frown. "I mean, I'm one to talk, but…"

"You're pretty good at that, actually," Anko said, smiling down at me. "Well, you are now."

"Thanks, Anko," I said with a grin.

Looking over the path, I could still see the parts of the mountains that the Kaiju had pulled off when it had attacked me. I could see the beginnings of scaffolding to get up to the veins of ore that we uncovered in our fight.

"What happened here?" Anko asked with wide eyes.

"You know the quest, 'The Kaiju'?" I asked with a small grin.

"Yeah – wait," Anko did a double take. "That thing, whatever it is, did that?"

"It was throwing mountains around and clobbering me with them," I said, my grin getting positively massive. "Best fight I've had in a long, long time."

"Where it is now?" Anko asked quickly.

"In a box up in the sky until I can figure out what to do with it," I answered, pointing to the small, black dot in the sky.

She leaned forward, squinting up to see the black dot, only for her eyes to suddenly get wide again. "Wait, how high is that thing."

"Pretty high up," I answered. It wouldn't do much good to say 'its in orbit', since the elemental nations had no real concept of space travel. Sure, they had telescopes and astronomers, but those are civilian posts and most ninja aren't too concerned with learning how to plot their course by the stars. "It's another thing I need to take care of."

"Why haven't you killed it yet?" Anko asked, looking at me with a deep frown.

"Because it can't die," I replied with a grin. "It's awesome!"

"Honey," Anko licked her lips and took a breath. "Would you explain that to me?"

"Certainly!" I said brightly. "In Fallout, occasionally, you run into NPC's that are essential to a story or quest. Or whatever. You can't kill them, they're essential. So, when you attack them and bring their health to nothing, they just fall on their buts for a few moments, then get back up after combat is over. The problem is that the quest needs me to kill the Kaiju, but the Kaiju can't be killed until after the quest is completed."

"Why would the game give you a quest that can't be completed?" Anko asked, shaking her head with a nonplussed expression.

"I'm pretty sure it's intentional," I replied with a shrug. "If it was a bug, it wouldn't be getting stronger every time I put it down."

"Intentional," Anko repeated, her eyes getting wide. "You mean…someone did that?"

"All games have a developer." I nodded, remembering that first message I received in the womb, welcoming me to SHINOBI: The RPG's beta. "Including mine. So, my real question is if the developer is still messing with me, and I suspect he, she or they are."

"Have you met him?" Anko asked.

"No," I shook my head. "I doubt I ever will, he or she or they've been completely absent."

Anko hummed in thought. "They've mostly been content to observe. But why would they give you a quest you can't complete? That's…violating their own rules?"

"No idea," I shrugged. "But I can't kill the thing, I kind of want to build it its own little world for it to frolic around in because it's so awesome."

"It's got to be some monster to give you a fight," Anko replied. "Did you meet it before or after you cracked godhood?"

"After," I answered with an enthusiastic nod.

She moaned in nervousness. "Would you take care of it today?"

"Today?" I asked with a frown. "I don't know, I was still thinking about how to do that."

Anko looked down, right into my eyes and held my gaze.

…oh, man. Come on, I was hoping it'd break out and give me the fight of a lifetime. It can't break out if it if it's on its own world, however million lightyears away from Earth…but if I don't take care of it, it's going to appear at a very inopportune time. Like when I'm in the village, on lunch with my wife. Which would be bad, as it likely would start ripping up Mt. Kagemore and using the faces as knuckles to punch me with, making a gigantic mess.

Besides, if it can get down from the cage, it can come back to fight me from whatever crazy world I build for it.

"Alright," I relented. "I'll handle it tonight. Would you like to come with?"

"You know I would," Anko said, giving me a reassuring smile. "I wasn't lying when I said I wanted to share your life with you. I'll leave you alone when you want, because I know how important that is to you, but…don't let that be too often, okay?"

"I'll do my best," I said, with a reassuring smile of my own.

We came to the front gates and the guards both bowed. "Shimoda-sama."

Given how I publicly destroyed the biggest monster any of them had ever seen in their lives, this kind of reaction isn't unexpected. Just odd. "Good to see you guys are still standing. Is Mifune-san in?"

"Yes, he's been waiting for you to return," The Guard replied. "He said to alert him when you returned. Who is your companion?"

"My wife, Anko," I answered without hesitation. "I would appreciate whatever courtesies you show me to be shown her."

The two guards froze, and bowed again. "We will be sure the Shogun is properly informed."

Then guard number one ran off to a booth inside and started knocking. After a moment, the door opened, and the guard started talking to the one who answered the door, and gesturing toward me. The gestures became increasingly frantic as they spoke but eventually, the guy who answered the door ran off.

"Typically, I'm escorted to the man's office," I told Anko with a raised eyebrow. "This isn't usual."

"Is it because I'm here?" Anko asked with a frown.

"Maybe," I said. "But he's going to have to deal with it."

Anko's frown turned into a smile.

After several minutes of waiting, the Shogun arrived, backed with a team of three Samurai. I could feel Anko getting uneasy, they way she tensed up at their approached. I took her hand in mine, gave it a light squeeze and smiled. She relaxed, returning the smile.

"Daisuke. Sama," Mifune bowed in greeting. "It is good to see that you've returned. Congratulations on your marriage."

"This is Anko," I said with a grin, introducing her as we both bowed in return. "We're here because we need to learn Ninshū. As fast as possible. I've put this off for far too long."

"We would be honored to teach you," Mifune said, bowing again.

This…is a far cry from how they usually act around me. Sure, I can say that I beat the Kaiju off of their doorstep, then tried my best to repair as much of the damage to the Land of Iron as I could, and then…huh. Well, okay then.

"But before I do so, and I mean no disrespect," Mifune began, carefully masking his nervousness behind an expression of neutrality. "I must use Ninshū on you, to read your chakra and understand you."

Oh. He wants me to pass a security test. "Alright. You want to do this here, back in your office, or-?"


"I believe we should begin in our Temple to the Sage of Six Paths," Mifune answered with a nod. "If you both will follow me?"

---


The temple reminded me very heavily of a Buddhist temple, a statue of the sage sitting in a meditative pose with dozens of candles arrayed before him. Anko and I were sitting on mats, and across from us was Mifune who, I could see, was doing a lot to remain composed.

Pretty sure he's afraid of whatever he's going to find.

Hopefully, he doesn't mind learning that I died and came back and whatever other stuff I've dug up. He might have a heart attack once he learns I'm a god, though. I hope I don't have to resuscitate him, that'd be really bad. Assuming I can even do it through my peals of laughter.

"Daisuke-sama, if you'd please allow me to take your hand," Mifune requested.

I extended that hand with a friendly smile and he took it. From his fingers, I felt his chakra pulse, searching over a looking at mine just as Danjuro did so long ago. I think he wanted to pull back, to look away, judging from the way his skin blanched.

Finally, he did pull away, falling back slightly onto his hands. "Daisuke-sama, I…"

"Mifune-san."

He stopped talking immediately.

"I need you to relax," I said, with a smile. "It's fine. Seriously."

"You're a god."

"I am," I said with a nod. "My wife is a goddess. It's a pretty recent thing for both of us. The most important thing I want you to realize is that I don't look down on you or consider you inferior. Nor am I mad at you, nor have you offended me in any way. I just need you to relax so we can talk about learning Ninshū."

"Yes," Mifune nodded quickly and rapidly, slowly starting to calm down. "Yes, of course. My daughter expressed an interest in teaching you Ninshū, but seeing as how you are married-"

"It's fine," Anko quickly interjected. "Really. If we have a willing tutor already lined up for us, I see no reason for her to not teach us Ninshū."

Mifune looked at Anko with carefully masked concern. "If I may, I'd like to read your chakra as well, Anko-sama. If you please."

Anko looked slightly confused and looked at me. I just gave her a nod, to which she shrugged and looked still confused. I just smiled and gestured for her to go ahead and she relented, extending her hand.

Mifune took it and Anko's expression simply doubled down on the confusion, and then she seemed intrigued.

Mifune took a breath. "Very well. I will send for Katsuki. She's been looking forward to meeting you since you first arrived in the Land of Iron."

"I look forward to meeting her," I said with a smile.

He left us alone.

"Why did he want to read my chakra too?" Anko asked rhetorically. Then it hit her. "He wanted to make sure I didn't want to kill his daughter, huh?"

"Bingo," I said with a nod.

"What does that mean?" Anko asked curiously.

"It's a reference to a game back in my old world," I said, starting to go into an explanation and making sure she wasn't checking out. She wasn't, so I continued. "We had a five-by-five grid printed on a sheet of paper with numbers on them. A caller would draw out a number randomly, and whenever a number on your ticket is called, you put a marker on the number. Get a straight line all the way across, you shout 'Bingo' and win."

"Did you play it a lot?" Anko asked.

"No, but it was so ingrained in our culture that whenever someone gets something correct, we sometimes say 'bingo'," I explained with a shrug. "A lot of things we did were like that, actually. To an absurd degree."

Anko just hummed. "Interesting. You were a civilian, right?"

"I was," I confirmed with a nod.

"Is that why you're so set on sharing knowledge with everyone?" Anko asked with a raised eyebrow. "I only ask because your reputation for sharing jutsu in the village is legendary."

"No, actually, that's because I lived in the information age, where it was nearly impossible to keep a secret if someone was determined enough to find you out," I said with a shrug. "I lived in a country where you were free to criticize your government, where you were free to protest injustice if you felt it was there and where innocence is presumed."

Anko started blinking. Rapidly, and with great speed. "How…did that work? How did any of that work?"

"Pretty well," I replied with a smile. "We can talk about it once we get back to the vault, if you're interested."

"Oh, we're going to be talking about it. At length," Anko said with a skeptical expression.

Fair enough, she was raised in Konoha, a distinctly military dictatorship. Criticizing the Hokage was typically not something that was tolerated.

The door to the temple opened and Mifune returned, trailed by a girl who wore a form-hugging kimono, showcasing a slender and curvaceous body. As she came into the light, I could make out her face better; heart-shaped with fine features, her cerulean eyes shining sharply as they came to gaze upon me, then my wife. Her long, black hair fell around her shoulders, twin braids draping themselves in front.

She bowed straight into a kowtow. "Greetings. I am Katsuki, daughter of the Shogun. It is my honor to be able to teach both of you Ninshū."

"It is nice to meet you, Katsuki-san," I said in an attempt to be friendly, giving a light return bow, and my wife did the same. "Thank you for being willing to teach us."

"We do appreciate it," Anko supplemented neutrally.

Katsuki stood and sat down. "The first thing I'll need to do is read your chakra, so that I can understand the best way to teach you. I would like to do this for you, Shimoda Daisuke-sama, first."

"Alright," I said, extending my hand slowly and evenly. I don't want Anko to think I'm overly eager because she could see that as a threat to her place at my side. I'm pretty sure she's secure enough to brush it off, but I'd rather not make her have to do that if I don't need too. And I don't.

Katsuki took my hand and the increasingly familiar sensation of chakra washing over me, not even coming close to seeing the entirety of the infinite oceans inside, but getting a pretty good look, I think. After a moment, she started sweating from exertion and she let go, taking long, even breaths.

"Are you alright?" Anko asked, frowning.

"Yes. It's just…well, it's just a lot of chakra," Katsuki replied with a nod and a smile. "More than I've ever seen before in my life. But I think I've got the complete picture. Did you…did you really die?"

"I did," I said with a nod.

Mifune let out a light grunt in confirmation and understanding.

She frowned. "I am so sorry. Your life has been very hard on you."

"Most of it my own doing," I said with a nod. "Trying to stop making things unnecessarily difficult for me, but, you know, self-destructive habits die hard."

"Indeed," She said, still frowning. Then she turned to Anko and extended her hand. "If I may."

"Sure." She didn't seem sure, but she was doing this with me.

Katsuki repeated the process, sweat again beading up on her forehead. When she was done, her hand nearly fell from Anko's grip instead of being withdrawn.

"We can take a break if you need," Anko offered.

"No, no," Katsuki shook her head. "It is fine. Thank you, though, for your consideration. From here, you'll be practicing on each other."

"We will?" Anko asked, sounding surprised.

"Neat," I said with a grin, taking Anko's hand in mine.

"Yes, you will," Katsuki said with a smile to Anko. "Given the passion and companionship you share, it will make things much easier for the both of you."

"Alright," Anko's grip on my hand tightened.

"Start by allowing your chakra to travel out of the tenketsu in your hands," Katsuki began to instruct. "And into your partners…"

Then it began. It was a simple thing, just feed your chakra into the other person and then let it merge. Like two rivers flowing against each other and instead of pushing, you gave up resistance entirely and allowed your chakras to merge.

When I did that? When the two of us allowed our chakra to merge? That is when I saw.

Perk Added: Ninshū Novice!

You have begun learning the art of communicating with people with Ninshū! You are a novice at understanding people through their chakra alone.

This is when I saw Anko, clearly and for the first time. I saw a little girl, terrified at the world because of her Sensei's, her father's, abandonment. I saw a grown woman who was absolutely giddy to have found someone she considered being more than worthy of being her other half. I saw a girl who believed herself worthless for anything other than to be physically used and discarded. I saw a woman who wanted more than anything to create life and be worthy of caring for it.

That was when I felt the love that she had for me.

Anko felt that I truly had forgiven her for things she still struggled to forgive herself for. She felt that I was worthy. She felt that I respected her, for who she was and how she felt. In me, she had placed her trust. She did not want to be discarded and she believed she should be. She trusted that I would be her other half, no matter how hard that would be. She trusted that I wouldn't abandon her, even though she felt that I should.

I also saw what she saw.

She saw a vicious marauder, who had been angry at the world but whose wounds had mostly healed. She saw a little boy, one who had once been scared by the dark but had turned on the light and made peace with his monsters. She saw a man with grand ambitions for the world, hoping to make everything better since he could no longer build himself up.

She saw how I loved her. How much I valued that, when I was lost and floundering in the dark, she was the only hand of companionship that I felt was genuine. How I visited her in the hospital because I enjoyed talking with her, how I trained her because I wanted to see her healthy. How happy I was to work with her as a partner because she wasn't doing it to take advantage of how starved I was for affection.

It didn't matter that we were only romantic for an hour before joining ourselves like this. It didn't matter that I didn't think she'd be interested for most of the time that I knew her, or that she felt it was wrong to be interested.

What mattered is that there was a window of opportunity, where our emotions were strong and that we hit the anvil while it was hot. What mattered is that we had forged a bond together. Through our talks, through our kisses, through our throes of lovemaking we had created a bond; one that could only grow stronger with proper nourishment and tender care, from both of us.

We saw each other.

And we pulled each other into a kiss, our lips meeting in a moist duet. Her breath was hot in my mouth, our tongues sending sparks of joy through our bodies as they met and tasted each other.

Eventually, we pulled apart, taking a deep breath and for the millionth time…

"I love you," She said.

"I love you too." I rejoined.

It was true. It was true, and we were going to sing about it.

No one can stop us.

We both turned to Katsuki with the biggest smiles on our faces.

"So, what else you got?" I asked happily.

Katsuki, who's face had turned pink, coughed into her fist. "I think that's it for our lesson. Um, Father? May I ask that you leave us alone? I have a favor to ask them."

Mifune's eyes narrowed, looking at her and then at us. "What are you going to ask them?"

Katsuki took a deep breath. "Father, I am going to ask them to read my chakra. I would like some privacy, please."

…oh…kay…

Interesting.

He took a breath himself and sighed. "Very well."

Mifune bowed to Anko and I. "By your leave."

Like that, he left.

Okay then.

He probably didn't want to seem disruptive to the teacher in front of her class and the class are a pair of actual, living, breathing gods. Insanely disrespectful to be disruptive, especially since he, himself, recommended her.

"So, was that code or is that really all you're going to do?" Anko asked curiously.

"No, I'm going to ask you to read my chakra," Katsuki replied with a nod. "But I'm also going to ask you for a few other things as well, afterwards."

"Like what?" Anko asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

"After you've both read me," Katsuki said firmly, extending her hand to Anko. "You may go first, if it pleases you."

Anko took her hand and started, her curling into a frown, then into a more neutral expression as pieces started to come together for her. She hummed as their hands came apart. "I see. I think we can accommodate you. On all counts."

"Thank you," Katsuki said with a nod. "Now, Daisuke-sama? If you'd please."

"Certainly," I said, taking her hand and starting to merge my chakra with hers.

Hm.

Katsuki was a girl who hated stagnation. She wanted growth, progress, and increase. This was a problem since the Land of Iron was almost entirely stagnant in its neutrality. She felt like her father didn't consider her opinions to have any worth, as he had rebuffed all of her demands that the Land of Iron change in any way. But in Anko and I? She saw her hopes and dreams fulfilled.

She wanted Ninshū everywhere. She wanted to learn Jutsu. Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu. The adaptability and potential for growth was something she envied in the Shinobi, which was why she had desperately asked, demanded and begged for the ability to teach us Ninshū, hoping to strike a bargain, but now forced into giving an offering and hoping for a blessing, given the insane gap in social roles we had – she now had the novel experience of knowing what it was like for a peasant to approach her father.

There's also that insane, hormonal, animalistic lust she had for me, but beyond being flattered, I'm going to ignore that. I'm a married man.

"Okay," I said. "You want to learn Jutsu and spread Ninshū to the Elemental nations. Anko's right, we can absolutely accommodate you."

"Thank you," Katsuki said, letting out a breath. "I wish to travel to the Elemental nations to spread Ninshū, to hopefully stop all the fighting and war so we don't have to be neutral anymore."

"It's a nice thought," I began with a friendly and understanding smile. "And I agree with you, but expecting Ninshū to stop a war is being more than a little optimistic. It's going to cause revolution, peaceful or otherwise. After that, we could look forward to an era of peace and, you're right, the Land of Iron could break its neutrality safely."

"I suppose," Katsuki grumbled in annoyance. "There are times when enemies become greater enemies thanks to their understanding of one another."

"That said, I do want Ninshū everywhere," I said with a nod. "I think it could bring about peaceful revolution if violence becomes too costly for everyone involved and they see that, which Ninshū would be good at explaining. So, my question is, how were you thinking we could take you to the Elemental nations?"

Katsuki hummed for a moment, then went into a kowtow. "I would like to pledge myself to you, my gods, to serve you in whatsoever way you wish, in exchange for the opportunity to teach Ninshū and to learn the ways of a Shinobi."

"We accept," Anko said immediately.

I blinked and turned to her. There is no way she missed Katsuki's attraction to me. "Are you sure? Even with-?"

"Yes, I am sure," Anko nodded slowly and methodically. "She can help me with your gift."

"Gift?" Katsuki asked with a tilted head, and a confused expression. Then her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh! That's what that was! I…oh. Oh. Hm."

She cupped her chin, staring at the floorboards deep in thought, occasionally looking up to look at me, then Anko.

I said I'm not even going to try to find out what her gift is. I still don't want too.

"I don't mean to question you, Anko-sama," Katsuki finally began. "But are you sure this is what you want? To give him…that?"

Anko simply frowned, took a deep breath and looked back at her resolutely. "Yes. Helping me with that gift is something you'll be required to do if you pledge yourself to us. So, think long and hard about it before you say you'll be serving us in 'any way we require'."

Katsuki simply continued to think, tapping her chin.

I looked at her questioningly.

"Later," She mouthed back at me. "Tonight."

What exactly is Anko's gift, that she had me promise to accept and use and now basically strong arming a girl's promise to serve us in any way to helping with it? I mean, at least she's letting her know now instead of springing it on her later.

"Very well," Katsuki said with a sense of finality. "I pledge myself to serve both of you in any and all ways you should require."

"And we'll teach you everything we know about Jutsu and help you spread Ninshū," Anko said with a slow nod. "Thank you. Really. I really, really appreciate this."

Wait.

…

Oh.

Oh, no.

I see why she felt the need to make me promise to accept it and use it. It goes against…all of my morals, most of my instincts and a lot of my good sense. Crap.

"Anko," I said slowly. "We need to talk."

Anko licked her lips in the same way one would before an unpleasant encounter; she was expecting a fight. "Yes. We do."

I will not get angry. Arguments will destroy this bond that we've made. We will discuss it. I will dissuade her from this, but I will not get angry and we will not argue.

Katsuki made to say something, but then held her tongue. "With your leave, I will tell my father. Then, once I am packed and ready to go, what would you have me do?"

I looked at Anko, who gave me a look. "Alright, look. Anko and I are going to be talking about this gift she wants to give me. Once you've been immigrated into the Land of Fire, you can…house sit for us while we enjoy the rest of our Honeymoon."

Katsuki blinked. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity on your Honeymoon. I didn't mean to intrude."


"You are not intruding," Anko replied, a sad smile growing on her face. "This is something I need as much help with as I can."

---


Naruto didn't like how uncomfortable his Dad looked when Kakashi sensei finished the report. So, he decided to ask. "So, what's the matter, Dad?"

Minato took a deep breath and let it out. "Nearly an hour before you returned from the village, we received a letter by messenger hawk from Gombei, who informed us that we are to keep our payment and gave us the bonus he promised for removing Daisuke. Now that you've given your report, I see why."

"But we didn't get rid of Daisuke," Hisako asked, nonplussed. "He just showed up, healed everyone, then left. Why did Gombei give you the bonus?"

Minato rolled his shoulders. "The day that you left, Daisuke returned to the village."

Jaws fell open. Naruto felt like his eyes were going to bug out of his skull. Kakashi's single eye almost did. Hisako covered her mouth and Nichiren just froze. Sasuke didn't say anything either, though words were desperately trying to form in his mouth and coming out as garbled whispers. Sakura folded her arms.

"He apologized to the Third for his rash actions."

"What." Naruto couldn't believe his ears.

"And promptly got married to his Jounin partner, Mitarashi Anko."

"WHAT?!?" Hisako screamed at the top of her lungs, nearly popping a few ear drums. Lakes of tears started falling down her eyes as further words turned to sobs. Then she turned heel and ran out of the Hokage's office.

Minato grunted in sympathy. "Let her go."

Nichiren groaned. "I think he finally did it."

"Did what, Senpai?" Naruto asked.

"Destroyed her heart." Nichiren sighed and took off his glasses. "Not going to lie, she set herself up for it, but…you still hate to see it."

"Yeah," Naruto said with sympathy. "Think I can go talk to her?"

"Later, Naruto," Minato said. "Daisuke isn't going to be happy when he returns from his honeymoon. Assuming he doesn't come back tomorrow to send me to the Pure World. I foolishly decided to roll the dice on earning favor with him, and lost."

"You didn't tell Daisuke you sent us to destroy the bridge, did you, Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked, her mouth curling into a deeper frown by the second.

"No," Minato shook his head. "No, I did not."

"Oh," Naruto began, expression falling as he grew more and more depressed. "Oh. Ohhhhhhhh. Oh no. Yeah, I see what's wrong now. Look, Daisuke's not going to kill you, but he is going to be really, really upset. Just, whatever you do, don't call him a child. Like I told Mom, he does not like being called that."

"Understood," Minato nodded.

"Hokage-sama," Sasuke had found his voice. "How long until his Honeymoon ends."

Minato looked directly in Sasuke's eyes. "I know what you're going to ask and I only have one thing to tell you."

"What's that?" Sasuke asked, his eyes lighting up with something that had not graced them for a very, very long time.

"Your mother is waiting for you at home," Minato replied. "Go."

Sasuke was gone in a blur, the door flying open so fast that the knob buried itself into the wooden wall beside it.

Naruto took a breath. "So, Daisuke's back."

"He is, Naruto," Minato nodded. "He just needed some time to cool down and handle his monsters. He's very…calm, unlike what I've read in most reports."

"He just needed some time to calm down," Naruto repeated in disbelief. "And he got married? After, well, how long?"

"Well, they had just reunited that day," Minato said.

Naruto just smiled. "Called it!"

"I mean, they knew each other for six months beforehand," Minato protested. "So, it's not like they literally got married that day. They just found their feelings and acted on them. Happens all the time."

"But still!" Naruto said, still smiling triumphantly.

"Now, let me get your vouchers and then you can be on your way," Minato said, digging the appropriate documents out of his desk.

I can't believe it! Naruto thought as his dad handed him his voucher, which he accepted with a grin. Daisuke…he's back! That's amazing! I didn't think anything could actually get him to come back but…he came back!

"Dismissed."

"See you, Dad!"

"Daisuke's actually back!" Sakura beamed at Naruto. "You must be so happy!"

Naruto just grinned, took Sakura in his arms, and planted a giant kiss on Sakura's lips. She moaned in pleasure, wrapping her arms around his head and returning it. Naruto broke it off. "You know I'm happy!"

Sakura giggled and replied coyly, "I can tell."

"Alright, love birds, break it up," Kakashi said idly with an amused-eye smile. "You're holding up traffic."

They both turned pink.

"Right, sorry Kaka-sensei!" Naruto laughed nervously. "Come on, Sakura, I'll treat you to some Ramen!"

"Alright, Naruto," Sakura said, her face as pink as her hair. "Since we're celebrating, I'd love to have ramen with you."

"Yes!" Naruto crowed, wrapping his arm around her waist and leading her down the stairs.

He's back, Naruto thought with glee. I can't believe it! I didn't even have to do anything, he just calmed down. I didn't think he had it in him! But…wait…

He remembered the words of a kindly, yet mysterious stranger said to him several days ago.

So, you're afraid that he'll simply have changed tactics if he comes back on his own.

Naruto fell quiet. Wait…wait, that's right. Daisuke didn't change his mind, did he? I mean, he could've! He totally could've…

But he probably didn't.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sakura asked with a deep frown.

"I don't want to talk about it," Naruto said. "Not right now, at least. Lets just celebrate, all right?"

Sakura's frown got even deeper, but she relented. "Alright. But you know I'm here for you when you want to talk."


"I know," Naruto said, smiling tenderly down at his girlfriend. "Thank you."

---


Sasuke was tearing across the roof tops as fast as his legs could carry him, leaping over entire blocks in his haste to get to his compound.

It had to be true.

It couldn't be true.

He had to see with his own eyes.

Mother…

He came to the gates of the Uchiha compound and kicked open the gates.

Immediately, he noticed a difference. The streets seemed cleaner, the cobwebs that he never had time to dust off had been removed.

There was a warmth in the area that had not been there before.

His home was actually very close to the gates, if only because of how large it was. He didn't have to run very far before coming to his house.

Over to the side, his mother's shoes had been noticeably moved, in a completely separate spot than they had been kept. But just his mothers. His fathers had remained there. Sasuke felt sure now. Almost too sure. He made sure to curb his enthusiasm until he saw her…and made sure it wasn't a Genjutsu.

Ahead, he heard the sound of footsteps, and he hit in the nearby coat closet, out of sight and out of mind. Anyone that was inside the compound could be an enemy for all he knew. But as he heard the footsteps continue, he saw her.

Uchiha Mikoto had turned the corner, causing Sasuke's breath to completely leave him. He hurriedly brought his hands together. "Kai!"

She remained; there was no Genjutsu to dispel.

"Come out," Mikoto ordered with a dispassionate growl, looking around. "I heard you come in; I know you're here. Come out before things get worse for you."

Sasuke, slowly but surely, came out from the closet and looked at his mother, who locked eyes with him.

"Sasuke?" Mikoto gasped, also finding herself unable to breathe, the kunai she had been hiding behind her back dropping to the ground with a clang.

"Mom?"

Then the two ran toward each other, embracing, hugging and as was usually the case, more than a few tears.

"Oh, Sasuke," Mikoto cried into her son's shoulder. "My little boy is all grown up!"

"I can't believe its you," Sasuke similarly said. "I can't believe you're here! You're really here!"

They separated, Mikoto placing a hand on her son's cheek. "I am here, Sasuke. I'm never leaving again. I promise."

"But…but Itachi," Sasuke started, but Mikoto placed a finger on her son's lips.

"Forget about Itachi," Mikoto said. "He was under orders to put down a coup. The-"

"What?" Sasuke shouted in shock. And anger. "What do you mean, he was under orders?"

"The elders of the Uchiha were planning a coup against the village," Mikoto immediately explained, adopting a clinical, if not cold exterior. "So many of the clan were going to join, that Itachi was ordered to wipe us out. All of us."

"I don't believe it," Sasuke whispered hoarsely, falling to his knees. "That…I don't…but…"

"But you alone were allowed to be spared per the order he was given," Mikoto continued. "But the order did not come from the Hokage and was against his wishes, and the one who gave the order has been brought to justice. Afterwards, Shimoda-sama brought those of us who wished to come back to life."

"That doesn't make any sense," Sasuke raged. "That's not what that man told me!"

"That's not what Itachi said," Mikoto asked for clarification, pursing her lips.

"No! He said he killed you! All of you! Just to test how strong he was!" Sasuke yelled, both in anger…and fear as memories started play in his mind. "He told me that as he stood over your corpse!"

Mikoto let out a breath and cupped her chin. "It sounds like he was so consumed with guilt that he wanted you to kill him…but he promised he'd look after you."

Sasuke didn't take this news well at all. He was struck speechless.

"But I'm sorry he left you," Mikoto continued. "I am so sorry he broke his promise. He and I, when we meet again, will have long, angry words about that."

He still couldn't talk. He couldn't even breathe.

"Sasuke," Mikoto frowned again. "Sasuke, please. I'm sorry. I never meant to leave you alone. I never wanted this. Please talk to me. Please forgive me."

Sasuke's next words came out as a croak. "He made me watch."

Mikoto's eyes started to go wide. "What?"

"He used the Tsukuyomi," Sasuke said. "He unlocked the Mangekyo Sharingan. He used the Tsukuyomi Genjutsu to make me watch as he killed everyone. Like pigs to the slaughter. He made me watch again…and again…"

The color had left Mikoto's face, leaving her looking as dead as she had been until Daisuke. She slowly, gradually pulled Sasuke in for another hug, letting him bury his head into her chest and sob, watching over him like any mother would.


"And again…and again…"

---


Author's Notes: I feel like I have been remiss. Allow me to rectify that.

I've received a lot, if not a ton, of positive feedback to chapter 18. Words of encouragement flowed from you guys like Niagara Falls. I responded to as many of you as I could, letting you know how much I appreciated you and the love you guys showed. But I didn't write that appreciation at the end of Chapter 19 and I really needed too. So here.

Thank you all. Thank for your kind and generous support. Thank you for staying with me and encouraging me to remain dedicated to my vision (which has gone through a dozen revisions as I've thought about it) and letting me know how much you love this fic. I love you guys. All of you. Thank you.

Special Shout Out too Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Jiopaba, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Sultan Saltlick, Ventari, PbookR, RichardWhereat, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Aenor Knight, Apperatus, EPiCJB19 and Seeking Raven. Your continued support makes this fic and others like it possible. Thank you!

Cookies for everyone who reads this chapter, thank you for reading.

Until the next time!

~Fulcon

 

[RichardWhereat]

That was a great chapter. The sasuke thing was built up well, and pulled off fantastically. I wonder when we'll see Itachi again. News of the mass rez will spread like willoffire, and he's going to want to investigate, or 'Madara' will probably send him.

I wonder what Obito thinks of that. Rin is back, his nonasshole family is back. The Infinite Tsyukiyomi plan might no longer be necessary. Still the batter of the control seal he likely doesn't know he has though.

Zetsu won't be happy, and he's unkillable. Not unsealable, but unkillable. Then there are the Otsutsuki gods to deal with.

On the one hand, he may have negated the meat of canon without realising it, but all the major villains are still there, and dangerous. To others if not to himself.

Of course, the social dangers from Jashins machinations are still there.

 

[Galacticplumber]

So it was the more likely of the two interpretations of Anko's gift. Secondary long-shot theory was going off of the learning music subplot to the gift being forming a band while making it look like harem preparations to troll the absolute shit out of everyone. The fact that this theory has PRECEDENT in other stories I've read is absolutely beautiful.

 

[MMMm]

So Daisuke the character has a different religion from yours?

 

[Reader_as_a_Hobby]

I'm pretty sure ninshu gives a two way understanding no matter what. So the bits where Daisuke and Anko are sitting there being read, they'd also get a read on mifune and so on, as Ninshu is the method of using ones chakra to connect your heart with another. It can't be one sided.

Also, if the girl got an impression of what the gift was and figured it out with only a bit of context, then wouldn't Daisuke have felt it and known immediately?

 

[Galacticplumber]

I'm pretty sure ninshu gives a two way understanding no matter what. So the bits where Daisuke and Anko are sitting there being read, they'd also get a read on mifune and so on, an Ninshu is the method of using ones chakra to connect your heart with another. It can't be one sided.

Click to shrink...

Something something, mutual agreement, something something lack of ability to interpret the information when not knowing ninshu, something something game system/AU.

 

[Fulcon]

That was a great chapter. The sasuke thing was built up well, and pulled off fantastically. I wonder when we'll see Itachi again. News of the mass rez will spread like willoffire, and he's going to want to investigate, or 'Madara' will probably send him.

Click to shrink...

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! I've been wanting to do Sasuke and Mikoto's reunion for a while and I'm glad I did it justice.

I wonder what Obito thinks of that. Rin is back, his nonasshole family is back. The Infinite Tsyukiyomi plan might no longer be necessary. Still the batter of the control seal he likely doesn't know he has though.

Click to shrink...

*nods nods*

This is true.

...also, what's the 'batter' of the control seal? I'm assuming that's a typo.

Zetsu won't be happy, and he's unkillable. Not unsealable, but unkillable. Then there are the Otsutsuki gods to deal with.

Click to shrink...

These are all true.

Of course, the social dangers from Jashins machinations are still there.

Click to shrink...

I really, really, really hope everyone loves in that 'WHAT A ****' way what Jashin ends up pulling off.

So it was the more likely of the two interpretations of Anko's gift.

Click to shrink...

I think she's crazy, personally.

So Daisuke the character has a different religion from yours?

Click to shrink...

May I ask you to elaborate?

I'm pretty sure ninshu gives a two way understanding no matter what. So the bits where Daisuke and Anko are sitting there being read, they'd also get a read on mifune and so on, as Ninshu is the method of using ones chakra to connect your heart with another. It can't be one sided.

Click to shrink...

If you'll recall, Daisuke couldn't sense other people's chakra outside of specific circumstances until he got the Chakra-sense perk. Likewise, Daisuke couldn't do Ninshu until he got the perk.

So because of game mechanics, it was entirely one-sided.

Also, if the girl got an impression of what the gift was and figured it out with only a bit of context, then wouldn't Daisuke have felt it and known immediately?

Click to shrink...

She's a Ninshu master and he was deliberately trying to not figure it out to maintain the surprise. Once he actually started trying to figure it out, it came to him basically immediately.

 

[Galacticplumber]

Every Naruto character is crazy Fulcon. All of them. Even that one. Especially that one. Anko is actually one of the most well-adjusted ones.

 

[Fulcon]

Every Naruto character is crazy Fulcon. All of them. Even that one. Especially that one. Anko is actually one of the most well-adjusted ones.

Click to shrink...

This is true.

This is very, very true.

 

[RichardWhereat]

...also, what's the 'batter' of the control seal? I'm assuming that's a typo.

Click to shrink...

Damn. Typing on my tablet, so sometimes I make mistakes, but goddamn, I'd have thought that an easier mistake to catch.

The matter of the control seal.

 

[Fulcon]

Damn. Typing on my tablet, so sometimes I make mistakes, but goddamn, I'd have thought that an easier mistake to catch.

The matter of the control seal.

Click to shrink...

Got it!

...you know, I need to go take a look at what that actually does. Thank you for reminding me.

 

[Galacticplumber]

Got it!

...you know, I need to go take a look at what that actually does. Thank you for reminding me.

Click to shrink...

From what we've seen? Forces the victim not to take certain courses of action, similar to Danzo's seal which prevents root members from giving information on his organization.

In canon it was used on Rin in combination with forcing three tails Biju host status for a bit with a deliberately unstable seal that would break not long after. It prevented her from telling anyone about what happened or from avoiding going back to Konoha. It didn't prevent deliberate suicide. Some would say flaw in Madara's plan. On the other hand that result served his desires just fine, what with Obito getting a perfectly timed front row seat to the suicide. The important bit was to traumatize him into a pliable pawn.

During the dozens of episodes final encounter of the war, Obito deliberately got Kakashi to Chidori him in the heart. It didn't kill him, but it DID physically destroy the seal on his heart. This allowed him to take the ten tails rather than simply letting Madara have it... To bad about that black zetsu forcing him to true reanimate Madara later ANYWAY. We can assume from context the prevention on that seal was disobeying Madara.

 

[MMMm]

I was curious if Daisuke is a Mormon too.

 

[Fulcon]

From what we've seen?

Click to shrink...

...that's nasty.

I was curious if Daisuke is a Mormon too.

Click to shrink...

Alrighty.

Here's the thing.

Polygamy was practiced by our early church founders - and I feel like it was a good thing they did, because if it wasn't for how quickly they bred, the religion would've gone extinct thanks to persecution. However, in the modern day, we no longer practice polygamy and doing so is grounds for excommunication. Daisuke, all of his old life, has been taught that monogamy is the only good way to have a relationship and that polygamy is for, frankly, extinction level emergencies.

The exact scripture in the Book of Mormon, if you care to read it, is in Jacob 2:30.

"For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise, they shall hearken unto these things."

The context being the prophet of the time (Jacob) ripping the men a new one over having wives and concubines just because King David and Solomon had them.

A while ago, there was this huge controversy about an off-shoot LDS faith, the RLDS...FLDS? I forget the name. Anyway, they still practice polygamy and their leader is in prison, last I heard, - a perfect example of one of the many reasons why Polygamy is for very specific circumstances; it brings unholy retribution from government and mobs.

I hope that clarifies things.

 

[Miestwin]

...that's nasty.



Alrighty.

Here's the thing.

Polygamy was practiced by our early church founders - and I feel like it was a good thing they did, because if it wasn't for how quickly they bred, the religion would've gone extinct thanks to persecution. However, in the modern day, we no longer practice polygamy and doing so is grounds for excommunication. Daisuke, all of his old life, has been taught that monogamy is the only good way to have a relationship and that polygamy is for, frankly, extinction level emergencies.

The exact scripture in the Book of Mormon, if you care to read it, is in Jacob 2:30.

"For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise, they shall hearken unto these things."

The context being the prophet of the time (Jacob) ripping the men a new one over having wives and concubines just because King David and Solomon had them.

A while ago, there was this huge controversy about an off-shoot LDS faith, the RLDS...FLDS? I forget the name. Anyway, they still practice polygamy and their leader is in prison, last I heard, - a perfect example of one of the many reasons why Polygamy is for very specific circumstances; it brings unholy retribution from government and mobs.

I hope that clarifies things.

Click to shrink...

So I'm guessing Anko's Harem plan is a no-go?
Please make it a no-go. I hate harem stories! I have the word "harem" marked in my FFN tools to preemptively vet the stories.

 

[Fulcon]

So I'm guessing Anko's Harem plan is a no-go?
Please make it a no-go. I hate harem stories! I have the word "harem" marked in my FFN tools to preemptively vet the stories.

Click to shrink...

*nods nods*

I will take this into consideration when I'm writing Daisuke and Anko's discussion.

That said, you mind helping Daisuke's side out by giving me some...fodder to discuss?

 

[Galacticplumber]

Personally I give no fucks so long as the candidates actually fit into a healthy relationship. Hisako is a hard no out of ten barring some SERIOUS unexpected character development. Shouldn't really have to explain why. The reasons can be seen from outside the solar system. That's right. The signs are so bright as to be at least comparable to the sun.

Ino is... a workable choice so long as she drops the goal of effecting change on a mindset she doesn't understand. You can't have a healthy relationship when the other party is actively looking down on your current way of life, and signs point to the revolution thing not going away. Therefore she only works out well if that issue is resolved upon getting more information.

Ayame could easily fit right in.

Katsuki would work perfectly fine barring some horrible, incompatible neurosis from left field.

That about covers every option to have come up so far.

 

[Fulcon]

Personally I give no fucks so long as the candidates actually fit into a healthy relationship. Hisako is a hard no out of ten barring some SERIOUS unexpected character development. Shouldn't really have to explain why. The reasons can be seen from outside the solar system. That's right. The signs are so bright as to be at least comparable to the sun.

Click to shrink...

I'd like to be cheeky and ask for you to point them out anyway...because I enjoy staring at the sun.

Ino is... a workable choice so long as she drops the goal of effecting change on a mindset she doesn't understand. You can't have a healthy relationship when the other party is actively looking down on your current way of life, and signs point to the revolution thing not going away. Therefore she only works out well if that issue is resolved upon getting more information.

Click to shrink...

*nods nods*

Not wrong.

Ayame could easily fit right in.

Click to shrink...

Indeed.

Katsuki would work perfectly fine barring some horrible, incompatible neurosis from left field.

Click to shrink...

Interesting factoid: She was initially created to be what I thought would be Daisuke's perfect woman. Anko and Daisuke just hit it right off because my muse thinks my plans are stupid.

That about covers every option to have come up so far.

Click to shrink...

I think so, actually.

 

[Galacticplumber]

For starters the possessiveness of her goal is unhealthy in all manner of blatant ways. The biggest being the likely highly controlling attitude, and resentment of any perceived rivals.

Then her lack of other decent emotional attachments will stack dependency on top of and exacerbating previous symptoms.

The specific makeup of the beliefs she'd try to foist on him are literally anathema to him.

Self loathing and self harm are NOT attractive traits, and I find myself rather confident that Daisuke agrees.

Finally there's the inferiority complex, and the fact she's in love with the idea of a Daisuke in her head as opposed to the real thing.

That's the quick and clean summary of why any chance of that relationship happening needs to be killed with literally every elemental combo Daisuke has.

 

[Rechte]

And Hisako doesn't have an endgame with Daisuke. Wasn't her original motivation something along the lines of using him as some impossible measuring stick for her own worthiness to join Anbu or something?

 

[MiraiGW]

Loved the chapter and wholely admit I didn't get what the sudden realization of Anko's 'gift' was until I actually read other people making comments about it, and still not sure if it's a harem thing. Though the band idea does seem really hilarious ha ha! But the harem idea does seem pretty easy to fix, candidate wise at least for most; Ninshu. Ino's whole idea and understanding of Daisuke is a literal misunderstanding that is literally worlds apart and if he just used ninshu on her she'd have a pretty complete understanding of him, now whether she'd agree with him or anything at all is another thing altogether but she'd at least actually understand. Ayame for the most part would probably be all for his plans and everything, not sure about the harem thing but everything else seems pretty good to go, also if she learned ninshu she'd likely become the goddess of therapy! but then there's Hisako who'd be.... interesting to say the least. Using ninshu on her could honestly only help her or at least help Daisuke understand her better, and her actually fully understanding him for the first time ever would have to be an eye opener for her. There'd be good and bad sure, but either way it'd have to help her. Also Nichiren. Dear god Daisuke needs to use ninshu on him alot, hell almost the most out of everyone listed given the misunderstanding both have of each other, cause jesus it's laughable how bad it's needed there.

 

[RichardWhereat]

Yeah, harems are shit. Now, open relationships with the option of fucking around, people to be vetoed by the partner is a different situation.

Harem stories take the character, remove the characterisation, and turn them into a fuck puppet for the mc.

 

[Galacticplumber]

Oh right, and it hasn't actually come up yet, but there was another eligible suitor Daisuke probably has the immediate interest of.

Mei Terumi, the new Mizukage after the puppet dies/is ousted, is pretty much on a constant hunt for a suitable husband, is one of the most reasonable kage due to having NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in avoidable war after the horror of the civil war/bloodline purges.

Skills as a ninja include absolute mastery of water, competent fire and earth, and both the boil and lava bloodlines.

If she ever finds out who ended the civil war, pretty much inevitable she throws her hat into the ring. I have absolutely no idea if it comes up, or what happens afterword, but the info is on the table now.

Her wiki complete with less abridged summary and images.

 

[Garganator]

Good chapter. Only thing that I think I missed in this story is talk about democracy, because I think I would like to see how Anko would take it and describe it from her very different perspective. But I suspect you leave it for later.

Daisuke, all of his old life, has been taught that monogamy is the only good way to have a relationship and that polygamy is for, frankly, extinction level emergencies.

Click to shrink...

Which is exactly the reason why Anko may be fine with polygamy. Elemental Nations culture as mentioned several times before is a very different society then ours. Also Naruto is a strange mix of Shizo-Tech somewhat modern technology and pretty primivite by our standards feudal society heavily based on japanese one. This is important in a way as mentioned in this video:



As you see here polygamy in older japanese society was widely acceptable. Heck, in other videos of linfamy (I RECOMMEND HIS VIDEOS) it's also mentioned that even incest was fine as long as it wasn't between parent and child and siblings. Everything else was free game.

Anyway I suspect in Elemental Nations it may be like in the video - polygamy is fine, but actually not that many people go for it, because in many cases there are reasons (like financial one) which make it hard to sustain.

Even if you don't know it (or maybe you actually do ) and maybe instinctively set it up this way, but I think Anko sets this situation up to become confirmed First Wife (explanation in the video) with a main difference that in this case there is genuine love between her and Daisuke, which in such cases was extremely rare in fact as pretty much all of those were purely political arranged marriages, although next wifes could be picked up because of love. In other words "I'm The boss, you listen me.'

So incoming potential conflict may be between Daisuke and his strong belief in monogamy and Anko, who is perfectly fine with polygamy and I suspect main reason why Anko does it is to 'satisfy' her new husband and STILL feel she doesn't give him enough. In some misguided belief it may be that 'he is a healthy man, granting him access to more woman should be a perfect gift from her!, which I suspect may be the case. Even with Ninshu and all it's still a very young marriage, so miscommunication like this sounds completely normal.

Although again, I will stress this. Old meaning of harem and modern one is very, VERY DIFFERENT. In many older types of harems many of women actually never participated in sex with potential 'husband' and their role was mostly management of this harem. It was especially the case in situations where number of wifes reached at least several of them.

Also back on 'extinction level emergencies' as I abruptly stopped it. For shinobi... it's pretty much all the time. I can see Anko being fine with it, being shinobi in many cases die very quickly. So to get new units they need to be replaced with other ones. So in this case it's more about survival strategy I suspect - women are more then fine with their husbands having concubines, because villages need more soldiers in the future and one women doing it all the time isn't... sustainable, ESPECIALLY if she is kunoichi, who still needs to serve directly her village. So in this case I suspect they take... turns in child birthing. One kunoichi stops and other one becomes a mother. So yeah, I think Daisuke would possibly accept this reasoning, but I think he would also counter it with a very simply and obvious 'I'm a god Anko, we don't struggle with survival' even if theory there is so very few of us, which... may encourage Anko to actually argue it yet again.

Actually if this is the case, I'm looking forward potential discussion as it should be fascinating to read.

 

[Lazurman]

Mmm. See, I'm always a little confused when a SI keeps the same religion as the person they were based on.

I mean, you died. And instead of going to Purgatory, or Heaven, or even Hell, you went to Naruto land. Where you proceeded to kill a lot of people. And enjoy it. You drop-kicked the First Commandment into the sun.

The course of your life and the very nature of reality is seemingly dictated by a video game that rewards violence. You went native so hard even the natives were telling you to chill out with the violence. (Though admittedly you have gained a small amount of chill.) You outright became a god, immortal, unkillable—and in doing so, you likely made yourself incapable of going to Heaven.

I don't get it. You, the author, are perfectly within your rights to believe what you want. But Daisuke, the character, should have plenty of reasons to not still be all that religious. At this point, the two are as wildly different from each other as it's possible to be.

All of that said, what exactly is so morally objectionable about polygamy? Or polyamory? As said above, back in the day harems weren't just for sex—they managed their lord's household, his finances, his children. The bond of marriage was used to build cordial relations, and spread influence. Whoever has Daisuke's ear has possibly the greatest influence on the course of the world anyone not Daisuke himself can have.

And in turn, Daisuke can leverage the concubine's own prestige and influence, depending on where she comes from. Marrying someone like Mei Terumi? That's an entire nation just one step away from being at your beck and call.