The Right Path
Chapter One: Awakening
AN: Well this came as a surprise to me, read the AN at the end to see why. Please check out the poll on my profile if you are one of my frequent readers, I have a poll on my profile I would like for people to check out.
"GO!" Kushina tripped as her mother Amaya pushed her into the passage way. "Kushina, you have to go NOW! Before they get here, I can't hold them back for long when they get here." Tears in her eyes, Amaya picked Kushina up, again pushing her forward into the dark, unlit tunnel.
"The Iwa Nin will be here in minutes Kushina, you have to go!" Amaya kissed Kushina's forehead, turning her around back into the tunnel. Amaya could hear her daughter's tears, seeing her shoulders wracking with sobs, as she slowly stepped into the tunnel.
Turning back again, is when she saw the Iwa Nin break into the room, facing her mom, as she glared back at them, holding a katana, with a long, gold embroidered handle, with a beautiful light purple gem at the bottom, seeming to swirl with energy within.
Kushina cowered back farther into the tunnel, holding back her tears to remain unseen, and unheard.
There were three Iwa Nin that broke into the room, all three clad in black, with plain, black cloth masks over their faces, leaving only their eyes visible. They had dark ninja pants and vests, and all three had long, black handled katanas, all three glaring at Amaya, murder in their eyes.
They moved forward together, closing the ten foot gap between them and Amaya in a blink of an eye, faster than Kushina could even see. In a flash, they were attacking, working well together in a group, poking and prodding at Amaya's defense.
But then, in a flurry of brilliant cuts, and feints, Amaya dashed forward, running one Iwa Nin through the gut, then pulling the katana sideways out of his body, she blocked a ruthless overhand blow from one Iwa Nin, before spinning back to avoid a wicked slash from the other Iwa Nin.
Taking a defensive stance, Amaya prepared herself for their next attack, which would not be so careless as their last. She took stock of her situation, one down, two to go, but she had a long slash on her left arm, cutting across her upper arm, nearly an inch deep into her arm. Then she glanced backwards for a second, looking back at the purple screen hiding the entrance of the tunnel, but then she saw Kushina's shape against the screen, as Kushina watched from the tunnel.
She cursed silently to herself, fearing for her twelve year old daughter's life.
But it was that momentary distraction that cost her. As soon as Amaya had glanced behind her, the Iwa Nin moved forward as fast as they could, using her distraction to catch her off guard. Before she could do anything, the two Nin were upon her.
Overcoming her as they pushed her backwards, as her swordsmanship was tested. Amaya waited for her moment, which came as she quickly twisted her sword in a tight circle, catching the fingers of an Iwa Nin, swiftly cutting their four fingers off, the sword dropping to the floor as they clutched at their hand.
But Amaya was not fast enough, as the other Nin swiftly stabbed into Amaya's stomach, twisting his sword as he pulled his sword out with a sickening "Squelch."
Amaya gasped as she slowly started to fall backwards, before taking advantage of the Iwa Nin, who thought her dead, as she lunged forward at him, stabbing her beautiful katana into his chest, then she fell over his now dead body.
But what she forgot, was the third Iwa Nin who had merely lost his fingers, as he stood up, ramming a kunai into Amaya's back, letting out a breath as he pulled it out, throwing it behind him as he again held his hand, reaching into a pouch on his left leg, he pulled out a bandage, and began to wrap up his hand, when he suddenly dropped his bandage, losing his breath as he let out a croak, before falling down to the ground dead.
Standing over his now dead body, was Kushina as she dropped the kunai, which the Iwa Nin had thrown behind himself, leaving Kushina to grab it and kill her mother's killer. Racing to her mother, she rolled her off of the dead Iwa Nin, clutching her hand in his as Amaya gazed up into her daughter's face for the last time.
Blood dripping out of her mouth, she spoke to her daughter "Kushina, you have to go, before any others arrive. Go to the Leaf, they will take care of you, and take-" Amaya couldn't speak as she shuddered in a spasm, coughing blood out of her mouth. "Take the sword, it is more valuable than anything else, take it with you, and never, EVER let anyone take it from you. When you get to the leaf, pour your chakra into the gem at the bottom, and then you will know what to do."
Kushina had tears pouring down her face as she clutched her mother's hand to her cheek, scared at how cold her hand was. "Please don't go mom, you are going to be ok, and you can come with me, to the Leaf."
"No dear, you have to go, now. Go, or everything is lost." Her eyes closed, as Amaya let out her last breath, her hand almost slipping from Kushina's grasp as it went limp.
"No, no, no." Kushina's voice failed her, as she was rocked by a sob. Feeling as if she had no control over her own body, Kushina robotically stood up, grasping the handle of the Uzumaki's familial sword, pulling it free from the Iwa Nin's dead body, she slowly walked back into the tunnel, concealing it again behind the screen, she ran and ran, for what seemed like hours, before again finding daylight at the end of the tunnel, she sprinted out into in to daylight, the sheath of the katana dangling from her too slim waist, as she held it up as she ran.
She came out into a forest, bright yellow sun in the sky, shining through the leaves of the trees above, showing the bright blue sky. Kushina took deep breaths of the fresh air, her lungs burning from the outrageous sprint through the dark, unlit tunnel as she tripped and fell over and over as she ran in the dark.
She took several steps forward, before she realized she was not sure how to get to the Leaf Village from here, other than trying to go straight forward from the tunnel exit. So onward she went, walking for another ten hours, before finally, a squad of three Leaf Nin jumped down from the trees above, stopping her from going forward.
One stepped forward in front of the others, large spikey grey hair above his head, held up by a headband, with the kanji for oil carved into it. "Halt! Who are- OH WHOLLY SHIT!" He stopped as he and his two companions all gasped in shock, staring at the strangers face, shock all over their faces.
Kushina took a second to gaze over the Leaf Nin, the second one was a girl, blue eyes, and blonde hair, and she looked like a kind person. It was the third that scared her, he had unnaturally pale skin, long dark hair, and strange yellow eyes with narrow pupils, making him look like snake-like.
"Umm I'm sorry, but I need to get to the Leaf Village as soon as possible, I am from the Whirlpool Village, we were attacked and I had to get away, so I came here." She was unsure of what to do now, hoping the three Leaf Nin would take her to the village.
"Yeah but- Umm, what is with your eyes?" The girl was clearly unsettled, as were the other two, as Kushina noticed that it was her eyes they were staring at.
Kushina too, was unsettled "What do you mean?"
The one with grey hair again spoke "Your eyes, they are purple, with rings in your eyes, with a- a dot in the center. Is that the- the Rinnegan?" he spoke breathlessly, as if entranced by her eyes.
For the first time, Kushina took notice that in fact, her vision was off, she could see blue lines underneath the threes skin, and she could see in amazing clarity, and insanely far as well. "I- I don't know, but my vision is weird, I can see your chakra pathways in your body, and my vision is amazing… but that isn't important right now, I need to get to the leaf village."
Again the one with gray hair spoke "Yeah that's probably right, we need to get you to the village. Here" He bent down before Kushina "Get on my back so that we can get you there faster."
Kushina hesitantly took a few steps forward "Oh, umm okay." She climbed onto his back, looping an arm around his neck, keeping one arm holding her sword up. He turned his head around and gave her a large, cheeky smile "By the way, my name is Jiraiya, and my teammates here are Tsunade and Orochimaru.
With a nod to his teammates, they all took off at speeds unlike anything Kushina had seen before, and yet what should have been blurs, were clear shapes as she could see all the trees, branches, leaves, and even the bugs biting at the leaves. 'Amazing.' She thought.
Within half an hour of moving at unbelievable speeds, they arrived at the village, Kushina staring with awe at the high walls of Konoha, but then staring with puzzlement at blue energy all over the walls.
With a simple nod to the guards at the gate, they headed through the village, arriving at a large tower in the center of the village, racing into it they headed up flights of stairs, before coming to a halt before two closed doors, when a voice called "Come right on in."
Jiraiya pushed the door open, finally setting Kushina down in a chair sitting in front of a desk, where a middle aged man sat, in Konoha's kage outfit, a smile on his face, that quickly turned into absolute shock as he saw Kushina's eyes.
'So the girl is an Uzumaki then. But this is amazing, that an Uzumaki finally awakened the Rinnegan, and that she would end up here of all places, this is great news.' The Hokage's thoughts raced as he contemplated what it could mean.
He cleared his throat, before speaking "Alright, so what is an Uzumaki doing her, turning up at the Leaf Village with a Rinnegan?"
Kushina fidgeted in her chair, before speaking forward "Well, umm I don't know about this Rinnegan thing, but I am Kushina Uzumaki, daughter of Hideo and Amaya Uzumaki, and I am here because the Whirlpool Village was attacked and I had to flee, and I think that Iwa destroyed everything, and everyone-" She took a deep breath, tears running down her face, her breath leaving her as she cried.
Jiraiya quickly stepped forward, wrapping Kushina in a hug, as she cried into his shoulder. He turned to look at the Hokage "What should we do Sensei?"
Quickly taking action, Hiruzen turned to Orochimaru "Go and inform the ANBU and Hunter Nin, I need a squad of ten put together to go scout out Whirlpool, and see what is left."
Orochimaru bowed "Yes, Sensei." His orders understood, Orochimaru quickly shunshined out of the room.
"Tsunade, I want you to take Kushina here to the hospital to be checked out, and stay with her while she is there, and then take her to my estate, I am sure she wants to rest, and looks in need of food."
By then, Kushina had fallen asleep in Jiraiya's arms, so he scooped her out of the chair, handing her over to Tsunade, who like whys shunshined out of the room. "And Jiraiya, I want you to go find Minato, I want him to go with the squad that is heading out, I want to test how far he has progressed under your training.
Jiraiya bowed and replied, "Yes Sensei." As he too shunshined out of the office, it left Hiruzen to his thoughts. 'An Uzumaki has finally awakened the Rinnegan, and a very young age too, even if it has been a very, very long time since any Uzumaki has gotten the Rinnegan, the girl will have to be trained very carefully, for she possesses a very dangerous doujutsu that is far too powerful to be left in the hands of anyone but the most pure of heart. I will have to be very careful so that hopefully she sees this village as a new beginning for her. I will have to get
Kushina slowly opened her eyes, gazing around at her surroundings. She was in a room, sitting on a bed, very plainly furnished with one window, a small table by the bed, and a chair on the opposite side of the bed, with a woman asleep in the chair, her blonde hair covering her face.
Kushina felt a moment of panic, trying to remember where she was, why she was there, and who the woman was. Then everything came back to her, seeming to flood into her mind. Whirlpool was gone, her mom and dad, gone.
In a flood, tears rolled down her face, her sobs coming louder, and louder. She couldn't control herself, as she broke down, remembering her mother's dead face, as she cried over body. It was just too much. Then she felt herself wrapped in a hug.
Kushina looked up, startled to see Tsunade hugging her. Tears were rolling down Tsunade's face as well, and Kushina remembered Tsunade telling her that Iwa Nin had killed her brother, so she sympathized her pain.
They held each other, crying their pain away. Kushina cried, for the loss of her family, her village, and her home. Tsunade for her lost brother, her friends she had lost, and the toll the Third Great Ninja War had caused for everyone.
'Home, Mom,' Kushina jolted up, startling Tsunade. "The sword!" Kushina kicked her feet free from the bed covers, jumping to her feet.
"Where is my sword?" Kushina was frantic, fearful of losing her most prized possession, if her only one.
Tsunade stood as well, holding her arms in front of her in a soothing manner "Its okay, its over there." She pointed over toward the other side of the room, where she saw her sword, in its scabbard, leaning on the other side of a desk, out of view of Kushina.
Kushina ran to it, pulling it free from its scabbard, looking it over, making sure it was okay, before her gaze fell upon the beautiful light purple gem on the hilt, her eyes transfixed on the swirling energies inside. It seemed to draw her attention, as she couldn't tear her gaze off of it.
Then Kushina remembered what Amaya had said, "-pour your chakra into the gem at the bottom, and then you will know what to do." Suddenly, Kushina felt the urge to do just that, but then she became aware of a hand waving back and forth before her face.
"Hey Kushina you okay?" Tsunade was worried when Kushina suddenly went into a trance, and it took her more than a minute of waving her hand before her eyes to break her out of it.
"Yeah, yeah I'm okay, just thinking is all."
Tsunade walked over to the door, pulling it open saying "Well, now that you are awake, we can go eat. There is food prepared, waiting for us out in the dining hall, if you are hungry."
Tsunade got her answer, when Kushina's stomach let out a loud gurgle, causing Kushina to cover her stomach and blush in embarrassment.
"Yes, please, I am rather hungry." They walked together, Kushina remembering where the dining hall was, from when she had walked into the large, nearly mansion sized house. They walked down two hallways, turning left twice, right once, then down a flight of stairs before coming into a grand hall, with a large table suitable to seat at least twenty to thirty people.
Upon the table, in front of two of the chairs, were piles of foods, the aroma again causing Kushina's stomach to loudly make itself known. They sat down, while Kushina immediately began to dig into large helpings of fried rice, and teriyaki chicken.
They both ate, while Tsunade ate significantly less than Kushina, who after fifteen minutes of constant eating, had her appetite sated. After her large meal, Kushina felt a whole lot better, a full stomach making her feel at home, and yet, the entire time, she could not take her mind off of the gem, sitting at the end of her families sword.
She stood up, quietly thanked Tsunade, and saying she felt like she needed more rest, and headed back to her room. She remembered how to get back to her room, and quickly walked in, shut the door behind her, and pulled out the sword, her gaze instantly on the brilliant gem, unlike anything she had ever seen, so beautiful.
Remembering her mother's words, she took a deep breath, and poured as much chakra as she could into the gem.
AN: So what the Hell? I found this on my laptop buried in a random folder with a bunch of other story ideas. Well I wrote this, probably about March of 2011, just spent two hours reviewing it, editing and changing a few things. I have some notes on what the plot is, so I could continue this, the story would focus on Naruto, after the first few chapters being Kushina. Any thoughts on what will happen when she pours chakra into the gem? Because I do not even know! I wrote this so long ago I haven't the vaguest clue what was supposed to happen, even if I do have a few ideas now.