Chapter ONE

"If you manage to experience a heartbeat of bliss in a world full of cruelty, do you think you will be grateful for the moment?

It was almost always during the full moon that the most random of questions were asked.

Toneri glanced over towards the altar, where a young girl was perched on the sacrifice stone basking in moonlight, eerily bright green eyes staring up through the small gap in the ceiling of stones.

The altar was located in the middle of a sealed cave and the girl's only source of experience of the outside came through the small window too high up for her to touch.

Toneri broke himself out of his thoughts when he realized that the girl had turned her gaze from the moon to him and was patiently waiting for an answer.

"No." He said after a moment of thought. "I believe I will be bitter that it had only lasted a moment and I will curse the world for making it that way."

The girl seemed to consider this and Toneri could feel her turning his words around in her five year old brain. After a while, she nodded in satisfaction, having accepted his answer, and hopped neatly off of the altar. The shine she had been giving off under the moonlight faded into an afterglow as she stepped away from the halo of light. She stopped at the edge of the raised platform and stared down at him.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." Toneri finished the last stroke of the seal he had been drawing then put aside the ink and paintbrush, fanned the paper to dry, before he put that to the side as well. He flicked his finger and a puppet floated over, a tray balanced delicately on its hands. He made it place the food down onto the stone and gestured for the girl to eat.

"It is no problem." The girl tucked her white kimono neatly under her knees and sat down. Toneri pushed the tray towards her and the girl placed her hands together in prayer before she began to eat.

"How is the moon, Sakura-sama?"

Sakura paused in her eating to stare into his empty eye sockets. "It is very beautiful." She told him.


While Sakura was not allowed out, Toneri often stepped beyond the rocks. Sakura was curious, but she was used to this kind of confinement.

The Haruno clan had been located underground and children had not once stepped above.

Toneri would head out early in the morning and be back in time for lunch. The two of them would eat, before he took her into the deeper caves and they would come back after the sun had begun to set to eat dinner, before he would work on some seal or another while Sakura sat to bask in the moonlight.

Sakura enjoyed their ventures deeper into the caves. The moment light no longer became visible, the rocks would start to glow a blue green, and Sakura was sure that in the years to come, as the two of them put to motion their plan, she would witness many spectacular sights of the outside. However, nothing could beat the comfort brought by what represented the lives of the Haruno members and nothing could be brighter than the very lifeforce of the Haruno clan that had passed before her.

Her Inner let out a soft humm of satisfaction and Sakura instantly relaxed.

The bluegreen glow reflected off the surface of other rocks, casting a countless number of shadows onto the hard floor. Sakura turned to stare at Toneri, who showed no signs of being aware of her gaze. However, she did not doubt for a second that he hadn't noticed.

How the teen could move around without sight, she did not know. How he could bare to wander these sights without being able to appreciate any of it to its greatest, she could not fathom to think about.

A single path lead away from the altar space, but that soon branched off into several different paths, which then diverted into more further in. Sakura and Toneri, not even in their long years in these caves, had not explored all of them.

However, Sakura remembered the pathing of the corridors they had explored and she was not surprised when they came across a small clearing of rocks soon after they had set off. Toneri moved to stand opposite her and Sakura once again took in the beautiful glow of the rocks reflecting off the pale teen.

Toneri slowly raised a hand and a green sphere of pure chakra appeared in his hand. Sakura watched as the ball of energy transformed within itself.

"The Puppet-Cursing sphere." Toneri said. "It is a technique passed down through the Otsutsuki family, but was mainly used by the branch family in order to make up for our lack of sight."

"The basic form of all Otsutsuki techniques." Sakura stated, remembering what Toneri had told her.

Toneri nodded. "The Haruno are unknown and the Otsutsuki are not but a myth. You will use this technique as the passed down jutsu of the Haruno clan. It will be your selling point. From the way all shinobi are battle hungry and blood thirsty, they will take you in."

"Are we aiming for any village in particular?" Sakura asked. She raised her own hand and concentrated on summoning a sphere of her own.

"Konoha." Toneri told her. "The Hyuga reside there. You are still very young and your chakra is underdeveloped. While it is not ideal, being close to the Hyuga and their inferior descendant of the Otsutsuki chakra will aid you.

"What do we do if another village takes the bait first?" Sakura asked. A ball swirled to life, but it was simply sheer chakra forced into a sphere shape. She frowned and turned to inspect Toneri's Puppet-Cursing sphere again.

"I will take care of that." Toneri told her. "You do not have to worry." He stepped over to her to get a better feel of her chakra. "You are lacking intent." He said. "Control. The Puppet-Cursing sphere is the epitome of control."

Sakura thought of the puppets that took care of them, the ones Toneri had breathed life into through these spheres. "I know, I would never worry."

Toneri smiled at her.


It was by chance that Toneri came across a four man team of shinobi while he had been out resetting the protection seals in the area.

From chakra alone, he could tell that they were of high ranking, but he tossed his plan of laying low and letting them go when he felt the calling of a familiar chakra.

A little defective, perhaps, but familiar all the same.

It was a Hyuga.

Toneri did not remember much of his times with sights. After all, he had been only minutes born when his eyes had been taken from him. However, he knew of the powers of the Byakugan. How could he not?

The Byakugan was a necessary step in obtaining the Tenseigan. The Otsutsuki blood ran true through both of them. What they lacked was the eyes required to reach the point of awakening.

The mental evolution of the Haruno had cost them 360 vision a long time long ago and Toneri had no eyes.

He wanted those eyes so bad.

THe Hyuga had no doubt noticed his presence, and the rest of the team had already been told. Toneri knew that humans did not know the techniques of the Otsutsuki. He planted several Puppet-Cursing spheres in the area and then retreated. Instantly, the Konoha team moved after him.

The Hyuga may have had chakra vision, and he may have noticed the spheres, but it did not matter. Not when Toneri could control the spheres with a mere thought. The sphere spun and moved into position faster than anyone could imagine, and there was an explosion as they collectively exploded.

What caused the damage was not the actual explosion, but the burst of disruptive, raw chakra that came with it. Toneri did not even look back as he summoned a few puppets and sent them to collect the unconscious bodies. Their chakra systems should be haywire enough for them to be out for a while, and he would deal with them properly once back at the altar.


Sakura watched from a distance as Toneri worked a chakra blade over the face of the Hyuga. The other three had been killed immediately and their bodies had been piled in the cover to be disposed of later.

A few minutes later, he was holding up a jar of liquid with two iris-less eyes staring back at her. "Come here, Sakura-sama."

Sakura warily approached the teen and sat in front of him. "What are you going to do with that?"

"I am going to transplant them into you." Toneri said simply. He flicked his fingers. "Please lie down here."

"You take the eyes." Sakura said instantly. "I have eyes. You don't."

Toneri smiled. "This will allow you to develop the Tenseigan should the time come." He said. "I have come this long without sight. I can manage a few more years."

"You said Konoha was a village housing the Hyuga." Sakura pointed out. "Can you not take another pair?"

Toneri reached out and gently lay her down so that her head was resting on his lap. "I cannot take any unnecessary risks." He told her. "Besides, the Tenseigan are eyes of the Otsutsuki, before our chakra was corrupted by the constant use of it as a means of war and battle. As the heir, it is only right for you to regain it first."

'He is correct, Kura-chan.' Her Inner murmured. 'Take them.'

Sakura took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay." Toneri's fingers gently caressed her cheek before she was lulled to sleep.


Toneri felt it when Sakura slowly stirred. It had been half an hour since the operation and he gently tapped her on the forehead. "Sakura-sama?"

The girl blinked and immediately, she let out a soft groan and her hand went to her face.

"How do you feel?"

Sakura blinked a few times and slowly sat up. "I feel fine." She pulsed chakra to her eyes and the reached for his hand and pressed it against the bulging veins on her face. "I can see perfectly fine."

"That is good." Toneri ruffled her hair and gestured to the river. "Go take a look."

Sakura scampered off to do just that. 'Your eyes are green, just like before.' Her Inner noted.

"My eyes are green when the Byakugan is inactive." Sakura reported. "Should they be?"

"It is certainly unheard of." Toneri said, a little surprised. "However, perhaps it has to do with your Otsutsuki chakra."

Sakura shrugged. "I guess we should not complain about something that could aid us." She returned to his side. "May we venture deeper, Toneri?" She asked. "Perhaps being able to see the chakra of your Puppet-Cursing sphere will help me to form mine."

Tonei was feeling a little tired after the delicate procedure of an eye transplant but nonetheless, he nodded. "Of course." He said, and pulled himself to feet.


The Hyuga hailed from Konohagakure, and Toneri did not doubt that the Hokage had noticed the lack of return of him and his team. It was with this knowledge that he finally decided to put their long awaited plan into motion.

"To them, you will be a girl, the head of your clan at the tender age of three, kidnapped straight after witnessing the tragedy that is the massacre of you clan. " He said slowly. "You lived here for the last two years of your life, given food and water but never being allowed to leave. I am the kidnapper and I am the murderer, but I never mistreated you to the point of you fearing for your life. The Konoha team will come, we will fight, and I will flee."

"Will you be fine with taking on an entire team by yourself?" Sakura asked. "The team with the Hyuga had four members. That hardly seems a fair fight."

Toneri chuckled. "I am an Otsutsuki, just like yourself." He said. "Humans will be no match for me. Not to mention, my aim is not to defeat them, but to let them rescue you."

Sakura eyed him uncertainty, and it was not because she doubted his skill, but out of genuine worry.

This was a what if situation. What if Toneri was hurt? What if they were figured out? What if she could not convince them well enough?

Toneri smiled and gently placed a hand on her head. "There is nothing to worry about." He told her gently. "The mind is the Haruno domain. There is nothing stating it is only one's own mind they rule over."

Sakura turned to him in wonder and her eyes went blank as she tuned in to the words within her mind. Toneri waited patiently as she conversed with her Inner and soon, she turned to completely face him. "I can do it." She told him.

Toneri smiled. "I know."


Sakura lay on the stone floor Toneri painted seals into her arm. The black stung a little as the ink sank into her skin but she stayed still the best she could.

"The Haruno compound, just like these caves, are rooted to the spirit of the Haruno." He explained. "These are the markings of a clan head. The Haruno compound is one with the clan. It is like an enormous puppet, if you will."

Sakura thought back to their previous clan head, the man who would have been her mentor had the Otsutsuki heir awakening not been during her generation. "Senri-sama could lock the doors with just a thought." She noted.

'That is the least of his powers.' Her Inner said. 'Senri-sama could do so much more.'

"The compounded houses a Puppet-Cursing sphere planted here by the first Otsutsuki to branch off to form the Haruno clan." Toneri said. "The sphere was then fed the chakra of generation after generation of chakra by the members of the clan. Currently, it is at its most powerful."

"Because there will be no more Haruno's to help it grow." Sakura stated simply.

"You can fuel it." Toneri told her. "You are more Otsutsuki than any who have stepped foot within the compound walls. It will continue to develop for as long as you are alive." He made one final marking then drew back. "I have finished."

Sakura pulled her arm back and inspected the intricate design tattoos over the entirety of her left arm. There were several crescents and circles symbolizing the moon and Sakura traced the markings with her eyes. She could feel a connection between the seal and something a distance away. Her Inner confirmed this. 'I can feel it as well.'

"Sakura-sama?" Toneri asked.

"It's beautiful." She said simply. "I can feel the link."

"I am glad." Toneri laughed. "I cannot exactly see, so I was worried I messed up. The ink contains chakra, though, and that aided me a little."

"It's very beautiful." Sakura repeated. "Thank you."

Toneri shook his head. "We have a long path ahead of us." He said. "One where I walk my path, and you walk yours. This is the least I can do to try and help you."


They were eating breakfast when someone triggered a dormant Puppet-Cursing sphere.

It did not explode, but its chakra absorbing nature channeled the chakra of those who passed straight to him.

Toneri looked up, because he had hid the general area around the cave with a very strong genjutsu, and this meant that the intruders had managed to dispel it. Gebjutsu may not be his forte, but the raw, natural state of his chakra made it easier to cast certain types of gebjutsu, especially that of blending into the environment.

Sakura instantly noticed his shift. "Is someone here?"

Toneri nodded. "Several kilometers." He said then added "-and rapidly approaching." when he felt another Puppet-Cursing sphere triggered a little closer to the cave.

"I guess this is it." Sakura placed her chopsticks down and gestured for a puppet to take away their trays. "Where will you be until 'time' comes?"

"Here and there." Toneri smiled. "I will come by if I ever have the chance."

They sat there in awkward silence for a while before Sakura neatly placed her hand in front of her and bowed. "Thank you for everything, Toneri."

Toneri was quick to follow. "It has been my pleasure. Thank you for your kind words."

"I await the day we meet again."

"Likewise. Please take care, Sakura-sama."

Sakura sat up and smiled. "You too."

Toneri rose to his feet and looked down at her. "I will always be with you."

Sakura nodded firmly. "I am ready."

Those words were meant for him, but they were also meant for her Inner.

Sakura's memories were now to be sealed deep within her mind until she passed the initial stages of convincing Konoha of her innocence and her ignorance. Her Inner would make sure to keep everything underwraps until it was safe for her to regain them.

When Sakura fell forward Toneri was ready and he gently caught the girl. He then lay her onto the floor and ran his fingers through her hair one more time before he stood up and took a deep breath. The intruders were very close and Toneri felt them trigger the last of the warning spheres. Any moment now, they would storm through the gates and taint these sacred grounds with their violent chakra and bloody stench.

But it was necessary. He glanced back down at Sakura who looked as though she was sleeping and would wake up any moment now to ask him if they could explore the caves, and plastered on a mask on cruel confidence. He sent his puppets to toss the bodies of the Hyuga and his team, which he had let solely for this purpose, by the door. Then he tucked the pinkette under his arm and drew a kunai.

When the gates were thrown open, he was ready for them.


So, here's chapter one~

Darque: I've been thinking of doing this for a while, but I never really got around to it...

Raven: I know right? But now that we're here, hopefully we can add this into our update timetable.

Darque: Time table? Hah. What timetable?

Raven: ...You get what I mean.

Darque: Get what? I don't get.

Raven:...

Darque: Anyways, hope you enjoy this one.

Read and Review~