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015 -- [Action || Voice]
[Shikamaru is heading out to train in the forest today. Should anyone run into him out there, they'll be in for an interesting sight.
Deer. Not a lot of them at once - and fancy that, none are being slaughtered - and while at first skittish hearing footsteps, they don't run away from him when he approaches them. In fact, they come closer to him when they see what he's brought - apples and sembei biscuits. It took a lot of work getting these deer to trust him - he has no intention of taming them, but they're not like the ones his clan raises back home on their land that are just used to his presence either. The Nara are deer tenders, however, so Shikamaru's picked up more than a few tricks over the years. He'll walk about the forest for a while longer, feeding them as he goes.
Eventually, he'll find the deer he was looking for and get down to his training - which is half the reason why he worked so hard to get the deer used to him. They make excellent picks to practice his shadow jutsus with, though he'll stick with just the Kage Mane for now. When he's done there, he'll cut through town and back to CH1.
...don't mind the bloodstains - dried, not his - down the back of his flak jacket if you see him. He'd have left it back in his room, but it's easier to store his weapons in the vest, and with Sasuke back in Luceti he's keeping those on him at all times, yes.]
[Filtered to Sokka || 100% Unhackable]
You at the smithy today?
[Filtered to Itachi || 100% Unhackable]
[...
...yeah, actually, he's got nothing. He closes the journal without a word.]
[The next day, however, after he's recovered his chakra, Shikamaru will be making a trip to the roof of CH2, looking for the garden Itachi kept before he disappeared from Luceti, curious if he'll still find it there. Or him, if he's even still in the building. No, he doesn't care that it's pouring rain out there - if he gives any more thought to this than he already has, he's going to be sick to his stomach.]
[ooc: action for both the nineteenth and the twentieth! Obviously the bit with the deer is while the weather was still decent.]
Deer. Not a lot of them at once - and fancy that, none are being slaughtered - and while at first skittish hearing footsteps, they don't run away from him when he approaches them. In fact, they come closer to him when they see what he's brought - apples and sembei biscuits. It took a lot of work getting these deer to trust him - he has no intention of taming them, but they're not like the ones his clan raises back home on their land that are just used to his presence either. The Nara are deer tenders, however, so Shikamaru's picked up more than a few tricks over the years. He'll walk about the forest for a while longer, feeding them as he goes.
Eventually, he'll find the deer he was looking for and get down to his training - which is half the reason why he worked so hard to get the deer used to him. They make excellent picks to practice his shadow jutsus with, though he'll stick with just the Kage Mane for now. When he's done there, he'll cut through town and back to CH1.
...don't mind the bloodstains - dried, not his - down the back of his flak jacket if you see him. He'd have left it back in his room, but it's easier to store his weapons in the vest, and with Sasuke back in Luceti he's keeping those on him at all times, yes.]
[Filtered to Sokka || 100% Unhackable]
You at the smithy today?
[Filtered to Itachi || 100% Unhackable]
[...
...yeah, actually, he's got nothing. He closes the journal without a word.]
[The next day, however, after he's recovered his chakra, Shikamaru will be making a trip to the roof of CH2, looking for the garden Itachi kept before he disappeared from Luceti, curious if he'll still find it there. Or him, if he's even still in the building. No, he doesn't care that it's pouring rain out there - if he gives any more thought to this than he already has, he's going to be sick to his stomach.]
[ooc: action for both the nineteenth and the twentieth! Obviously the bit with the deer is while the weather was still decent.]
[action]
If you like stories, [He eyes the book as Itachi puts it away.] I heard an interesting one the other day.
[action]
This situation is going to become tiresome.]
Is that right?
[action]
It was about a traitor who murdered his family and deserted his village. [And here his voice hardens.] Only he might have actually been a double agent, who did what he did on his village's orders.
[action]
It could become a bit problematic if his brother just went around telling everyone.]
That's an interesting story.
[action]
Is it a true one?
[action]
I'm afraid this isn't a story I've told myself.
[action]
Either you did what you did because you were 'testing' yourself, or you did it because Konoha's elders told you to. Which is it?
[action]
[Not Shikamaru-san. Just ins case the seriousness of the situation wasn't apparent.]
You're being rather demanding of me.
That story should never have made it to your ears.
[action]
[But he did hear it. And there's no taking that back now.]
[action]
Is there?
Some might say truth is in the eye of the beholder.
[action]
[action]
Madara never fails to be convincing.
[action]
[And everything comes back to Madara, doesn't it? He's another piece to this puzzle that Shikamaru has spent far too much time thinking over.]
Manipulative... dangerous... Not a very trustworthy guy, is he?
[action]
[It just so happened that telling the truth had been in his best interests this time. Some of the truth, anyway.]
[action]
[Say what he will about Sasuke... there is that. He's a fool, but he's not exactly stupid, either.]
It's convenient he had a story like that to convince him so thoroughly. [His tone doesn't change, but his expression becomes a little blanker. These are all thoughts he's had before, but the more he talks to Itachi, the more he's beginning to think he's onto something.] Unless it wasn't a lie, in which case you gotta wonder how he found out about it. You seem so tight-lipped about it, after all.
[action]
[If there was one thing Madara didn't do, it was pull nonsense out of his ass.]
[action]
Heh. You know, it'd be a lot easier for us both if you could just be straight-forward about this, instead of just confirming one-by-one all of my suspicions.
[action]
[He actually sighs now, rubbing at his forehead.]
By all rights I should be dead and these matters should have never come under discussion. I'm sure you can see why I'm less than thrilled with having to discuss them with those who shouldn't have even been involved.
[action] 1/2
...it's not like I can change what I know, though. And if Sasuke is holding this against everyone in Konoha, I don't want to. [Not if Sasuke is going to be coming after his friends. He needs all the facts he can get if that happens.]
[action]
I won't ask you why it happened. [Why Konoha ordered it; why Itachi followed those orders. He has nothing but theories, but he knows there had to have been a reason behind it. He just needs to trust it was a good reason.] But there's just two things I need to know besides that. Answer me those, and I'll never mention this again.
[action]
But that weariness isn't something he needs to show Shikamaru.]
Ask.
[action]
[Of course, there's no way of telling if there's anyone else Madara decided to run his mouth to. Besides Sasuke, he knows he told Naruto, Kakashi, and Yamato.
Would there have been anyone Konoha would've shared that information with, though? It's like he told Naruto - this was obviously a better kept secret than him being the container for the Kyuubi, and there was an actual law in place for that. Was it the kind of secret they were planning on taking to their graves?
...or was it something that would have needed to be passed on to certain people. Like the new jonin commander, or the next Hokage (who'd put together the units for the Niju Shotai - the Akatsuki Hunters). His frown deepens - or anyone, just anyone.
At least he's certain Asuma wouldn't have known, if Kakashi didn't. The Third was a good man - his son didn't need another issue with him to take to his grave after he'd finally made his peace with the rest of them.
There were more kids in that clan than Sasuke.]
[action]
[Itachi shakes his head.]
But it seems whatever version of me was here before was a little more... open with this information. One or two citizens of Luceti may still be at least somewhat aware.
[action]
It's not like Itachi would answer him anyways. It has to be bad enough that two people he'd never heard of until coming to Luceti knew his life story from the moment they met him.]
...I guess it's not of much consequence then, so long as they're not telling anyone else. It's not like they can pull any strings with it back home.
[He works very hard to keep the relief out of his shoulders. Yes, there's a chance Itachi could be lying. Friend or enemy, you should never take a ninja just on his word. Deceit is just a part of their game.
But it's the best he's going to get, under the circumstances. And he'd like to think that people like Tsunade and his dad would handle things differently if they knew something about this.]
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