A nineteen year-old girl sat on the seventh head of the Hokage Monument. Along both of her soft cheeks were the two whisker-like marks she had inherited from her father, on whom she rested her bottom on with such a carefree spirit. Her long bluish hair, with a part of it tied in a single pigtail on the side, fluttered in the wind, and her clear blue eyes took in the sight of her beloved village. The whole time, a bright, radiant smile graced her beautiful features.
In spite of her jacket of sunny yellow and red, this girl was a ninja, but not just any ninja. Her name was Himawari Uzumaki.
"Although that last threat ended not too long ago, this place has already recovered so quickly," a deep and guttural yet familiar voice spoke to her from within.
"We all lost something over the past decade, but the best we can do right now is move on with our lives and protect the people we love who are still around," Himawari said sagely while keeping her youthful smile. "As long as there's life, there's hope, no matter how dark things get. And as long as there's hope, there's always a reason to smile."
"…You grew up strong. Your father would be proud."
"I wasn't the one who made this possible. I owe a lot to everyone. We wouldn't have made it out this well if we didn't all band together to defend our home."
"You call that coming out well? The village was nearly wiped out a second time, along with the rest of the Land of Fire."
Himawari giggled softly. "It could have been worse, right? And there's no way you would have allowed that to happen, Kurama-chan."
"Hmph!"
The girl bobbed her legs up and down playfully. "Really though, even the two of us couldn't have done it by ourselves. It was a hard fight, and I'm really grateful for our comrades; particularly Onii-chan and Sarada-nee-chan."
A woman with black silk-like hair and red glasses over her onyx eyes cultivated the tomatoes in her garden with gentle hands. Her father loved them, and besides that, they made good ingredients in just about anything she prepared.
While she was a kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf Village, she also had a duty to herself, and thus was dressed in a simple red and purple dress as opposed to the regular dark green flak jackets of those on duty.
Satisfied with her work, the young lady returned into her home. No sooner did she shut the door when her sharp senses picked up an all too familiar presence suddenly appearing in her immediate vicinity.
"That better not be you Bolt, you're supposed to be out on a mission," she called out with an irritated voice.
The presence seemed to instantly transport itself upon hearing her voice, yet never left the area. If anything, it had just come closer. "I planted a piece of marked tape on the Feudal Lord when he wasn't looking," a masculine voice answered behind her. "If anything happens, I can make it back in no time."
The woman turned around with a smirk to see a young man with unkempt blonde hair, although not as spiky and unruly to the extent of his father's or grandfather's, and had two whisker-like marks on each cheek. Around his neck, worn in a similar manner to how his mother Hinata had worn hers in her teenage years, was his Leaf forehead protector, the mark of loyalty to his village. Over his dark green flak jacket was a long black coat with a pattern of jagged yellow lightning bolts rising from the hem, while on either shoulder he bore the spiralling emblem of the Uzumaki clan and the flame of the Hyuuga. Proudly displayed right in the middle of his back was a third crest, a fan of red and white, the symbol of the Uchiha.
"Seriously, do you have any idea how much you've been abusing your grandfather's signature jutsu, dumbass?"
"Gramps himself got it off of the Second Hokage anyway," Bolt shrugged with squinted eyes and his lower lip forward. "Well, it's not really that much of a bad thing if I use it to spend as much time with my family as I can get."
At those pure words, Sarada couldn't help but feel a little hot in her cheeks. "Th-that doesn't make it any less irresponsible! Take your job seriously, stupid."
"Oh come on, it can't be that bad~ttebasa!" Bolt frowned. "Besides, in a world like ours, we don't really know when I might never have the chance to see you again."
"Please, don't say that," Sarada said, her tone softening and her eyes averting from him. "You have no idea. I was so sure I had lost you that time."
It was during the last war the Village Hidden in the Leaf had endured. With the advent of rapid modernization and vast innovation, coinciding with the death of the noble samurai leader Mifune, a new sort of soldier had arisen from the Land of Iron: men and women who fought not with katanas or ninjutsu, but with a new, mass-produced weapon that even their weakest could use with deadly effectiveness.
These weapons consisted of metal tubes at varying lengths, with one end wrapped by a stock of wood with an attached trigger mechanism. Into these weapons would be loaded cylinders containing a powerful propellant, manufactured with chakra akin to that used in paper bombs, capped by sharp metal cones. These were weapons designed to strike at a speed faster than the average Iajutsu practitioner could ever dream of, and could kill a ninja before they had even finished preparing their ninjutsu. They possessed incredible range and stopping power, and could pierce far deeper than a thrown kunai. These were weapons that levelled the playing field against even the most skilled of shinobi, lethal in even the most untrained hands, and were a threat to the world of ninjas as long as it existed.
In other words, this new government fought using guns and chakra rounds.
But why did they fight against the Five Great Nations? More importantly, how could they manage to take on so many enemies without ushering their own self-destruction? Again, these weapons were mass-produced, and fairly easy to craft. And when Mifune's rule ended, a faction in the Land of Iron, envious of the power of the ninjas and how much they had overshadowed the samurai, abandoned their roots and perverted the path of industry to create these weapons of war. It was fairly easy to cull whoever clung to the old ways, and once the whole nation was theirs, they had drafted the civilians of the land into a battle at a much larger scale. Thus, at least half of the land's fighting force which had never fought a day in their life until they were suddenly handed a weapon were abruptly plunged into a war that would decide whether or not ninjas still possessed the right to exist.
But weapons alone were not their only advantage. They knew that among the ranks of the shinobi were monsters capable of wiping out legions of them without breaking a sweat, particularly those who had descended from the Sage of the Six Paths himself. Some knew this fact by what they had etched into memory through their own eyes at the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War.
And so, they had recruited what remained of the Jashinists, who had finally come out of hiding from all over the Five Nations. The cult had come to the fight well prepared with unfathomable zeal, going so far as to corrupt their own bodies with all manner of self-destructive techniques and learning the ways of the Eight Gates. On top of that, they had somehow managed to retrieve whatever remained of the Zero-Tailed abomination for their own wicked experimentation.
During the later part of this war, on certain battlefield—a devastated city with many toppled skyscrapers just south of the Hidden Sand Village, a band of seven Hidden Leaf ninjas, each wearing dark green flak jackets, took upon the mission to provide reinforcements to their neighboring ally. What awaited them were scores and scores of corpses, all of which belonged to the lightly-armored enemy bearing rifles and pistols.
Shikadai Nara, the tactician of the task force, assessed the scene of slaughter before his eyes. Every one of the soldiers had been facing a different direction, even if they had been standing beside each other. It was as if they had been firing off in random directions before being struck down in their vital spots. Either that or their predator had been moving in and out of their ranks at various angles with inhuman speed. He knew of only two people currently existing in the world who could possibly qualify for the latter, and one of them was currently recovering in the Hidden Leaf Village due to overexerting himself when he had opened the Seventh Gate in an act of determination.
He picked up one of the shuriken lodged in a soldier's throat and examined it closely. It was the same weight as the standard ninja projectile, with a hole in the middle and four blades. But that was where the similarities to the norm ended. This was a custom-made shuriken, with each of its blades tipped with three sharp prongs meant for sticking themselves onto all sorts of surfaces. Around the hole was a circle of inscriptions which branched out over the flat of each blade.
A little further off were plenty more bodies, and their positions post-mortem implied that they had been fleeing for their lives in droves. There were also only two people he knew the enemy considered someone to flee on sight, and the other was currently undertaking a mission to destroy the Zero-Tails to the west.
He planted one knee on the ground and examined one of the bodies to confirm his suspicions. "Hey Sarada, you might want to check these guys out."
But she was already at it, and had selected what had appeared to be a well-armored officer with a perfectly round gaping hole in his torso. There was no blood pool despite the immense cavity, as the blood had clotted from some severe heat. Behind her fake glasses, Sarada's three-tomoe Sharingan activated. A single look told her the cause of death for the unfortunate sap: spiralling energy shrouded in lightning nature chakra. There was only one person who could do that.
It was already obvious who had taken down these fighters, but what took Sarada's notice was the freshness of the signs. Without realizing it, her hand tightened into a fist and began to tremble. "He's still around."
ChouChou Akimichi couldn't help but grin towards her female friend softly. And personally, she was always glad to see one of her friends make an appearance.
"Hey guys, time to look sharp," Inojin Yamanaka called from the top of a twelve-story building which had crashed onto its side. "I can sense fifteen of those gunmen approaching…"
"No worries, we can take 'em," ChouChou replied optimistically as she pumped her fist in the air.
"That's not all," Inojin said with some worry in his tone. "There's nine Jashin Zealots out in the open." The dark-skinned girl immediately expressed shock in her eyes.
"Nine?" Shikadai repeated with a troubled expression. "A pair of them is more than enough trouble to deal with."
"Just nine? I was really hoping for more of a challenge," said a familiar cocky voice from the top of a pile of debris.
With varying mixed emotions, the seven-man team looked up at the blonde figure garbed in the black coat with a yellow lightning pattern sitting on what was left of a concrete wall. At this point in time, he still only carried two family emblems on his garment.
"Where have you been all this time?" Sarada said venomously.
Bolt grinned at her widely, an act he had forced upon himself, to pretend as if he were always that same cocky little brat from their academy days, but Sarada knew better, she knew the drastic lengths he had gone through to become who he was now; he simply didn't want his old friends to worry about him.
"Come on, it's only been a couple of weeks~ttebasa," he replied. "During most of that time, I've been making sure nothing too bad happens to our buddies over at the Hidden Sand Village."
"You had us worried sick!" Sarada hissed.
Bolt raised an eyebrow at that. "You? Worried about me? No, really," he said, playing the sarcastic obliviousness card. "Besides, I'm a Sage and the Second Yellow Flash. I'm practically invincible~dattebasa!"
"You idiot-!" Sarada was about to start, when Inojin cut her off.
"Listen, you probably already know about the enemies making their way over here," he said with a reasonable tone. "Sage or not, you know we don't want our comrade to have to deal with everything while we sit around doing nothing."
Bolt cracked his knuckles in response. "Fine, I can focus my attention on the Zealots then, and hopefully draw some fire away from you guys while I'm at it."
Sarada shook her fist more wildly. "You dumbass! You're completely missing the point!"
Bolt just stuck his tongue out at her and vanished faster than the eye could blink.
"SHANAROOO!"
While his comrades from the Hidden Leaf split up in an effort to outflank the gunmen Bolt simply made a beeline towards the Jashin Zealots. On the way, he couldn't help but notice that no one had made any attempt to fire on him, even while he was just travelling on foot. These gunmen were smart, although not smart enough to retreat at the sight of him—the last thing they needed was to give away their position needlessly. But he trusted his friends to be able to take care of them no problem.
It wasn't long before the blonde Uzumaki stood face-to-face against the nine Zealots, each of which was dressed like monks in black, with their faces masked by a cowl and their robes displaying the symbol of Jashin in white thread. Each of them was highly dangerous, he knew, and was willing to use both underhanded and suicidal methods if it meant bringing death to their target.
Of course, they still wouldn't take long.
Four Zealots rushed him while the others stayed behind and disrobed the top part of their garment, revealing themselves to be tattooed with multiple intricate yet hideous seals from the entirety of their heads down their torso, seemingly centered on the spine. Bolt, quickly assessing his enemy's tactics, crossed his fingers together.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A single perfect replica of himself popped up behind him while the original dashed forward to meet his foes head on. Meanwhile, his clone put his hands together while standing and shut its eyes.
As the distance between the two forces closed, Bolt threw a brace of his marked shuriken from each arm and rapidly formed a series of hand signs: Ox, Dog, Dragon, Rat, Dog, Boar, Snake, Tiger…
"Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
The bladed stars in flight instantly multiplied into thousands and spread towards the four Zealots with the intent blanketing the whole area around them with their sheer number. One of the Zealots had halted completely before performing a substitution jutsu with a nearby piece of debris while two others leaped out of the way and into cover as best as they could. The last one continued his path while deflecting the shuriken with his blade, although he still suffered several cuts.
As fast as lightning, while half of the wave of shuriken were still flying, Bolt transmitted himself to the closest enemy, appearing right below the belt to sweep him off his feet with a sharp kick. A split second later, he flickered behind his opponent as he began to fall face forwards and forcefully slammed his foot into the back of his head, killing him the moment face hit the ground.
It was at this moment that the ones who had jumped aside, while they too had taken some damage from the now grounded shuriken, made their move and rushed simultaneously. Unflinchingly, Bolt waited for them to get closer before disappearing from their sight as they brought their weapons down on him, only to rematerialize behind them while charging up two spiralling balls of chakra in his hands.
"Rasengan Barrage!"
Without missing a beat, he slammed a spiralling chakra ball into each of the two astonished Zealots and ground their organs into mush from the outside in. Now there was only one more to deal with before he would have to take on the other five.
The last of the first four Zealots attempted to take him at unawares with a pistol aimed to his head, but Bolt reacted swiftly enough at his appearance and tossed a shuriken at him, lodging it into his arm and causing him to miss his shot at just the right time.
The next moment, Bolt blinked out of existence and appeared before his last opponent at point-blank range and rammed his fist into his opponent's face, making him stumble backwards. Following through, Bolt teleported behind the Zealot and delivered a flying kick into his spine; then, using the momentum from his kick and abusing the Third Law of Motion, the young shinobi transported to the Zealot's side while adjusting his orientation so that he would still be facing towards him and landed another kick. He repeated this process of rebounding flying kicks whilst teleporting around his enemy with such quickness that he appeared to be nothing more than a blur of yellow and black.
"Lightning Whirlwind Barrage!"
At the end of his flurry, the shinobi struck the Zealot hard in the neck with a flying roundhouse kick, effectively snapping it. As the last of the first four fell to the ground, Bolt turned towards the rest of the Zealots, who now appeared to have their skin turned red as sweat evaporated off their bodies at an intense rate.
Elsewhere, his allies did their best to survive against the fifteen gunmen. So as to increase their chances of victory, they had dispersed not too long after Bolt had left them, and were now stalking the shadows of the ruined city, putting their skills as ninjas to practice.
Like the generations before them, Team Ino-Shika-Cho worked together as a unit. They spotted three soldiers moving up a street cautiously, with their rifles aimed up at the windows as they moved in formation. From the way they moved together, it was apparent that they were not conscripts and had been thoroughly trained.
"There should be at least two more snipers moving together in the building across my position," Inojin whispered into his wireless headset. "I can take them out, but I'll need someone to help draw them out."
"Leave that to me, but a girl shouldn't be too exposed," ChouChou replied.
"It's a pain, but I suppose I'll have to divert the ground troops' attention, don't I?" Shikadai reluctantly offered.
"Alright, on my mark," Inojin said as he observed the timing of the ground targets closely. "Now."
The Nara stepped out of his hiding place, immediately drawing the attention of the three gunmen. Before they could aim properly, his jutsu had already activated and ensnared them.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu."
The three gunmen found themselves completely immobile as the Nara boy connected their shadows with his own stretched one. Without needing a signal, Chouchou already made her move.
"Spiky Human Boulder!"
A great boulder of dark-skinned flesh covered completely in long spikes composed entirely of brown hair emerged from around the corner and dozed over the three gunmen. The two snipers, unable to ignore the racket going on below, poked their heads out with rifles in hand.
Having anticipated the timing, Inojin had already taken the chance to use his clan's signature jutsu and aimed the Yamanakas' unique hand sign a few seconds before ChouChou flattened her targets.
"Mind Transfer Jutsu."
Transmitting his spiritual energy into one of the snipers taking aim at his comrades, he took control immediately and redirected the barrel of his gun at the other sniper and pulled the trigger while he was still unaware. After the gunman had been forced to commit friendly fire, he was driven to mount the windowsill he had been looking out of before leaping into the air. Just before he hit the ground, he regained full consciousness and control of himself, while Inojin returned to his own body. Needless to say, it was too late for the unfortunate soldier as he impacted on the ground with a harsh bone-crunching sound.
While slightly unnerved, ChouChou and Shikarai turned to where Inojin had been, and the blonde peeked out with a gesture of success.
Back with Bolt and the remaining five Zealots, the Second Yellow Flash watched as his enemies' skin continued to boil red, with tissue even peeling off from them.
"They figured out how to reach the Fourth Gate now," Bolt muttered and he clicked is tongue, in spite of the pride he had shown before his friends. "They must really want me dead. Not gonna happen~dattebasa!"
The clone he had left behind now dispersed in a cloud of smoke, and the Uzumaki felt a wealth of nature energy swell in his body, balanced at the peak of perfection with his own inherently large chakra. As he shut his eyes for a brief moment, purple pigmentations appeared over and around their lids. When he opened them again, his blue eyes had turned yellow with black vertical reptilian slits.
He had entered Perfect Snake Sage Mode.
This was a form that brought his already formidable strength, speed, stamina, and reflexes to great heights, while at the same time enhancing the power of his jutsus greatly. As the variant of the Snakes, it also improved his body's flexibility, at which point he could be matched only by Rock Lee, his mother, and his mentors. But most importantly, he had the ability to perceive his surrounding environment with such clarity that he could react to the imminent high speeds of his opponents.
In unison, the five Zealots charged with unnatural speed, with one of them suddenly finding himself blasted back with a kick to the abdomen when Bolt teleported in the vicinity of one of his shuriken. Bewildered by the shinobi's sudden counterattack, the four other Zealots strafed around their target before coming at him again.
At the same time that Bolt had teleported into the first Zealot with a kick, he put his hands close together and began to combine Chakra Form and Chakra Nature into a perfect, lethal blend. It began with a ball of spiralling chakra woven with bright lightning from the inside out, which expanded into two opposite directions while narrowing itself, soon assuming the form of a concentrated shaft of intense, spiralling electricity with a sharp point at either end.
"Lightning Style: Rasenaginata!"
In the nanosecond that one of the Zealots approached Bolt, the blonde flashed right behind him and cleanly bisected him with his blade of lightning. The other three, hoping to land a blow and knowing they would not live after unlocking the Fourth Gate in such a manner, gambled on their chances and came at the shinobi.
Everything that happened next occurred in a mere two seconds. Another Zealot attempted to land a strike, only to be sliced in half as well when Bolt transported to a nearby shuriken and swung his energy spear with a backhanded swipe. Following through with his momentum, Bolt blinked to another shuriken, one slightly further away, and allowed his weapon to extend itself to split the third Zealot.
The fourth Zealot, realizing the folly of his allies, dashed backwards to make some distance. But Bolt was not about to offer him the chance of a counterattack. Extending his hand, he released the razor-like lightning as a beam of concentrated energy which instantly pierced the Zealot right in the heart. As it passed right through, leaving a smoldering, gaping hole in his chest, intense lightning surged all throughout his body until he crumbled into ash. In the meantime, the beam of energy continued, penetrating everything in its path before dissipating some distance away.
Four down, one more to go, and he was only now getting up in the ruined building Bolt had kicked him into.
Meanwhile, Sarada had been discreetly following after Bolt, against her better judgment. She knew each of her comrades, a highly skilled ninja in their own right, was more than capable of handling the squadron of enemy soldiers. What she could not shake off, however, was the feeling that something right now was very, very wrong.
By the time she had reached an elevated position to observe the Uzumaki's battle, he had already dispatched the first three Zealots and was about to unleash his devastating combo on the fourth. Further off, five more Zealots appeared to be unlocking some of the Eight Gates through the use of the seals planted all over themselves. She knew that Bolt could handle them, but something still didn't feel right.
"Nine, why does that number feel so weird," the girl whispered to herself, the answer slowly coming to her. "Wait, those Zealots usually come in pairs, so…"
Suddenly, her sharp hearing picked up the subtle sound of footfalls behind her. Calmly taking off her glasses and pocketing them, she turned around and faced the ones who had ambushed her.
Two soldiers, and by their uniform they appeared to be among the enemy's elite—once missing-nin who had joined forces with the Iron faction and armed with their firearms. Their guns were already raised, and it seemed that they intended to capture the Uchiha for the sake of information.
Sarada had other ideas.
Her Sharingan activated in a brief moment and upon gazing into the eyes her enemies for half a second each, the two soldiers found themselves paralyzed, their minds locked in a powerful genjutsu. Sarada took that opportunity to take out a sickle and chain—a kusarigama—to quickly bind the two. It would hold them long enough until they got to the Hidden Sand Village.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sarada caught the movement of a third soldier in his attempt to flank her. The moment she turned in his direction to attack him, he unloaded on her with a three-chambered gun.
While any normal shinobi would have had immense difficulty evading the attack unscathed, even with an attempted jutsu, the Uchiha's eyes perceived and tracked the trajectory of the projectiles clearly, while her trained and nimble body acted accordingly. With two efficient deviations in her straightforward rush, two of the bullets whizzed past her by half an inch. The third bullet, which had been fired dead on target and thus more difficult to evade, was deflected by a well-timed slash from Sarada's kunai.
While dented, the kunai was still plenty lethal, and the kunoichi lobbed it at her enemy who did not so much as bother to reload, and knocked away the flying blade with the gun instead. However, it was just enough to distract him from Sarada's real attack; with her hands together in the hand sign of the Tiger, the kunoichi exhaled a blast of fire from her mouth.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Blasted by the flames, the third soldier fell backwards off the platform while ignited. Avoiding a waste of time confirming her kill, Sarada quickly turned back towards Bolt's fight. What happened in the next moment would be forever etched into her eyes.
While Sarada had engaged in her skirmish with the first two gunmen, Bolt wasted no time in performing the necessary hand signs to quickly dispatch his last, opponent: Ox, Rabbit, Monkey.
The Zealot dove forward with reckless abandon, his skin and tissue ripping off of his body every few steps as he continued to leave the Fourth Gate opened.
A vast amount of lightning chakra charged up in Bolt's hand, accompanied by the sound of a thousand chirping birds. For those without one of the three great Visual Jutsu it would come with the drawback of being afflicted by tunnel vision mid-dash. However, the same issue could be mitigated with a little creativity.
Without having to make so much as a single step, Bolt intercepted the Zealot by teleporting to a shuriken in his path. Catching his last enemy off guard once more, he lunged forward with his electrified hand.
"Chidori!"
The shinobi's hand tore right through the Zealot's flesh and bone, effectively ripping off an entire leg from its owner. The rest of the body, having been struck by such a harsh blow, spun in the air three times before collapsing onto the ground. The Zealot writhed and squirmed from the pain of his missing limb coupled with the opened Fourth Gate continually deteriorating his muscle and flesh.
From a long distance away, atop one of the few standing skyscrapers, a tenth Jashinist Zealot watched the Bolt's entire battle through a pair of binoculars. Next to him, on a table, was an open case containing eight vials of blood, each of which belonged to those of his fellows defeated by the blonde Uzumaki. Around the Zealot's feet was the symbol of a circle encasing a triangle drawn in his own blood; but more noticeably, most of his skin had turned pitch black, with white markings that gave him the appearance of a skeleton, the sign of absolute death. In his other hand, he held an empty vial, no doubt once containing the blood of the Zealot who had just had his leg chopped off.
Deeming the time right, he discarded the binoculars and empty vial before forming a unique handsign.
"Death Possession: Sacrificial Stake."
Absolute pain sprang up from every corner of his body as it distorted and mutilated itself through the use of the forbidden jutsu before abruptly transforming into five long spikes of hardened tissue and bone.
The grotesque self-destruction repeated with the injured Zealot, whose spikes had flung themselves in Bolt's direction. Caught completely by surprise, the Uzumaki found no room to react and took a rib-tipped spike right through his heart.
"BOOOOOLT!" Sarada exclaimed with terror as she leapt down from her position and hastily ran to his side. The spike impaling the blonde shinobi went limp, the jutsu's hardening effect quickly wearing off, before dissolving into a messy and sickening pile of meat and twisted bone. The young man crumpled to the floor with eyes frozen open, and a cavity where his heart should be, from which he was leaking blood profusely. The marks of a Sage around his eyes began to fade away, and while the power of the Snake had kicked in to rapidly heal his innards, such a lethal attack to the heart was still too much.
With tears in her eyes, Sarada knelt down beside the young man, taking in every tragic detail through her red eyes.
"Bolt… No… You… You dumbass… You DUMBASS!" she wailed in anguish as she wept and clutched the boy tightly with trembling arms. Unknown to her at the time, as she lamented over the loss of one so close to her heart right before her, the eyes of her bloodline began to mutate and alter its form.
In that moment, more soldiers appeared, having waited in ambush while hiding their presence long before their first attacking force had arrived. This was their chance; the Second Yellow Flash was now done for, and nothing would be able to stand in their way.
Several marksmen appeared from the shadows of several collapsed and structures at various angles and took aim at the traumatized Uchiha. Just as they began to squeeze the triggers of their guns, a new figure entered the battlefield.
A girl with long bluish hair, dressed in yellow and red underneath her green flak jacket, dashed over to Sarada and Bolt's side and waved her hands in a curving, spherical motion.
"Chakra Thread Barrier!"
Around them, a dome of bright strings of light formed around them with perfect symmetry. Even before the shield had been fully completed, the bullets were flying to no avail. Even in the wide gaps between the threads, the projectiles halted immediately in midair before falling to the ground.
This was a technique of the girl's own creation, based on a traditional jutsu of the Uzumaki clan and inspired by one of her mother's earlier original jutsus. Compared to the Chakra Chains her paternal grandmother had once used to restrain the rampaging Nine-Tailed Fox, these Threads were far denser, more flexible, and could be narrowed for a more offensive use should the need arise.
Sarada spoke the name of her savior in surprise. "Himawari!"
At the same time that Himawari erected her barrier, a fluffy fox tail emerged from her hindquarters and rested itself on Bolt's chest. From the point of contact, a warm glow emanated, and Bolt let out a weak breath. Through her eyes, Sarada could see what the other Uzumaki had done. Molding chakra alone, she had manifested tubes that pumped blood around the body in place of a heart. To have such control over the body and chakra was an amazing feat, regardless of the fact that Himawari and the Nine-Tailed Fox were working together.
"Have some faith in Onii-chan, Sarada-nee-chan," Himawari said confidently with her back turned to her comrade. "There's no way he'll die that easily."
Upon realizing who had just entered the battlefield, every enemy soldier immediately dropped their weaponry and turned tail as fast as they could, screaming in fear and scrambling past obstacles desperately.
In the blue-haired girl's hands, positive and negative chakra gathered together and mixed with fire and wind chakra to form an incredibly dense and volatile ball of condensed flame as bright as the sun. Compressing the ball into her hands, Himawari watched her enemies as they fled from her in fear, the gap between them surprisingly broad in such a short span of time. Still, Himawari did not hesitate and took aim.
It would be fine to display a little show of force to scare the enemy into thinking twice before making their next move.
"Scorch Style: Tailed Beast Bomb Spiraling Inferno!"
Opening her hands again, she unleashed a beam of spinning fire in the general direction of the retreating army—at an angle of about fifteen degrees above what it would take to hit anyone, and tore through the side of a tall, leaning skyscraper. Like a tree with a substantial gash to its side, the top half of the structure broke off and fell, crashing into the ground right behind the enemy army, blocking off a portion of them from returning. While the soldiers had made it out physically unscathed, those who had witnessed such unparalleled power received such a scar that sent them into despair or at the very least doubt over their own cause.
The Uchiha looked up at her fellow kunoichi's back, at a loss for words. There was still so much to do with Bolt, so much to say, and not enough time, especially not now as his life ebbed away just like that, leaving her with regrets bearing down on her shoulders. Could she accept the hope that there was still a way to save him? Could she risk deepening the void already carving itself into her heart upon the loss of the young man in her arms? But this was his sister, the person who knew him even more than she did. Like always, she never lost hope, especially when it came to her beloved big brother; to have such trust that her brother would never fail her, even now was both frightening and inspiring. Sarada herself trusted Himawari with her life, and she felt that she could have faith in both sister and brother.
"As long as I maintain direct contact with him, I can keep him just an inch away from death, but I can't heal the damage," Himawari confessed, and Sarada noted in her tone that she was forcing herself to stay strong. "But if we can get him to your mom, Tsunade-obaa-chan, or his Snake Sage mentors, we can save him."
With a determined look in her new eyes, the Uchiha girl nodded. "I'll be by your sides the whole way."
Needless to say, they did manage in returning life to the Uzumaki lad. But the damage had still been done, and had left a deep mark in not only Sarada, but in the Uzumakis' as well. And from this pain, all they could do was grow.
Following many events after that, tales would be told of how the Nine-Tailed Fox Kurama fought in a final desperate battle clad completely in bright, flame-like armor and would transport himself from place to place in the blink of an eye, bringing absolute destruction on the last threat of the war.
Bolt gently put a hand on Sarada's shoulder. "Did you know, after that time, I made a new promise," he spoke seriously yet tenderly, "that I would never leave you or my sister alone again?"
The young woman put a hand on his and looked back into his eyes deeply. "Bolt…"
"An Uzumaki never goes back on their word," he said, grinning. "And besides, I finally realized that rather than protecting you all on my own, wanting to stay by your side was really more important, am I right?"
Sarada's cheeks heated up again, and she could not bring herself to answer, and simply faced away.
Bolt scratched the back of his head. "I think now, after all that's happened, I could really understand why our dads were the way they were."
Sarada's lips curled lightly. "Yeah…"
"Speaking of which," Bolt said suddenly. "Where's our little tyke?"
"Ah, she's asleep in the living room," Sarada replied.
The blonde shinobi made his way to the aforementioned room and approached the crib. Sleeping soundly within was a little baby girl, no more than a year old, with dark hair inherited from her mother. This child was born from the bloodlines of Asura, Indra, and Hamura Otsutsuki, certainly a child of promise, but more importantly she was…
"Our beautiful baby girl," Bolt muttered, settling himself as he continued to watch his beloved daughter with his wife at his side.
With the sun setting behind her, Himawari walked through the cemetery on the village's outskirts with a bouquet of sunflowers in hand. From here, she had a good view of the village she had always known and loved, along with the metropolis behind it. Between the two were the heads of the past great Hokage: Hashirama Senju, his brother Tobirama, their disciple Hiruzen Sarutobi, Himawari's own grandfather Minato Namikaze, then Tsunade-obaa-chan who was looking younger each year, her father's sensei Kakashi Hatake, followed by her own loving daddy.
She stopped her gaze there, having noticed that she had arrived at the right grave. Just like in life, it certainly stuck out amongst all the others. On its epitaph, it read:
The Seventh Hokage
Naruto Uzumaki
Long remembered legend and hero
Faithful friend, loving husband and father
No matter how many times she came here, she would never be unmoved. Setting down her flowers, she spoke up softly.
"Hey daddy, it's me again," she said, smiling for her father. "Sorry I couldn't spend as much time as I could here with you, but things have still been pretty busy. All of your friends are still doing okay. I ran into Kiba-oji-chan the other day, and would you believe it? He was actually considering seriously crossbreeding dogs and cats." She giggled. "At first I thought he was just bored now that he can't fight anymore and decided to take up breeding, but the look on Tamaki-san's face pretty much showed that he wasn't kidding around. Oh, and did you know, more people from other lands have been touring the Land of Fire. I hear one of the most visited spots have been the Jiraiya Memorial. Did you know that not only are the bouquet of paper flowers and book still there, but they've erected a hall of statues for him and his students, even Nagato-san? Of course, there's also you. They also added a bookstore next to it, and Tales of a Gutsy Ninja is still a bestseller!"
She continued her one-sided conversation for at least half an hour, relieving her heart of whatever she wished to tell her late father. When she had run out of stories, she smiled radiantly once more and turned away from the grave and looked towards the village again.
"Hey Kurama-chan?"
"Hm?"
"Do you ever miss daddy?"
In the space within her body wherein resided the spirit of both Jinchuriki and Tailed Beast, Himawari lay down on the bridge of the Nine-Tails' gargantuan nose, relaxed and serene as could be. The Tailed Beast himself was rested with his belly on the watery floor.
"HAH! That brat has given me nothing but trouble from day one,"Kurama replied, recalling the memories he had shared with the six-whiskered Uzumaki from the day half of his chakra had been sealed into him…
"Oh come on Kurama-chan, you know that's not all you got from him~," Himawari teased.
…including the time Naruto and him first gave each other their trust. As much as it was an act done in the heat of the moment, he had to admit that fist bump was a little cheesy. "But I suppose, he was a really good guy."
"Just a good guy?" Himawari prodded with an innocent tone while poking him with her finger.
"Alright, he was a great man," the Nine-Tails admitted reluctantly. Not once could he win against the young lady when it came to speech; no one really could, for her spirit was strong, but she was also bright as the sun. She was kind and gentle like her mother and cheerful and understanding like her father. She was a woman of incredible calibre, although she was oblivious to the fact.
By Kurama's reckoning, anytime she used her "Talk no Jutsu", it may very well surpass even her father's, let alone the First Hokage's or any incarnation of Asura. But really that was just his opinion, particularly due to a very fond memory of his.
"You really are going through with this," Kurama said more as a statement than as a question.
"Yeah, they have my daughter," Naruto confirmed unhesitatingly as he walked through the forest path in the dead of night. Draped over his orange jacket, his white cape flapped in the chilling breeze of the evening.
"I would say they are fools for challenging us, but something feels very wrong."
"I don't doubt it, but this is the best thing we can do right now. You know I tried calling Sasuke, but he's having it just as bad as we are right now. And since the location has only one way in and things have gotten really delicate, we can't risk disobeying their demands and having any more of our family or friends involved, at least not until after we've gotten a good look at the real situation."
After a while, the Seventh Hokage reached the mouth of a cave leading into the depths of a mountain. "This is the place," Naruto said and strode inside.
If there was to be any chance of rescuing his daughter, he had to play it calm. The kidnappers were skilled, that much was apparent from how they had been able to capture Himawari. While the girl herself was just a child, she was still watched closely in secret by elite shinobi. Besides that, they had made an unusual demand, one that meant he had to be wary.
Upon his arrival at a wide space large enough to house the full size of the Nine-Tails himself, although only barely, deep within, he was greeted by some thirty people covered from head to toe in dark robes, all bearing the mark of Jashin, each standing in the middle of a dark red triangle enclosed by a circle. His little frightened girl, with her hands bound behind her back, stood amidst them.
"Daddy!" Himawari called for help with tears in her eyes, when one of the Jashinists shut her up by tying her mouth with a piece of cloth. That act alone, apart from his assumption that these people were using Death Possession Blood to ensure her status as a hostage, made Naruto even more furious, but he constantly reminded himself to keep his cool.
"Alright, I'm here. What do you want?" he said, his fist tightened so hard that his knuckles turned white.
"Nothing," the one who seemed to be the cult's leader answered. "Nothing, but a single answer."
The Seventh Hokage narrowed his eyes. "And? What do you want to know?"
"Hey, I'm sensing a heavy intent to kill from these people."
"And how is that any different from normal?" Naruto queried his partner without verbally speaking.
"At first I thought it was the fact that they felt indifferent towards you while still wanting to kill you really badly; a murderous feeling without hatred. But now it feels as though something gives them the confidence that they can actually do so."
"No one, not even the Sage of the Six Paths himself or his creations, can escape the embrace of death. No one is truly immortal," the one who appeared to be the Jashin leader answered with a voice filled with passion. "This is a fact that the world must know, a fact all must be reminded of."
"And what would be the point of that?" Naruto spoke with a steady voice of conviction. "Killing people will only lead to more killing, until there's no one left, not even any of you or your loved ones."
"And such an outcome would bring immense glory to Jashin," the cult leader voiced with glee. "None of us ever expect to continue living in this pitiful, filthy realm."
"It's no use. These monsters have really lost it. They can't be reasoned with!"
"Our god Jashin presides over everything, and we are his servants, simply doing his bidding," the Jashin leader said before unexpectedly shoving Himawari forward. "Killing a mere child is, well, child's play; and we do need someone to witness our greatest success for word to spread."
The horrified little girl stepped forward, uneasily making her way towards her father. She tried to remove her bindings, or speak through the cloth gagging her, if only to warn her father of the true danger, but it was no use. She quickened her pace.
"Ever since the Fourth Great Ninja War, our numbers have grown, inspired by the downfall of lesser gods," the leader continued. "And tonight, two more will fall!"
As soon as Himawari reached her father's arms, Naruto promptly removed her gag and the ropes binding her wrists.
"Tonight, the mountain shall be filled with blood!" the leader shouted. "Glory to Jashin!"
"Daddy! They're the ones who stole your blood from the hospital!" Himawari warned just the answer was finally made clear for the eyes to see.
The Jashinists disrobed, revealing their pitch black skin and skeleton pattern. Until now, Naruto had thought the circles they had been standing on were meant to endanger his daughter in case of an attempted rescue. But after seeing that she had been entirely uninjured, thus not having bled anything for them to ingest for their jutsu, and processing her verbal information, he and his partner arrived at the same correct conclusion."
"SHOVE THEM OUT OF THE CIRCLES!" Kurama exclaimed in panic, and Naruto thought the same thing.
In a flash, the Seventh Hokage's entire body shrouded itself in bright yellow chakra while he kicked against the ground. As he dashed forward with all speed, a mass of chakra arms extended forward.
Before Naruto could reach any of the Jashinists, two of them had pulled out an enormous spike and brutally shoved it into either of their knees. That same self-inflicted damage reflected in Naruto's body as both of his kneecaps abruptly shattered into tiny fragments. This caused the Hokage to stumble forward in agony, but was immediately brought up again by a pair of animalistic chakra legs forming over his own.
"Don't you fall down on me right now boy!" the Nine-Tailed Fox said, offering him his support.
"Thanks, Kurama," Naruto said as he used his partner's legs to keep going.
At the same time that he had nearly fallen, Naruto's extended chakra arms reached many of the Jashinists on the first row and shoved back from their circles. Some of the others, however, took out even more spikes and began to frantically stab themselves repeatedly in the abdomen, lungs, and heart with mad zeal.
"Ghaaaaaaaaagh!" Naruto screamed as he stopped again and collapsed to the floor in more pain. His power from the Sage of the Six Paths attempted to heal his body, but the damage was not only constant, but was internally fatally severe to begin with. As it was, it was a miracle he had not keeled over and died.
From the other end of the cavern, all Himawari could do was watch helplessly, with tears spilling from her eyes endlessly. She could not bear to watch, but she could not turn away from her father's suffering either. All she could do was scream.
"DADDY!"
Hearing her voice, even on the edge of his life, Naruto found the strength to cling to this world for just a little longer. As his elongated chakra arms flailed wildly in an attempt to fight back against the Jashinists, who stubbornly returned to their blood circles, even if it meant being impaled by Kurama's chakra claws, Naruto fought for a few seconds to speak.
"Kurama…"
"Hang in there kid! I'm not about to let these freaks get away with this!"
Naruto smiled. His partner, as prickly as ever, was loyal and noble to the end. "Kurama… thanks… for everything…"
"What?! I'm not leaving you!"
But Naruto would not hear it. His mind was made up. If he was going to die here, at the very least he would save his friend, for the lives of a Jinchuriki and their Tailed Beast are bound together; if the vessel dies, then so does the Tailed Beast; likewise, if the Tailed Beast is removed, then the Jinchuriki loses their life. Naruto was about to lose his either way.
He had no regrets. He had achieved his lifelong dream, and created a home that would not be empty upon his return. He had brought true peace to the Five Great Nations, fulfilling the wish of his Jiraiya-sensei and his fellow student and clanmate Nagato. He made his father and mother proud, and would soon come to join them to watch over their grandchildren and daughter-in-law. His cherished memories rolled through his mind, all of them precious, even those that had been filled with pain. It had been a good life. There was just one last thing to do.
The noble Hokage mustered whatever strength he had left to move his hand to his abdomen, finding the spiralling seal there. It was ironic, when he had just been born, the Nine-Tailed Fox had to be sealed into him, and at the end of his life, here he was unlocking the final cage. Then again, perhaps it wasn't too ironic, as he was aiming to protect two people precious to him with this last act.
"Don't you dare give out on me!"
As Naruto twisted the seal, with the intent of releasing its inhabitant, he gave his partner one last request.
"Please… take care of my family…"
"NARUTO!" the Nine-Tails howled.
The Jinchuriki fully opened his seal, and from out of his body, the incredible mass of the Nine-Tailed Fox Kurama soon filled the cavern. The Tailed Beast needed not to glance back at his former host, knowing that he was now doomed, regardless of the transmitted impalements upon his body. Facing his friend's murderers, who now dropped their tools in both assumed victory and anticipation of destruction, Kurama roared with rage.
With a swipe of his claw, several Jashinists perished. While some accepted their demise and allowed themselves to be turned into smears against the wall and floor, others attempted to flee, only to be crushed by massive paws or picked up by a giant maw and chewed on by large sharp teeth.
"Daddy!"
Behind the angry beast, Himawari rushed over to her father and embraced him, sobbing. By yet another miracle, or perhaps because of his natural vitality as an Uzumaki, he was still only one more step away from death, but it would not be too long now, not with his body broken and his life energy fading away.
With a trembling hand, Naruto patted his lovely daughter's head. "My little ray of sunshine… keep making people happy… and never lose that smile of yours… Promise me… you will never lose your brightness…"
The weeping Uzumaki girl nodded, understanding. "Y-Yes Daddy, I promise," she said, bringing herself to smiling for him one more time. "And an Uzumaki never goes back on their word, right?"
"Right, that's a good girl," Naruto said, thankful for giving him one last comforting image before his departure. "I love you… and tell your mom… and brother… that I love them too."
"I will, daddy," Himawari said just as the hand on her head became limp and slid off her head. Himawari's tears multiplied, pooling on the ground in a puddle of salty water, yet she kept smiling, just as her father had asked her to.
Only the leader of the Jashin cult was left, standing against the wall. Aware of his status, he had attempted to flee at first, but after realizing the inevitable, he accepted the grace of his wicked deity. Charging forward, Kurama's head splattered him into oblivion as he plowed through the mountain and broke through the solid rock.
The great Tailed Beast, now free to roam, took a glance back at the little girl mourning over her father and his friend, and for a moment, a feeling of understanding filled him. Then, choosing to respectfully leave her alone to grieve, Kurama dashed out of the hole he had burrowed through with no particular place in mind.
It would not be long until a man with black hair and a poncho arrived in the cave, accompanied by the younger Bolt Uzumaki and Sarada Uchiha. Upon their arrival, the boy broke down into tears beside his sister. Sarada stood behind him, subtly letting the siblings know that she was deeply saddened as well, for the Hokage had not only been their father, but was her loving uncle.
As for the man, Sasuke Uchiha, the loss of the person he had considered his brother was equally as painful as it was for the Uzumakis, and he joined their side.
Some time passed after the Seventh Hokage was buried, and an Eighth was about to be elected for the office. Kakashi had been offered the position at one point, but he had declined, knowing how well that sort of experience had turned out for the Third Hokage. He did recommend one good candidate that no one would argue against, however; based on another thing he had learned from the history of the Hokages.
Slipping away from her friends, Himawari roamed through a forest of tall trees. She did not go blindly, for she had been gathering information in her own special way for this one meeting.
Finally arriving at a clearing, she beheld the sight of a colossal fox with nine tails on its side.
Was it asleep? Maybe, all the way out here it would be undisturbed, at least for a while, until those who were hungry for power or seeking revenge for his past actions would come. She feared not for either's safety, but her intent was still the same, even if it was for a different reason.
Although he was trying to fall into slumber, Kurama could not do so. In fact, he had not slept for a good while. Was it really possible for Tailed Beasts to suffer insomnia? Or was his depression at that stage now? For a brief moment, he regretted being unable to possess means of killing time for various reasons.
Suddenly, he felt a tiny creature climb his fur and plop on top of his body.
What the hell?! The Tailed Beast thought to himself, and took a peek at whatever dared scurry on the mightiest beast in existence.
There, sitting on his side and enjoying the fluffiness of his fur, was a little girl with blue hair tied to a single pigtail and a pair of whisker marks on each cheek.
"You?!" the Tailed Beast exclaimed without shaking her off. "What are you doing here you little brat?!"
The little Uzumaki girl grinned widely. "I came to look for you, Kurama-chan!"
"Ku-KURAMA-CHAN?!" He had been aware that Naruto had told his family about his true name, including it in stories, but he did not remember ever allowing himself to be called in such a degrading fashion.
"Don't call me that, little girl!"
Himawari blinked innocently as the Tailed Beast objected. "Huh? But isn't that your name?"
"Of course it is! But-!"
The cute little girl cut him off. "Then you're Kurama-chan!"
"I am not!"
"You are too~!"
"Are not!"
"Are too~!"
"NO!"
"Kurama-nyan~"
"HNNNNNG!" Frustrated, the Nine-Tailed Fox picked up the little girl by the back of her top and lifted her over his head. "Listen here, if you don't stop calling me that, I really will gobble you up!" he snarled.
"You won't do that," Himawari called out his bluff with the most adorable of grins, and the mightiest of the Tailed Beasts found himself completely unnerved and unable to speak against the sweet little girl. With a deep sigh, he gently let the girl down on the ground next to him and sat up.
"Just… what do you want kid?"
With a serious expression, one that revealed her hidden nature as a true kunoichi, Himawari Uzumaki answered him. "I want to become your Jinchuriki."
Kurama narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why?" he responded. "Do you honestly believe I want to go back into one of you Uzumakis again? I'm well aware that many people are after me, but really, is it any safer for me to be inside of you?" He was about to bring up the example of her father or grandmother to prove a point, but decided against it. After all, he wasn't that heartless.
"You're lonely, aren't you?" Himawari said.
"What?!"
"Being all the way out here, isn't it lonely?"
The great Tailed Beast turned away. "And why would you be concerned about that?"
"Because you're family, and I don't want anyone among my family and friends to be alone."
"What makes you think I'm part of your family? You do realize I tried to kill your grandparents and your father before, right?"
"Yes, but Sasuke-oji-chan also tried to kill daddy, and now he's the best of uncles," Himawari countered. "People change, even you, and that's why we accepted you into our family; even mommy."
At Himawari's answer, Kurama once again found himself speechless. The child continued.
"Believe it or not, I want you to be around us," she said. "I bet daddy would have felt the same way."
Turning back to the tiny girl, Kurama remembered his partner's last request for him.
"Please, take care of my family."
You just had to say that you little prick! The Nine-Tails silently cursed his previous host, yet wasn't really serious about it. By adoption, he himself was part of the Uzumaki clan, and as such, had to keep the promise forced upon him at his friend's deathbed.
"Fine," Kurama finally relented. Himawari. "But are you sure about this? You do realize becoming a Jinchuriki will change your entire life."
"I'm not worried," Himawari said honestly. "I have nothing to fear so long as I have my family and friends."
The Nine-Tailed Fox could not help but smirk at the brave little girl who reminded him so much of her father, minus the parts he found annoying—those aspects he believed were passed down to his son instead.
"That sounds fair enough. I'll have you know I have no idea how to seal myself however."
"That's okay, I studied how to perform Sealing Jutsu; it's what the Uzumaki clan is known for, you know?" Himawari said, smiling widely again.
"Yes, I'm all too aware," Kurama said with a tone akin to a grumble, recalling the various sealing methods he had experienced. "So, what kind of seal do you have in store for me? It better be spacious!"
Himawari peeled open the bottom of her shirt. Applying chakra to her fingertips in order to leave the necessary black markings, she began to draw a circle over her belly, enclosed by four corners similar to those of a box. She left the center of the circle unmarked.
"I have never seen that kind of seal before."
"That's because I just invented it a few days ago," Himawari explained cheerfully. "I call it the Open Window Seal. In exchange for all the space and comfort you want, there isn't a lock on the inside. Of course, no one can try to get you from the outside."
"Who in their right mind invents a Sealing Jutsu that lets their prisoner run free whenever he pleases?!"
Himawari puffed her cheeks in a pout, and Kurama felt a pang of guilt strike his chest.
"Don't be mean," she said. "I tried really hard to figure this out, you know? And I was thinking about how to make you as comfy as possible during your stay."
"S-Sorry, but aren't you afraid I'd try to break loose?"
"But you won't actually try to do that, right?" Himawari said confidently.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I trust you, just like daddy did," Himawari answered wholeheartedly.
Kurama sighed deeply once again and resigned himself to his fate. He was certain that somehow, she would be more difficult than her father was. But all-in-all, it wouldn't be too bad.
After that, the two of them had many adventures of their own. Apart from those they had shared with her insufferable brother and that annoying Uchiha girl, some of the more memorable experiences included the Nine-Tailed Fox teaching his host in the mastery of the Rasengan, making the impossible happen by throwing a party for the nine Tailed Beasts, overcoming Kurama's own dark personality in the Falls of Truth, and one more…
Himawari brushed her hair with her fingers and gazed at the Hokage Monument. Next to her father was Shikamaru Nara, who, like Tobirama had for an earlier reincarnation of Asura, went from advisor to successor, and led the village in times of war, and managed it in times of peace. It was a brief reign, but he did well as Hokage, in spite of still finding the job a bit of a drag, particularly when it came to the paperwork. When he had deemed the time for him to step down to be soon, another person made a bold declaration of becoming the Ninth Hokage.
That person's head was only beginning to be sculpted on the mountainside with precise craftsmanship, and as such was still hardly recognizable. It would perhaps be the last to ever be put there, not only because of space issues, but because times were truly changing in many ways. For instance, both technology and society continued to advance, and in terms of philosophy, the teachings of Ninshu were spreading among both ninjas and the common folk, just as Hagoromo Otsutsuki had intended.
The girl with long blue hair pulled up an object she had been wearing over her back the entire time. It was a hat in a shape not too far a diamond, albeit somewhat convex. Apart from the white cloth dangling from the brim of the hat, it was bright red for the most part, while on its front was the Kanji symbol for "Fire".
As Himawari donned the hat of the Hokage proudly, Kurama recalled her words from back then.
"Years ago, my father fought to bring peace to everyone in this world. I want to keep that peace, and more importantly, I want to protect everyone's smiles. So, I am going to become Hokage!"
From his room within her seal, the Nine-Tailed Fox snickered. To think this little girl made it that far; well, given her parents and grandparents, it was no surprise really. And she did have help.
That same little girl had experienced the deepest of pains, and grew from it. She fought through the fires of war and won. And yet, she was still smiling, so brightly, so purely, that it overcame the shadows of evil and malice. To Kurama, she would be considered a true sunflower amidst ashes.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed. And of course, please review, but please try to spoil as little as possible. I'd suggest using vague terms or pronouns.
Originally, this was meant to be a half-assed one-shot tribute after reading Chapter 700 (although before I could start, Grad school and holidays got in the way, followed by a period of procrastination). As you can see, however, my pride as a writer took over and it ended up becoming this. The "tribute" part remains true however.
I probably won't be adding any more chapters until Boruto the Movie comes out or more stuff regarding the new generation is revealed, so don't expect anything new too soon. Succeeding chapters will use the same format, using Himawari's time as Hokage for the framing device, and narrating most of the story's meat in the form of flashbacks. This means that a bunch of stuff will probably be in anachronic order. Also expect a lot of retconning of new canon material for the purpose of making a plausible "What if?" timeline-as those who follow my current regular work, which will be updating soon, will be familiar with.