It was all gone. There wasn't a single stone left atop another, not a single branch left unbroken…not a single life spared. The pursuit had been merciless, the hunt relentless—and they were still coming. First the civilians and cadets had fallen. Then the more experienced genin and chuunin. The jounin and ANBU had been the last to fall, the ones to hold out the longest. Now there was but one left; even Naruto had been overwhelmed, despite his rapport with Kurama, despite having used every trick and technique at his disposal, despite being the best ninja since the first. Now there was but one, and she was waiting to be found, even as she worked a forbidden jutsu that could tip the scales, change history forever. If it wiped out this hell, erased the vicious jackals that had dogged them to the bitter end, then it would be worth it. All she had to do was wait for them to find her—and find her they would—and then slay her with something sufficiently high-powered. Oh, they'd have to work for it, of course, she wasn't going to just lay down and die without a fight, but they would ultimately overwhelm her, as they had overwhelmed everyone else. And then the hunters, the hyenas snapping at her heels, would all die, they would never exist to begin with, and she'd have won. A pyrrhic victory, perhaps, but any success you can claim is one worth noting.
With one last hand sign the jutsu was prepared, requiring now only a massive influx of foreign chakra to trigger it; she'd perish in the process, naturally, explode with all the force of a nuclear bomb (as rare as those weapons were), but with her sacrifice everything would change. She could only hope that the changes would be for the better, else this event would be repeated, and then there would be no one left to stand against the darkness.
Before too long they were on her position and though she gave a good accounting of herself, taking out dozens, hundreds of assailants with the best she had to offer it wasn't to last. They always had strength of numbers, an indomitable wave of bodies to throw at their victims and soak up even the most devastating of attacks, and as the injuries to her body began to accumulate and slow her down they grew more aggressive. She began to worry that a commander wouldn't show, wouldn't come to gloat over her loss before finishing her off in a flash of phoenix fire…the concern didn't bear out, as just before a spear would have lanced through her heart she was snatched up, suspended above the teeming throng by lashes of evil energy, binding her to an ethereal cross.
She didn't pay any attention to the words, of course, having heard them before when the bastards caught and killed her family, her friends, but instead smiled at what was about to occur. For an instant there was silence, and relief, and then searing heat greater than any lightning bolt could ever produce struck her body, reducing it to vapor even as the chakra powering it struck the core of her prepared technique. For the briefest moment she knew calm, knew serenity as she had no more body to feel agony with, and just before the darkness swallowed her, she saw the surprise on the bastard's face as he was swatted like a fly in the hand of God.
As a temporary sun filled the sky with light and blackness closed in around her, she had time for one last thought, one last prayer to the gods to watch over her loved ones in the afterlife she could no longer join. The moment had been chosen, and now she had to rely on the person she'd selected to carry her legacy to stop all this before it began. If she could, that is. The time for thinking was over, and she knew no more.
… … …
Ten year old Ino Yamanaka woke with a start, clutching at her head in pain. She could feel them all crying out, feel the sudden and abrupt pain of death being visited on dozens of people, without mercy, without remorse. Her hoarse screaming brought her father running and as his mind touched hers he understood in an instant what was happening. He left her side then, leaving his wife Koume to look after the shrieking cadet, running out into the street to call anyone and everyone, hurrying toward the southeast where the cries were already raising to the heavens and the sound of men dying was all-consuming.
Ino was at a very vulnerable stage in her life, having just begun her training in the mind arts, and thus she was particularly open to the thoughts and emotions of others. Koume could feel the terror and anguish radiating from the Uchiha clan grounds as if it were a fire; she could only guess what the effect on her daughter's mind was like. The only one that could relate was Haruki, and he'd been rendered mute and child-like by his experiences on that night ten years ago. Koume worried that her beloved and only child would suffer the same fate—then, just as quickly as the screaming began, it stopped, leaving just the distant wheezing of emergency whistles and the clamor of ninja leaping across rooftops in a hurry to try and stop whatever was happening at the Uchiha compound.
Inside her head, Ino was reeling from the psychic backlash of feeling so many lives being exterminated so quickly; her novice skill at the Yamanaka secret arts meant she had no defense against the cataclysmic cacophony of thoughts being broadcast as loudly as any bullhorn, and even though the Uchiha lived a fair distance away from the Yamanaka, such was the intensity of their emotion that it felt like a physical pressure on her mind…and it was getting weaker. She knew why, and as each voice fell silent, Ino cried louder in response, trying to keep the noise inside her head, the comforting chaos of sound to push away the morbid certainty that everyone who wore the fan emblem was dying.
As another voice was cut off from the living (a girl her own age, she could tell—not even a ninja trainee, just a normal child) and Ino prepared to scream again she was struck with molten fire inside her soul, feeling as though she'd stepped straight into the center of a kiln and then told them to stoke the flames even hotter. All of a sudden the terrible noise inside her head was gone, replaced with just a single voice, speaking to her softly, encouraging her, reassuring her. It had to be her mother, as the voice had the same sound as her beloved kaa-san's speech, only different cadence, and then as the memories began spilling forth Ino knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she could never be the same again.
When the flood of memories stopped and the voice faded out, Ino clutched to her mother's chest and began wailing openly again, for all the things that had been lost, all the things that would never be again. She wept for the slain Uchiha, and the murdered Senju, for that silly oaf Naruto and his sweet baby girl, for everyone she had never met but remembered all the same. The tears flowed unabated until sunrise, and then, on shaky legs she rose, throwing on a coat and a pair of sandals before starting on her way.
Koume didn't try to stop her, but followed Ino out the door, strapping on a weapons pouch just in case because who knew what sort of monster might still be lurking around; she followed Ino until she stopped at the gates to the eerily silent Uchiha grounds, staring in wonder and shock at how empty it was. The bodies had already been moved, naturally, all save that of Sasuke kneeling in front of his house, refusing to budge in the hopes that it was all a dream, all just a nightmare that he was going to wake up from and his mother would be there with a cup of coffee and a few soothing words to ease his fears.
Ino stepped up to the boy, ignoring the ANBU that tried to stop her until the Hokage raised his hand and bid them relent. She kneeled with him and tucked his head against her chest, sharing in his grief and at that the dam broke, plaintive cries lifting to the morning sun, while Ino looked at the leader of her village and uttered the words she knew she needed to say. It would be interrupting everyone's pitying gazes, but it was for the best that she speak now rather than let them dig the well too deep.
"Hokage-sama, I have used the Wending Ways Technique. Please…please take Sasuke-kun to Uzumaki. Do not let them be alone; he'll be able to help. I swear on my life." At her pronouncement Sarutobi and Koume both gasped in audible shock—as if the day couldn't get any worse than it already was. The Hokage because of the authority present in the girl's voice, Koume because the Wending Ways was a forbidden technique that no child would know, even the daughter of the clan head. A few gestures from the Hokage had the ANBU present obeying her orders, and the last Uchiha was bundled off to be taken first to a certain blond boy, and then to the hospital where he could begin his recovery.
Sarutobi watched them go before turning his gaze on the soiled girl still kneeling on Fugaku's doorstep where she had let Sasuke dirty her clothes with his anguish.
"How much time from now, Yamanaka-san, did you use the technique?"
"F-fourteen years, Hokage-sama," Ino replied wearily. "She didn't have any other options left, sir; she was being hunted like a fox…" She caught herself grimacing at the analogy, and then continued anyway. "In the end even though she'd killed nearly three hundred of the enemy in a single battle they overpowered her, and the Wending Ways was the only resort. It took out the entirety of the army that had been sent after her. She was the last…the last person from Konoha to die. They'd already consumed Iwa and Kumo. I have so much to tell you before I forget it, before I join her in oblivion…"
"Why would you suffer the same fate as she?" Sarutobi asked. He knew some of the details of the Wending Ways technique, though that was only from hearsay, and could tell nothing concrete about the supposed trans-temporal memory projection jutsu.
"Because, Hokage-sama," Koume filled in where Ino faltered, "the Wending Ways can only be used at the moment of death… The two sets of memories can't overlap. The user sacrifices herself—and yes, it can only be used by women—along the entire time stream to send a message back, bestow a lifetime of experience on her younger self to be written down in what little time she has before she dies. The past and future are not," she said with a crack in her tone, "to be tampered with without consequence." The Wending Ways had only been used three times before. The first time led to the end of the feud between three families and the beginning of a friendship that had lasted for hundreds of years. The second time had brought the Hyuuga out of the Hidden Stone, out of slavery and into prosperity. And the last usage of the Wending Ways had brought the four families to the Senju and Uchiha, when they were laying the foundation of Konoha.
"Then we must act quickly, to preserve this information as best we can. You will not be forgotten, young one; we will erect a monument to your sacrifice and you will be buried with full jounin honors as befitting one who falls in the service of Konoha. Come; your story awaits us."
… … …
Naruto didn't know why he was saddened by this event as much as he was, but he couldn't stave off the feelings all the same. He and the Yamanaka girl had never talked all that much, really, and though she'd never yelled at him or hit him like some of the girls in his class he knew she was bothered by him sometimes. The last month had been a whirlwind blur, starting with the Uchiha Massacre, and then the last member of the clan being sent to live with him of all people (making him wonder if there were a few screws loose in the Hokage's head); still, he managed, and little by little was helping the abysmally quiet boy to cope, and come to terms with having had everything taken away from him. The weekly hospital visits were rather boring for Naruto, but he was Sasuke's support now, and though he didn't sit in on the counseling sessions, he could see they were helping, a little bit, anyway.
There had been a big fuss two weeks ago, when some men in white masks tried to get him to follow them, but Naruto, being Naruto, knew they weren't real ANBU (after all, Dog was the Commander and never went on the escort details himself, Cat was a woman and Bear never referred to him as Uzumaki-san), and led them on a merry chase around the village where they demonstrated further still that they weren't real ANBU because they were trying to catch him with lethal techniques and getting in each others' way. While he was running from them (with Sasuke in tow because he needed to learn how to get around the village) a few buildings blew up and there were a lot of ninja running around that day, including the real Dog who caught all of the fakes using an electric net…and now here he was at a funeral, in brand new funeral wear, the Uzumaki clan seal sewn onto his left breast, standing between an iron-jawed Sasuke and a weepy girl that he recognized as Sakura from the Academy, listening as the Old Man delivered a eulogy for Ino as if she were some war hero.
It sucked that she was dead. She'd always laughed at his jokes when he made them, and always had a flower for that Neji kid that was always scowling at the younger cadets except when Ino was around…now he remembered. She and Sakura were friends. They'd always hung out together, and even included that shy Hinata girl sometimes…now she was gone, all her potential would go unrealized, and in that moment Naruto made a resolution. He'd get stronger so he could protect everyone, so girls who weren't even ninja yet wouldn't have to die to reveal secret plots and whole clans wouldn't be killed off because of the ideas of a scant few.
For the first time Naruto felt true anger, potent fury that he distilled down into cold purpose. From that point on he vowed that he'd do everything in his power to ensure that there were no more Ino Yamanakas, no more Sasuke Uchihas, even, he swore, no more Itachis. He would break the cycle, or die trying. As the procession began he took the lead, escorting Sakura and Sasuke to the bier where Ino laid as beautiful as a flower, standing in stoic silence as the other two paid their last respects to the girl who had saved them all.
… … …
Kakashi stared at the scroll again. Names, dates and places all written down in an uncannily neat script occupied the expansive document, important events marked in red with small summaries. This was the end result of the Yamanaka girl's memories; they'd had to carefully sift through the tale she'd told, singling out the crucial details so they could be acted on. Once the first change was made, others would follow. After a certain point the information would no longer be useful, and they'd be working blind again. Already they'd made some changes, not the least of which had been the Yamanaka girl's untimely demise; more were in the works, teams already in action, both within Konoha and without. He had been personally chosen to oversee Naruto's education, and repair the damage being done at the Academy before it could really take hold. The young jinchuuriki was due to be told the legacy he'd inherited soon, and would need all the support he could get.
There was a smaller list on the desk, the names of Ino's family: the husband she'd never marry, the children yet to be born that never would be thanks to the desperate act of a woman at the end of her rope who had nothing to lose and no regrets. He found it hard to imagine facing down an implacable army, a force so massive that even the combined might of the five great villages were overwhelmed. The things which Ino had written down in the brief time she'd been allotted before she suffered a severe—and thankfully instantly lethal—aneurysm were beyond belief and yet one of them had already been confirmed. Danzo was now a corpse, hanged as a traitor, his forces disbanded and a mission to Ame already in the planning. Itachi Uchiha was being heralded as a martyr, a tragic victim of circumstance (his absence from the village now sanctioned and silently insisted upon) while Sasuke's quest for vengeance was stopped in its tracks. Exposure to Naruto was helping him some—Kakashi was no fool to believe that the young Uchiha would ever be the same boy he'd been a few short weeks ago—but he was no longer brooding and seemed grateful for the companionship.
For a brief moment he wished that he could be on the team that was tracking down that Zetsu character, the key to the false Madara's plans and the catalyst of the world's destruction. Such a creature could not be allowed to exist; the diplomatic envoy was armed with foreknowledge of Nagato's intentions and headed by Jiraiya himself. If the self-styled god would listen to anyone, it would be him. He just prayed the sage would be careful. The last thing they needed was for Tsunade to catch wind of his fall and rampage through the elemental countries on a revenge kick of her own.
Tracing his fingers over the names Ino had written down, the ink on the page stained with her tears as she remembered a love never experienced, recalled the children she'd held in her arms and watched fall victim to the swarm, he made a resolution. No more living in the past, no more hiding behind excuses and failed promises. Making his way to the window, Kakashi perched on the sill, prepared to depart, and leave the Hokage's office behind; as he did so he cast one last, forlorn look at the Old Man, at the scroll sitting on the desk. No words passed between them. None needed to.
… … …
The slaughter of the Uchiha Clan was perpetrated by Itachi Uchiha, yes, but he was as much victim as the men and women he cut down. His wish was to remove the conspirators and install more moderate leaders in their stead; however, Danzo Shimura interceded and handed him alternate orders that he claims came down from the top, signed off by himself, Koharu Utatane and stamped with the Sandaime's seal. Thus the actual massacre was orchestrated by the commander of the secret ROOT division in direct contravention to the orders of Hokage Sarutobi. There was another man present at the time of the slaughter, however, one that in the future claimed to be Madara Uchiha before the real Madara was resurrected by a forbidden technique.
This is just a footnote; the real instigation for the future I bore witness to began in Ame, either during the Third Secret War, or shortly afterward—Naruto was never forthcoming on the exact date. What he did tell me, however, was that Danzo Shimura was, again, responsible for the bloodshed which ripped the country apart so soon after it had begun to recover from the war. Had Danzo not acted, Hanzo would not have set his sights on Yahiko and his group (maybe he would have even welcomed them as fellow protectors, but we will never know), and Nagato would not have begun a rebellion which even now wrenches the Land of Rain to shreds.
Danzo was not, unfortunately, to blame for Orochimaru's betrayal, much as I would like to pin that on him as well, but he was instrumental in providing the Snake Sannin the changes to Konoha's patrol routines and security codes, which allowed him to bring a hostile force inside the gates without having to first overcome the barrier wall. Indeed, thanks to his actions the barrier was probably deactivated months before the Chuunin Exams which led to the Sandaime's death. His personal files, should you manage to capture him, will easily have more than enough proof of guilt to have him hanged, or worse.
On the note of traitors there is a dangerous triple-agent and all around self-interest medic ninja by the name of Kabuto Yakushi who at the time of this writing is probably still working for Sasori of the Red Sand but entertaining making a switch to serve Orochimaru for as long as it amuses him. Regardless of what knowledge may be gleaned from him, do not leave him alive.
With luck we may be able to forestall the machinations of the renegade ninja group Akatsuki, preferably through peaceful methods; at his current level of ability with his bloodline limit Nagato will be a dangerous opponent at best. If negotiations fail I would recommend a flee-on-sight order for him as well as Konan.
I have listed the names of the other members of Akatsuki and how to defeat them, and if they are not yet members then it will remove several dangerous Missing-Nins from the world. I have also listed the identities of the nine jinchuuriki but not their affiliations save for two: Gaara of the Desert, son of the Yondaime Kazekage, and Yagura, Yondaime Mizukage. The former is under the effects of an incomplete seal as well as heavy amounts of psychological torture both from the villagers and his bijuu, and the latter is under the effects of a genjutsu, or if not then while he may be acting in the interest of his nation's safety taking it to unacceptable extremes. In both cases use your own discretion in how to deal with the problems. You may be able to convince the Kazekage that it is more sensible to allow someone of Jiraiya's caliber to repair the seal and increase Gaara's effectiveness as a defender (emphasis mine); Yagura on the other hand is a dangerous proposition on the best of days.
I must now write of my demise in the time I projected my memories from. Four months after the formation of the Grand Shinobi Alliance and the start of the Fourth Secret War, the Zetsu Army began guerrilla warfare against the alliance. Their capability to mimic both form and chakra signature made them the perfect infiltrators; however they could not fool Naruto's Fox techniques, which he had learned only a short time before. His partially released bijuu form allowed him to feel a person's intentions and thus weed out (sorry) the impostors, as well as leaving new growth everywhere he walked. He fought and, with Killer B's help, defeated the resurrected jinchuuriki of the other seven bijuu, and then faced off against the revived Madara as well as the Masked Ninja.
I can't remember the exact details of what happened next as I wasn't there for them and the story sounded much better when Naruto told it anyway; what I do know is that eventually we won the war and the alliance was dissolved, though peace remained between the great five. What we could not have foreseen was Zetsu. We thought we had rounded up and destroyed all of them after the war. We were wrong. Zetsu's ability to mimic anything with chakra meant he was able to hide in the forests undetected, so long as he did not project any intent of any sort. During the course of the war he was augmented by Yakushi to better serve his role as the ultimate soldier; perverted with the ability to create more copies of himself with the ease at which Naruto created Shadow Clones, and cursed with an insatiable hunger, he began his slow march across the continent. Most they simply devoured. Some they consumed body and soul, denying their victims the sweet release of the Shinigami's embrace. These became the commanders of the army. They existed purely to satisfy that unquenchable appetite, that constant need to feast on the flesh of their fellow man.
Whether this was a result of the experimentation or some subtle, self-contained genjutsu cast by the Masked Man or Yakushi before they died I cannot say. What I can say is that they consumed entire cities first as they marched first across the northern territories, then turned south towards Konoha. He feasted on everything before him, man and beast alike; if it was made of meat, he ate it. And the more he ate the more of himself he made, and the more he made the more they ate. More than once they turned on themselves to satiate that hunger, and more than once entire divisions stood before them only to have no trace left in the aftermath.
The worst part, however, was not the army. The worst part was the squads that hunted specific ninja. Even the combined might of the bijuu was not enough to bring the continent to its knees. It was not any legendary warrior with phenomenal power that led to the total annihilation of all I held dear. All it took was Zetsu. If nothing else, find him, destroy him, leave no trace. All other things can be managed. Zetsu, and only Zetsu, must be unequivocally eradicated, down to the last molecule.
I do this not for my son, who I know will never exist now. Forgive me, Choushiro, for not being able to hold you again, to say those words you so love to hear. Be good for your uncle Chouji. Forgive me, my dearest husband (I shall not name him here lest he pine after what cannot be any longer), for not being able to save myself in the end. Maybe with this you'll be able to live again, and find love as you did before, though it pains me to know that it won't be me that you hold at night, that you see in the mornings.
Forgive me, Sakura, for not being able to rescue you and your mentor from the endless horde, for needing you to buy time for my escape. Forgive me, all of you, for failing to see what I should have seen. But I have kept my mind closed since I was ten years old, and if not for that I might have been able to warn of the coming danger, might have been able to hold the true Zetsu until he could be slain so that the army would crumble. Forgive me for being too late. Maybe with my death I can allow all of you to have a future again.
That's all I can ask.
-Ino Yamanaka, Seventh Hokage