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

[notveryspecial]

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.

Comments

[notveryspecial]

Sakura tended to do her best not to use jutsu she had to shout. If she did, they were usually diversions to distract people away from the actual threat. Or it was a genjutsu they already had no hope of escaping from. The point was: as a ninja she thought it was self-defeating to loudly inform her enemy of her movements.

The katon from the opposite side was something of a surprise, but just having been attacked from behind a moment ago, she reacted better to it, deploying a mud-net to deflect the flame from her directly. It didn't protect the tree, but if he was concerned about the trees he shouldn't be throwing around fire jutsu while amidst the trees.

She wasn't sure which of many techniques he was using to continue to attack from behind her, but she had no choice but to use the jutsu again. Air bullets, sooner or later she'd hit, and then she might be able to launch an offensive instead of defend again.

[thebestuchiha]

He crept up on her while she was fussing with the clone, then pulled a kunai and sprang at her, just slow enough she'd be able to defend or dodge instead of being stabbed.

[notveryspecial]

If he really wanted her to draw her sword again, he succeeded. While she was at first distracted by attacking his clone, a sound (or a shift in the air, she didn't dwell on it long enough to say) alerted her to his presence behind her, just soon enough for her to react.

She spun in place, swaying back only as much as necessary, and brought up her sword to block the kunai strike, rather than attempt to weave another jutsu in time. It was probably for the best he came at her from behind, rather than above or below though. Even at his necessary closeness, the time it took for her to turn and deflect his attack allowed her to remember to look down, at his chest rather than his bespectacled eyes. She'd like to think she had a chance of resisting the sharingan even if she made eye contact...but standing on a tree branch staring down a kunai was not the time for a practical test of that.

[thebestuchiha]

He laughed lowly at that and pressed the attack, springing into swift movement. He might not be Shisui, but he'd learned speed from handling a Hyuuga and sparring his sensei. He wasn't slow, not at all, but he didn't feed all that in, not just yet. No, at the moment he was pressing to see how fast she was and stepping up to stress it.

[notveryspecial]

Was he under the impression she wasn’t quick? Her mentor might not have been the Yellow Flash, but both were renowned in their own way when it came to speed...and she also had an Inuzuka teammate. Lagging behind by being slow wasn't acceptable.

Practical sparring, without express intent to practice genjutsu or even any clear guidelines about what to expect from him, was somewhat more difficult than her usual spars. Matching him purely with kenjutsu was a possibility at this point...but difficult when she had to keep in mind not to slip and meet his gaze.

She turned to a technique her captain had inspired. It was more forceful with wind, but earth had its benefits too. She already ran chakra through the sword to lighten and strengthen it, so it was easy to change the shape to find it to a more visible sort of jutsu. From her hand and down along her blade, quickly hardening mud oozed out, curling around the kunai blade she'd just contacted with again. He could release the kunai and back away, or he could get swallowed up by swift-moving earth and turned into a statue. His choice, really.

[thebestuchiha]

He did neither, instead flipping another Kunai out and lunging over the blade to slash at her, using more of his speed. Inuzuka had nothing on Kyuuga speed, and it would be a mistake to think otherwise. Besides. Even his Hyuuga was nothing on someone whose speed was based on teleporting, and that was what he was up against. Shisui was another animal, and if the girl wanted to cripple herself by not paying attention and underestimating him, she was going to come away wounded.

[notveryspecial]

Ordinarily, she'd staunchly support her sensei or her mentor on their speed verses a shinobi not known for his speed. She was neither of them and certainly not known for...anything, however, so which of the three was fastest was irrelevant: the Hokage was clearly quicker than her, and not because he was inherently better as Hokage. He just was faster than her.

He was too quick for her to block, but she was able to dodge...at the cost of throwing herself from the branch. Better to fight falling, or lose the high ground entirely, than take a kunai wound like that. She grit her teeth in frustration as she fell, blade held up defensively, shedding the captured kunai and waiting for another strike. If only he weren't Uchiha. He was faster, stronger, better skilled...but she could level the playing field, maybe even secure a quick and efficient victory, if only she could use her genjutsu.

Against a sharingan (unable to even attempt to use her anti-sharingan training) it was as pointless as trying to land a conventional hit on him.

It was so very frustrating.

...There must be something she could do, even if she was outmatched.

[thebestuchiha]

He didn't get why she wasn't fighting to her fullest, and it was irritating him. He pressed the attack more aggressively, following her down and checking himself shy of doing her serious harm to try and prompt her out of her overthinking.

And he could tell she was overthinking, one couldn't teammate Kakashi and not know the look of it. He et into a flurry of strikes with his weapons, making her defend.

[notveryspecial]

They obviously had a breakdown in communication somehow. She'd come into the fight with the expectation that he'd be testing her skill with the blade, but instead she found an increasingly agitated Hokage demanding something of her that she couldn't give.

Whatever it was he wanted.

She caught the flurry of weapons with her own blade, quick and efficient, but she was stuck in a defensive posture. At the start of the fight, she'd expected it would be easier to counter his attacks than attempt to land an attack while he was waiting for it, but--nothing she did was landing. All she really had left was genjutsu and attacks that, even if she didn't hit him dead on, would seriously injure or kill.

He couldn't expect her to use those against him. It went against her nature to try to kill someone who was on her side.

Maybe, if she just...

If she could get him to be distracted or hold still or--

This close she could tell even through the goggles he didn't have his sharingan activated. (Not that she'd meant to look but--the angle made it impossible not to see in passing) Still, it did give her an idea. A bad idea, but something she was willing to try. As close as he was, it would be almost impossible to craft a counter jutsu in time to prevent it from happening at all.

Chakra flared along her blade once more in excess of what was required to reinforce the blade, but this time it wasn't in the format of a mud trap. Instead, she used it as an easy conduit, her blade, his blade, his chakra network. It would be much quicker than the mud attack, and allow her to activate at least a simple genjutsu--like infinite fall--without taking the time to make complex hand signs (which she didn't have time for) or attempting to get the distance that would allow her to form complex hand signs (which would allow him to prepare and resist)

It was a thing she learned from her mentor: genjutsu at its most basic was seizing control of your opponent's chakra network and manipulating ot to change their perception. At its simplest, only contact of chakra and chakra network was necessary to activate one. Complicated hand signs were for transferring chakra long distance, and for crafting complex genjutsu that knotted up chakra networks in specific and difficult to detect or escape manners.

She didn't need difficult though, just moments to attack--

[thebestuchiha]

His genjutsu may not be the absolute best skill he had, but he was someone who had a fairly tight reign on his chakra and noticed the second something went odd. He broke off, kicking her away as he swiftly sorted out what the feeling was and dismissed it.

"Impressive, but you're still thinking too much." It was a murmur, and he landed, on guard as he made sure she hadn't done anything that would stick before trying to segue back into attack.

[notveryspecial]

Yes, well, she certainly had little hope of her genjutsu doing more than briefly stunning the Uchiha. Or any Uchiha, unless she used techniques that she couldn't freely use on any Uchiha not Shisui. A moment was all that she hoped for. It was essentially all she'd gotten.

Still, the moment of distraction combined with his own effort of separating them was something. Not enough for any sort of attack, but enough to replace herself with an illusion and flicker away without being observed. The illusion was nothing more than that--although she'd been studying earth clones since Sasuke had mentioned the concept of solid clones on the trip to Nadeshiko Island, they weren't something she could create that quickly, and thus the figure could do nothing but appear to defend and then vanish as soon as he contacted it.

She, on the other hand, fled through the trees as far as she could manage before he'd realize she was gone. In a situation such as this, distance between them was desirable.

[thebestuchiha]

"It's hard to gauge your sword skills when you avoid using them you know. Still, good job on the sealless jutsu." He settled into a defensive stance, waiting. "Come on then."

[notveryspecial]

...She was not within earshot, which was good, because it prevented unkind thoughts about her hokage. Instead she was at a distance, setting traps, both explosive paper and jutsu-based, mud nets, earth pits, one which involved encasing him in mud and then baking it into rock, and several deadlier traps.

Swordfighting was all well and good, but he had scolded her for not taking the fight seriously. Traps--hastily made as they must be--were her best chance against an opponent of his greatly superior skill. If she could immobilize or injure him, she could use a more heavily sign-dependent jutsu, and if she could slow or distract him, she could strike with her sword...but attacking him head-on, his way, was not a winning strategy. As she had discovered.

[thebestuchiha]

She could set all the traps she liked... but he wasn't leaving the clearing to come trip into them. If she didn't come back out in timely manner he'd just have to call the fight. So, he waited.

[notveryspecial]

Well, she wasn't actually planning on him coming after her (though it would have been convenient). Once she was finished setting things up, she returned to about where she remembered him to be.

The point was for him to see her, but not just...approaching, so she did try to do that stealthily, searching for where he was, and once spotting him, sending a hail of earth spikes down at him. She doubted they would contact, but the point was mostly to get him to attack her again, so she could lead him into traps anyway.

[thebestuchiha]

He just weaved around the spikes instead... and fell into a defensive avoidance pattern again. She was sorely underestimating his preferences... and his fighting style. He was a dodger, not a gung ho attacker, typically. Uchiha and all that.

[notveryspecial]

She might have been, but she knew that he would eventually go on the offensive again, because he had so far. Assuming otherwise seemed to her like that would be underestimating the Hokage.

Rather than pursue him this time, she remained firmly rooted in her position in the trees, clapping her hands together and dragging up large sections of earth on either side of him, attempting to snap them shut with enough speed to prevent his escape.

Obviously it wouldn't work, but she had to at least seem like she was trying in earnest.

[thebestuchiha]

That was something and he dropped into the ground without much of a thought, a single hand sign made before he started away from her, trying to sense out where her chakra seemed to stop for that jutsu as a safe spot to come up without immediately being flattened.

[notveryspecial]

...This really would have been a good time for the rest of her team to be present. With Shino able to sense exactly where the hokage was, and Kiba's fast and furious attacks (to say nothing of her sensei's own skills, were he present), it would be so much easier to force him into her traps.

They weren't, unfortunately, and simply falling back into the traps would clearly not lead him into them. For the moment, she had no choice but to advance further, sprinting through the trees and searching for where he eventually appeared. If nothing else, perhaps by advancing on him she would eventually be able to steer his retreat in the direction she wanted.

It was very unlikely to work, but that was hardly different from her other attempts so far.

[thebestuchiha]

He could tell she was moving, which was good, and he traced her direction so he could come up behind her, careful to keep low so she didn't spot him before he advanced on her, quick in his steps and silent. Time to get to the end of the fight. She'd shown him a lot, and he was satisfied with his thoughts.

Now he needed to get her down and pinned to concede the fight.

[notveryspecial]

Well, if he wanted to end the fight he could just say so. She'd been confused of his intentions since the spar had been different from just a kenjutsu demonstration. If he needed to get her down and pinned, though, he'd first have to get her back out of the trees again.

Which probably wouldn't be all that difficult, in fairness. It would be an unusual Chuunin indeed who could stand against a hokage's abilities.

[thebestuchiha]

He considered his options, and how little of her kenjutsu she'd actually used in her combat style. "Hey Haruno-san~." He moved from point to point, alert for any further attacks.

"Kinda done with playing hide and seek at the moment, so I'm gonna call it. Come out~."

[notveryspecial]

Her combat style was...adaptive. Against an Uchiha of his level, her kenjutsu was next to useless without using techniques that required more killing intent than she had toward the hokage. Most of her abilities were better served not used against the Hokage, in truth. It was, perhaps, a shame that she had to demonstrate them against an opponent so ill-fit.

But then, she'd never fully grasped why he'd asked her here and demanded a demonstration of her skills anyway.

She was near enough to him to hear when he called out, and at his words, she stilled. Although...she was still wary enough not to reveal herself immediately. Her teacher had unfair practices at times, and so she couldn't be certain the hokage wouldn't do something similar if she were to immediately drop her guard.

She also couldn't completely ignore him without being insolent. Even if speaking would likely reveal her position. "...Are you saying the exercise is finished?"

[thebestuchiha]

"That's what I said. Hurry up, I wanna give you a check over before I drag you to lunch." Obito knew he was probably confusing the poor girl with his abruptness, but he'd seen all he needed to see.

It made him curious if he needed to check in on her teammates too, given he knew all three of them had been held back for a while.

[notveryspecial]

Shirakumo would insist that they weren't held back, merely kept on schedule. But then, if he wanted to see them at their fullest potential, he should probably try examining them when they worked together, given that they were only split up very recently now.

...And yes, but she'd been confused since he arrived, so it wasn't a new feeling for her.

After only a moment of consideration, she dropped from her hiding place in one of the trees to the ground and approached where he stood, hands at her sides. Although, once she was there, she hesitated again and gave him a confused look. "...Didn't you eat just before arriving?"