( CLOSED. ) DON'T FOLD IF YOU'RE MADE TO BEND—

[kawarimi]

WHO: kakashi and planned thread partners.
WHAT: tdm events and miscellany.
WHERE: all over neo tokyo.
WHEN: january 1st–30th.
WARNINGS: tbd.

Comments

( SASUKE. )

[kawarimi]

( raising his voice over the beating of the helicopter blades, kakashi makes his announcement to the pilot. ) We'll take it from here! Once we're clear of you, climb high and stay out of our way!

( she isn't to blame for the distrustful look she gives them in the rearview; he wouldn't put the fate of his home in the hands of outsiders—least of all ones brought in against their will. but this, and the mitigation of collateral damage, is their duty. he'll put his best effort into saving these civilians for their sake and the sake of the comrades he must return to konoha.

as they're flown lower to the minimum safe altitude for a parachute, he joins sasuke on the opposite side, refusing the help of the overhead bar. )

Ready?

[eyeforaneye]

[ Air currents split around the helicopter like ripples in water, and the pressure it places on his lungs is familiar. He's felt the earth slip away from him in battle, high altitude choke paired with the stinging scent of ozone from blistering attack after blistering attack, but now instead it's been exchanged for creeping saltwater.

The waves beneath them churn brown near the shoreline, awash with debris already, but the actual threat beyond the earthquake damage seems minimal. And it's as if the moment he thinks it, the water starts to move. Not in larger swells that buffet the seawall or crashes of waves further threatening the foundation of already crumbling buildings.

The water is going out away from the shore, mimicking a low tide that rips the sea back in a powerful undercurrent. It's coming. ]

Aa. [ He's crouched low, eyes on the ground below them, and as he answers he realizes how little of a plan he does have. ] Kakashi... when we're down there, use douton where I can see you. I'll need it.

And for whatever else happens... you can rely on me.

[ No time is given for Kakashi to process words which harken back to their first conversation in this place, standing in stark contrast to how he had once felt. Whatever complicated feelings strive to sway him off course, this one is simple: they're on the same side. They're teammates. And he has a duty to protect his hokage.

Fingers grip the helicopter's siding as he suddenly pitches forward without warning, the pilot's shout for him to "grab a fucking parachute" lost to the whipping of wind about his ears as he drops straight down towards the Tokyo Bay below. ]

[kawarimi]

( rain buffets the side of his face as they swing nose-first into a headwind from the northeast. it beads from the water-resistant mask clinging to his nose and chin, concealing the expression beyond. hearing his words parroted back is surreal when it's been hard to tell where they stand when their opinions seem to conflict so absolutely. but sasuke's never been a liar—if he says kakashi can rely on him, he damn well means it.

conditions are becoming unsafe for the pilot who, through the stress of surprise at sasuke's leap, wrestles with the controls to keep the helicopter level. )

Relax; if we couldn't do this much, your people wouldn't have brought us here! We'll contact you again when we're in range of the landing zone! ( he follows sasuke in a fall, removing himself as her last responsibility.

they've done this countless times from more impossible heights; on the way down, kakashi builds on the plan his student alluded to. douton is a reliable first resort despite its chakra expenditure. the bigger the area of effect, the bigger the drain. he can make a wall as tall as a skyscraper or as wide as the bay itself and die doing it or he can trust that several middling versions will slow the waves' impacts until most ground-locked civilians can get to safety. trust plays a big factor in how to proceed. we can leave the rescue to everlight, kakashi thinks about a team that shines as bright as naruto. ino will rally them up. but where will brimstone, redemption, and the rest of revelation be?

where is itachi?

when the smaller details of the street rush into view, a shadow clone is conjured from blurring hand seals. it braces him at the wrist and forearm, using his different momentum to spin and launch him skyward, cushioning his landing before it impacts the street and disappears.

in a low crouch, kakashi locates sasuke, shaking his arms out before getting to work. )

Alright, eyes on me!

( another series of gestures are sped through. his student can keep up and outpace him, reinvigorated by the ease at which they take up their old roles. gritting his teeth into a smirk, he shows off a little for this one, and then he'll get to stand back and watch as the same technique is performed at his side. )

Douton: Doryuuheki!

( palms slap at the ground in a shockwave that breaks asphalt, rattling apart large soil aggregate into smaller-grained clay. rain seeps into an already damp upper layer, mixing, forming a dense wall of mud that launches into the sky, sealing the mouths of three city blocks—and it's decorated with the faces of howling hounds, solidifying into a dam as hardy as concrete. )

[eyeforaneye]

[ The world spins as he falls and he allows it, a blur of grey, blue, and green that whips water against his face and a wind that pairs with it to chill him to the bone. Within seconds his skin is numb and it's just as well, one fewer distraction to contend with as he hurtles towards the Earth.

Conjuring Susanoo in its partial form, with its arm in motion to match his momentum and snatch him from the air just before his impact with the ground, is an exercise in timing that's executed effortlessly entirely out of reflex. There's an unusual strain that accompanies the act, as if he's pushing just against the edge of cold glass without threatening to break it, but the new limitation is noted with objective indifference as his eyes go to Kakashi. Is it just the flicker of pain and a flash in his vision, courtesy of the implant, that he'll have to contend with? Or is he truly weakened? The most unpleasant option always feels the most likely: both. But right now he has a goal and nothing else can matter.

For a moment it's as if the rain stops and sea calms, time slowing for the formation of each and every hand seal that his teacher telegraphs to him from across a soon-to-be battlefield: the two of them up against a merciless threat of nature. The wall itself is huge, erupting from the earth in a way that his teacher makes look so effortless... and it forces him to realize how long he's been fighting on his own. For years now he's had no one at his side, and certainly no one that he can trust to find the harmony to his melody in combat. Kakashi is and always has been an elite shinobi, and he can feel his own instinct responding to his presence on the field.

Susanoo releases him as the technique is completed and by the time his feet touch the ground he's made the necessary adjustments in his mind, converting a two-handed technique into what his past injuries have forced him to master. One-handed seals are formed in a blur of motion as he turns, palm slamming against the ground in a mirror image of Kakashi's copied movements that summons a tear across pavement and a surge of rock and cement. ]

Douton: Doryuuheki!

[ Rebar twists through the wall that stretches to meet Kakashi's, another three blocks shielded by packed rubble only pushed down further by Susanoo's curling hands. Yellow eyes bore into the distance, peering out at an ocean still drawing back for its greatest punch yet. ]

It's coming... there won't be enough time to reinforce walls along the whole of the bay. [ His head turns to again look to Kakashi, wet hair matted to a face aged by determination and severity. ]

... but the other teams should be deployed to the east and west, if the pilots have any sense. I'll create more walls, and I can buy us some time when it hits, but not much.

[ Is he asking for Kakashi's approval? Is it instinct? Even he isn't sure. ]