endgames | 029 -- [Action || Video]

Entry tags:

029 -- [Action || Video]

[The afternoon finds Shikamaru bundled up against the cold and out and about in parts of the village he won't normally be in. Wandering, it might look like; he drifts in and out of high-traffic areas like the bar and the item shop to places less visited. The coffee shop he'll be at for sure, and his final stop will be the building that was once Azzip's Pizza.

This will do.]

[Video]

[Later in the afternoon, with dark still far off, the journal feed will click on to see Shikamaru surrounded by various colorful boxes among other things. He folds his hands over a table.]

It's come to my attention over the last few months that some of you have never heard of boardgames, or have otherwise never played. As a reasonable guy, I can let a lot of things go, but that... just seems sad.

[He shakes his head here. With woe, even. And then he gestures to the board games from various worlds strewn in the background. Close inspection will find a shogi set, a chess board, Go, Pai Sho, Plateau, Candy Land, Mouse Trap, ~~Jumanji~~ and so on. You can pretty much make up any family-friendly board game you want here and he will have it somehow. Go for it, actually. He hasn't played all of them.]

I'm here to tell you why they're awesome. [...] And possibly to petition for a partner. It's troublesome, but you'd be surprised how hard that is to accomplish here...

Katara. [Hint, hint.] Kotomi-chan. [Who he can't tease as well, so he'd best clarify:] If you're still up for that.

[He shakes himself with a grin, saluting at the journal with his left hand. He picks up the nearest game.] Anyways, let's get started. It goes like this...

[And from here he'll be giving the abridged rules of the games he knows to start. Feel free to interrupt him, or call him out on any games he skips.]

[/end Voice]

[Action || Locked to Konan]

[Much later in the night, after he's seen to everything he needs to, Shikamaru takes a box out of a drawer and goes outside. From it, he withdraws an origami hummingbird, and contemplates it slowly for a few quiet minutes.

When he's done, he holds it up at eye level and speaks seriously.]

It's about time we spoke again. Don't you think?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[So he had remembered and hadn't been from an earlier timeline as she'd wondered.]

I did. He spoke to us about Jiraiya's teachings...and it got through to Pain enough that he sacrificed his life giving life back to the Konoha citizens that died that day.

[Shikamaru nods. It matches with Naruto's story. The he had done something to change Pain's mind was obvious - Shikamaru had seen Shizune rise from the dead in perfect health himself - but they'd only gone into the specifics here.

Naruto's an incredible guy.]

You as well?

[Konan nods.]

Pain entrusted the future to Naruto and died with a smile on his face.

[She hadn't seen Nagato smile like that for so long. As much as she mourned his death, he died in a way that made him happy. There's some solace in that.]

Naruto is the bridge to peace and I decided from then on to be a pillar that supports that bridge.

What does it mean for you with him gone?

He was my oldest friend. If he entrusted the future to Naruto, then I intend to do so as well. I'm done with Akatsuki. It isn't what it began as.

[She also remembers dying, but she'll keep that to herself.]

That's all well and good, but there's also the rest of us. So far as I know you haven't shown us hostility, but would you stand by that? People come to Luceti from many times. Pai- [He catches himself.] Nagato could arrive from a point prior to that decision.

If he were to arrive prior to that decision, his priority would be to take on the Malnosso, not target individual people who happened to be from Konoha.

[And in that, she'd help him in a heartbeat.]

I would tell him about the discussion that he had with Naruto, though, and I would go to speak with him as soon as I found out about his arrival.

[She won't promise to go against him, because she is loyal - to a fault, even. She can agree to reason with him, though.]

Mostly I'm worried about my comrades finding out the hard way, in the slim scenario we still take his interest after that. I know in our world alliances are considered pretty words from the moment they're formed, but I find that old kind of thinking troublesome.

Then I'll say this - I give you my word that I will do everything that I can to persuade him to change his mind, or at least to focus on the Malnosso first. I won't go against him, but I won't make a move against any of you except to save his life.

[She has to be frank about this much, at least. Her loyalty is ultimately to Nagato, but that doesn't mean she was unmoved by Naruto's words.]

[...after a moment, Shikamaru nods.]

That's acceptable.

In return, I promise we'll make no move against you - or him if he shows up - unless our hand is forced. I can't promise the same for some of your other former allies if they show up, but I have a feeling that won't be an issue in the case of at least one.

I'll make an effort to speak to anyone else who shows up. Itachi has already shown no interest in causing problems for any of you. I imagine some of the others would agree.

[Not all of them, though. She's fairly certain Kisame would, as would Sasori. Deidara had a temper but made an effort to be calm and collected. Kakuzu's rage made him unpredictable, but since there was no money to be collected if he killed anyone, she doubted he'd be actively seeking to harm anyone when in control of himself. Hidan is most likely to pose a problem. Then there's Zetsu, who won't actively cause problems, but who she knows is loyal to her enemy and a capable spy.]

As a gesture of goodwill, I'll tell you what you need to know to have a chance against Tobi - also known as Uchiha Madara.

(ooc: Poor thing doesn't know his real name)

(ooc: They're all in the same boat. I'm just waiting for that to finally be dumped on them someday. XD)

[That gets the first unsevere look out of him in this conversation.]

We could've used that information months ago, when he was here before. [He takes a spot to lean against a tree.] If he came here once, he can come back again. Anything you have to say is appreciated.

[He doesn't say that Itachi has already told him some things. Not a lot, but with Naruto gone, Shikamaru is the only person who knows he was a double agent in a sense. It's troublesome, but he's promised not to let on more about how things really are until Itachi reveals himself on his own terms. Explaining why he knows those things would therefore be a pain.]

His intangibility has a limit of five minutes. Here it may be less, but plan for five minutes. He cannot teleport while intangible. It takes him longer to teleport himself than it takes to teleport another person or object.

[All things she took care to observe over time, never revealing that she was planning to take him out one day. Nagato's Rinnegan was too tempting.]

[He thinks of the reports from the Kage Summit.]

That's with his Sharingan ability, correct? Reports described a distortion around the hole in his mask.

[Uchiha = eye powers, naturally.]

That's correct. He has another more dangerous power - but he's limited to using it twice in his lifetime unless he manages to transplant new sharingan eyes into himself.

[The only reason he survived his fight with her. He should have died. Izanagi is a tremendously inconvenient ability for an opponent to have.]

Izanagi. It allows him to warp reality for a short time in exchange for the sight in that eye.

Warp reality...?

[He heard right. He assumes it's just as it sounds, but he's incredulous. The guy didn't need another ace in the hole.

He wonders if Sasuke has this same ability.]

If it's an Uchiha ability, you wouldn't know it from research. Does this mean he's already used up one eye?

It's a secret ability that only one with both Uchiha and Senju blood in them can use. After I last saw him, that was one eye lost. But you should know that he's looking for the Rinnegan.

[Senjuu too? That... makes so little sense. If Uchiha Madara had Senjuu DNA, he imagines Tsunade would know about at least.

...a theory is kicking around in his head, but he'll work on it in his own time.]

Of course he would be. [Shikamaru brings a hand to his forehead.] He won't find it here, at the least.

No, and I hid Nagato's body well.

[Still, he'd said he could get the information from her before she died thanks to his genjutsu.]

It's best to be prepared, though.

[Shikamaru nods.]

I'll make the arrangements.

[He's prepared for a lot of "in-case" scenarios since coming to Luceti.]

I spoke to Jiraiya about those abilities as well, but you're the only other person I've told of them.

[And he obviously didn't tell anyone about their conversation from some time ago.]

Share the information as you will - if he shows up, it's best that he be unaware that anyone knows anything about his abilities. Ideally, he'll show up before I've defected from Akatsuki, if we're misfortunate enough to have him arrive here at all.

He has before, using that "Tobi" persona. If he does again, there's a chance he might come from that same point.

We can act the same as we did then. We never let on that we knew of his real identity and other abilities.

[~~"Real" identity. Haha.~~]

A wise choice. The less he realizes anyone knows, the better.

[In fact, she plans on going into hiding if and when he shows up, until she's sure of what timeline he's from.]

We weren't interested in provoking him into dropping the act.

It's unfortunate that he's too clever to be provoked into attacking the Malnosso.

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