A/N: Hello, dearest reader. This is a story that has been replaying itself again and again in my mind. So I figured it'd be best to let it out. I'm possible thinking of coupling the o.c.'s with some characters, but I'm not to sure just yet. If any of you have suggestion or comments on how this thing should go down, please feel free to leave a review or pm me. And as always, thank you for reading. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Just the ones that talk in this first chapter.
Their steps were heavy as they ran, their breath catching in their throats. In the old, crumbling underground tunnels that they ran through, light was scarce and the dense air was full of dust and other such debris. They were old subway tunnels, actually. But time and war left them in disuse, electricity no longer a practical thing any longer. They only use the tunnels served anymore was as foot paths, out of the sight of the above-grounders, the Servants of the Moon. There weren't many left that could resist the genjustu - the one that was the beginning of the end. It was a small group of rag-tag ninja with a will stronger than steel, stronger than any metal, even diamond.
They were the only survivors of the Fourth Great Ninja War, still referring to themselves as the Allied Shinobi Force. After the Hero of Konohagakure and the Nine-Tails' Jinjuriki, Uzumaki Naruto, was defeated in battle by the Bane of Humanity, Uchiha Sasuke, everything went spiraling down. With their ace in the hole gone and defeated, it wasn't too long after that the Eight-Tails' Jinjuriki, Killer Bee of Kumogakure, fell. With all Tailed Beasts captured, the mastermind of it all, Uchiha Madara's Eye of the Moon plan was set into action. First, the five Kage were decimated, then each of their perspective villages destroyed, and all of humanity was enslaved in Madara's Eternal Sharingan.
But during that time, those strong enough to resist the genjustu have harbored the will of humanity and became stronger with the determination to save them. Where only the Kekkei Touta, the mixing of three chakras, was the minimum standard for acceptance into the main force, those below this standard were kept safe in the back line as a means of support and final defense. The Elite Squad possessed the Kekkie Kansei, the mixing of five charkras, and were sprinkled about the Allied Shinobi Force where needed. Only three of them where ever found, one of them already killed in battle. There was also the Kekkei Dodai that were the support for the Elite Squad. They were by far more common, but not nearly so much so as the Genkai or Touta.
"Commander Tsumiko! Enemy ninja at the two o'clock, sixteen meters ahead. Eight of them," said the blind ninja beside her.
"Alright, ladies. We have a short window of time to get to the rendezvous point. The future ...and the past... of humanity depends on us and if Yuurei can get the machine up and running in time. Ayame, stall them while Sen and I prepare the jutsu. Let's teach these guys a lesson in the meaning of 'girl power'," Tsumiko said with a smirk on her face.
"Hai!" said the blind girl as she skidded to a stop and turned around. Weaving hand signs as fast as lighting, she took a deep breath and exhaled a deafening sound that reverberated down the tunnel.
"Sure she'll be okay on her own, Commander?" Sen turned a cocky look to the silver-haired woman beside her.
"If she couldn't handle herself on her own, the she'd already be dead," she replied bluntly, focused on the task at hand.
"True, true."
A woman tinkering on a machine in front of her look up at the sound if their quiet footsteps touching ground. "Took you long enough..." she said as she stood, dusting the dirt from her hands.
"We ran into some... trouble on the way here," Tsumiko smiled at her. "Sorry, Rei-chan."
Red eyes glared back at her, "Fuck you."
"Now, now. Harsh words will get us no where. Anyways. Is it ready yet?" she asked, walking up to the contraption and tapping on it with her foot.
"Yeah. What the hell is it gonna do, anyways?" Yuurei glanced at Tsumiko through raven black hair.
"Well... let's just say that you're going to have the chance to kick your long dead ancestor's ass for making your life a living hell," Tsumiko stared at the contraption with a pensive stare. Yuurei looked at her, dumbfounded.
"You're going to exploit the Kansei, aren't you?" Sen grabbed Tsumiko by the shoulder and forced her to look her in the eye. "Chief, you can't be serious!? Doing something like that is unheard of! You can't-"
"You're right. I can't, or at least, not all by myself. That's why I need the three of you to come with me and strengthen the jutsu. That and I wouldn't dream of saving the past without you."
"I'm coming, too," a voice echoed down the tunnel. From the shadows, a young man came walking toward them with Ayame in tow. Black rings round his eyes and a mess of red hair on top his head was a dead giveaway as to his identity.
"Oh, Toma-kun. I'm sorry, but there's just not enough energy for any more people," Tsumiko stood before him and stroked the red kanji above his left eye, a reminder to all of how Life if valuable. She looked around. "Hm? Where's Mato?"
At the sound of his twin brother's name, Toma clenched his fists. "He insisted that we come here to see you off. On the way, we were attacked by an above-grounder commando unit. The same one that was chasing you."
"I'm so sorry, Toma-kun," she embraced him. Mato was always saying how Death was inescapable, thus the Black Kanji above his right eye, but he always tried to live his life to the fullest until that day came.
"I don't care what I have to do, I'm coming with you," his voice was dead serious as he held Tsumiko at arm's length. He searched her eyes for any hope that she would cave in and agree.
She back up and turned to address the group. "Alright. I don't know if your Touta will be enough, so I'll supply you with what you lack."
"Are you kidding, Chief? We don't even know if we'll make it, so how can you guarantee his safety, too?" Sen flailed her arms above her head.
Tsumiko bluntly turned to her, closed her eyes and held up her hand, said, "We'll just have to make due," and turned back to look at the man before her.
"Have a little faith in Commander Tsumiko, hm?" Ayame looked in Sen's direction with a blank smile.
She puffed, crossed her arms and turned away. "Fine," she mumbled.
"And explain to me how you're going to warp five people, intact, through time?" Yuurei was leaning against the machine with her arms crossed.
Tsumiko smiled, and pulled from the kunai pouch on her thigh a scroll. "With this," she said, a glimmer in her eye. "I had the old man start putting it together a long time ago. It contains some pretty powerful stuff. I guess he's been working on it pretty seriously, storing chakra in it 'n stuff. He said that he had hopes that we'd be able to change the past, and thus, the future."
"Ok. That still doesn't explain anything."
"Basically, it's a forbidden jutsu that was long forgotten and and recovered a couple decades ago that allows the user to jump through time and it just so helps that this is my cup of tea. SO. If everything is all said and done, let us be on our way. Hope you ladies haven't forgotten anything, cuz it's most likely not going to be here when we get back."
"If we get back," Yuurei muttered, pushing off the machine. "Oh, and how is this piece of sh-"
"It's going to help generate the chakra we need."
"Damn. Just how much juice do we need to get this thing going?" Sen gawked.
"Let's just say it's better to be safe than sorry."
"And we better hurry, least we be sorry," Ayame had her head cocked to the side, listening. "There's a small militia, but enough to stall us for a couple hours, hm."
"Damn," Tsumiko cursed to herself, looking around for a quick moment. "Alright, I'll make this quick," she said as she began laying out the scroll with Toma's help. "Because this is going to be a rush job, there's no guaranteeing that we'll all end up in the same place at the same time. I'll focus on getting us all in the same general time, but I won't make any promises. And since I can't bring us all to this same spot, being that the tunnels didn't exist in the time we're going to, I have to bring us above-ground. So bare with me and gather 'round."
She flipped the switch on the machine as they did so, turning it on and knelt beside the scroll. Biting her thumb, she smeared the blood on the canvas, activating the jutsu.
"Hold on tight," Tsumiko said as their surroundings started swirling around them.
It was a crushing feeling, like being squeezed in the palm of a giant. The loud screech in their ears was most deafening, and everything was a blurred mess of colors and twisted, abstract felt like an eternity was really only a minute or so, and Tsumiko found herself in the midst of trees and greenery.
"Where the hell am I?" she wondered to herself, dazzled by what she saw.