Comeback Kid Chapter 43 (Naruto OC-SI, Celestial Grimoire) (Patreon)

The sun was shining high in the sky, the birds were singing, and their sensei had gathered them together for purposes unknown. Technically they all had pretty strong suspicions as to why, but it sounded more mysterious if Tobio just described it like they didn’t know.

“How’s your new rank been treating you?” Hibachi asked as they stood by the pond and skipped rocks across the water.

“Fine. How’s the genin life?”

“Great. Amazing, even. No one ever has any expectations of me,” the boy wistfully sighed. “They only start thinking I can do crazy things when they realize you’re in my team.”

“Sorry?” Tobio apologized, a hint of confusion in his tone.

Hibachi nodded safely. “You absolutely should be.”

Ami, seated and trying to meditate with her back against a tree, cracked a gimlet eye open to stare balefully at the two of them. “I’m trying to meditate here. Can you two shut it?”

“Apologies. I didn’t know inner peace came naturally to you,” Hibachi commented, eyebrows raising till they were hidden by the edge of his beanie.

“It doesn’t, which is why I want you two to shut your yapping.”

“Yeesh… You could say please,” Tobio commented.

Mildly fuming, she crossed her arms in frustration. “Would you two please be quiet?”

“Of course, Ami-chan,” he smiled. “Was that so hard?”

“Like pulling teeth.” Settling in to meditate, the boys went back to skipping rocks. At least as quietly as possible.

It didn’t last for long, though, as Tobio sensed the familiar signature of his sensei coming their way. Right on time, the bulky man walked up to the group with a broad grin. “My wonderful pupils! I’ve got great news for Team Eleven, we’ve got a new mission.”

“Such as?” Tobio asked, dropping the last few rocks he had in his hand.

“Bodyguarding a high-profile VIP,” his sensei explained, only to get some disbelieving stares from his students. “What’s the look for?”

“Don’t you think a bodyguarding mission is beneath us at this point?” Ami asked, hands on her hips. “I mean, with Tobio on our squad…”

“Oh?” There was an amused glint in Tekuno-sensei’s eyes, but Tobio wasn’t quite sure why. It didn’t just seem to be at Ami’s typical arrogance. They’d all gotten used to that at a certain point. “What would you consider something that’d be worth your time?”

“Something like fighting missing-nin or bandits, going undercover in the Daimyo’s court to root out traitors, stuff like that,” Ami pointed out.

Tobio gave a broad, beaming grin. “I would be an outstanding undercover operative.”

Everyone’s eyes drifted to his fangs and his horns as the boy flushed under the weight of their attention. “I would! We’ve got the henge for hiding my other features, y’know.” It was a physical transformation, which personally he felt like people didn’t do enough with.

At the very least, Naruto was the only character in the series who he recalled really pushing the boundaries of the technique in any real fashion. Then again, maybe no one else thought that it was worth messing around with to that extent. Nor had they experimented with it as much as the boy had to even get it to successfully work.

With Tsukihime’s help, though, a lot of techniques that benefited from finer detail work or manipulation of chakra became child’s play. Scratch that; Tobio was working with a supercomputer now. If he couldn’t break the rules of chakra by manipulating it with a level of control that even the Ōtsutsuki couldn’t dream of, what was the point?

“As much as agreeing with Ami hurts me—" Hibachi started with crossed arms.

“HEY!”

“—it does feel a bit like we’re going back to square one with our missions.”

Their bulky sensei’s eyes crinkled deeply in amusement at the reactions of his students as he gave what was an exaggerated sigh. “I suppose if you all feel that strongly about the matter, I have no choice but to tell Lady Hokage that my precious little brats are too good for bodyguarding these days.”

Tobio could tell that his sensei was being overly dramatic. He just wasn’t sure why that was the case yet. At least until the man continued to speak, turning his back on his students and beginning to walk away, before stopping.

“It’s a shame. Here I thought you guys would be strong enough to bodyguard Yukie Fujikaze…”

Someone could hear a pin drop as the words landed in all of their brains simultaneously. Hibachi didn’t seem to recognize the name as his face scrunched up, but Tobio did instantly. And Ami’s reaction was the most exaggerated.

“WHAT?!”

Moving like a purple blur, the girl nearly teleported in front of Tekuno-sensei, eyes burning with a newfound passion. “S-Sensei, d-don’t you think you’re being a little too hasty, r-reporting to the Hokage like that?”

“Oh?” Judging by the amused tone as the older man looked down at his pupil, he knew precisely what had changed. “And here I thought you were too good for bodyguarding. I’d even gone to bat on this assignment for the lot of you. Then again, Tobio’s sheer lethality was the real clincher.”

“That’s fine. He’s a murderous blender; that’s what he’s there for,” Ami nodded sagely.

Hibachi agreed with a nod of his own. “Yeah.”

“Why are we friends again…?” Tobio trailed off, asking that question to himself for the umpteenth time.

“While he’s off murderizing whoever dares to try and hurt Fujikaze-sama, I’ll be there. Protecting her. Closely,” she emphasized, something vaguely obsessive entering her gaze at those words. “Hehe…”

“I don’t know if I like this Ami,” Hibachi frowned. “She’s kind of creepy.”

“Like one of those yokai that get all fixated on someone before dragging them to their doom, right?” the Oni surmised.

“Yeah.”

Ami reeled on the two of them, oscillating between whatever questionable thoughts she’d been having about her new duty and giving them a scowl. “Don’t ruin this for me. Sensei’s been very generous in bringing us this exemplary opportunity, and it’d be the least we could do to actually make use of it.”

Tekuno-sensei at this point wasn’t able to hold back his laughter at how quickly they’d all changed on a dime. Well, Ami mostly, seeing as Hibachi seemed more confused by who the woman even was, and Tobio only seemed to share a passing familiarity with her. But that’d probably be enough to ensure they took it.

“Who even is this broad?” Hibachi asked, fixing Tekuno a stare.

“They’re a rather famous actress,” he explained. “She’s been in quite a few films, though she’s primarily known for portraying Princess Gale onscreen.”

“Her flicks are alright,” Tobio admitted, shrugging softly.

“She’s a paragon of open cinematic competition!” Ami exclaimed, throwing her hands up as a feverish light entered her eyes. “It doesn’t get any better than her, both on and off the ring. Vaulting an impassable gulf of finance and privilege! A five thousand to one rank outsider! No one saw her coming! Y’know, since the mantle of a game changer demands intangible qualities. She knew what it took to succeed as an actress: she just wanted it more.”

Opening her mouth to continue what might have been the most unhinged, passionate, and frantic rant that he’d ever heard, Tobio raised a hand to silence her.

“We get it; she’s a good actress.” Then he paused and turned to Tekuno. “What’s the actual job, though?”

“Mostly bodyguarding, like I said,” Tekuno explained. “Maybe assisting with some of the practical effects for the movie. If you ask nicely, I can imagine you’ll probably even get some minor roles on the film they’re shooting. We’re heading all the way out to the Land of the Snow.”

Tobio blinked. “That’s a long trip.”

“They have the money to blow on shinobi escorts. I’d be shaming them not to take their money for the privilege of fending off bandits and whatnot.”

The oni boy had an idea it was going to be quite a bit more than simple bandits. His memories of his past life and Naruto as a series were pretty good these days, and he very much remembered the existence of Clash in the Land of the Snow as one of the films. Honestly, while he didn’t remember much about his past life; he did remember the sensation of being hyped as hell watching it on Toonami as a kid.

Actually living it was a different story altogether. Yet he didn’t really believe that any of the threats there were all that dangerous to him. His friends and sensei were a very different story. When even Kakashi was getting basically wiped out physically by the end of the movie, and it was down to Naruto’s rasengan to take out the big bad, that was probably saying something.

Then again, he’d never really seen his sensei get schmoovin’ in a fight before. Maybe he’d be pleasantly surprised and discover that the man did in fact have that dog in him. He’d had to have reached Jōnin off of his own merits somehow. It’d just be a matter of ensuring that things didn’t go too crazily.

… On the bright side, he could ensure that his friends got excellent fighting experience and just step in if it looked like they were going to die. When he thought about playing the cool, detached, powerful teammate and aura farming in the background of their fights, he was a lot more excited about the trip.

“Oh my gosh,” Ami breathed out. “We’re gonna need cold weather clothes, so I’m going to need everyone’s measurements for scarves or coats or gloves, and then I need to make sure they’re all as fashionable as possible…”

“That’s what you’re taking away from this?” Hibachi asked.

“I have one-hundred percent faith in Tobio’s ability to violently murder anything we can’t handle swiftly ourselves,” the purple-haired girl admitted, fixing Hibachi with a stare. “Don’t you?”

His beanie-clad friend looked his way before his shoulders sagged and he nodded dejectedly. “Yeah… he’s good at that.”

“I’m the best at what I do, but what I do isn’t pretty,” Tobio shamelessly admitted. “I guess I can leave you to make sure our clothes are stylish?”

“Yep!” Ami nodded eagerly.

“Fantastic! Seems like everyone is happy with the job,” Tekuno beamed. “We’ve got a week before we have to meet up with our clients, so you’d best get whatever preparations done you need to now.”

Ami all but sprinted off of the training grounds, practically hyperventilating and frothing at the mouth in her haste to get ready. Tobio wasn’t sure if this could admittedly be called entirely good for the girl, but at least she was excited enough to really put in some effort.

“If only she put this much effort into her training,” Tekuno said amusedly.

Hibach laughed. “She’d be unbeatable.”

Muttering his agreement, Tobio moved to the more important hypothetical. That being what preparations he needed to make for the upcoming misadventure.

With the knowledge that they were going to be heading on a mission soon, Tobio did what any sensible, supernatural chef would do. He immediately went out to buy groceries and get started on cooking things to keep them supplied in the cold destination they were heading toward. Broths, soups, and other odds and ends that could be stored before being pulled out nice and warm, for example.

All of them being infused with as much of his magical potency as he might have dared. Before, Beniemiya had a kind of limit that couldn’t normally be pushed for most circumstances. That was before he’d become a Demiurge in truth, with a Key of Kings in his skull. Between that tidbit and the addition of his newest ability from what he was pretty sure was some kind of magical girl world…

Tobio was fairly sure that he was inventing a new kind of spiritual cooking on the spot. Was he about to create Toriko by accident? Infusing his works with no small amount of invested potency to actually make them notably healing for whoever imbibed or ate them. Let alone the effects they’d have on ensuring everyone was kept nice and warm by his creations.

If there was a challenge to be made about the matter, it was the fact that Tsukihime was just about as voracious as ever. And keeping her from pilfering too much of what he made was a full-time job.

“But it smells so gooood~,” she said, whining from the living room as he flitted about the kitchen. “Just a little morsel! A tiny bite, that’s all I ask for.”

“This is the 'Give a mouse a cookie' problem, Tsuki,” he chided, glancing back over his shoulder at the oni trying to look innocent under his gaze.

“I’m not that much of a glutton.”

“You would if I let you be,” he grumbled. “Y’know, some people think swords should be seen and not heard.”

“Most people’s swords don’t talk.”

“And I’m starting to envy them.”

An affronted gasp came from his partner. “Take that back! I’m adorable, bitch!”

Escaping him came a sigh as he resigned himself to hearing her plaintive cries for the duration of his meal preparations. His heart was hardened to the machinations of the gluttonous sword spirit, though, especially as he knew she was already glutting herself at the mealtimes in which they both ate. Tsukihime was just going to have to settle for less in this instance.

No matter how much she seemed dedicated to making it his problem.

In no time at all, though, the point at which they were meant to meet with their client came. It felt like his week had passed by in a blur, even if he’d been aware he did do other things. Bought shuriken and kunai, despite how little he personally used them. Made sure his fuinjutsu supplies were topped up. All of the little odds and ends that would be expected of a ninja.

His teammates were likely doing the same, though it wasn’t until the end of the week, when they were meant to meet their client, that he ran into them. Blessedly, Ami wasn’t overly prepared for the cold weather, nor wearing the outfits that she undoubtedly had been preparing for the group. That didn’t mean she looked well.

There were bags under her eyes that she’d obviously tried to paper over with make-up. Enough so that Tobio could only sigh as he looked at her. “Did you get any sleep?”

“Yes,” she answered, looking at him shiftily. “... A few hours. Sewing and making clothes for everyone takes time.”

“I appreciate your sacrifice, and I’ll pay it back with a thermos of hot chocolate later.” It’d be enough to relieve whatever effects of her own ill-decisions had made on her.

“That… sounds pretty lovely, I’ll admit,” Ami agreed, blinking blearily.

“Can I have hot chocolate?” Hibachi asked, looking over innocently at his friend.

“Sure. I might as well give you more than her, just as a reward for being a functional human being.”

“Sweet.”

It was a reward that came in handy, too, when it actually came time for them to head out. Tekuno-sensei had them on the road to one of the many towns in the Land of Fire. Kurogaya was closer to the coast, though not quite on it, and starting bright and early made the journey easier for four shinobi going at their top speeds.

Maybe it might have gone faster if he’d worked out how to use his Key of Kings to teleport people long distances… But Tobio hadn’t quite figured that out, and frankly, it was a good warm-up all the same. Heading through the wild terrain with his friends, taking out the odd dangerous creature with a modicum of chakra, it was freeing.

Being in the city did feel constraining sometimes. Or maybe it was just being in Konoha. He couldn’t quite cut loose the same in the confines of a city, even one as big as Konohagakure.

Regardless of how he felt on the matter, the reality was that it didn’t take more than a few hours at full speed to hit their destination. Between breaks where they got to take the benefit of his magically juiced food and Tekuno’s expert directions, they found themselves at their destination right around noon.

Kurogaya seemed normal, as far as the weirdly anarchistic technology levels of Naruto’s world could be. No paved roads, but at the same time tons of refined metal and appliances that would have undoubtedly required industrial processes to work. That was confusing, yet he’d come to make his peace with the way the world was set up.

“I’m going to go meet up with our clients,” Tekuno stated, hands on his hips. “You guys can stick around here, maybe get a snack or something. Can you find me in thirty minutes or so, Tobio?”

“Always.”

“Then try some street food or something, maybe get a knicknack from one of the stores. We’re still well within the borders of the Land of Fire, and I can’t imagine anything too crazy is happening in a modest town like this.”

Tobio could see what he was talking about. What it had was a decently high population in the thousands; it wasn’t as if he could see anything too crazy in his range. Outside of them, there were maybe a couple of chakra signatures of note. And by that, Tobio meant that they were remotely above the civilian average.

Who could literally be anything. For all he knew, they were retired shinobi, or the scant number of various careers that actively trained their chakra for any number of reasons. None of them seemed like threats.

“Will do,” Hibachi agreed, nodding along.

“I’m a bit peckish,” Tobio said, smiling.

“When do we get to meet Fujikaze-san?!” Ami exclaimed, not quite looking as tired as before, but still appearing a bit feverish in excitement.

Tekuno laughed. “In due time! Just keep a cool head, alright?”

“... Fine.”

“And stay out of trouble! For your sensei’s poor, aging heart at least…” The older man urged, before deploying a shunshin and disappearing in a blur.

Hands in his pockets, he glanced over at the rest of the group, eyebrows raised. “Wanna go see what street stalls they’ve got?”

“Maybe,” Hibachi shrugged. “Nothing will be as good as your cooking, though.”

“Hibachi, you’ve been upgraded to the number two position in my heart.”

“Who’s number one?” Ami asked.

“You haven’t met her yet,” he answered, absentmindedly thinking of his sword.

“Her?”

“... Anyway, how about that food?” He asked, hastily changing the topic as he began to walk forward.

“No, no, Tobio, please tell me more,” Ami said, something vaguely threatening entering her tone. “I’ll be sure to share it with Karin and Fu.”

“You’ve done this to yourself, idiot,” Hibachi chided.

Walking through the streets of the city, Ami’s bickering all alongside him, Tobio kept an eye and an ear peeled. It was probably why he was comforted when Ami’s probing questions were interrupted by the sound of horse hooves. It was just jarring enough, and in great enough numbers, to make Tobio blink and then stretch out his sensory range to figure out what was coming their way. Which again, didn’t make any real sense at first.

A lot of horses, mostly chasing a beautiful woman on horseback, who came into view. Followed by what appeared to be… a camera crew?

More importantly, though, as they stood on the side of the street, was the fact that they could recognize the woman who was riding away. Seemingly chased, though Tobio was fairly sure that it was not quite what it seemed on the surface. His sleep-deprived friend, though, didn’t quite have the brainpower to look underneath the underneath.

Which was to say, Ami’s first reaction was expectedly violent.

“FUJIKAZE-SAN, I’LL SAVE YOU!”

Then, naturally, she pulled out a kunai and was about to go sprinting off. If it wasn’t for Tobio’s lightning quick reaction to try and wrap his arms around her midsection, Hibachi assisting as well, given how violently she was thrashing.

Trying to wrangle Ami wasn’t so much a herculean effort, as it was one emotionally taxing. She couldn’t break out of his grip if she’d wanted to, and her attempts to hit him to do so were more humorous than anything else. However, the violent vitriol she spat his way was more than enough to give even Tobio pause.

“-WehavetorescueherIsweartofuckingGOD-”

“It’s an act, Ami! Literal showbusiness!” he yelled, pointing out the obvious. Her brain just seemed to turn off when Fujikaze was involved, which was a shame. “Use your eyes! And whatever the Sage gave you between your ears!”

To her credit, when he pointed that much out, the girl did seem to relax. Because there was absolutely no way a crazy chase like this could have happened in the middle of a random town, with no real preempting or warning. Something else was obviously going on. When you were paying attention, it was clear as day to see the film crew also running behind them.

“... Oh,” she blinked, trailing off. “We should, um. Probably chase after to make sure, right?”

“As long as you don’t fly off the handle again! You’re making me be the voice of reason,” Tobio exclaimed, throwing his hands up. “I hate it!”

“It’s scary,” Hibachi agreed, nodding along. “Tobio’s sense of reason is so warped you never know what he’s going to say or do. We need you to keep your head on your shoulders, Ami.”

“Right, right,” Ami nodded slowly, trying to collect herself.

It wasn’t hard for them to keep up with the horsemen. Shinobi running at full sprint could be very fast, but the reality of the matter was that the sequence they were going through seemed to be accounting for the winding confines of Kurogaya’s roads. So ultimately, when it ended at one of the ponds, they managed to keep up, along with the camera crew that was huffing and puffing in their various wagons and equipment.

With the team in question, too, was a face that Tobio had felt before he’d seen the man coming, through Brotherhood. Who looked to be beaming at his kids. “Ah! I was just thinking of coming to collect you lot.”

“Well, we got drawn in by the commotion,” Hibachi answered. “That, and Ami misunderstanding what was going on.”

“It was an honest mistake,” the girl hastily responded.

“No worries. It’s probably time for you two to actually meet the VIP, really, and see the specifics of the job. Along with the director, producer, and her manager.”

The men in question were easy to see, coming up with the rest of the film crew. One of them, very obviously the director, a kiseru in hand and a cabbie hat on his head, approached carefully. “These are our guards?”

“That’s them!” Tekuno beamed. “The finest shinobi we’ve got to offer for this mission.”

“Don’t they seem a little young?”

“Young, yes, but hardly incapable of doing what they’re meant to do.”

One of them, with rust-colored hair, a goatee, and big eyes, shrugged. “If they can do the job, what’s their age matter? With how Fujikaze is like, you’ll have your hands full.”

“What’s she like…?” Ami asked, trailing off as she glanced over at the woman in question. It was growing clearer that the chase wasn’t quite scripted, so much as it was unscripted, and the diva actress was seated by the water of the clear pond, looking in.

“Part of it is the caution we have for going abroad,” the more meek, modest-looking man spoke, with grey hair and a beard. “I’m Sandayū Asama, her personal assistant. Understandably, you can imagine how we might prove cautious about how things might turn up. Her protection is our foremost priority.”

It seemed as if it wasn’t hers, anyway, seeing as she still needed to be cajoled into compliance by the various staffers now approaching her. Her emotions were… moody, to say the least. Then again, she was very much a literal princess who had survived a coup d’etat. If anyone was going to be allowed to feel some type of way about it, it’d probably be her.

As she stood up, Tobio got the sense that there was a sense of resignation, now that she’d been ‘caught’. If only to put up with their demands for the moment and to try and plot another little escape for solitude. Or whatever she wanted, from running away in the first place. It also gave them their first real chance to look at her as she approached.

Yukie Fujikaze was objectively an incredibly beautiful woman. If this were Tobio’s old earth, he was pretty sure she would have been lumped in with the classic women in show business. Full lips, long dark hair, and even a hint of make-up, with eyes that were of a particular violet-blue hue that drew the gaze.

Seeing her on screen and seeing the woman in person was a world of difference. She had a certain presence to her, at least externally.

Beside him, Ami was doing her best not to vibrate with excitement. Torn between acting cool and running up to the woman to ask her a bajillion questions. He knew she wanted to, just from the swirl of her emotions.

"We still have to get some shooting done. We ought to return to the set," the director commented, making many of the staff try to shepherd the other actors back. Including Fujikaze. "Frankly, we were ahead of schedule up to this point. This sort of misbehavior is… new."

"And that doesn't alarm you guys at all?" Tobio asked, scratching at his chin. "Don't take the word of a dumb kid for nothing, but it feels like something might be precipitating this bout of disobedience and disruptiveness."

Her personal assistant looked at me closely at those words. Just a brief, quick glance, as if trying to discern whether or not I knew anything. The spike in his emotions, fear, panic, and then smothered anxiety, disappeared just as quickly as it’d arrived.

"Well. You're probably not wrong there," the director commented, shrugging softly. "That's showbusiness, though. We've got production targets to meet, and we can't cancel a whole movie based off someone's bad feelings."

"And it's outside of the remit of our job," Tekuno added, giving Ami a meaningful glance, who seemed to be bursting at the seams to defend her idol. "We're here to protect her, and ensure the other parts of the staff don't meet untimely ends."

"Though, the chief VIP is Fujikaze-san," her assistant stated hastily, some deference in his tone.

"Pretty much," Tekuno confirmed with a nod. "But we ought to head back."

Well. Judging by the feelings of determination radiating off of the actress in question, Tobio suspected she was going to make another escape attempt before they headed out in the morning.

Something that was proven correct as they all settled into the hotel that the production company was using that evening, to prepare for the journey to the coast. Brief as it was hopefully going to be, though Tobio wasn't going to bet on it. Civilians could travel so slowly.

Regardless of his opinion on civilian travel, though, the chakra signature of the VIP they were meant to protect was sneaking out. Not very well, granted, as the evening began to come to a close. But she was still doing so for whatever reason.

The question was, with the woman skulking off, did he want to leave it to her manager to handle or actually go out and try to wrangle her himself? His talk no jutsu was… fine. It wasn't Tobio's strongest point, he'd admit, and compared to Naruto, he might as well have been a novice.

…Ugh. He already knew what choice he was going to make, didn’t he?

If there was anything that could be said about Tobio, it was the fact that he was perpetually sticking his nose into business that wasn't his own. Usually to the credit and benefit of other people, but the point still stood. He didn't know how to leave well enough alone.

In a situation like this, that was probably a good thing. Even if he also knew it was going to be frustrating, trying to change a grown woman's mind.

"Goddamnit…"

"What's the matter?" His sensei asked, looking up from his book.

"Our VIP's sneaking off. I'm gonna go handle it."

"Alone?"

"I am the height of persuasiveness, sensei," Tobio smiled, with a look as innocent as apple pie. "I'll be sure to tell her that it's dangerous to wander off in an unfamiliar town."

"Right," the man drawled, skepticism thick in his voice. "Well, I trust that you'll be professional at least."

"Thank you."

"If mildly frightening at the same time."

"Sensei, sensei, you're going to make me grow a big head if you keep puffing up my ego like this."

"That last one wasn't a compliment, jackass," the older man pointed out, sighing softly.

"I guess that's a matter of perspective," Tobio said, smiling as he headed out of the window, sticking to the walls as he headed for the rooftops.

It'd give him a better view of Fujikaze, too, as she used the most pedestrian methods of attempting to evade detection. For someone like him, though, he could basically dodge around it with ease. It also let him see if there was anyone suspicious sticking around her.

Thankfully, her own efforts of wearing a thick coat was enough to keep her from being recognized easily. Not enough to keep him from picking her out from the crowds, though, or seeing her stalk her way into a bar. One barely filled, it seemed.

… Would anyone care if he got a drink too? It wasn't like there was an age limit for drinking in the Elemental Nations.

"I mean… it's thirsty work, right?"

"You're so right," Tsukihime commented, like the devil on his shoulder.

Yeah. He'd earned this.

Walking into the bar, he looked longingly at the rows of different kinds of booze sitting on the shelves. Fujikaze and the proprietor did double-takes at his entrance, though likely for wildly different reasons. His appearance was striking, to say the least, for people who weren't familiar with it.

"How'd you find me?"

"You smell like perfume and tears," he said, hopping on the seat next to her. "It wasn't hard."

"Very bold for an ugly brat."

"Lotta sass for a washed-up mid-tier actress," Tobio shot back, before pausing. "Don't tell Ami I said that. She might try to kill me in my sleep."

"I'm thinking about it, if you don't screw off and let me wallow in my misery," she stated, her drink coming to her.

"Sorry. I hate leaving a job half-done," he denied, shaking his head at the notion. Glancing over at the bartender, he pointed to her drink. "I'll have one of what she's having."

"… What?" The man blinked owlishly.

"Did I stutter? It's okay, I have a doctor's note that says I can drink. It's deeply important."

"O-Okay," the man shrugged, obviously confused, but not going to deny the dangerous, unhinged ninja child a drink.

It was sake, and frankly, while he preferred things with a bit more flavor, it wasn't bad to go down in one shot. Pausing, he looked at the actress, glancing at him inconspicuously from the side of her eye. "Oh, and put it all on her tab."

"What?"

"Well, you're a big-time actress. I figured you could afford it."

A dull, hollow laugh escaped her, as she took a sip of her drink. "And what has it gotten me? It's the lowest kind of job, you know. Just going on screen and saying a pack of lies about heroism, bravery, and all that other horseshit for money…"

"You don't feel particularly proud to have inspired people with those stories?"

"I did it for money! And you know what? I'm packing it up, too!" She shot back, slamming her glass back down against the bar. "All of this… isn't worth my life."

The fear that he'd expected to see was there. Especially considering that it was her own family member that she had to be in terror of. Or the actual circumstances of her flight from her home.

With that said, he couldn't let things go.

"If you're afraid of something back in the Land of Snow, you're being protected by four competent Konoha shinobi," he stated, confidence and self-assurance oozing from every pore. "There won't be anywhere safer besides around us."

"What are three kids and a guy with a beer gut going to protect me from?" She asked, raising her voice, a certain fire in her eyes as she did so.

"… Hmm."

Yeah. She shouldn't have said that.

Drawing himself up to his full height, he felt a certain pressure building as he focused on the woman. Something intangible in the air, a weight to his existence that inexplicably drew the human eye to him. Whether or not she wanted it to or not, she looked his way as he began to speak.

"There's a misunderstanding there."

"Huh?" She looked over at Tobio before freezing at whatever unholy, ungodly look was on his face.

"My teammates are not children. I am not a child," the Oni spoke, in casual, soft tones. "Maybe that might have been true when we were younger, but after this last year…"

He shook his head, horns gleaming in the dim light of the bar. "There is no upper limit of people that I would not kill, here and now, to protect you. That's my promise, from me to you. Whatever you're afraid of back in the Land of Snow—"

"I'm not afraid!" She hastily stated, eyes widening.

Tobio continued, ignoring her interjection. "I will end them. I'll end them without a shadow of a doubt if they make the profoundly unwise idea to try and capture or harm you."

"You can't promise that," Yukie stated, her voice a little breathless, as her hand squeezed around the glass in her grasp.

"I can, and I will," he stated, not even allowing a shred of doubt entering his voice. "If I can't impose my will on the world, on this specific instance, then none of my ambitions deserve to exist."

"That's my nindō," Tobio breathed out, a flicker of light flashing around his skull just for a moment, almost in the shape of a crown of fire. "To cut any unsanctioned future I disdain away. If there's a world where you might have ended up hurt from this trip, it ceased to exist the moment I was assigned to this job."

He could see it in her eyes that she didn't want to believe his words. Or that the amount of inhuman resolution gleaming in his bright eyes was enough to cut her to the bone. But slowly but surely, some uncomfortable understanding that she was being guarded by a monster of her own began to dawn in her gaze.

And strangely enough… that actually seemed to put her at ease.

"You're just as much of a liar as I am, aren't you?" She asked, eyes falling half-lidded, as if truly seeing him for the first time.

It wasn't comfortable, normally, to let people see through the masks he wore. All the personas that he had spinning at once, like plates. The prodigy, the humble and helpful friend, the goofy berserker…

All of them were masks, though, for the truly inhuman thing that he could feel himself becoming underneath it all. Not something that was fundamentally inimical to humanity, but like any true Oni, something that was parallel to it. A road not traveled, yet neither an entity truly hostile to mankind.

At the same time, she was the type of person who had built up someone or some threat in her head after all of these years. Rather than being perturbed by the news that there was a wolf running with the sheep, she was soothed by it. Who wouldn't be?

Sometimes you needed something dangerous to throw at an equivalent danger.

To her question, Tobio could only give her a toothy grin. Instead of answering, he redirected the attention to something else. "We should get you back to your hotel room. We've got a lot of traveling to do tomorrow."

With a slow, shaking nod, the intoxicated woman picked herself up from the bar and began to walk side by side with him. He made sure she was unbothered, and frankly, any drunks or miscreants that might have were scared by the frankly monstrous child by her side. Between his horns and his sword…

He was a very distinctive kid these days, if he wasn't wearing a henge to hide them. Once he was sure that the woman in question was safely back in her hotel room, being checked over by her personal assistant, he was off to go check in with the team.

Technically just Tekuno, since he was the only one awake. "You manage alright?"

"We just had to have a little heart to heart," Tobio answered, smiling softly. "As you well know, I'm a humanitarian at my core. She just needed some assurances about her safety."

The incredible, profound amount of doubt that was contained in one look almost shook his spirit on the spot. He didn't know his sensei could hold that power! It was actually quite impressive.

"Right…" Tekuno trailed off. "Get some sleep, even if I suspect you don't need it."

"I don't." He could stay awake for days, maybe weeks, at this point.

"Still, make your poor sensei feel a little better."

Rolling his eyes, Tobio tucked himself in for bed. No matter how much he didn't actually need it, it was still comfortable to rest up and snooze a bit. Like he told Yukie, the days ahead were bound to be busy and eventful.

They'd need to have the opportunity to relax while they could.

The travel out to the coast of the Elemental Nations was a first for him, and the sight of it nearly took Tobio’s breath away. A vast expanse of blue, salty water, as far as the eye could see. Seagulls, flying overhead, and other coastal birds. Ships coming in and out from the port, stocked with cargo or fresh catches.

He’d had the pleasure of being in modern cities before, but this kind of living, breathing port was a novelty to him in every sense. Thankfully, their actual expectations for what they were meant to be doing were keeping an eye out for any trouble and ensuring that people didn’t generally bother their VIP outside of the boundaries of civility.

Saving her from fans who recognized her from a movie and wanted Princess Gale’s autograph wasn’t one of those things they had to do. Even if she was more than capable of snapping back at the gaggle of children that ringed around her with her refusal. Ami, close enough to intervene if there were any hidden assassins, seemed to take that nasty bit of personality in stride.

It didn’t escape Tobio how her emotions did dip a little, though, when she saw it happen. However, the girl had a boundless capacity to merely overhype the actress in her own head. If the picture was going to be cracked, well, Tobio figured it’d be better to let it happen naturally rather than with his own assistance.

He also noted a bunch of actual crimes, like what he suspected was smuggling, taking place elsewhere. Snitching wasn’t his style, but there wasn’t much of a reason not to put a word out. Telling his sensei, the man merely squeezed his shoulder and went off to tell the port authority that someone was trying to dodge their tithes. Whatever thank you they were going to get for it, though, was going to have to wait till they returned.

Their vessel, a mix of wooden and steel construction and actually possessing sails, was fully stocked and prepared for the voyage ahead. It wasn’t the modern sort that many often preferred but was specifically chosen for the purposes of the filming that was going on around them. A lot of weaknesses that Hibachi could take note of, as he inspected it with a gimlet eye.

“It’s kind of old. I mean, a lot of ships these days incorporate metal and wood in equal measure, though the Land of Fire has decent ships,” Hibachi said, as they watched the crew loading on reams of equipment and personal supplies on the ship.

“What’s the deal with that, anyway?”

“Hmm?”

“Like, why’s Konoha so advanced, but so much of the countries… aren’t?” There were certainly bastions of technological advancement. Towns and cities usually had power lines, power generation stations, radio connections, and television stations or the capacity to receive signals for it.

Things like computers were uncommon, though, and Tobio was fairly sure that he had the most powerful computer on the planet in the form of his sword. Most of them were used for cryptography or data analytics. Supposedly they were also being edged into the territory of archival purposes to do away with the massive reams of scrolls and paperwork in the Hidden Village. He’d believe it when he saw it.

“Well, part of it’s a natural imbalance from the wars,” Hibachi continued, perking up as he got to flex his brain. “People develop technology in the ways that are relevant and useful to them militarily, which is usually transportation and intel, which trickled down and out. Though, part of it is inventors for specific Elemental Nations also being subject to assassinations.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah, so whatever inventions they made end up being one-and-done things that do boost economies but then end up ending their lives when someone else wants to nip them in the bud.”

After all, you could just hire a ninja to assassinate someone. That sort of wetwork wasn’t something that Tobio ever wanted to be wrapped up in, unless the person in question truly was morally repugnant. But that didn’t preclude a small amount of others who were probably slain to preserve some national edge at the behest of rich merchants and nobility.

“That’s kind of depressing,” Tobio commented.

“That’s life. If you want to change it, well, I’m not sure if you could.”

“But if I wanted to?”

Hibachi gave him a glance, leaning against the railing of the ship. “Then you’d best get strong enough to dictate to everyone that isn’t how things are done anymore.”

He walked off, giving Tobio something to chew on. The notion of growing strong enough to protect the people he cared about and to possibly save the world by himself wasn't something that he was unfamiliar with. Doing so to change the world for the better in a more substantive way…

That was a new idea, wasn’t it?

“For the sake of ensuring this crappy world can generate its own iconic anime franchises, it might be worth it,” Tsukihime commented.

“That’s what you were focused on?” He asked internally, a smile tugging at his lips.

“I mean. I’m sure there are other reasons, but it’s what I’m more interested in.”

At least she had her priorities straight.

Setting sail was a process that had relatively little fanfare. While the voyage was going to take a few days, maybe a week if weather permitted, it wasn’t going to be too uncomfortable save for being cramped. Sharing a room with Ami, Tekuno, and Hibachi wasn’t his idea of a good time, but that came with the territory of the job. Instead, Tobio chose to think of the bright sides to this whole affair.

This was the first time he’d been out to sea, and frankly, it was a novel just because of that. While pirates apparently did exist, we weren’t supposed to be heading past any relevant zones where notable clans of them would sail or terrorize. With Tobio’s range extending for miles, too, they’d have immense amounts of forewarning if any other ships got within their range.

… Apparently sea monsters were a thing, though, and if he was being honest, a little kraken attack could be fun. Just a small one! He’d never had the chance to fight underwater and was curious how he’d actually withstand it. The tactics and challenges of fighting a giant monster in their own environment were a thought-provoking mental experiment.

Meanwhile, on the ship, the other entertaining delight he had was watching Ami and Hibachi get used to the rocking of the vessel. He was immune to any kind of seasickness, and Hibachi was handling it well enough. Ami, however, seemed to be genuinely struggling. It was made worse by the fact that she was making every effort to look her best in front of their client, especially while filming was currently ongoing.

Not that it wasn’t a little bit wild to be on a wooden boat, alongside actual film equipment and other modern technology. The basis of advancement in Naruto’s setting had always been full of schizo-tech, really advanced in some places and behind the times in others. That didn’t make it any less novel, as they watched the existing scene be filmed and acted out before their very eyes.

Apparently, it was some kind of tragic death of a main character, or least a wounding of sorts. He didn’t know the specifics, mostly focused on scanning the horizon for cool monsters to fight or pirates. Ami was totally engaged, though, locked in, alongside Hibachi and Tekuno humoring her.

And then the illusion was broken when she raised her hand. “Alright, stop,” she stated, much to the shock and surprise of the film crew. “Sandayū… get me the drops for the tears.”

You’d have thought someone had stabbed Ami in the back, as the man in question approached to actually dole out tear drops so that Fujikaze could continue to ape her crying. Once again, Tobio was reminded that she was young and perhaps wasn’t the most familiar with the ugly reality behind filming movies. Chiefly that the magic of the screen did a lot to actually hide how things actually got made.

“EH?”

“I wish I had a camera now,” Hibachi sighed, looking positively pleased at the case of Scheudenfreude that was laid bare before him. “I’ll have to immortalize this moment in my memories.”

“Be nice,” Tobio chided.

“It’s overflowing! Start up the camera!” She called out, trying to get the filming back on track.

The director could only sigh. “Goodness. Hey, start with the close-up…”

He’d concede, the next couple of days of seeing what a specific, limited, or otherwise incapable diva Fujikaze was proved to be tearing down the image that Ami held of the woman in real time. Was it for the best? Probably. Did it make him feel bad for the girl?

A little. Part of growing up was finding out that your idols really weren’t larger than life but really just people.

Except Tobio. When he was old, he’d have to make sure he lived up to the hype for anyone who looked for him.

He didn’t think too much of it, admittedly, until the night rolled out. It was time for his shift of looking out for pirates or sea monsters, which, privately, he was hoping attacked so he could have something to do. Maybe grind toward some of those quests that asked for him to slay a certain number of people.

Hashirama definitely killed at least a thousand people over his lifetime, and everyone loved that guy. Minato too. Not if they weren’t from Konoha, granted, but the point still stood.

Whatever rambling trail his thoughts had taken went awry, though, when he saw Ami sitting on the edge of the ship. She seemed lost in thought, to the degree that she didn’t notice him walking up to her.

“Got something on your mind?”

Just the sound of his voice was enough to make her startle, as she shifted, looking up at my approach. “Ah!”

Ami almost fell entirely off of the boat, only catching herself at the last minute. Chakra adhesion was good for that much, though he would have grabbed her if she really looked like she was about to fall overboard. “D-Don’t scare me like that, Tobio!”

“Consider it situational awareness training,” he shot back, arching a brow her way. “What’s got you wound so tight?”

“It’s…” Trailing off, the girl gripped the railing, lips pursed together as she glanced away.

Though, he felt like he might have had a pretty good guess as to what the cause of her feelings might have been. “If I had to make an assumption, I’d probably suppose it was something to do with the illustrious Princess Gale?”

Looking back at him quickly, her purple hair still shifting, she gave him a slow nod. “Y-Yeah.”

“What’s the problem? Not living up to your expectations?” Judging by the curt look she threw his way, that was more or less hitting the nail on the head.

“I… I just thought she was more wholesome! More glamorous,” Ami admitted, sitting on the side of the boat as it passed in the night. “Is that so bad?”

“Not really,” Tobio admitted, swinging his feet over to sit beside her. “There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of hero worship.”

“Just a lot?” She asked, a rueful grin on her face as she glanced at him sidelong.

He laughed, grinning back at her, eyes gleaming in the dark. “You said it, not me.”

“I guess that’s true,” Ami sighed.

“Besides, maybe there’s more going on, or she has hidden depths that have yet to be revealed.” Frankly, Tobio was fairly sure he wasn’t supposed to know about her true identity. It wasn’t something that had been disclosed to them either, and it didn’t feel like something he could bullshit his way out of talking about either.

The knowledge he held here was… hyperspecific within the range of its scope and content. Wildly, outrageously related to the future of this world.

“Maybe I am being too hasty,” she admitted, pursing her lips. “Every woman can have a bad day.”

“Well. Let’s not go that far.”

“Yeah…” Tobio could see her psyching herself up into this line of reasoning. “Yeah! I’m sure she’ll be better tomorrow. Thanks for the pep-talk, Tobio.”

“That’s not what I said at all!”

As if to be wilfully blind as to his words, she was already turning away, going to tuck in for the evening and leave him to his shift on watch. The oni could do nothing but sigh, dragging his hands down his face.

“That girl ain’t right,” Tsukihime intoned.

“Every ninja worth their salt has a screw loose…” Tobio said, defending his friend, no matter how weak his own words sounded to him. “Sometimes they’ve got more than a few loose.”

“Fair. What’s the plan for when we hit the Land of Snow, and things get crazy?”

“Honestly? I think I’ll take a backseat, make sure no one gets killed, and use it as a training opportunity. With Shadowfire, I don’t actually think there’s anything here that’s a genuine threat to me.” Between that, his sword, and his other abilities that didn’t rely on chakra, the main threat of the antagonists wasn’t that scary to him.

It didn’t matter if their fancy armor absorbed chakra if he just beat them to death with sheer muscle strength. Sometimes having an absolutely busted amount of physical power came in handy, and this was one of those situations. Ironically, he genuinely believed Might Guy’s team would have sweeped this mission with utter ease.

“Training arc?”

“Training arc,” Tobio agreed. “Not just for them, either. Maybe I’ll challenge myself to use tools I’m not using enough.” His summons were a big one, seeing as he really ought to be bringing the bears out for more fights. They deserved that much from him.

“Sounds agreeable to me. Let’s see if you can stick the landing.”

“Oh ye of little faith…” Tobio chuckled, shaking his head at her dubious tone. With that settled inside of him, he sat back and made the resolution to wait till they actually arrived at their destination. At that point, it’d be time to actually put that theory into practice.

He saw their destination well before anyone else, strengthening his eyes for the purpose. A sea of snow, ice, and evergreen pines stretched along the coastline. Rather than aiming directly for one of the traditional ports, the production crew already had a point they were ideally going to film out on the rough coastline. It was where the vessel already was headed, to go to the shore and set up.

Though it was well before they’d gotten to the actual coastline that the temperature began to drop.

The Land of Snow was, unsurprisingly, cold. He knew thinking that was kind of redundant, given the name of the nation, but it was the coldest part of the world he’d been in since transmigrating to the Elemental Nations. All snow, ice, and evergreen trees on rocky mountains and hilly landscapes as far as the eye could see.

People being able to not only survive but thrive here was a bit of a shock, though a lot of that came from their natural resources. When you had some of the only real reserves of chakra metal that could be exported in the world, traditions of chakra armor crafting that made fighting your forces a bitch for shinobi, and a rather remote territory beside…

Well, the people who would have normally liked to invade the Land of Snow found themselves incapable of managing it. When you took into account the fact that they sold the resources, anyway, then it was just a matter of shelling out money for them. Tekuno was clear that few liked it, but given the last few almost back-to-back wars on the mainland, no one was that interested in pressing the issue for the moment.

Maybe Kirigakure, if it wasn’t for the fact that they were in the middle of a brutal civil war. That kind of put a damper on things. Back to the region at hand.

Ami had already broken out the various outfits that she’d made and looked at them all with nothing but pride in her eyes. Lots of big, puffy coats, admittedly, but Tobio would admit that they were warm and snug. He kept his open, mostly because the cold was not a factor for him, but Ami, Hibachi, and even Tekuno were bundled up.

Chakra could do a lot to ensure the rough physical state of a human was maintained well enough to avoid freezing, though that didn’t inure them from things like frostbite or all elements of the weather. It just helped to take the edge off, normally.

“... Why couldn’t we have gotten a mission to the nice, tropical islands instead?” Hibachi grumbled, eyes peering out from the top of his coat. “The Crescent Moon Kingdom would have been nice…”

We’d probably run into trouble there, if I had to guess,” Tobio added, thinking about another of the movies.

“You’re probably right. At least this trip has been nice so fa—" Hibachi spoke, before stopping and fixing him with a grim eye. “Are you saying we’re not going to run into trouble here?”

To that, Tobio could only shrug, an amused glint in his eyes. “Who could say?” Already, he was beginning to walk away, smugness in his gait.

“Tobio. Tobio, get your ass back here and tell me right now this is just going to be a simple mission, please,” Hibachi whined. Unfortunately for the boy, he had no such luck trying to drag his more powerful friend back to answer those questions.

More importantly, this was the point from which they actually needed to do their job in truth. From the perspective of the film crew, this was just potentially hostile or dangerous foreign territory. Not without merit, mind you, seeing as it was a far way from the Land of Fire. However, they likely just assumed that Fujikaze’s sterling personality might make for some messy situations for shinobi to shield her from.

What they likely did not know, but Fujikaze and her assistant knew full well, was that this was the land of their birth. Actually, now that Tobio thought about her, her reticence in actually going through with all of this and her sour personality so far made… a lot more sense. He wouldn’t be excited to go back to the country where he’d fled after his father was murdered by his uncle, either.

Hmm. Perhaps he’d been judging her too harshly.

There were already multiple chakra signatures hidden around them. Not quite doing anything yet, but certain human ones, clear enough to Tobio’s sensory abilities. If he didn’t have them, he probably would have never known they were encased in the ice, under snow, in other places. As it was now, though, it wasn’t too difficult to discern them.

With a careful hand gesture to the rest of his team, he didn’t say a word in front of the other civilians. Not when they were actively trying to keep them from freaking out or making a mess of things. While they weren’t technically meant to protect them, only their VIP didn't mean any Team Eleven wanted to see these people hurt.

Which meant they were going to need to be on the lookout for whether or not this was just a case of curious shinobi or an actual attack. Though with how premeditated this was, and what he remembered from the movie… Tobio didn’t think they’d just settle for merely observing.

Something that seemed to be true the moment that the ice at the top of the mountain exploded. Not just burst open, but at the most climactic moment of the scene that they were filming. It was enough to make him almost groan from how expected it was.

Was there something in the bloodlines of shinobi across the Elemental Nations that made them predisposed to aura farming? Like, Tobio understood he wasn’t alone in that, but he also could recognize that sometimes ninja just loved to make an entrance. There was a time and a place for shock and awe, and this… wasn’t really the time or place.

Or maybe it was. So many of the people around him were civilians, and to them, this was magic. Complete and utter witchcraft. Some shit that they’d read about but never really experience themselves, unless they had the misfortune to be caught between chakra users clashing.

Well, not yet clashing, given all of the chakra signatures that had just come out hiding. But he could feel the way the winds were blowing.

“Get back!” Tekuno-sensei yelled, already pulling out his massive scroll of weapons, and preparing for battle.

Hibachi was doing the same, a shaky grin on his face as he pulled out ninja wire. “Just another easy mission, huh, Ami?”

“Shut it!” She exclaimed, eyes bright and alert, as she looked at the shinobi that were coming out of the woodworks. Or snow, however you wanted to phrase it.

Hoping up on a nearby ice pillar was a pink-haired woman who yelled out. Armored, too, with strange blade-like protrusions coming out of the suit that she wore. He didn’t care for whatever awful thing she’d done with her hair, though. 

"I welcome you, Princess Koyuki. You did bring the Hex Crystal, didn't you?"

"And we managed to get so goddamn close, too!" A hefty man yelled as he ripped his way out of the snow. "Ten-Ton Tekuno ain't so scary when he doesn't have a prepared spot, like the stories!"

Ten-Ton Tekuno? Tobio boggled. Was that his sensei’s nickname? He needed to work on getting the man a better one, even if he could imagine there were multiple reasons why he got it.

"You're making the assumption I didn't know your idiotic asses weren't coming!" He yelled, glancing back at his students, then at the ninja that were coming into the fore. "Tobio, take one, Ami, you protect Yukie, Hibachi, hold out against the other till Tobio's done!"

It was heartwarming that he thought Tobio would figure out a way to deal with the chakra armor. Especially as he dashed off to go handle one on his own, shooting a crossbow as he ran with terrifying accuracy. Not that the violet-haired shinobi was eager to confront didn't have any tools of his own as they began to close the distance to one another.

That armor he wore was funky, and not just because it was repelling blows.

In fact, the chakra around all of the ninja felt strange. That was the best way he could describe the distortion in his sensory range, now that he was fully concentrating on them. Not bad, or wrong, so much as it felt like it was working an opposite wavelength to the natural chakra that was produced by people. Or even the humans wearing the armor.

Was that how it actually managed to cancel out opposite attacks? Perhaps. It seemed sensible enough as a theory.

"You heard him," Tobio spoke, already readying his blade to head toward the biggest target. "Keep yourselves alive!"

Already the familiar stirrings of rage were beginning to bubble up inside of him. Tobio didn't sink into it yet, as he darted off, trusting that his friends could manage for a brief amount of time. Besides, he had an opponent to test some things out on.

The man was bulky like his sensei, maybe even larger, and had some form of technology that was incorporated into gauntlets. Whatever they were, they looked interesting, and the Picori inside of him was already trying to think about how they worked. Perhaps under some of the same principles of concussive force generated by air, the same way the Oto-nin had that augmentation to their arm?

Or it could be something made manifest by the unique properties of the chakra armor that they were all wearing. That was especially what he wanted to get his hands on, as he readied his sword and fixed the man with a downright gluttonous stare. After he peeled the armor of their corpse, Tobio and Tsukihime could take their time prying open all of the secrets within.

“Hehe.” “Hehe.”

“... You’re a creepy kid,” the shinobi said, shivering under the darkly anxious gaze of his opponent.

“Armor racks shouldn’t speak,” Tobio smiled, more fangs than needed flashing in the expression.

Much to his chagrin, however, he came to a swift realization about the quality of the shinobi in front of him. He’d like to deny it, truly, but compared to the danger that he’d felt when in the presence of Itachi and Kisame… the resident ninja of the Land of Snow were lacking. They were certainly dangerous, to be sure, what with their specific brand of Hyōton.

Indeed, for someone who was less capable than him, this would have been a dangerous environment where they could manipulate as much ice and frost as they’d like. Not quite generate it the same as a true-blooded Yuki clan member. But what did that matter when there was so much of it to use?

For someone like Tobio, who had a soul that was on fire, though… it did leave something to be desired.

“Big talk for a runt!” The man shouted as he threw his hands together in a jutsu, quick and rapid. Forming from the snow around him was a flurry of ice-shaped birds, moving together like a flock, that flew toward Tobio in an attempt to crush or cut him.

If it’d been the Tobio of months ago, this might have been a problem. But even as he was being attacked, his eyes lit up, and he studied the effects of the jutsu as it attacked him. While also basically shrugging it off, as it slammed against his Device’s Barrier Jacket to seemingly no effect. 

One of the most basic abilities of any Device was the capacity to swap out the outfit of the user perfectly and replace it with what was a magical construct that was layered with barriers and defensive spells. It constantly consumed his chakra, atum, whatever, but he had more than enough to spare for a functionally impenetrable defense for the purposes of shock and awe.

For that look of singular shock on his opponent’s face? It might as well have been utterly priceless. "W-What?!"

A shit-eating grin was on Tobio’s face as he stared the man down shamelessly. “The cold never bothered me anyway.”

“Kill yourself at your earliest convenience,” Tsukihime groaned out in irritation, totally done with him. Honestly, when else would he get the opportunity to use that line, though! Tsukihime was probably just jealous she didn’t think of saying it first.

All he could do was gape at Tobio as he grinned toothily, eyes alight as he tore every layer of the jutsu that he could see. And between his Mystic Eyes of Analysis, along with his Burning Passion helping things along…

“Is this how you do that jutsu?”

His hands blurred into motion as a malformed construct of ice manifested from the snow around him. It was like a swarm of birds, but a lot rougher than the shapes that had been sent toward him. Ultimately, though, that didn’t matter when the shinobi in question couldn’t stop gawking at the feat of instantly cobbling together Hyoton from first principles.

Dodging out of the way as it crashed to the side, they stared at him with wide eyes. “U-Uchiha!”

Almost instantly, his good mood was slain on the spot. “What?! Say syke right now, goddamnit!”

“There’s an Uchiha here!” He cried out, which got people’s attention in a big way, as many on both sides of the conflict whirled toward him in surprise. All Tobio could do was frown, a boiling anger rising up inside of him.

“Don’t put that evil on me!” Tobio was going to fight this guy normally, but now he had to make an example of him. The crime of comparing him to those pink-eye fiends was too terrible to do anything else.

“For that, I’m giving you the most severe punishment I’ve got. Woe,” Tobio spoke, throwing a streaming scroll that opened up, already filled to the brim with chakra. “Bears be upon ye.”

“What?”

Whatever his would-be opponent was going to say was interrupted by an explosion of smoke, as the massive, familiar form of Otso appeared out of nowhere. The armed bear looked around, taking a deep sniff of the air. “Oh? The Land of Snow?”

Looking over his shoulder, he saw Tobio drawing his sword. “What brings us here, summoner?”

“Mostly pest control, unfortunately,” he sighed. “But they might be good for an exchange or two. We’ll see.”

“Mm. Well, it’s been a while since I’ve stretched my legs.”

“Don’t take us lightly!” The shinobi yelled, face full of offense. “We’re not pushovers!”

Summoner and Beast shared a look briefly, of pure doubt, before Tobio shrugged and pointed at the guy. He asked for it. “...Otso, cleave this man,” Tobio said, supremely unimpressed with the specimen of ninja before him.

“GLADLY!” The bear roared, rushing forward with more speed than anything his size should be able to speak.

Whatever clever thing the man was going to say was very quickly interrupted, as he had a face full of violent, unhinged bear coming toward him. Whether or not that was enough to actually kill him, Tobio wouldn’t know. But he was betting on Otso, if it came down to it.

The real question was whether he wanted to get involved with his allies or ensure that his VIP was safe. Then again, going fully-fledged on the attack was an option, too. And one that’d likely bring things to a close even faster.

It wasn’t like he was beholden to the stations of what originally happened in the original story. Challenging himself to the ‘final boss’ of this land, as it were, was like skipping straight to the last level of a video game. And it’d likely be pretty fun to boot.

Decisions, decisions…

Otso had this under control, Tobio felt, as he watched the hulking bear charge after the bulky man that had initially considered him easy prey. If there was something keeping the guy alive, it was probably the fact that he was just barely faster than Otso. And frankly, Tobio suspected that was only because of the chakra armor.

Not that it kept him from getting swatted around like a toy, whenever Otso managed to catch him at the right moment. Speaking from experience, Tobio knew that the big creature was deceptively fast and knew how to use his strength to the utmost. If he managed to pin down his opponent with the Bear's Nail…

Well, that was that.

It was the strategy that he planned on using for the pink-haired shinobi who thought herself hot-shit. His friends had taken the moment to charge her, and they were acquitting themselves as well, which could be expected. Her armor, again, was the force multiplier that made her awkward or unwieldy for them to fight.

Frustrating, yes. But he could understand why they were being challenged.

To his eyes, the distortion around the chakra armor genuinely was bizarre. Ami's attempt to spit bullets of water only managed to dissipate against the pink-haired woman's body, not even hitting her. She laughed, skating forward with graceful gliding motions, swiftly closing the distance.

"Is that the best vaunted Konoha shinobi can do?" She mocked, swinging out with a kunai to catch Ami in her mid-dodge position.

It might have even hit… if it wasn't for one thing in particular. A series of hand signs flying out as Ami vanished, replaced with Hibachi, who was ready with a parry. The substitution was enough to make the woman blink in shock before she had to swear and glide back, dodging away from the sudden thrown shuriken toward her face.

"Tch!"

"Don't click your tongue," Hibachi grinned, trying to project a false bravado as he flicked his wrist, more weapons appearing from out his sleeves. "Weren't you talking mad shit just now?"

"She can't take the heat, yeah?" Ami smirked, attacking from the side with a rush of her own.

"Typical for Yuki-nin, I guess," her hat-clad teammate theorized aloud.

Too much for the pride of a woman so much older, or wearing the equipment that she was.

It wasn't too surprising that she immediately threw hand signs together, face contorted in a rictus of anger. "ICE PRISON TECHNIQUE!"

This one was a bit too rapid for either of his friends to dodge. So, as they moved their hands together to try and dodge, he completed the seals. It was all the instinctive, habitual way of fighting they'd come to fall back on. Fighting with the kind of fine control and collective instinct only the Princes of the Earth could normally rely on.

So where Hibachi stood, about to be encased in ice, Tobio was. And he wasn't nearly as easy to capture as his best male friend. Instead of being encapsulated, he held out a hand and let loose a Fire Burst Jutsu. Whatever icy pillars were coming toward him promptly evaporated, melted, and burned in that same moment.

"Someone's having fun without me," he said, vibrating with excitement. "Let's change that."

"You're going to eat those words!" She screeched, rushing forward.

"Promises, promises," Tobio intoned, as she swung kunai down in a stabbing motion.

Compared to the people that he'd been fighting, though, this woman might as well have been an amateur. She wasn't going to push Revival of X forward or much of his actual skills in this encounter. As she tried to press him with jutsu and weapons alike, he could tell that much.

That didn't mean she didn't have the capacity to serve as a whetstone in other respects. Ami and Hibachi needed some safe fodder that he could ensure wouldn't be too much of a threat for them. Which she qualified for in spades, not that she knew it.

But her sacrifice would be appreciated to make his friends better fighters.

While he took up most of her attention, he focused to spread out not just the preternatural instincts that came from their connection but also Domain of Jumper. That was how he could boost their performance even further. A fact that the woman noticed swiftly as Ami got suddenly faster, slashing her right arm with a tanto.

"Damn you!" She hissed in pain, only to have to glide away from Tobio's sword swing.

She didn't expect the swordsman to disappear, however. Replaced by Hibachi, with a shuriken on a string, following her movement rapidly. Every time she figured that she was safe, it was provably not, as one of them came out with a physical strike or a cut by one of their weapons. Death by a thousand little injuries, bit by bit, as she fled from blood loss and damage.

It was a patently unfair fight. Especially when he could take any blow she landed with ease and laugh it off. All while Ami and Hibachi got to practice getting a feel for murderous angles and using the Tag Team Jutsu to pop in and out at the right moments. Ugly to see, but it made his heart soar that they were taking this so seriously.

… He really did need to get on the ball for making them Emissaries, though. That’d really catapult them into a new level of power.

When she dropped to the ground, the woman didn't even have anything left to shout. Just give a low groan when Tobio's sword poked her in the throat. Whatever protection it provided wasn't enough for his strength and skill to put a bit of pressure on a thrusting strike.

Gurgling on blood, she wasn't going to last much longer. But he was already turning his attention from her to inspect his teammates. When it came to them, they were mostly fine, if a bit tuckered on chakra and stamina. No serious injuries worth nothing.

Glancing back at Otso…

Well, he was wrapping things up in his own time. Especially as he caught sight of the man being slammed with just the barest edge of Otso’s claws, while the bear in question had an injury of his own. That was all the summoned warrior needed, though, to apply the gravity seal.

The instant it did hit, it was like there was a weight on the armored, bulky figure that kept him from speeding around. A look of panic and alarm came across his features as he struggled to his feet, trying to flee. Not that it was enough in the wake of the heavy, thousands of pounds of bear that slammed into him.

Being torn apart limb from limb by a gigantic bear was a bad way to go. But thankfully, his friends weren’t paying too much attention to that. Kind of messy, and they didn’t quite have his capacity to merely blink at hyperviolence yet.

Otso was a bit injured here and there, especially one large gash on his side. He didn't seem too worried about it, though. Rather, he looked like he was having the time of his life. Tobio didn't see a point in ruining his fun, either. Everything was wrapping up neatly, he figured…

And then Brotherhood pulsed as he felt a thrum of danger. His eyes turned away from the aftermath of the battle, to something else that pulsed with chakra.

"What in the absolute goddamn—" Tobio yelled, eyes wide as something began to rip it's way out of the sea. A massive construct of chakra, ice, and snow, in the shape of a huge, horned whale.

For a brief moment, he felt nothing but fear for his sensei. He almost activated the Key of Kings, only for the length of the massive construct to immediately begin to explode. His sensei was there, right in the strike zone, ratcheting his arbalest back and forth, almost a blur, explosive tags on every massive bolt slamming into the body and causing craters to tear it apart.

Bit by bit, the chakra that was holding it together began to destabilize. Even it had limits, and they were being met in real time by a madman. One who didn't seem intent on stopping his spree of bursts.

Turning them toward the caster of the jutsu, eyes feral and wide, faster than he'd ever been before, underneath the weight of Brotherhood and Domain of Jumper making his every movement smoother and more impactful. It was something that even the man could have realized, probably, but that didn't mean he had any intention of not using the opportunity.

Off in the distance, a violet-haired body went flying. Not directly struck by a bolt, but certainly in the radius of one of the explosions. Whether he was alive or dead, Tobio didn't know for sure. Gravely injured and dying, he felt a lot the same to his senses. What he did know was that his sensei was rapidly approaching them, looking concerned until he saw that they were mostly intact.

"How'd the fight go?" Tobio asked, calling out to his sensei.

He gave him a grin, bloody from his bust lip, as he looked at his pupil. Hefting up his massive arbalest, the man shrugged. "It got the blood pumping. I don't know if I killed him, but I know for sure that he got caught in the rapid-fire blast. So if he's alive, guy's not in for a good time."

"Very cool, sensei," Tobio smiled.

"My precious pupils were watching. How was I supposed to let myself lose?"

That got a snort out of Tobio. "Anyway, what's the plan?"

"Right now? Figuring out what they were talking about when they called Fujikaze-san Princess Koyuki. And then moving from there."

"Princess Gale is a real princess…" Ami breathed out, looking like she was getting overstimulated just by the concept.

"Classic Tobio adventure. Things going wildly off the rails on a seemingly innocent mission," Hibachi commented, sighing softly. "Well. Let's go see what an A- or S-rank threat we've gotta deal with this time."

"… I'm sure it won't be that bad," Tobio said. As if he wasn't lying through his goddamn teeth when he said it.

Author’s Notes

I made the decision to just make these chapters goddamn huge. Enormous posts to get through this arc in a timely fashion. Also, quite proud of myself for what I’ve added to this chapter or had to write on the fly. My capacity to write on the spot tends to be weaker for quests, but like anything, it’s something you have to train up for timely responses.

Anyway, enjoy!