SLO Filler Arc #1: Mars the Kidkage

[adithya]

Gud shite mayn. Can't wait to read more mayn

[Mars]

havent giggled so hard at a forum post since the legendary cereal tutorial

[DarthTyrael]

I read them both now and I have to say I fucking died XD well done! It's the kind of giggle I really needed at the moment =D

Thanks for the awesome works and keep 'em up!
also thank you for including me in the first chapter

[Diamond Lee]

this is fucking amazing ngl


I fucking love this lol


Keep it going this is the first i read with such happiness and attention

[Manuster]

this is soo good man

best story on the for-

oh wait

[Ken]

nice

[America]

Episode 3: The Plot Is Getting Thicc

Fulvius lightly pushed open the door. Kuria sat at his soon-to-be office desk, discussing something with the elder. A creak brought their attention to the newcomer.
“Come in, Lords Ennia.” The Elder spoke up first, inviting Hooke and Fulvius into the room. Kuria had a look of confusion on his face, poorly masked by joy.
“Welcome to my humble abode, friendos.”

“Thank you for having us, cousin.” Fulvius and Hooke bowed before the Kage-elect. Kuria nodded and pulled out a piece of paper.
“Err… Which cousins are you again?” Fulvius was taken aback by the question. He looked dejected, not even remembered by his own blood.
“Fulvius and Hooke Ennia Raimei, of the Metal, Lord Kuria.” The Elder answered. Kuria’s eyes lit up as he returned Fulvius’ gaze.

“My father was supposed to give this to you a long time ago. Like, a really long time ago.” Kuria began digging through the mountain of papers on his desk, knocking some off; letters dating years back, newspaper clippings from before Kuria was even born. Fulvius picked up one slip of paper that seemed oddly out of place. It read: 441.

“What’s this?” He asked, turning the paper to show the Kage-elect. Time seemed to stop for a moment, only resuming to allow a troubled look creep over Kuria’s face.

Kuria moved quicker than Fulvius had ever seen before. The paper was safe in Kuria’s pocket after he had vaulted over the desk and snatched it straight from Fulvius’ extended hand -- all before the Minister of Metal’s combative reflexes could instinctively push his hand to the hilt of his saber. Hooke was faster, yet in all of his speedy glory, he pulled a fork instead of a kunai.
“Well I guess that happens when you replace your kunai pouch with a fork pouch.” He laughed and returned the utensil to its holster.

“Wait, you have an entirely new pouch just for forks?”
“Yeah. How else would I carry them?”
“Just empty the kunai pouch and put the forks in that.” Fulvius paused for a second. “Do you have a single kunai on you?”
“No -- but!” Hooke fumbled around in the bag on the back of his waist. “I do have this!” He drew a kusarigama.
“Hooke.” Fulvius rubbed his temples with his hands. “You don’t even know how to use that.”
“Yeah, I know. I was kind of hoping that I would have a sort of awakening moment if the situation was dire. Y’know, like, I would suddenly become a god with a kusarigama because the circumstance called for it.”

Fulvius gave up. This had become commonplace ever since he was reunited with his brother. He loved the guy, but Hooke had a complete lack of any mental reasoning past the level of a genin. How the two were spawned from the same parents was yet to be discovered.

“Well, I suppose we'll be on our way, then.” Fulvius no longer felt welcome. Kuria nodded and flicked him an envelope. The old wooden floors creaked as the Raimei brothers exited. Suspicion was beginning to rise in the Hidden Hill.


Dart finally broke away from the main group -- a tour of the village wasn't necessarily what he came for. Lord Hokorikage seemed all too eager for the tour to come around to the riverbaths; being on the tour gave him an ample excuse to stare at the Hidden Hill beauties while they bathed.

Dart took a sharp right turn, putting a big blue building with some kind of ball on top in between him and the tour group. Another right turn landed him on what he assumed to be a main road. The architecture was beautiful; there was something amazing about the simplicity of a normal building -- unlike the Dust, which used earth to create most of its facilities.

Manuster Tsukegami strolled down the street, laughing and chatting with two unimpressed elders. Dart could tell they were looking for any reason to escape the pseudo-chokehold Manuster held them in.

Dart looked down the other street, deciding whether or not to run away before he was unwillingly sucked into Manuster’s social circle.
“Dart Yamamakazami!” Fuck. “How's it going buddy?”
“Oh. Hey Manuster. I'm doing great. Listen, I'm gonna head out, I've got some busi-”
“Nothing's more important than a good conversation.” He laughed heartily and slapped Dart on the back, causing a slip of paper to fall out of his own pocket. Manuster didn't notice, but one of the elders picked it up subtly.

“Ah! Let me introduce you to my friends here. How rude of me.” He scratched his head and laughed. “This is Tatsuo Ennia Toratsume of theeeeeee….” Manuster squinted for a second, looking at the man who picked up the paper. “Hidden Forest! Right, I remember that.” Another hearty laugh escaped his mouth.

“And this shy guy over here is Mr. Sareko Akaihono.” He paused for a second, grinning like a kid. “From the Hidden Volcano.” The elders greeted Dart with a respectful bow, and Dart returned the gesture.

“I've just been showing these gentlemen around the village.”

“Yes, we've looped around it three times already. I'd love to continue, however, I do believe it's time for me to attend to some business.” Tatsuo dipped his head in respect and jogged off.

“Well, the Hidden Forest sure doesn't know how to party.” Manuster laughed. “Let's hit up some food, aye?” His companions shrugged, which was approval enough for the Hidden Hill shinobi.


The restaurant was mostly empty -- not many customers came for dinner at 4:31 PM. Except Manuster; it was an honor to treat anyone to dinner regardless of the time. If Manuster was paying for the meal, it didn't matter if it was 8 AM, the meal still counted as dinner.

“Welcome, lads.” The shopkeeper paused to gaze at Manuster. “Weren't you just here, m’boy?”

Manuster nodded. “I'm always hungry.” The three placed their order and took a seat with an unsuspecting Hooke, who idly chatted with Yamanagi Ennia Sandareisu.

“Where's your brother?” Manuster asked, shuddering at the thought of such an unpleasant and boring person.
“He said he's doing some important business. Told me to talk to Yama here about his house entering Ennia.” Manuster could tell not much serious discussion was taking place. Chatter resumed once the group’s numbers were called and their ramen had been retrieved.

“Hey, is that a fork?” Manuster looked intrigued.
Hooke nodded.
“Can I get one?”
“Hell yeah!”



Kuria looked towards his cousin in disdain. A persistent one, indeed. This meeting felt clandestine and scandalous; moonlight had fallen on the Hidden Hill and no lights were on in the Kage’s office.

“I've come across this paper, similar to the one you seemed so reluctant to show me earlier.” He held up a slip of paper with the number 453 written on it. Kuria gulped.
“And how did you get it?”
“A patriarch from my clan picked it up after one of your shinobi dropped it. Manuster Tsukegami, if I remember correctly.”
“I guess it's time to put on my detective hat.” Kuria grinned.



I feel like this episode was a bit more serious, what do you guys think? Did you like it or not?

[Raidnn]

I liked it the writing was more fluid imo, and the serious undertone mixed in with the not so serious antics of the characters behavior ties together nicely

[CaioDarT]

Really loved Episode 3 hahah (not just because im on in, ty btw xD). The reading was very nice and the composition came out pretty great. And Manuster's character is really funny

[Manuster]

Perfection, this is perfection, you got me perfect

perfect ma boi

absolutely splendous

just perfect



oh and no the seriousness was perfectly balanced, not too much or little, wouldnt even mind more seriousness

[Diamond Lee]

this is great again haha! i love manuster's personality!

KEEP THEM COMING IM ADDICtED NOW

[Mars]

litttttttt

[America]

Episode 4: Darker Days

Takumi strolled along the main street of Okagakure, a sense of dread lingering about him. The note he had found troubled him. He stopped by a stand selling all sorts of weaponry. Katanas, kunai, shuriken, even a large scythe were laid out for potential customers. The mood of the entire village was ruining Takumi’s day. Jubilant was perhaps the correct word; the villagers were excitedly preparing for the Kage Ceremony. It bothered him so much because he knew something sinister was happening in the shadows.

“Taku-meister!” A taller man pulled him in close by the neck and gave him a noogie. Several other shinobi said their greetings and waited for Fampo to finish manhandling Takumi. Finally, the giant’s iron grasp let loose and Takumi stumbled back, fixing his messed up hair.

“How’s it going, guys?” Takumi greeted the group unenthusiastically. He recognized Fampo, Basaka and Hari Tsukegami as his fellow Hidden Hill ninja, but there were two more shinobi that accompanied them. They wore light red flak jackets, akin to the ones worn by-

“These are my buddies from the Hidden Haze.” Hari held his hand out like he was showcasing a prize. Takumi was going to guess Haze anyway.

He was drawn away from his thoughts by a sudden yelling followed by deep rumbling. All six of the shinobi turned to look. A cloud of dust mushroomed over the uninhabited section of land to the left of the Kage building. Is it an attack? Were we too late to figure out what the numbers meant? Takumi darted towards the cloud, the whole gang in tow.


“The name’s Izumi, and this is my art.” He leaned on a four meter tall statue depicting a pig standing on top of a cow. Izumi had a confident smirk on his face. Basaka was the first to speak up.
“Pigs standing on cows is your art?” He said blandly. Izumi’s smirk fell off his face.
“What? No! Earth Style is my art. I was just showing my friend that I can make anyt-”
“I dunno, guy. That’s pretty weird stuff.” Fampo cut him off, stroking his beard judgingly.
“Yeah, and…” Hari over-exaggerated looking around. “I don’t think you’ve got any friends.”
“I certainly don’t see any.” Yokiro joined in on the fun. Takumi was impressed; these guys from the Hidden Haze seemed chill.

“Heh… Maybe we should kill his dog…” Satoru said creepily. Takumi immediately retracted the idea of Hidden Haze shinobi being remotely cool.
“What the fuck?”
“Aaaaaand there it goes.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake.”
“God damnit.”
“You just murdered the joke.”
Numerous other complaints came from the gang of shinobi.  They eventually ceased and looked back to Izumi. The Hidden Dust shinobi scratched his head and looked from his statue to the group.

“So… Is it really that bad?” Izumi sheepishly asked.
“No, not at all, guy.”
“Yeah man, keep it up.”
“You got a future in this stuff.”
“Well… Takumi began. “It's kind of odd, let's be real here guys.”
“Don’t be a dick Takumi, the guy’s got a chance if he refines his technique. It’s a little bit rough around the edges.” Hari said. Suddenly, the ground behind Izumi began to shake, spitting dirt and rocks into the air. The Kage of the Dust climbed out of a hole in the ground and put his hand on Izumi’s shoulder. Whispers were exchanged, and the two disappeared back underground. The Hidden Dust was certainly acting suspicious: first the numbers and now this.

“So………” A grin crept onto Yokiro’s face. “Who wants to draw a dick on his statue?” The idea garnered unanimous support, even from that one creepy guy, Satoru. Much vandalism and fifteen minutes later, Takumi made some excuses, said his goodbyes, and ditched the group.

“What should I even think?” Takumi asked himself. Something sinister certainly was going on, and he didn't know what. That was the worst part of all this, being in the dark. Despite the outer appearance of callousness, Takumi cared greatly for the village, and to see it potentially in danger angered him. Especially that his only orders were to wait and be alert.


Izumi couldn’t see any of his comrades, but he could hear their breathing. He wasn’t sure why the room was pitch black, or even where he was. A torch lit up, revealing three dead bodies, the four Kage and two elders. This was certainly not what Izumi was expecting. The room was probably so dark because they were still underground, most likely a small cave that the Hokorikage dug out.

“We’ve got a problem, guys.” Kuria started. “One of my shinobi found this slip of paper in an Earth Style jutsu from a Hidden Dust Shinobi. Name: Nibui.” Kuria motioned to a gray haired guy leaning against the wall and the Hidden Forest elder next to him. “Fulvius reported that Toratsume here found another on a Hidden Hill ninja. Name: Manuster Tsukegami.” Finally, Kuria looked to the three dead villagers on the floor. “And these three were eating ramen when they died. We checked their pockets, and they all had slips of paper. 461, 462 and 463.”

Hayame stepped up. “You're a good medical ninja, Izumi. There is no obvious sign of death for these three; no wounds or otherwise physical harm done. We would've gone to the Hill medical ninja, but this must remain a secret. Can you perform an autopsy?”

“Of course, Lord Hokorikage. I'll need some materials, though.” Hayame nodded in response.
“We might as well bring the shopkeeper into secret custody. If it turns out to be poison, he was most likely involved in administering it even if it wasn't his plan.” The other three Kage muttered approval of Kuria’s idea. Dark times were upon the village, indeed.


Would you guys want an appearance and maybe even a fight with Vreg? Tell me your thoughts.

[Shivraj]

I wouldn't mind an appearance from Vreg, and it would certainly make things more interesting, so I don't see why not. Good chapter though.

[Toratsume Nyshn]

aye maintaining the comic relief and simultaneously developing the tension. Still can't perfectly picture the sinister cause yet!
And yep, Vuregu making an appearance is required, after all Mars is about to become the kage.
How long is this arc gonna last?