142 replies to this topic

[Chatte]

Oh it's gonna be suddenly about her locked feelings for Sasuke, some feelings we never knew about. Don't be fooled we're getting anything NS, lol! Don't ever expect something remotely okay from these people... Sakura is the character that everyone needs to step on.

[Nostradamus]

Oh it's gonna be suddenly about her locked feelings for Sasuke, some feelings we never knew about. Don't be fooled we're getting anything NS, lol! Don't ever expect something remotely okay from these people... Sakura is the character that everyone needs to step on.

I don't like to admit this but it's true. Right now Sakura is nothing more than a tool for them. They demonstrated that in the movie.

[EmperorZeo]

Does anyone know the release date for the Sakura novel? Because I heard April 3rd.

Edited by EmperorZeo, 20 February 2015 - 12:51 PM.

[RedFaction]

Does anyone know the release date for the Sakura novel? Because I heard April 3rd.

I think it's confirmed to be April 3rd. SP is trying so hard to do damage control, but it isn't working.

[Tiller]

Remember people, we are not a part of this fandom anymore. We were excommunicated from it. Let them have their rotting story line. DON'T SUPPORT THEM. Let them rot.

 

From now on we only support our own.

Edited by Tiller, 20 February 2015 - 06:46 PM.

[TouKen4Life3g]

I love the comment from ANN:

 

 

Sakura's feelings revealed? Hell we already know what happens. She gets with the abusive Sasuke for the most awkward and forced relationship in the history of manga.

[Otaru]

All this is making me so sick

[Drivenbyflame]

Lol'd at marketing tactics. 

 

+We lost a big part of the fandom, what can we do?

-Just release the book on April 3rd, they're dumb enough to buy it.

 

Hahaha no, you are not getting my money anymore. Rot in hell, Nardo.

[EmperorZeo]

Well obviously the book is about her secret feelings for Rock Lee. As well as the sudden responsibility she has after Sasuke shows up and dumps his and Karin's daughter on her doorstep. Karin is no longer in the picture, so not wanting Salad to interfere with his aimless wandering, and Sakura being the only other female he's actually spoken to, he finds it fitting that she raise his daughter.

Question, does anyone have a full summary of what happens in the first novel? It most likely trash, but still I'd like to know what happens so that I can properly give it my ire.

Also, does anyone have a full translation of the Tale of the Gutsy Ninja?

[Nar123]

Well obviously the book is about her secret feelings for Rock Lee. As well as the sudden responsibility she has after Sasuke shows up and dumps his and Karin's daughter on her doorstep. Karin is no longer in the picture, so not wanting Salad to interfere with his aimless wandering, and Sakura being the only other female he's actually spoken to, he finds it fitting that she raise his daughter.

Question, does anyone have a full summary of what happens in the first novel? It most likely trash, but still I'd like to know what happens so that I can properly give it my ire.

Also, does anyone have a full translation of the Tale of the Gutsy Ninja?

 

The Naruto Reddit is translating the chapters of the Kakashi Hiden

[Chatte]

From Shikamaru's books apparently.

First chapter

 

" Konoha

Since when did I stopsaying things were troublesome…?

That was the thought passing through Shikamaru’s head as hegazed up at the blue sky. Even though the wind wasn’t that strong, thin clouds were hurrying along one after another, passing in and out of his line of sight. Their flustered state seemed similar to Shikamaru’s own. He laughed derisively at himself for the thought.

At any rate, he was busy.

Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, the world was finally starting to regain its stability. The Kage Alliance that had come into existence when the war broke out had continued to this day, and the world of Shinobi was drastically different than it used to be.

The alliance might have started between the five hidden villages, but after the war, small neighbouring countries started to declare their participation in the alliance as well. It had come to the point the organisation that had started out as an alliance was developing into a Shinobi Union, one that involved every shinobi in each participating nation.

Contracts that had been undertaken individually by villages prior to the union’s existence were now being brought towards the Shinobi Union collectively. Each village who participated in the union had shinobi representatives assigned to every other village for discussing negotiations over contracts. In this way equilibrium of labour between villages was guaranteed, the disparity between villages was revised and the Shinobi World could finally greet the era of peace with open arms.

“Haa…”

Shikamaru’s sigh disappeared up into the sky. His back was absolutely freezing thanks to lying down on the cold stone floor beneath him, and if he stayed like this, then he was probably going to end up catching a cold. But he had his reasons for not getting up.

Work was waiting for him.

So much work it wasn’t even funny.

It was only because Shikamaru was intending on a short break that he was allowing himself to laze around in the afternoon like this to begin with. But he also knew that the moment he so much as sat up, his mind would slip back into work mode. And when that happened, Shikamaru was perfectly aware that he wouldn’t get another chance to rest like this again.

And so, he refused to move despite the cold, stubbornly intent on resting as long as he could. Until somebody found him out, Shikamaru didn’t intend to move an inch from this spot.

‘This spot’ was the roof of the Hokage Residence.

You could see generations of Hokage’s faces carved into the mountain parallel to the round roof Shikamaru was sprawled out on. In order from the left, there was the first generation’s Hashirama, then his brother Tobirama. There was the Third who had died during Orochimarui’s Konoha Crush plot, Hiruzen, and then the ‘Yellow Flash’ Namikaze Minato. The Fifth was a legend along with Jiraiya and Orochimaru, one of the three Sannin, Tsunade.

There were all past Hokage.

Now, the face of the man who was the current Hokage could be found carved next to Tsunade’s.

A pair of sleepy looking eyes peeking out from underneath wire-like hair could be seen, as well as the bridge of his nose, while the rest of his well-defined features were hidden under a mask.

The Hokage was a symbol of Konoha. It was a position that couldn’t be obtained unless you were acknowledged by every single shinobi in the village. Even though that symbol’s face was supposed to be carved into the mountain as a commemoration, to still keep the bottom half hidden under a mask…

Hatake Kakashi.

That was the name of the current Hokage.

The teacher of the two who had lead the way to victory during the war, there wasn’t a single person in the Shinobi World who didn’t know his name. Shikamaru on the other hand, knowing both the man and his students personally, was far from star-struck. There were fans who adored and fawned over the three, saying they were ‘heroes of legend’ but in reality none of the three were really types to fit the term “legend”.

Kakashi, while certainly a man who got things done during a crisis, turned back to his usual role when it came to everyday life: a no-good adult who didn’t feel like doing much of anything.

The other two heroes had similar problems as well. One was an abysmal idiot. The other, abysmally stubborn. It was because the rest of the world didn’t know about the hopeless sides of those three that they were being hailed as ‘living legends’.

“What am I even doing…?”

The words left Shikamaru’s mouth without him really thinking about it.

He himself was the type of person who would never become anything close to a hero. He never wanted to be one in the first place.

If you said he wanted to be one of those ninja who practiced vigorously to improve their ninjutsu, you’d be wrong. He certainly never thought about studying medical ninjutsu and becoming a specialist in the vanguard back-up, either. If you said he wanted to be someone with a high rank in encryption or in medical surgery, you’d be wrong too.

He just…wanted everything to be average.

That was Shikamaru’s dream.

He wanted to be an average ranked ninja who’d have an average job, marry an average wife and have an average child, and then, after an average elderly prime…

Well, everything came to an end one day.

Was there any greater happiness to be found than in a life plan like that?

He didn’t think so.

On days with good weather, lying down like this and watching the sky, seeing the clouds floating past and taking your thoughts with them. On rainy days, having shougi pieces as your company would be more than enough. There would be no pressure from people’s expectations. No stress, either.

Wasn’t that a wonderful sort of life?

“Haaa…”

It was a deep sigh, issued right from the bottom of his stomach.

The bastard called “reality” was a really tough opponent.

If the thing you were fighting was a human being, then at least there’d come a day where you would win against them. Even if they were a god-like person, they had to have a weakness somewhere. The enemies in the war had been abominations, and yet all the shinobi had focused their powers together and won against them, hadn’t they?

You can win against an opponent in front of you.

However…

Reality is an opponent without substance that you can never, ever defeat.

No matter how Shikamaru kept wishing and wanting otherwise, reality callously kept sending him towards the exact sort of fate he did not want. Shikamaru, who had wished so badly to be ‘average’, was now someone the Shinobi Union couldn’t do without.

He had so much work. All the jobs taken on by each nation’s Daimyo and citizens had to be classified from A to D rank, and then each village’s characteristics had to be carefully taken into account to figure out which one was most suitable for the allotment of labour – and then there were the Chiefs of the Union, the Five Hokage’s consultations. They used him for everything, to the point where he even ended up being a shougi partner for the old Tsuchikage.

“The Shinobi Union’s Shikamaru of Konoha.”

There were people who even went around calling him that now.

Even though Shikamaru didn’t want to stand out, even though he didn’t want to succeed at anything, even though he fought and fought against it, his surroundings kept pushing him until he rose above others.

His first mistake had been at the Chuunin Promotion Exams.

The Chuunin Exams, started by the villages of the Five Kage and including even the genin of other small countries. In the midst of the chaos of Orochimaru’s plotting and the Third’s death, for some reason Shikamaru was promoted to the rank of chuunin.

Amongst all the applicants, he was the only one to get that promotion.

It was the kind of situation where Shikamaru felt that yelling ‘what have you done?!’ would have been more than appropriate.

His fatal mistake had been in the part of the exam where genin were paired off to fight against each other. His kagemane jutsu’s success had greatly shocked his opponent, a sassy kunoichi carrying an absurdly large fan that created giant gusts of wind, but at the end of their stalemate, it was Shikamaru himself who threw in the towel.

It was this forfeit of Shikamaru’s that was so highly valued.

Being a Chuunin included leading subordinates. That was why the ability to precisely analyse one’s situation was the one most highly valued. The examiners approved of Shikamaru accepting that he was cleanly defeated, and gave him the highest evaluation.

It was a really unwelcome evaluation.

It was an examination he hadn’t wanted any part in, one that he’d been forced into entering by his teacher’s, Sarutobi Asuma’s, insistence. He hadn’t intended on such on evaluation, hadn’t felt the slightest desire for one either. But reality had still lead Shikamaru to becoming a chuunin, as well as to everyone in the village looking at him differently.

And ever since then, Shikamaru’s life plan had started to slip out of his grasp.

When Sasuke left the village, Shikamaru was assigned as a Team Leader working together with his classmates to try to bring him back, and after that as well, he was given the most missions out of all his classmates. He resisted and protested, but reality just kept bringing Shikamaru higher and higher up in rank.

Since the Fourth Shinobi World War…it’d been two years.

Shikamaru had become 19 years old. It was an age where he could no longer be called a child.

He wondered just how grateful you should be for people expecting great things from you. Was being someone who others depended on really such a wonderful achievement? The answer went without being said. There was a plain example in Shikamaru’s friend, Naruto, and how his desire to be relied on by everyone had turned him into the whole village’s– no, rather, the whole Shinobi World’s hero.

Shikamaru knew very well that people were living things who would end up needing one person or another. That’s why despite his misgivings, he didn’t feel any hateful feelings such as ‘if only you didn’t exist’ towards the people who depended on him. And no matter how much he was against the idea of being needed, he had never once cut corners on missions.

It had been 19 years since he’d been born into this world, and yet he already had so many obligations and entanglements he’d gotten himself involved in.

The group who had intended to take over the world, the “Akatsuki”, had killed his teacher Asuma. Asuma’s girlfriend Kurenai had been pregnant with Asuma’s child. That child was now two years old. Her name was Mirai.

To become Mirai’s teacher…it was a promise that he absolutely had to keep.

Shikamaru’s father, Shikaku, had been tasked with being the Alliance’s main strategist at the time of the Fourth Shinobi World War. When Obito used the destructive power of the resurrected Ten Tailed Beast to aim for the Alliance’s Headquarters, his father had died alongside Ino’s father, Inoichi.

Even now, his father’s and Inoichi’s last words were still ringing clearly in Shikamaru’s ears.

[We are always within you. Never forget that!]

To become as great a man as his father…it was a promise he’d made to the man who had helped to bring him into this world.

And then, there was…

Naruto.

Honest to a fault, the hero of Shinobi who believed wholeheartedly that he’d become Hokage, who never doubted the fact for even a moment…

During the fight with the Ten Tails, Shikamaru had been on the brink of death. While he was being healed by Sakura, Shikamaru had this thought:

Nobody is more suited to being his advisor than me…!

If Naruto became the Hokage, then Shikamaru would be his right hand man. It was a dream.

He had so many obligations already, he didn’t even want to count them. There was no mistake that it was all because of that same force that kept pushing him forwards. It was a good thing to be needed, and he should be grateful for everyone’s opinion of him allowing him to live as he was.

He should be grateful, but…

He got tired sometimes.

Shikamaru’s real self wasn’t the man everyone thought he was. His real self was a man who thought everything was troublesome, who wished for an average life. The kind of man that could be found anywhere. And the greater people’s expectations of him became, the more he wanted to run away. That was the truth behind the man that was Nara Shikamaru.

In the old days, all his comrades had fully understood how full of complaints he was, how much he didn’t feel like accomplishing anything.

Since when had they started to misunderstand him?

Since when had he stopped calling things troublesome?

Logically, both of those things must have started around the same time.

“When did it start…?”

As he gazed up at the clouds, deep furrows came into Shikamaru’s brow. His eyes narrowed as he thought hard on the subject, until he could only see a little bit of the sky.

A single hawk came into his line of sight…

The hawk was flying West, where parts of the sky were already beginning to be dyed a light pink from the setting sun. It spread out its wings and slowly started to circle. Shikamaru happened to be right in the middle of the hawk’s arc. No – the correct thing to say was that the hawk was circling around the Hokage Residence.

Shikamaru didn’t just sit up. He leapt right to his feet.

His mind that had been dwelling in depths as deep as the sea was sharpening again, and his eyes locked onto the hawk, not glancing away for a moment.

Jet black…

The hawk was so pitch black, it could’ve been painted with ink.

No – it really was a hawk painted with ink.

Super Beast Imitating Drawing…

Sai’s jutsu.

Sai was the man who had joined Naruto and Sakura on team 7 as a replacement for the missing Sasuke. His specialty was the Super Beast Imitating Drawing Jutsu, painting ink animals and giving them life and movement.

The hawk flying overhead Shikamaru was definitely from Sai.

“It’s finally come…”

In Shikamaru’s field of vision, he could see the hawk stop going around in circles and start to descend.

Shikamaru ran towards the stairs that went down from the roof. As soon as he reached the bottom of those, he’d be at the Hokage’s office. The hawk would definitely end up going there.

The moment Shikamaru had reached the stairs, the hawk also disappeared behind the side of the Hokage Residence, as a shadow would flit over one’s face. Shikamaru leapt down the stairs, running down the hall to the Hokage Office.

He opened the door without even bothering to knock.

“Oh, Shikamaru.”

It was Kakashi who spoke. He was standing behind a desk cluttered with piles of books and documents, reading an open scroll.

“Did Sai’s hawk just…?”

“That’s right.”

Kakashi turned the scroll over to Shikamaru so he could see. The messily written sentences on the white paper of the scroll flitted in and out of Shikamaru’s sight. It looked like a very hastily written message.

“The situation seems to be even graver than we’d thought.”

Kakashi’s gaze met Shikamaru’s as he spoke, the look in his eyes even more solemn than Shikamaru had dreaded it would be. Even the usual vague way of speaking the Hokage had was now entirely replaced by a sombre tone. Kakashi’s whole attitude was giving him an awful sense of foreboding.

Shikamaru’s eyes followed the handwriting on the scroll. While most of the message was written with very small, delicate writing from a fine brush, the last sentence alone stood out, thick and violently written:

“I don’t know who I am anymore.” "

Second chapter

 

" Addressed to theSeventh Hokage,

There is not muchtime, so I must write briefly.

Our investigation into the matter of your concern has been completed up to the degree you specified. However none of my 10 comrades have returned, and I have been left on my own.

I do not know if they are dead or alive. However, I think that there’s no mistake the enemy has sensed us.

I will get straight to the point.

The internal affairs of this country are far, far worse than you had feared them to be. If we leave it be, then the Shinobi Union is going to end up in a predicament. No, in fact, I believe that the very framework of the world could end up changing.

There is a man who is shaping this country.

His name is Gengo.

This country is here because Gengo is, and Gengo is here because of the country.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say this entire country only exists for the sake of Gengo.

‘Kowaku.’ That is the member who represents Gengo the most suitably.

Gengo may end up becoming an existence that will change the world.

I’m not sure if I don’t want it to change.

The living things called Shinobi don’t really have a saving grace to them, do they?

Because we endure, we are shinobi.

But is that really a good thing?

Hokage-sama.

No, Kakashi-san.

I don’t know who I am anymore…

Lifting his head from reading Sai’s letter, Shikamaru let out one small exhale

Kakashi was seated at his desk in front of him, his elbows leaning against the surface. He was wearing the hat that all Hokage’s must wear during official business or otherwise. It weighed down on his hair that had grown out in the last few years. Every part of his face that lay below his nose was hidden behind a mask as always.

Cradling his jaw with both hands, he was quietly watching Shikamaru’s reaction.

“What are you thinking?” He asked, with a very clear voice.

There was no one other than them inside the Hokage’s Office.

“I’m thinking…why would Sai send back a Beast Imitation, instead of returning himself?”

“That is indeed a thing to wonder.”

Letting go of his chin, Kakashi leaned back thoughtfully. Tilting his jaw to look up at the ceiling, he let out a louder and bigger sigh than Shikamaru had.

“And I’m thinking that, looking at the letter, it seems that all except Sai have fallen into the enemy’s hands and been killed, doesn’t it?”

“It does look like that.”

“Sai was leading a team made up of ten of Anbu’s most skilled members. I don’t think any of them could have made a foolish move that would expose themselves to the enemy. So it seems that the enemy is very skilled as well.”

“Yes…” Saying so, Kakashi began to slowly spin around in his chair. He spun around once, so Shikamaru was faced with the back of his chair, before slowly turning around again. Kakashi was the kind of man who kept his shoulders slouched in even the most serious of circumstances.

Normally, when a person was faced with this kind of a situation, their body would freeze up along with their thoughts. Kakashi was purposely making such seemingly carefree movement to stop his thoughts from freezing up. He had learned to always keep his body moving from his years as a capable Shinobi who saw so much shocking, bloody carnage.

Shikamaru was looking at Kakashi with an anxious expression on his face. He opened his mouth to speak.

“At the moment Sai realised he had lost all of his comrades, there’s only one course of action he could have picked.”

“Escape, right?” Kakashi said, still watching the ceiling.

“Yes.”

Kakashi gave a nod to Shikamaru’s immediate reply. Although he should have been directing his face to look at Shikamaru, he was still staring up at the ceiling.

“And yet he sent this kind of letter, instead of coming back to the village and reporting directly to you, Hokage-“

“How many times have I told you that just Kakashi-san is fine?” Kakashi said, finally turning to look at Shikamaru. “Since when have you gotten so stiff? It was nice when you used to have your shoulders slouched all the time.”

“I wasn’t going to stay a kid forever.”

“Even now, Naruto still acts ‘like a kid’.”

“Naruto’s Naruto.”

“Oh, I see…”

Somewhat of a sad look entered Kakashi’s eyes. He spread out Sai’s scroll on his desk, eyes going over it again.

Sai could transform his handwriting into an ink beast and send it to far away locations, where the ink beast would turn into handwriting again when it come into contact with a blank scroll. The hawk that Shikamaru had seen on the roof was the ink beast form of Sai’s handwriting he saw now.

“The situation is ‘far worse than I’d thought,’ huh…”

“It sounds like it’d be reasonable to say that the shinobi who went missing in action during the war, as well as those who’ve been disappearing lately, are all in that country.”

“That does seem to be what Sai’s confirmed.”

“The Country of Silence…”

The whole matter had been snowballing since two years ago.

Many lives had been claimed during the Fourth Shinobi World War started by Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Obito. Faced with the power of abominations outside the category of people, the shinobi of the Five Great Countries had gathered all their power and stood together. Finally, the person manipulating Madara, Ootsutsuki Kaguya, had been defeated and the war ended.

As every village entered into a period of peaceful recovery from the war, the details of figuring out who had been killed in battle and who was missing in action had turned into an urgent matter. The war had been a fierce battle that even ripped apart the continent’s terrain. If someone’s corpse could be found, it was considered a stroke of luck.

Compared to the number of shinobi that were concluded to have died in battle, the number of shinobi that were unaccounted for was far larger.

The Five Great Shinobi Countries had lost roughly 10,000 shinobi…

10,000 shinobi were the victims of the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Their enemies in the war could have wiped out the whole world. Many said it was a great stroke of fortune for them to have ended the war with ‘only this many lost’.

But that wasn’t how Shikamaru saw the matter.

Even one victim was one victim too many.

In the last war, he had his lost his friend Hyuuga Neji. Shikamaru didn’t think the pain of Neji’s loss was the only case out of ten thousand. A similar pain to losing Hyuuga Neji must have been felt for every other one of those victims.

In the death of only one person, there were emotions you couldn’t separate yourself from by simply by saying they were “just one sacrifice”.

It was for that reason…

It was for that reason that war couldn’t ever be allowed to break out again.

“I wonder just how many of those missing shinobi could’ve gone to the Country of Silence…” Kakashi muttered the same thoughts that were going through Shikamaru’s mind.

It was exactly as Kakashi said. Within all the shinobi who had been lost during the last war, there must have been a small amount who had survived but stayed out of reach.

The Shinobi Union’s Headquarters had been the first one to notice that.

Since it was Headquarters who handled all forms of requests for help and such, they were the first to notice any patterns. One such pattern had started to emerge about a year ago.

The requests for Shinobi dispatches had sharply decreased.

Since the Five Great Shinobi Coutries had decided to from a union, the Daimyo had had remarkably less fighting in the outer lands they ruled as well. Thus, it was a very natural thing for dangerous A-rank or B-rank mission requests to decrease.

However, the matter didn’t end there.

Even the relatively easy C-rank and D-rank mission requests had decreased in exactly the same way.

Shikamaru had heard of this matter relatively quickly, since he had a place at the Shinobi Union’s Headquarters as well. But it wasn’t like there was something they could do to solve the sudden decrease of missions. The Union had said it was a brief change brought along by the times, and closed the matter.

However, there was a man who said he could put an end to the problem of the declining missions, as well as one other problem that had popped up since the end of the war.

That man was Kakashi.

The other problem Kakashi was intent on solving: the cases of missing nin within the Five Great Shinobi Countries that had been going on for a year.

Since about a year ago, every village had been losing one Shinobi per month. That made 12 missing-nin for every village up to now. The Five Hidden Villages had had 60 shinobi disappear in total. Furthermore, they were all young, single, male Shinobi.

Abandoning your village was a grave crime. Of course, each village had sent people in pursuit of the deserters, but somehow, not a single one had been found.

“I probably did the wrong thing asking Sai to continue the investigation when he asked for back-up.” Kakashi said. “I should’ve pulled him out of the situation and gotten him mentally prepared before sending him to the Country of Silence.”

“Regretting it now isn’t going to change anything.”

“That’s true.”

Sai, who had been sent to investigate the cases of the missing-nin, had sent them notice of finding a lead about a month ago. Kakashi, who believed the increased missing-nin and the decrease of mission dispatches were related, had told Sai to continue the investigation with the anbu as back up.

The lead Sai had found was the Country of Silence.

The Country of Silence could be found in the far west of a continent that rivalled the Five Great Shinobi Countries as well as the countries surrounding them.

It was a country that had never made contact with any of the Shinobi Villages – or any other foreign country, for that matter. It was thus called ‘the Country of Silence’ by outsiders. The only details known about it was that it was a country with samurai who kept its citizens in line, and a Daimyou who ruled over the samurai. However, anything further than that was a complete mystery.

According to what Sai had relayed, it seemed that somehow Konoha’s missing-nin had run towards this country.

And those weren’t the least of their concerns. There was also the matter of the Konoha Shinobi who had gone missing in action during the war.

The Country of Silence was collecting shinobi who had gone missing in action as well as shinobi who had deserted the village…

For what reason?

Kakashi could see the reason as clearly as he could see the answer to the decrease of dispatches coming into the Shinobi Union.

“What do you think happened to Sai?” Kakashi asked.

“He’s alive.”

“Well, I agree with that.” The bottom of Kakashi’s mask moved as if he was smiling. “When you look at his obsessive sounding praise of this ‘Gengo’ he mentions in his letter…” Kakashi touched the fine, delicate handwriting on Sai’s message.

Seeing what he was thinking, Shikamaru kept speaking.

“It’s not something I want to believe, but we can’t discount the possibility that Sai’s been taken in by this man called Gengo.”

“Sai’s so pure, after all…”

“If Sai’s alive, we can’t just not save him.”

“That’s true…” Kakashi’s left scarred eye seemed to darken with despair.

Shikamaru could tell precisely what he was going to say without needing to hear it out loud.

This situation had a greater and more important matter than that of saving a comrade.

Shikamaru himself forced out the words.

“If the internal affairs of the Country of Silence are really as Sai’s reported, if the goings-on within are as you’ve guessed, then we have to take action immediately.”

“I know that.”

Shikamaru didn’t stop talking.

“It’s been two years since the war. All the villages have finally regained their stability, but the status of the country as a whole is still less than half as strong as it used to be.”

“We couldn’t possibly withstand another war.”

“Exactly.”

Letting out another huge sigh, Kakashi stood up from his chair. He stepped around his desk covered with scrolls and books and came to stand next to Shikamaru.

“It seems like you’ve come to the same conclusion that I have.” Kakashi said.

“Yes.”

“Then do you understand what I think of it?”

“You want to go and do it yourself, don’t you?”

Kakashi had a lot of experience from his youth spent in the anbu. He stood out amongst the anbu, whose specialty were shady missions, as a very capable soldier.

Shikamaru could see those thoughts on his face, and let out a sigh.

“Hokage-sama. I understand your feelings more than enough, but you must already know that what you want isn’t going to happen.”

“Heh. Your thoughts flash through your mind almost at the same speed as Minato-sensei’s jutsu, do you know that?”

Shikamaru simply gave Kakashi a long stare as an answer. Kakashi continued speaking in the face of Shikamaru’s silence.

“Anyway, going on what Sai said, the leading force behind that country is this man called Gengo.”

“Yes.”

“As long as we do something about him, then there won’t be any further problems.”

“That’s what I’m thinking as well.”

“Well then…”

Putting his hand at the middle of his back and giving a great stretch like an old man, Kakashi said, “Who do you think should be sent?”

“I’ll go.”

“Huh?” Kakashi’s eyes widened. “You’re Konoha’s representative. You have a lot of duties to the Union as well. There’s no need for you to go on an assassination mission at this time.”

Assassination…

Kakashi had finally put it into words. The thought that had been going through both of their heads was now out in the open.

If the Shinobi Union and the Country of Silence went to war, then the Union they’d spent so long maintaining would be disrupted, and possibly even rupture. Each nation was still exhausted despite all their recovery so far – there wasn’t a single person who wished for a war.

If Sai’s letter was to be trusted, then assassinating this ‘Gengo’ would be quickest and most effective way of stopping the Country of Silence from disrupting the world’s hard-attained peace.

“We have to keep the circle of people who know about this matter as small as possible.” Shikamaru said.

“But I’m telling you, for you to go is…”

“One of my comrades has been taken. Please allow me to go.”

Kakashi stopped talking when he saw Shikamaru’s determination.

As Kakashi said, there was no real need for Shikamaru to go. It would’ve been more proper to find another capable person and entrust the matter to them.

And yet, Shikamaru himself volunteered.

He himself didn’t understand why he did it.

But he just couldn’t stay still. "

 

From: http://cacatuasulphu...ranslators-note

http://cacatuasulphu...ranslators-note

[KnS]

Eww Gaara's gonna get a love story?? But I thought he only loved himself. Gaara x Mirror is my new OTP. <3

 

Gaara used to love only himself, but that view was transformed (through Naruto's selflessness) into the ability to care for others.

 

And actually, Gaara is an excellent character for a love story -- it's right there in his name.  

Oh it's gonna be suddenly about her locked feelings for Sasuke, some feelings we never knew about. Don't be fooled we're getting anything NS, lol! Don't ever expect something remotely okay from these people... Sakura is the character that everyone needs to step on.

 

Her secret feelings will be about Sasuke, certainly.  Could also be her need to make Naruto see Hinata's love for him as the key to his happiness.  *shudder*

The other, abysmally stubborn. It was because the rest of the world didn’t know about the hopeless sides of those three that they were being hailed as ‘living legends’.

 

So... even though she was right there, and played as big a part in saving the world as Kakashi, Sakura is left out of the legend category.

 

Tsunade is named a legend along with her teammates Jiraiya and Orochimaru -- and their sensei, Hiruzen -- but Sakura is denied, despite her teammates and sensei making the cut.

 

The only thing they gave Sakura to match her peers is a "hopeless side" -- as Shikamaru calls it.  Wanting Sasuke certainly qualifies.

 

The Sakura hate is so pathetic.

[Namikaze Clan]

So if Gaara is married by the time of the epilogue, I guess that means he  probably has a kid as well.  Kind of interested in seeing what Gaara would be like as a Dad.  Gonna laugh so hard if it`s revealed in the spin off that his child is the same age as Bolt and the others, lol

 

I wonder if his kids would inherit his raccoon eyes like Naruto`s children inherited his whisker marks?

Edited by Namikaze Clan, 26 February 2015 - 07:18 PM.

[Nar123]

So if Gaara is married by the time of the epilogue, I guess that means he  probably has a kid as well.  Kind of interested in seeing what Gaara would be like as a Dad.  Gonna laugh so hard if it`s revealed in the spin off that his child is the same age as Bolt and the others, lol
 
I wonder if his kids would inherit his raccoon eyes like Naruto`s children inherited his whisker marks?

i can already see gaara 's child being a woman , cue pairing of burrito x this girl vs burrito x salad , tfw ship war incoming, in the end this is the only way kishimoto can keep people interested: with ship teases

Edited by Nar123, 26 February 2015 - 07:34 PM.

[tricksie]

WHAT AM I READING?????

 

Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke are the three heroes? Not Sakura?? They're being hailed as 'living legends' but not Sakura? What happened to the neo-Sannin? Did all Tsunade's Sage powers just transfer to Kakashi when he became Hokage?

 

God, I hate this so much.

[TouKen4Life3g]

I can't believe they said "students of two." TWO!!!

[AHK]

Lol so the world is at war again. Whoops

[trang95]

I'm torn b/w whether or not I should read these two chapters only to read how Sakura is being treated like trash-again.

Edited by trang95, 26 February 2015 - 08:01 PM.

[Nar123]

now im even more excited to see the wonders sakura's novel is going to show us !

[TouKen4Life3g]

I can't wait for Sakura's novel. It's going to be the best thing I read since 50 Shades.