sunshineverse | At what point does poking the Hokage with pointy things become treason? [Closed]

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At what point does poking the Hokage with pointy things become treason? [Closed]

Who: Sakura Haruno and The Confusing Hokage
Where: Some training field not taken up by self-destructive ninja
When: July 4th, late morning
Notes: Sparring with the Hokage is probably its own special kind of punishment.

She'd spent some time the day and night before debating over whether she should show up at all. Even though it was clear by the time she left the Hokage office that his invitation wasn't expressly to knock her down from somewhere she wasn't, she didn't necessarily want to fail to meet an unreasonable expectation he had of her either.

She was also a little concerned over the talk of Jounin exams, given that she'd be obligated to prepare for those instead of doing...other...important things she would otherwise do (which mostly involved not whatever horrible genjutsu training Shisui would line up for her, or grueling kenjutsu programs Shirakumo-sensei would). Just not arriving would dissuade him of any ideas he had about that.

It was a distinct possibility she considered. But then, avoiding Pein just seemed to encourage him. If she just did her best and showed him her actual level of skill, it was probably a better deterrent than avoiding him completely.

...Besides that, there was the conversation she'd had with Shisui the night before. And...she couldn't think about that kind of thing before going to test her skills, but...if she didn't try her best at least this one time, she'd probably disappoint him. There weren't many people she cared all that much about disappointing, but he was one of those she did care about.

So. Keeping in mind the instructions on the note she'd received some time after the conversation with the Hokage (perhaps when he finally realized he hadn't given her any specific instructions on when and where), she made her way to the indicated training field slightly before the time he'd said to arrive.

Even if she arrived on time and he arrived early it would have been making the Hokage wait, so it seemed smarter to her to be there first. Opening up a day right after getting scolded for omitting information on reports by being rude was probably not the best idea.

In the end, it all made sense to her, even if she wondered whether she should have brought a weapon less sharp and potentially dangerous.

If he wanted to use some sort of training blade instead, then he could just bring them. He did, after all, have access to the entire armory of the village.

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He was late. That wasn't deliberate, but when he appeared at the edge of the field he was at a dead run, and skidded, a piece of toast in his mouth and dressed in casual oranges and blues with his jounin vest tossed overtop. No blades were to be seen on his person, but with seals that wasn't a big deal.

By late, that was over a half hour late, and he pulled the toast from his mouth as he came to a half in front of her, looking thoroughly abashed. "I'm so sorry about that. You weren't waiting too long were you? I ah, fire." He waved his empty hand in what was clearly meant to be explanatory manner.

By the time a half hour was up, she was strongly debating whether it was possible that he had just set her up to teach her the lesson that she wasn't important enough to show up for, or if perhaps he was simply busy and forgot. It was only the fact that she didn't want to appear as if she hadn't arrived that extended her wait to an hour.

By the time he arrived, she'd moved from the treeline where she'd been to the middle of the training area, to better be aware of when he would arrive. Whether he was intentionally late to teach her a lesson, or simply late for other reasons (as his entrance suggested), she was equally irritated on the matter.

She wasn't about to say anything, given even with a piece of toast in his mouth and in casual clothes he was still a Hokage. That did not mean that he didn't receive an unimpressed, deadeye stare. What kind of a Hokage is over a half-hour late for a meeting they set up?

The flat look transformed into one of confusion when he brought up a fire, though. "There was a fire in the village...?" But she didn't see any smoke from where she was? And she had nothing to do but stare at the horizon for the past half hour.

"Er, no actually. My kitchen. I had a towel too close to the stove and I went to go finished getting dressed and whoosh I came back. It was a mess." He gave her a sheepish smile. "I haven't done anything like that in a few years so this is kind of embarrassing. So. Erm. You all ready to go?"

He set about quickly eating the last of his piece of toast.

...She felt compelled to comment on the fact that a Hokage really should be able to deal with a kitchen fire (or not cause one) in much less time than a half hour, considering the skills a Hokage was expected to have. She wasn't so disrespectful, however, and more importantly that might have involved using water jutsu.

Which was obviously an inferior nature she never recommended.

Instead, she just squinted at him a moment. "Are you, Lord Hokage? You're not weak from inhaling smoke?" Feigned concern wasn't strictly disrespectful. He couldn't prove she wasn't genuinely concerned.

"Hey hey don't be like that, I'm telling the truth! I just had to deal with that and the other stuff on my way here, that's all." He waved his hands through the air in a quelling motion, swallowing his last bit of toast to give her a quick grin.

"I'm impressed you waited, so far, gold star."

And other stuff? She thought it was wise not to ask him what other stuff...but he did get a brief skeptical expression anyway. What else would have come up between lighting his house on fire and not finishing his toast that would make him so late...?

It wasn't her business to ask him that sort of thing, but that didn't mean she wouldn't actively disapprove.

She blinked at the sudden compliment though, surprised and a little confused that he'd think following an order was an optional thing, before she shook her head. "I'm not that rude." Like making someone wait for hours for someone to show up and not telling them they wouldn't.

He shook his head immediately. "You have no idea how many people have decided to bail on me at unofficial meetings like these because they decided I wasn't coming." His tone was serious, and he was studying her thoughtfully.

"It's a good trait, patience. Not that I actually intended to make you wait, but I've never been good at ignoring my villagers if I didn't have somewhere life and death to be."

He hitched up a shoulder in a small shrug, and then spread his hands. "So. Come and get me. Use as deadly of force as you want, my ANBU aren't going to get involved unless you don't back off when I call a halt."

...These days, she occasionally wondered what happened to the village she'd looked up to (and sometimes resented) when she was a child. What sort of a person would walk out on a meeting with the Hokage? Although...what sort of a Hokage would regularly be so late...?

At his invitation, she eyed him levelly a moment. Ordinarily a sparring session didn't start with forcing her to attack, unless it was genjutsu...but this was a sword-skill encounter. Which was, objectively, for the best. With ninjutsu she'd be unable to go all out against him (considering the nature of her jutsus...) and against a Hokage from the Uchiha clan she'd be hopelessly outmatched with genjutsu.

...Even if kenjutsu wasn't likely to go well either, there would be a marked difference between his rounded skillset and what his clan was known for.

She settled into a comfortably aggressive stance then, and gave a small nod. "...If that's what you want." It hadn't even occurred to her that he might have set up a trap with the ANBU (as his reassurance must have meant to indicate he hadn't), as the idea that she could be any real threat to him was preposterous. Anyway, they weren't likely to be an issue, so while she registered the information that there were some lurking in the trees nearby (where, she wasn't sure, and she made an effort not to waste time trying to calculate that) she didn't bother to acknowledge it verbally.

Although she was primarily focused on kenjutsu skills in this encounter, she still summoned a trickle of chakra to reinforce and slightly lighten the blade in her grip as she drew it, ensuring it wouldn't easily shatter in the fight, and lessening the opportunity for him to knock it out of her hands.

The best possibility for attacking an 'open' opponent expecting an attack was...

She shot forward with a burst of speed (--so there wasn't a reason she couldn't also use shunshin if he didn't specifically rule that out) and flashed the blade in an upward arc, designed more to deflect whatever counter he had ready and keep her from being unbalanced if he dodged than to be all that damaging if it somehow managed to contact instead.

Which it wouldn't, because as far as she knew this was a training session, not an opportunity to inflict harm on the Hokage.

Considering his regular practice with his Sensei nd the man's habit of spamming him with Hairashin... his reflexes for that sort of attack were well honed and he pivoted cleanly, drawing no weapons as he went down and then fell back into a defensive position, eyes on her.

"Don't hold back on me okay? I'm Hokage, remember? I can take whatever you dish out, so don't check your attack instincts out of deference." He never once glanced away from her, ready for her next move and examining how she approached the fight.

"I want to see what you can do."

Hairashin would be better than her own technique. Still, she didn't consider it not being an option. Even for people who were used to it, that only made it more important that she use it instead of holding back. Fortunately, she managed to maintain her balance and stance even when she missed, steadying herself again without leaving herself open.

Speaking of holding back though... "I don't intend to, Lord Hokage." It didn't occur to her he might mean she'd use things not her sword though. If it did, obviously she'd protest that he couldn't expect her to use things that were meant to torture and kill opponents (though genjutsu was dangerous, considering the potential for flipping it on her) on her Hokage, or on anyone in sparring.

For the moment though, she just...thought for a few moments and struck the ground with her blade. Perhaps it was cheating some to incorporate jutsu into it...but strictly speaking that counted as kenjutsu, so. When she struck the ground she summoned chakra to shoot dust and dirt into the air. She knew that was worthless alone against chakra, and that was why she used her chakra to do it: hopefully by expelling a 'cloud' of dust held together with her chakra, his vision would be blinded to where she really was by the wall of 'her' in front of him.

...It might work, right?

She operated on the assumption it would, and attacked once more, this time slightly his left flank instead of head on.

Agh! Dust?! Well, he had told her not to hold back and he dropped himself into the ground without any hesitation while blinded, not stupid enough to stand and wait for her attack when his senses were being distracted by a swirl of chakra that would mask her direction. THus a hand sign and a flare of chakra dropped him out of sight, and off the ground, for long enough to get his goggles out of his pocket and on before he threw himself back onto the surface with a roll away from the strongest point of her chakra.

"I like it, but I'm prepared for that."

She turned her head in the direction of his voice but didn't look directly at it. It was foolish in the extreme -- worse than the average genin -- to try to find a ninja by any sound they've intentionally made, and with an unknown status and no promise from him whether he would use his sharingan, it was inviting defeat to assume he wasn't. Even if he used a relatively weak genjutsu with his eyes, the time it took to break free in a situation like this one would ensure defeat.

So...if he was using his sharingan the cloud was interfering with her abilities more than his. If he wasn't then it only made them equal if she launched another aggressive attack. There were several earth jutsu she could use to take advantage of the situation far more effectively and safely than a sword strike, but she dismissed that urge.

With swordplay alone, her options were...limited. And so far he'd dodged every attack with little to no effort. Which made sense: he was waiting for her attacks and she offered very little surprise. Striking like this wasn't in her element. Her opponent was usually meant to attack her back, not simply stand there and wait with secure knowledge of the nature and limits of her attacks.

...She needed to alter her strategy completely. She frowned and dispersed the dust cloud with a flick of her sword, clearing her line of sight, and readying herself for a strike from him, whether instant or delayed, with a stance that would ideally prepare her for one either from the source of his voice or wherever else he'd taken the opportunity to set himself up in.

Countering his attack--forcing him to make himself vulnerable by being the one to attack--was the only feasible option, in a situation where her other ones were to do exactly as he expected and allow him his leisure to wear her down and exploit her mistakes or endanger herself with reckless aggression in the hope of surprising him before he landed an effective counter.

Edited (English is this...thing...) 2014-08-08 01:44 (UTC)

"I'm also getting this sense you're holding back on me. You do know it's alright to use jutsu and stuff right? It's not like that'll screw with your swordwork." He headed straight into the dust cloud then, satisfied he wouldn't blind himself in the process as he made his way over. "So come on then."

She frowned at him through the naturally dissipating dust cloud, waiting for him to make his move. Although they've never sparred together, as Hokage he had to know the nature of her jutsu. It wasn't impossible to use Earth jutsu nonlethally, since she'd used it in her chuunin exams (but it was partly the setting and skill of her opponent that kept them breathing, not her jutsu inherently) but it was hardly appropriate to use against one's own Hokage.

"...Were you interested in my kenjutsu skill or my combat ability?" Although it was hard to have one without the other, given she never really trained for it to be entirely divorced from the other.

"Neither. I'm interested in seeing how you fight with your sword." He waved toward himself. "So stop being afraid you'll hurt me and come on."

That earned him a flat, very unimpressed stare. "...You're not making sense."

She didn't move, but that wasn't out of confusion. For the moment she was still relying on the strategy of actually getting him to attack first instead of exposing herself with an attack he was at this point fully prepared for.

"Combat ability implies I'm after broad fighting an nothing specific, kenjutsu implies I want to see swordwork forms nad nothing else. As you can see, I don't have my sword out. So obviously I don't want either one. So come on." He raised his eyebrows. "We're not to the point where I'm going to attack by the way so you can stop waiting."

...She'd point out that she was certain he asked for her kenjutsu the day before, but it worried her a little bit that it might segue back to that conversation in general. And there wasn't really a place for argument while sparring...or testing, which this was much closer to.

In truth, perhaps she was better considering it a test than anything else, but without knowing exactly what he wanted out of her, that made it difficult to know what to highlight or focus on.

There were at least a few techniques she could use with her jutsu that weren't deadly, though, and they would aid her efforts to actually land a strike (or force him to parry or strike back) on him. If he refused to attack her, she had no other choice but to concede and leave, or to continue pointless attacks that really did nothing for displaying her abilities and went against her instincts to a frustrating degree.

She inclined her head slightly, considering him a moment, then. She wouldn't concede. That would be a disservice to her master and whatever he'd said to the Hokage to convince him to test her. Even if she was found wanting, to not try would be an insult to him.

Thus, once again she summoned a burst of chakra to aid her speed and charged ahead. Not at the hokage this time, however, but over him. It was more indirect to leap over him and then sprint into the trees behind him, but if she'd simply run, the disturbance of the air would have given away which direction she went. And, of course, she chose to run past him, rather than anywhere else, because from what she understood of the Sharingan, he still needed to be looking in her direction for it to do him any good, even if he were to choose to activate it.

Thus, it would give her time to activate her jutsu, hidden among the branches of a large tree. It took longer, hiding in the tree, than if she'd simply been on the ground, but she felt it was a necessary strategy all the same against someone like him. In the tree, she could perform her signs, and then place her palm against the trunk, summoning a slim core of earth to cut through it and down to the ground.

There were few times this particular trick had any real use, but hiding in a tree was one. The tree hid her connection to the ground, and thus allowed her to manipulate earth as if she were on ground level, touching the ground, but in a place her opponent shouldn't suspect.

It was, of course, a failsafe, though. Ideally her jutsu would actually work, two thick walls of earth rising from the ground on other side of him, too tight to allow him to move at all, but far enough not to do him harm innately, and leave him open for any follow up attack she wished.

She expected it was far more likely he'd dodge that, however, and thus keeping her position hidden so that she could continue to try to capture him with earth was much more important than the initial attack.

Obito watched her, comfortably aware that she wouldn't be able to go for his eyes again. He didn't advance then, hands moving through signs at the first movement of the ground under his feet. Then he dropped, down into the ground as he made his way in the direction she'd just gone and practically swimming through the earth quickly so he could pop up by her.

Interesting, but she still wasn't trying to get him. He immediately started to scale the tree he'd seen her in, at a dead run, slapping explosive tags up the trunk of the tree as he went. "So you're still not taking me seriously. I didn't even have to dodge that."

Well...in any actual battle, she could still have gone for his eyes if she wanted to. Goggles did nothing to protect them from that. However, eyes were far too sensitive and irreplaceable for her to target his seriously. She would not be known as the ninja that blinded her own Hokage in training.

It was supremely vexing when her alternate choice was just as useless as her other attacks, however. Particularly as his method of avoidance appeared to be using her own element against her. He moved with alarming speed, considering it seemed to be unaided by body flicker variants, although...pinpointing where she was shouldn't be a surprise considering his sharingan.

She didn't respond to his comment, though, because she was too distracted leaping backward off of the tree. Her hands curled around the hilt of the sword in a hasty sign, and earth exploded out from the trunk of the tree she had the corridor of earth running through. The defense was an automatic action, and thus with less restraint than she would have otherwise used. Still, it was nonlethal: a suddenly forming clawed hand designed to capture, to prevent his advance, further handsigns, or to allow her to attack.

At the very least, perhaps it's abrupt and explosive appearance might...startle him.

Obito didn't stop moving though, catching the hint of bright colors, from the corner of his eye before movement from below caught his attention. It was good he didn't stop moving though, as just as the jutsu was starting to dart up, the explosive tags he'd left in his wake started to go off, blasting apart whatever that was supposed to be.

He hit the next tree and kept running. "Awesome! You might finally be starting to take me seriously!"

She would have wanted to question how he thought she didn't take the Hokage seriously, but to do so would mean taking her concentration off of finding a way to land a hit on him (without allowing him to catch her unprepared) and shifting on to speaking instead. He was clearly able to do so, but that was merely an indication of the gap in their abilities.

Attacking from the ground was absolutely impractical while the target was moving through the trees, and so far it had taken much too long each time. A mud web--favored in tree movement--was useless if the target saw it form. If she had more time to set things up, she could use the trees against him. She could also try a counter strike now that he seemed to be advancing, but until he made a directly aggressive move for her to counter, it would be a dangerous gamble to try to guess what he did.

She sheathed her sword briefly, to allow better movement of her hands. Her best, strategically sound move, was to burn the extra chakra to build her own earth, rather than wait on existing earth to his level.

She leapt to another tree, this one not as far from him as she could have gone (maybe it would surprise him, mostly it should give him less time to react) and formed quick seals that...She would be more bothered showing, if the Uchiha were a true enemy and not her leader. Ordinarily, it was a jutsu used to summon an emergency shield or a grip like the one that exploded.

In this case, the 'arms' that erupted from her shoulders and lanced out at him (disconnecting halfway so that they could be propelled toward him rather than potentially snare her in place) ended in wickedly sharp spikes.

...So it was a technique much too deadly for an ordinary spar. But he'd brushed aside or dodged every other jutsu or move she'd made so far. Impaling him to death was extremely unlikely. Instead, it might actually force him to react, instead of dismissing it.

His eyes widened a little, and he cursed, immediately flying into seals as he realized what that jutsu had just turned into, which was not what he'd expected at all, definitely. Nothing seemed to happen immediately though, and he grabbed a pair of kunai, deflecting earth away with one as he threw himself to the side.

A moment later, he brought his fingers to his lips and waved it toward her, raining a cascade of fireballs toward her. His tone was breathless, and he was finally humming with a touch of adrenaline, alert. He was grinning. "I like it. Keep going."

She should probably feel pleased with herself that she'd apparently surprised him (and earned a counter attack, at that) but...that was still a difficult thing to do mid-spar. Maybe later.

Quickly, a thick shield of rock spread out from her upturned palm to deflect and protect against the rain of fire. It didn't help the heat from the fire, but being slightly singed by the heat was better than being burned by the fire, and there was no way she'd have found a safe branch in time.

Plus, it gave her some freedom to prepare another jutsu while hidden by the half-dome of rock. When the shield crumbled into pebbles, both of her hands were extended outward again (immediately adjusting her aim for where he actually was) and a spray of kunari-shaped stone shot upward at him from her hands (it wasn't that impressive, but they were designed to violently explode into sharp fragments of rock when they impacted anything, so there was that).

Nope. Clearly he was intent on playing the dodging game, dropping into the ground again and making a straight line right for her, not coming up as he tried to figure out where above him she was based on her last position before coming back up.

She was doing better now, actually coming at him with intent to harm, and that was exactly what he'd been trying to get her to do from the start.

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