I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER OR THEIR SUCCESSORS IN ANY SHAPE OR CAPACITY. I ONLY OWN MY FICTITIOUS OC'S.
Upload Schedule:
Flaming Saga: Sundays
Silence Left Behind: Wednesdays
Glossary: I am going to experiment with a new type of scene break. I am going to just use _ these underscores.
"Speech"
Jutsus shall be rendered in Japanese, I will also try to incorporate the usual suffixes attached to names, -chan, -kun, senpai, -shishou, etc.
This chapter is the beginning of Shizunes journey, it will answer a few questions and hopefully cause a few more. I do hope you enjoy it, till the end,
~Ardent Chronicler
She sighed, looking across the expanse once again. Trees, nothing but trees, she could even see the spots where her home should have been. The academy should have been to the left of it only by a few blocks, the hospital across town. There is nothing left, what had happened? How long was she out, or was she caught in Mugen Tsukuyomi? Had Madara succeeded? What about her baby boy? If this was the Mugen Tsukuyomi, shouldn't this be her perfect world? She needed to move, find people, collect information.
Shizune stood from her low crouch stretching her arms above her head cracking her spine. She looked over the distance and using chakra to enhance her sense of sight she faintly could make out a building in the distance.
"I don't remember there being a settlement that close to Konoha." Shizune crossed her arms and scowled, she knew the map of Hi no Kuni like the back of her hand. The closest settlement is the old Tanzaku Gai that was a solid two days walk away. She blinked when she looked down, why was she standing on part of her pants leg? Shizune rolled the pant leg up and over her footwear before she noticed something. Something that should not have been, she had her right pinky toe. That shouldn't be possible, she lost it during the beginning of the war!
Shizune hurried back to the stream that cascaded over the side of the Hokage monument. She quickly dug into her bag and found the small circular item, her mirror. She opened it up and laid it on the ground. Shizune stripped, down to her bare skin, and what she saw shocked her. Her breasts were smaller, she was smaller, her hair was longer, and most of her battle scars were gone. What the fuck happened? Shiune could feel a panic attack happening, she dressed herself and used a kunai to cut away the excess cloth from her pants and shirt. She breathed in deeply and exhaled, in and out, in and out. She opened her eyes and noted that it was barely past noon, she could make it to that settlement in a few hours of walking if she tried.
Shizune collected her gear from the stream, refilled her canteen and activated a nameless jutsu that had been created during the second Shinobi War to purify water with chakra. It would not taste the best, but it was hydration. Attaching her medic satchel to the back of her right hip she took the cloth she cut away and used it to bind her hair in one long wrap. Her hair was covered from her front hairline to a long stiff tail.
"Alright Shizune, you can do this, you can make it there. Just find out what you need to know and be on your way." Shizune looked off the edge of the cliff and did something she has not attempted since her graduation night with her best friends. Shizune leapt from the stone mountain side, spinning in air so her back faces the ground she spun her body so her feet could touch the side of the mountain and she touched herself with chakra. She skidded down the mountain and managed to stop her rapid descent a mere ten feet from the ground.
Her old best friend at the time, a woman who ended up dying during her absence from the village named Mikoto Uchiha, had this crazy idea as a sort of initiation. To let yourself drop from the Hokages faces and whichever one you can clasp onto at the last moment is the Hokage you would die like. For her she always caught herself under Sandaime-sama, and she was glad for it till the day she heard he had died, and violently.
Shiune brushed off her pants and looked out through the forest, it seemed so familiar, like a dream. She leapt into the trees and began to make her way westward to the building she had seen, hopefully someone would be able to help her. The trees were easy enough to call out, after all they were so similar to those she had surrounding her home when she was growing up. With each leap a new name came.
"Oak, Willow, Oak, Pine, Oak, Oak, Pine, Willow, Pine, Pine, Oak, Oak, Willow, Yew, Pine, Oak." She continued her leaps and bounds, it was a fun game to her, one her uncle and her Shishou had taught her when she was young.
Shizune came to a stop at the edge of a clearing, keeping her chakra suppressed was second nature to her, after all some of the children she worked with had been Sensors so she had to be able to mask her Jonin level reserves. She peered over the large clearing filled with buildings that all looked the same. She leapt down from the tree making sure to stay in its shadow, she quickly moved from shadow to shadow watching the people within. She had never seen these people before in her life, all sorts of different skin tones and shades of hair, it was fascinating.
These people reminded her of the Konoha 12, even though they had some similar colors for their hair, no two people were alike. Sakuras pink hair, Narutos golden, Hinatas blue, Sasukes black. It was just so fascinating.
Shizune saw a cut down stump that had been hollowed out and used as a firepit. On cut logs several dozen men all sat around the firepit talking, laughing, it seemed to be a celebration of some kind. She stopped and watched the group for what seemed like hours, the sky darkening, and once the children and mothers left from the group the men remained, numbering somewhere in the low fifties. She leaned forward a small bit her face still hidden as she listened.
"Do they have any idea what they are going to name the squirt?"
"Not that I have heard."
"This is Butsuma-samas fifth child, a small girl I have heard."
"I only hope Hana-sama will be ok, she is always so weak."
"She will be fine, hey Dan-san, what do you think they would name the baby?"
"Hm, maybe Kira?"
"No, that's too dark, she is the hime of the Senju clan."
Shizunes eyes widened, did she hear that right? Senju clan? What even was going on! As far as anyone knew Tenzo and Tsunade were the last Senju and both were barren, Tsunade by age, Tenzo by chemicals. She slid back against the tree trying to reign in her panic attack and she breathed. In, out, in, out, in, out. Shizune opened her eyes and laid back against the trunk of the tree concealed in the shadows. She did not even realize how tired, nor how sore she was, but it hit her when she fell asleep.
Shizune felt a boot hit her leg, she groaned, her body felt like it was on fire. HEr eyes cracked open and she heard her own labored breathing. She saw a tall man with a wrinkled face in red armor standing in front of her sword at her neck.
"Who are you? Who sent you?"
She couldn't breathe that well, was she poisoned, no there was not tell tale symptoms. She felt like she was having an allergic reaction.
"I will only say it once more, who are you? Who do you work for?"
Shizunes hand slipped to go for her pack, if she was slipping into anaphylactic shock she would need the epipen. The man scowled and held up her pack with his free hand.
"You want this? Why would that be, to call your allies and attack."
"Butsuma, the poor thing is sick."
"Quiet woman. Why do you want this pack, there are strange things in here, none of which look safe."
Shizune reached out for the pack and the tall white haired woman snatched the pack from her husband and gave it to the poor girl.
Shizune opened the lid of her medical pack the blade bearing down on her throat. She found it, though her throat was swelling and her hands began to shake. The epipen fell from her hands and she tried to grab it. The tall man identified as Butsuma reached down and grabbed it, looking to the girl.
"What is this, poison?"
Shizunes breathing became even more labored and she barely shook her head making a stabbing motion to her leg.
Butsuma was a cautious man but he could see the child wasting away, he jammed the thing against her leg and with a click it made a popping noise. Butsuma pulled the tube back and noticed the small injection site that cut the clothing. Noticing her wheezing starting to slowly fade he was shocked when the girl held her hand up and placed it on her chest. His eyes widened even further when her hand glowed a green and her labored breathing began to vanish notably faster. Satisfied with this he placed the blade back to her throat.
"Now, who are you?"
Shizune struggled to say anything but she managed to say something but her head was pounding and her ears ringing.
"Shizune?"
She nodded and felt herself slipping into unconsciousness.
"Butsuma! She needs a doctor!"
"Alright, but Tobirama will be watching her."
Shizune blacked out when she felt her body being lifted from the ground. Her mind went blank and she felt herself slipping, was she going to die?
Shizune stood, her tell adult body naked and glowing white. Across from her sitting with his legs crossed was the same man who had come to see her the day she left from the battlefield.
"Who are you?"
"I am you, and you are me. We are one in the same yet different. My incarnations name is Hamura Otsutsuki, and you my dear Shizune-chan, are my reincarnation."
"What do you mean, reincarnation?"
"We are the same soul, different bodies, but our soul transcends time. My brothers soul, my nephews, and my daughters souls all transcend time and are reborn. In your time my daughters reincarnation was a woman named Hinata Hyuuga. You knew two incarnations of my brother, one named Hiruzen, the other was recently born named Mirai Sarutobi. My nephews were Naruto Namikaze and Sasuke Uchiha."
"What? Reincarnations? Mirai-chan, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san, Sarutobi-sama?"
"Indeed, and you are my last reincarnation. Our soul has seen too much war, death and violence. Every time we have lost everything, gained it all just to lose it. I am breaking the transcendent cycle for my soul. You are my last incarnation and I wanted to give you a gift. I used the remaining strength of my Tenseigan to send you to a time where you would be content. It will take time, there may be hardships ahead but I believe in you. In my final moments here I give you a portion of my original cells. I do not know what will happen, but it is the final gift I can give. You are no longer Shizune Kato my reincarnation, you are Shizune Otsutsuki, my second daughter and only living child. Live on and find your peace my little one." Hamura leaned forward and kissed her forehead and she heard an echo in her mind.
"The slate will be wiped clean, your memories will be taken, but your abilities will remain. Live, musume."
Shizunes vision flooded with white light, she felt a white hot pain forming on her forehead and she let out a scream. She felt herself shrink and watched as a light blue bundle was taken from her. She couldn't focus, something was wrong, what was going on, no no NO!
"GIVE IT BACK!"
She opened her eyes, she felt so heavy, so sore. She looked around the room and noticed the sleeping white haired boy in the corner watching her. She saw him stand and walk out of the room quickly, probably to go get, what was his name? Ah, that's it, Butsuma. She still could not hear anything, everything sounded like she had cotton tucked into her ears. She looked around and took note of the bareness of the room, not even a set of clothes. She saw movement and sluggishly turned her head meeting the hard eyes of one Butsuma Senju. She saw his mouth move but she furrowed her brow, she couldn't hear him that well. He must have taken note of her hearing loss as he stepped in closer and kneeled down by her body.
"What is your full name?"
She had to take a minute, there was an echo in her mind.
"What is your name?"
What was her name, what was her name? Her name was Shizune she knew that, but the family name she had to fight the words out. She didn't even notice the words coming from her mouth as she spoke them in her mind.
"Otsutsuki. Shizune Otsutsuki."
"Very well, Otsutsuki-san, why were you on the border of my home?"
"I, I was sick I remember that. I was sleepy and saw the fire. I was watching and you all looked so happy, and I fell asleep."
"That is all?"
"All that I can remember, what, what happened?"
"I was hoping you could answer that for me. You were getting sick quickly then you had me jab you with some metal tube and you started to get better. What was in that syringe, because you have changed."
"What?"
Butsuma bent down and removed the girls cover, scooping her up in his arms he led her out of the room and down the hall to his own room where a full body mirror stood. Setting her down his hands still on her shoulders to steady her.
Shizunes breath hitched, her long black hair had turned stark white with a single black long highlight down the side. Her eyes were silver, not white through and through but silver with a pupil. Her skin had stayed the same shade giving her an exotic look but it was her height and bone structure. By her knowledge, this was the body of at least a twelve year old if not younger.
"What, I don't, what happened to my hair!"
"That is what you are concerned with? You have been out for the last week, every day you lost more and more pigment, and the doctor says by tomorrow you will lose your skin tone. Now, what happened?"
"I don't know, what, what's happening to me!"
Shizunes wide and tear filled eyes connected with Butsumas, she watched his quizzical look turn to one of surprise, to calculation, to anger. Shizune felt the hit before she saw it and was flung across the room.
"I am losing my patience you stubborn curr, who do you work for!"
Shizune felt the younger part of her mind slowly reigning control, her more logical side sliding away as she let out a scream, shrill and ear piercing. She scrambled backwards and against the wall, she tasted the iron in her mouth and swallowed her tears betraying her and pouring like a midsummers rain. Butsuma was storming towards her and she stood, she managed to duck below his kick and she tore the door open. She began to run from the elder Shinobi before she felt a tight hand on her throat. Butsuma as in front of her now, his hand clasped around her throat. She tried to call for help but nothing would come. He threw Shizune out the open door and she tumbled down the small set of stairs that led into the house. She tried to stand but couldn't put weight on her leg.
"Tou-san!"
Shizune saw a boy around her age, brown hair in a bowl cut, brown almond shaped eyes as he darted towards them.
"I have had enough! WHO DO YOU WORK FOR!" Butsuma unsheathed his sword quickly the blade slicing Shizunes outstretched hand and she let out another scream pulling her hand to her body cradling the bleeding appendage to her chest.
The brown haired boy appeared between them, she was thankful, she still couldn't stand and he sliced her palm open. She was crying her eyes out scared out of her wits at the angry man.
"Move Hashirama."
"No, tou-san, you're beating a child who can't fight back!"
"HASHIRAMA MOVE!"
Hashirama shook his head and held his hands outspread to cover as much space as possible, he made it clear, he was trying to protect her. He saw the blow but he took it anyway, his fathers fist hitting him in the jaw square on. Hashirama slid across the ground as he looked into his fathers eyes, but then he saw her.
"BUTSUMA SENJU THAT IS ENOUGH!"
Butsuma turned and scowled at the woman but even in her condition she stalked past him and grabbed Shizune lifting her into her arms.
"This girl is not even your eldests age! You threaten her as if she was Uchiha! She is a child not an enemy! How dare you strike our boy, how DARE you draw your blade on a child!"
Butsuma moved to speak but she struck, faster than even he could see and her slap turned his head. Stalking past him, he turned to watch her retreat into their house with the sobbing child in her arms. He looked to see the crowd that had assembled, many clansmen and his own children seeing the fight, if it could be called that. His rage grew and he finally snapped.
"WHAT HAVEN'T YOU SEEN ENOUGH! GET BACK TO WORK GODDAMNIT!"
Hashirama stood from the ground nursing his jaw, he spat blood on the ground and saw his father stalk back into the house. Hashirama hurried after him seeing his father enter his mothers room and the shouting match started. HE slipped into the spare room that they had put the girl in and he saw her shaking like a leaf huddled into the corner.
"Hey, I won't hurt you, my names Hashirama Senju."
Shizune was scared, she didn't know what was happening to her mind, she became less focused and organized, she was losing her edge, and she couldn't remember anything past her waking up under the tree. She looked to the boy her silver eyes stained with red and tears, her hands moved from her chest and Hashirama could see the hand print shaped bruise around her neck, the bruise forming on her cheek. HAshirama slid closer and he saw her get worried.
"I won't hurt you, I want to help you. You need to get your hand fixed and I have been learning medical ninjutsu from my sensei."
Shizune heard the term medical ninjutsu and she remembered her skills. Her hand gripping the bleeding slice began to glow green and the flesh mended but the skin was still separated. She crawled sideways towards the pack leaning against the door, she opened it and grasped the guaze and suturing kit.
"You shouldn't do that yourself, let me help, I promise I wont hurt you."
Hashirama watched her slide forward on her knees until she sat across from him, she slid the items towards him and held out her hand. Hashirama took her hand gently in his own and looked at the wound.
"You want me to finish healing it? You don't need stitches if I do."
Shizune nodded and then she felt it, an incredible warmth, like the sun when it first rises on a cold winter morning. She watched his hand as it glowed green for a minute and when he left her hand go her wound was sealed, not even a mark.
"Otsutsuki, Shizune Otsutsuki."
"Shizune-chan, do you want me to look at your leg?"
Shizune nodded her head and again she felt the warm fill her body and her leg stopped aching and she felt her strength return to her body. She felt his hand on her cheek and once again she felt the warmth as it healed her. She looked at him and for the first time since she can remember, she smiled.
"There, all better Shizune-chan."
"Thank you Hashirama-kun."
"If you don't mind me asking, why was tou-san so angry?"
"I don't know, Butsuma-san was angry about something, he thought I was working for someone and I dont know whats happening to me. I used to have black eyes and hair and now they're going away and it scares me."
Hashirama began to freak out, she was going to cry again! He had just become a brother to a sister and he had no clue what to do for a girl crying!
"Uh, uh, I'll be right back, I'm going to go get my brother Itama, he'll know what to do!"
Hashirama ran from the room as fast as he could, he leapt off the stairs nearly stumbling nd rushed towards the training ground that his family used frequently, his brothers would be there. He leapt past one of the distant cousins of his named Toka and instead of apologizing for knocking her over he kept running.
"Itama!"
The bi-colored hair boy stopped the middle of his kata and looked to his eldest brother running towards him.
"Ah, Nii-san, what's wrong?"
"I need you to come with me, the new girl is crying, and I dont know what to do!"
"Nii-san, just give her a hug."
"Really? That works on girls?"
"Yeah Nii-san."
Hashirama nodded before running off again.
Shizune sat there crying her eyes out, she was afraid of what Butsuma was going to do to her, what would happen to the two kind people she has met. She didn't want the brown haired boy or the woman she was rapidly starting to look like. She was scared, and tired, and hungry, her whole body ached from whatever was happening. She remembered skills, names of body parts, systems and their functions, equipment, chemical formula, dosage limits, she remembered all of this but not who she was before she got sick. She was scared and for all intents and purposes, she was alone.
"Shizune-chan!"
She looked up and saw Hashirama, he came back. She tried to stand but he latched himself firmly onto her torso in a hug. That is when she lost it, she grasped him firmly and buried her head into his chest bawling her eyes out in fear.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry."
"Why are you sorry, you've done nothing wrong Shizune-chan."
Shizune didn't see it that way. She made Butsuma hit her, then hit him, then he argued with his wife, she knew she was going to be in trouble. The door slid open but she wouldn't let go of him until a pair of slender, warm, and soft hands wrapped around her and began to pet her head softly. She was pulled to the womans bussom and she snugged in against the woman still crying but not so badly.
"Musuko, go to your father, he wishes to apologize for striking you."
"Ok Haha."
Shizune watched Hashirama, her guardian for the day leave and she felt her fear sink in. That was until the woman kissed the back of her head and she unconsciously snuggled back into the woman. Her hiccupping and her tears had started to slow but she cung to the woman.
"My name is Hana, Butsuma is my husband. He wasn't in his right mind, so he wants to apologize by offering to let you stay here with us."
Shizune didn't say anything but Hana knew she couldn't talk right now.
"Just think it over for the night. I'm sickly, and I just had a daughter, little Momoshi-chan. She will need a nee-chan to help with the babysitting and learning."
"I'll, I'll do it."
"Thank you, Shizu-chan."
Hana snuggled this small girl, she couldn't be that much older than her Tobirama, but she was going to stay and help with Momoshi. She petted the girls head stroking the girls stark white hair that matched her, Momoshi, and Tobiramas own. Hana smiled and hummed a tune she would sing for her boys to calm them down when they got scared and it seemed to work, Shizune started to relax and slacken in her grip. Shizune fell to sleep and Butsuma opened the door not expecting his wife to be craddling the girl he had assaulted.
"Hana, I."
"No, just, for tonight, don't say anything. Just, let the poor girl rest, she's been through enough as it is."
"What did she say?"
"She agreed, she knows medical ninjutsu, to a very high extent. She probably doesn't even know how to defend herself outside of healing. She can be Momoshi's nurse for scrapes or cuts, she is going to be helping me around the house and taking care of Momoshi. You are going to stay away from her till she calms down, and after what you did that might be a while. I love you Butsuma, with all my heart, but this time you crossed the line you told me you would never. You stopped the killings of children that you could or their abuse, so imagine how I feel knowing you broke your promise to me."
"Hana, I know I did not act right, I hurt Shizune-san. I will apologize when I can. She will be staying in this room, it will be her own."
"Good, she is not leaving my side for the night, Hashirama tried to help her but she needs a woman right now, not a man."
Butsuma nodded and closed the door leaving the two females in the room, he felt guilt, he knew he broke the one code he promised not to.
I hope you enjoyed this first installment of Silence Left Behind. I am looking forward to expanding on this AU and the OC Shizune. I could never find Hashiramas mothers name so I made up something. There won't be arcs at all in this story, not till at least Hashirama takes over for the Senju. Till that point it will be a few fillers and maybe a few plot twists, I hope you enjoyed the Otsutsuki bit. I wanted to do something nice and I never see anything done to the Otsutsuki clan, so I put this into the story. Till the next Chapter,
~ Ardent Chronicler