I don't own the original sources from which my story is derived from. e.g: Naruto.
A little rant is coming your way, so if you want to skip it, just scroll down.
So, after a long time, the manga Naruto has ended its run. With 700 chapters in the span of 15 years, the blonde prankster's journey is finally over and has come to a close. Masashi Kishimoto, thank you for creating a story that we have followed for years and in some cases, we have liked it enough to make fan-stories of it. Hopefully the fandom can still go on, that the fanarts, the fanfics and what-have-you will still be created by many people despite the end of the main series' run.
I will still be continuing this series, and I hope many of you will do the same or for the others, make new ones out of them. Though there are Canon pairings and Canon children that came from the ending (which I won't tell due to not wanting to spoil to those who haven't read the last two chapters), from what I have seen from other fandoms, Canon is not enough to deter anyone who have their hearts set with a particular pairing.
This is fanfiction after all. And it is my hope that the fanfics would continue to expand more despite the series finally ending its long run.
Thank you Masashi Kishimoto and thank you, Naruto.
Chapter 21: When the Storm Subsides.
He had lost a lot of blood and there were parts of his bodies where his molecular structure were simply broken, was what he said. His regeneration rate was staggering as per his other physical superhuman abilities, but it was going to take a lot more than just that to fix everything else that was broken, and that same impeccable restoration rate was no doubt physically taxing, and that could also lead to his death.
"Then do something about it!" Sakura demanded. If she were more lucid, she would've realized that there was nothing that he could possibly do, but she was not going to just let Naruto go, not to something like this, not without a fight, "Something! Anything! Heal him, aren't you a medic-nin?!"
"I-I can't, miss!" the medic-nin said apologetically, "I'm sorry, but I just can't do that! I'm not able to heal such a damage!"
Shakily she balled her hands into fists. Never had she feel so helpless. Here was a friend who desperately needed help, and for all her strength, there was nothing that she could do with it to make him better.
Was this what he felt when he saw his mother's barely living form then? Such a horrible feeling that made her heart slowly break. It made her angry, sad, desperate.
Then she heard the sound of two people landing behind her, followed with the sound of an older woman calling out the name of the unconscious and horribly wounded young man and saw a streak of orange light heading towards him.
"What's happening to him?" she heard the sound of Satsuki asking, her voice pleading, desperate for an answer. "Sakura, tell me! What's going on?"
She looked at the black-haired girl, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape, still in shock after hearing what the medic-nin said regarding Naruto's condition. It took her three seconds to come up with a proper answer, "Naruto, he's..."
"Wait a- What are you doing?!"
Hearing the sound of other Kumo Shinobi yelling out of anger and surprise made the two younger girls turn, and they saw Kushina's hands touching Naruto's head, her hands glowing rather faintly and her eyes were closed as her visage were getting grimly serious.
Sakura saw Satsuki using her energy armor to quickly float to Kushina, she grasped her shoulder tightly and said with a slight hiss, "What are you doing?!"
"He's going to die if this continues, I'm helping his restoration process!" Kushina replied without missing a beat, her voice loud and tinged with anger and concern but somewhat measured. "He has Kyuubi inside of him, no? Well so do I. And through them and with my own energy, I can restore him to full health by manipulating his biology." Kushina explained to the group, some of whom were shocked by what she said, "But it will take time." she admitted almost sheepishly, "So... what's your name?" she asked Satsuki.
"...S-Satsuki." she answered, her shock was not as severe as the others who were not in the know of Naruto's status as a Jinchuuriki, "Wha, what do you mean, you have the Kyuubi as well?"
"Help me and you'll find out." Kushina said before she did a gesture with her head to order her to stand on her opposite side, beside Naruto, "Get over there, place your hand over his head, I need you to assist me."
Satsuki, in her slight shock and overwhelming willingness to help Naruto however she could, swiftly moved to his side and placed her hand as ordered. However, she did not know what to do next, and immediately, she asked, "How can I be of assistance?", prepared to give her all she had to help.
"Let out your energy construct, shape them like a mist and cover Naruto with it." ordered the red woman. "And by cover him, I mean cover him, don't leave any part out." she added.
She did so with slightly straining effort as she never constructed a mist-like substance from her powers before. It came out in quite a hefty amount, and it covered every part of Naruto's body, lightly touching him with...
...This was new. With her energy construct in a mist-like form, she was able to feel every inch of him through them. It was similar to the feeling that she received when Naruto's mind and hers conjoined. Not as otherworldly of a feeling, but it was quite close.
Her energy was connected to the part of her brain that responded to tactile stimulation, this she realized now. It felt very strange, she felt very intrusive, it was as if she possessed a giant hand that she was slathering against Naruto's small body, making her somewhat flustered, but she kept her hold on Naruto when she could also feel the wounds riddling his whole body and how weak his heartbeat was. Let it be that she was flustered, she will save him with the best of her abilities.
"Now, I'm going to merge my energy with yours."
...That made her confused all over again, and she responded to what the woman said with a one-word question: "What?!"
"Trust me on this Satsuki-chan!" said the red-haired woman, using the suffix '-chan' to address her by, "Please, trust me. I can't bear to lose him as much as you can, you have to trust me on this."
Who was this woman? What made her so concerned for Naruto? With her red part-Sharingan eyes she gazed into her purple ones, and she found herself seeing a sense of dedication and dare she say it, love that this woman reserved for Naruto. It made her feel... territorial? Confused? Angered? So many emotions at once that she couldn't be certain of.
One thing that she was certain of was the need to save him, and that emotion was one that she shared with the woman. "Just answer me one question..." Satsuki said, "What is your name?"
The red woman smiled then, seeing her question as her extending her hand as an offer of trust, "Kushina. Uzumaki Kushina." she answered, "Do you trust me, Satsuki-chan?"
Satsuki didn't know who this woman was, but she could sense the sheer honesty of every word that came out of her mouth. So she said to her, "Enough to entrust you in saving my lover's life."
At this, the woman's smile widened, as if the answer was more than simply good enough for her. "Then I'll start, take a deep breath... This will be quite an intense experience for you. Everyone else, back off please! This might get volatile..."
At her warning, along with the sight of her hair beginning to flicker like a wild fire, the others wisely backed off, and then, she released her energy to intermingle with Satsuki's own.
Now this was another sensation that she had never felt before. Kushina's energy was intermingling with her own like water, orange and purple were clashing, and she could feel it all as if she had been rinsed with thick liquid that made everything on her body tingle.
'Your power is much, much more than just creating things.' she heard the voice of the woman speaking, the sound not reaching her ears, but her brain, 'Now let my power course through you.'
She felt it, like a wave of a large body of water squarely hitting her, the energy coming off of Kushina, one that she felt coming off from Naruto as well. The feeling of it made her realize what it was.
'It's the Kyuubi... The ones inside of her and him.' she thought. Now she realized what she was planning, she's going to augment Naruto's regeneration rate while sharing half the burden so that the regeneration won't be so destructive to him.
Seeing this, she gladly let the energy of the woman's Kyuubi course through her mist-like energy construct.
"Kit, hey kit, wake up."
His eyes fluttered at the deep-sounding but soft-toned voice, his body felt fine somehow and he was facing a clear blue sky with the Kyuubi looking down at him with an expression of concern. It took him half a second to realize that he was inside his own mind.
"...Aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Naruto said with a smile, his voice rather drowsy, perhaps his physical exhaustion affected the mental projection of his brain to his psyche, "How bad are my injuries exactly?" he asked the Bijuu who was standing right behind his lying form.
"You got pretty fucked up bad, kit." said the Kyuubi, as if wanting to make the situation a bit lighter.
Naruto appreciated that a bit as he smiled and scoffed at his answer. The smile was only temporary however, it dimmed as he asked the Bijuu with another question, "Will I make it?" he asked as he looked at the Kyuubi.
"You will." the Kyuubi said, pausing for a moment before he added, "Not without help of course."
He saw the giant fox looking over at something else in front of him with a sense of familiarity apparent in his eyes. Naruto lifted his head up to see what it was that he was looking.
He stopped for a full second before he finally picked himself up and stood, his eyes never once leaving the figure standing in front of him. What lied before him was the figure of another Kyuubi, one with a darker orange coat and whose visage was one filled with more anger compared to his Kyuubi.
"Naruto... this is my other half." the Kyuubi introduced his other self, "You look like you've been doing well after our parting."
"I could say the same thing about you." said the darker half, "But then again, after the fact, the agony fades very quickly." his attention was then turned to Naruto, and he saw a grin forming on the face of the Kyuubi with a slightly darker coat, "Nice to meet you, Naruto." he greeted Naruto without any sarcasm or irony in his tone, "My presence here is concerning your restoration. You'll be fine, but for the moment, you'll only have us to accompany you. The others will be able to come here, but after they finished bringing you back from the brink of death."
This Kyuubi was different, not just by the color of his coat, but the way he carried himself, far calmer and far more composed compared to his Kyuubi. Their voice was the same, but that was all there is, as he was completely different. Was he the original Kyuubi? The one from where Naruto's own was formed when they were parted?
"It's been a long time since our energy is intertwined once again." said Naruto's Kyuubi, a sigh escaping his throat, "And this feeling... it looks like she is doing rather well too ever since then. You gave her superpowers too." he said, stating a fact regarding a woman whom Naruto did not know. "Are you sure that was wise?" he asked his other self.
"It was necessary at the time, and besides that, she grew to love it anyway." the darker Kyuubi then shrugged and said with an almost inaudible regretful tone of voice, "Despite some... unintended consequences, she came to like it."
Naruto's Kyuubi suddenly frowned at how his other self said 'unintended consequences', "What unintended consequences?"
"Wait wait wait, hang on a minute here." Naruto said as he lifted his two hands up and stopped the two Kyuubis from talking further, "I don't understand, why are there two of you? And who is this 'she' you're talking about? Another Jinchuuriki? Is she the one who's healing me? I don't understand anything that you two are saying, so if you could, I want answers from either two of you." he requested of the two Bijuu.
Kyuubi's other self raised his eyebrows at Naruto's composed but determined insistence. His eyes seemed amused, as if there was a sense of familiarity from his way of requesting them to divulge information, and as he smiled his toothy grin, he said to Naruto, "But of course. Very well then, to sum up, you are now being healed from the brink of death by your mother, Kushina Uzumaki, with the help of your lover, that Uchiha Satsuki girl. There are two of us due to that Uchiha you fought, who parted us into two and presumably it was what he did to our brother, the Hachibi and his Jinchuuriki. As to how your mother is still alive, long story short, she and I were experimented on and we escaped through her newly acquired superpowers which I unlocked after I managed to get a good reading from the upstart young Uchiha."
Very informative. There were many things that the other Kyuubi informed him, it took him a few seconds of silence and digesting the information. So his biological mother was still alive and was now healing him along with Satsuki. He should've seen that coming, he had been told of the existence of other Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, but considering that he had not known that there were two of them, he supposed his lack of capability to infer that was understandable. And she also possessed superpowers as well, that's... fascinating at least.
But the most important thing was... "My mother... Kushina, she's... she's still alive?" he asked, his voice was softer than before, as if he was pleading. His emotions were muddled in a spiraling swirl, leaving him unsure as to how he should feel regarding this discovery, "...Has she been alive all this time? For eight years since my birth?" he asked again.
The other Kyuubi answered that with a nod of his head, and they all fell into silence when Naruto's head was cast down, thinking of the implications of what the notion entailed. Eight years of absence... Why did she choose to do so? And why return now?
After a moment, he felt a massive hand touching his shoulder, a massive furry hand that had no intention of crushing his relatively small body. His blue eyes met with the red eyes of the beast residing inside of him as the Kyuubi offered him an assuring smile.
Silence, and then, a chuckle rumbled from the other Kyuubi, "You are different compared to me." he remarked to his other self, "I've wondered what kind of character you are, clone or a twin. It turns out to be the latter instead."
That remark was met with silence, and Naruto looked as if there were many things writhing behind his blue eyes. Naruto's Kyuubi looked at his other self and his eyes spoke more than words could. The boy was unsure as to how he should feel about the revelation that his mother was still alive. She had been gone for eight years, and though he did not grow up alone and homeless, the absence was deeply noted.
"Kit, look..." his Kyuubi said to him, "I know that your mother's absence all these years makes her look bad, but... She has his reasons, I'm sure. Stupid ones, foolish ones, but reasons nonetheless."
"She believed that you and your father died." said Kushina's Kyuubi, calmly defending Kushina, "She was lost, though she's strong, she was lost. Even after I helped her, she selfishly decided to abandon Konoha, but if she knew you were alive, she would've gone back the second she heard something about you."
"That's why she returned just now." Naruto's Kyuubi said as he looked at Naruto, "The news about my assault on Konoha must've spread far and wide, and she happened to hear it. Right?"
Kushina's Kyuubi answered that question with a nod and an addendum; "Before that, we heard nothing from you. And she didn't return to Konoha to try and check because..." he paused for a few seconds before he said; "Because it was your Hokage who imprisoned her and left a horrible man to watch over her."
His head went upwards so quickly the movement was a blur. "What?" he asked that one-word question with a deep, deadpan voice that seemingly conveyed his sheer disbelief, but somehow, there was an underlying anger beneath it all that reverberated through the mental surroundings. "The old man did... What?!" he shouted, and the environment tremble.
"He was forced by his peers and his fears." Kushina's Kyuubi answered, his calm demeanor was breaking slightly at the sight of the angered young man, "When we broke free, the Hokage did not know how it happened and assumed that your mother was becoming dangerous. Even with the new seal that your father sacrificed himself to create, he did not want to take the risk. He trusted the man once. I'm willing to wager that he regretted giving out that order."
Though it was just a fraction, Naruto got calmer. After a moment of silence, he asked his Kyuubi, "...Did that have any effect on the outside?"
"No." his Kyuubi answered, "You're pretty much isolated, otherwise... you'll feel a lot of pain. We're deep enough in your subconscious for you not to affect your physical self."
Naruto took a deep breath and shook his head with his eyes closed, as if trying to calm himself by shaking away the imaginary cobwebs on his imaginary head. He lifted his head up after that, looked straight into Kushina's Kyuubi's eyes, and said to him, "What has she been doing then, during all those years of absence?"
"Traveling." said he who had been split into two, "Seeing the world. Trying to forget. Didn't really succeed on the latter." he said, remembering how hard she tried but never truly able to forget those whom she had believed to be dead, but never stopped trying to either, "When she heard a simple rumor of your existence, her decision was swift. She wanted to be there, at your side. Redeeming herself. She feels guilty about not being there with you."
Naruto was silent, sullen, uncertain still. His Kyuubi understood, what with Kushina suddenly invading his life again when Taji, the one who had been raising him for eight years in Kushina's place was dead just recently, he didn't feel as elated as he should be. Though knowing that his mother thought him dead prevented him from going fully angry, he was not that happy in hearing the news that Kushina Uzumaki, his biological mother, was still alive.
"She's healing you right now, so at least be grateful to her for that." said her Kyuubi, "I can sense your discord, I know how it must feel for you, hearing that your mother has left you all these years because of a misunderstanding, but don't let that cloud your judgment boy. She doesn't deserve your hatred."
"I don't hate her." said Naruto in a defiant tone of voice, "You've explained it to me, I at least understand her reasons." silence, and then, he continued, "But you will understand that I won't just accept her as my mother. I already had one."
Confusion adorned her Kyuubi's expression in comparison to a darker one that Naruto adopted. He looked at his other self, who appeared to be quite ashamed of himself, and non-verbally demanded an explanation, which he gave after a moment of hesitation, "He had an adoptive mother, Taji Kanzaki. She... died when I was used to attack Konoha."
Only then did the darker Kyuubi's expression softened, receiving the message, reminded of what Kushina and Mikoto had talked about, "My condolences." her Kyuubi said, genuinely sorry for the loss that Naruto had to suffer from and knew that he was treading on a rather dangerous ground. As much as he wanted to defend Kushina, the boy lost the woman who replaced Kushina for eight years who seemed to have done a good job in taking care of him.
Despite knowing that he was just in his own subconscious, Naruto's head ache, feeling rather disconcerted by the idea of Kushina taking Taji's place. Did this also mean that he would have to use Kushina's surname, replacing the one that he had been using for eight years? Hell no. He wouldn't just abandon that name. That name meant something to him.
"Just..." Naruto began before he was silent again, as if hesitant, "I'm grateful that she's here, healing me. But if she's expecting that I would just welcome her back as my mother... she's mistaken. Deeply mistaken."
"She knew that." her Kyuubi replied back calmly, trying to make him understand. "But she will still try. Should I dissuade her? Can I dissuade her? Of course not, I know her enough to know that's not going to work, but at the very least, I'll try to make her intent less obvious."
Naruto crossed his arms before he said, "I'm sorry." he apologized, "I know that she's the one who delivered me into this world, but I... I only have one mother." he said, "And she's dead and buried."
It won't be easy for him to just let go those eight years of him being taken care of by Taji. It appeared that the woman had been a good parent to him. 'Kushina's got a lot of obstacles to pass if she really wanted him to consider her as his mother.' her Kyuubi thought in despondent, "I understand. But you have to explain to her too once you got up."
Naruto nodded, his throat felt constricted as he said, "I will.", but despite that, his tone of voice was strong, decisive and determined.
'He's starting to come back to his senses, thank the gods.' was Kushina's thoughts as she, with Satsuki's help, restore Naruto to full health. The boy's restoration extended to his molecular structure, fixing everything from the lowest level of his body's blueprint to the end, not leaving anything out and not letting his own body doing all the work and tax him more than needed.
He was going to live.
She looked at Satsuki then, and she saw that her face was mirroring hers, elated beyond belief due to how his body seemed to be functioning normally again. 'His body won't be too taxed now... Let's let him regenerate by himself, it'd be better that way.' Kushina informed Satsuki through their mental connection.
Half an hour had almost passed since they began to heal him, ten minutes had passed since their effort gave them half-completed restoration of his body, and five had passed since they were three-quarter way until full restoration.
He was going to live. Now, his life was not in mortal danger. They could at last relax.
Kushina turned off the flow of her powers first, and Satsuki followed afterwards. However, they did not immediately relent, they stopped and took a close look at him first, see his wounds regenerating, feeling with their touch his heartbeat in hopes that it did not get any weaker, and found that it didn't.
Then, after they were assured, they breathed a massive sigh of relief. Kushina, Satsuki, and Sakura, who approached the three of them after watching them intensely.
"How is he?" the pinkette asked.
"He should be fine now." Kushina said to her, "His regeneration isn't killing him slowly, unlike before... We can breathe easier." she finished with a tired chuckle which the other two shared. After a moment, she began to communicate with another person, one whom she could communicate to through pure mental interaction, 'Hey, I noticed you going into his deepest subconscious, did you...?'
"I talked to him, yes."answered he who resided within her, "He knows about you now. Though I think that he knows about your existence beforehand. Before he came to know that you're still alive and all."
A chill went through her spine as if it were lightning. It was almost equal to the fear that she felt when she saw Naruto's unconscious form. The thought of him judging her badly because of her leaving him was frightening, so much so that she paled and felt as if she had been fed with lead.
The movement of her head went erratic as she tried to compose herself, her guilt of her abandoning him for eight full years coming back in full force made her anxious and terrified, 'H-how do you know that? W-what did he say?' she asked, trying to sound calm, but even in her mind, she didn't manage to do so.
"He was more shocked about the fact that you are still alive, not about your existence and identity, that was my first clue."was what he said, "And as to how he feels about it... Well, you know of his adoptive mother's death."
She understood it perfectly then and there. He did not want her to suddenly replace Taji, not after leaving him for eight years, not after Taji's death. She expected that from afar, when she decided to go back, but to have it confirmed was another matter entirely. 'So... it's a solid no on his part?' she asked, dreading the answer.
"...Not really." was the answer that was given, "But I don't think that trying to be his mother would be a good idea. He has a soft spot for his adoptive one. A sensitive subject certainly. Don't make it too obvious if you still want to do so, but I don't think you'll get far either."
She took a deep, sharp intake of breath at that. Kushina Uzumaki prided herself in her tendency to never give up despite the odds or whatever the challenge was, but this problem was, to her, far more dire and personal than anything that she had ever faced.
Looking over at Naruto, who was still unconscious and surrounded by Satsuki, Sakura, and some of the Kumo Shinobi, Kushina knew that she came too late to demand anything out of Naruto, especially to ask him to regard her as his mother. But she was not too late, she hoped, to try and build a relationship with him. Perhaps not a mother-son one, but... maybe close enough to it.
Kushina swore that she would not abandon him again, not a chance of that happening. Though her genetics had changed, she still remembered the day she gave birth to him, she would not be apart from him again.
When she was close to him, she hovered her hand over his head for a moment before she mussed up his hair a bit, and smiled fondly at the sight of his sleeping face, something that was noticed by Satsuki.
Jealousy burned within her at the sight. She automatically glared at the Uzumaki woman as a sense of possessiveness overwhelmed her and led her to grab his hand and clear her throat to make the woman know that what she was doing was something that was questionable, as to Satsuki, she was just a stranger to him.
Purple eyes met the red ones that belonged to an angrily confused girlfriend of her son's, and Kushina, though a tad reluctant, removed her hand away from his hair. knowing that she had no knowledge of her being his mother, "I'm... sorry, it's just... he..."
Her eyes scrutinize the woman in front of her, the woman who looked hurt when she glared at her and forced her to take her hand away, who seemed to have trouble finding the words to defend herself, and something came to her mind, unbidden, the words that Naruto had once said to her...
Of the memory that he had about a woman with red hair and dark purple eyes whom he assumed to be his birth mother. This Kushina Uzumaki was a dead-ringer to the description, and it stopped her for a moment.
"...You're his mother. His biological mother." Satsuki stated, her tone of voice more of an accusation than a statement of fact.
The shocked expression that she showed was the proof. And though she could not see it, she was certain that Sakura was making the same face as well, albeit with a different reason altogether, which was the sheer unexpectedness of the reveal. "Wait a-! What?!"
"He told me about you once, he remembered your face, what you looked like, he remembered you from the moment his eyes were opened." Satsuki began to speak without restraint, "You're his mother." she said again, "Kushina Uzumaki..."
Of all the things that Mikoto's daughter said, one thing stood out in Kushina's mind. Her son remembered her. He remembered her from the very second he laid his eyes upon her, that's how he came to know her beforehand.
Super in everything regarding to the functions of the body, it seemed. When he was a newborn, he did seem as if he was more aware than a baby of that age should, but she didn't realize that he could actually... remember her.
She took a deep breath, readying herself for the admittance, and said to her, "I am his mother, it's true." she said resolutely, "I... I left him long ago. It was... I want to atone for that. Eight years... he's grown so fast and I..."
Kushina knew that for all her bravado and fiery hardheadedness, all of them would wilt when she recognized and faced with her guilt and her faults that she did. This time was no different. She left him when she should've returned, she turned her back away from the village and inadvertently, turned her back away from her son. Certainly he was brought up by a good adoptive mother, but considering that he was of her blood, there was no way that she wouldn't feel guilty and ashamed.
She did not even have that willfulness of hers to even complete a sentence in the face of what she had done, but damn her if she didn't try to! "I don't want to abandon him anymore." she stated resolutely as her hair flickered like a wild flame.
There was a moment of silence before it was suddenly filled by the other Kumogakure Shinobi walking towards an approaching group of their own.
The Raikage and the ones who went down with him had returned. The former was limping and being helped to walk by some of his men. The sight of their leader losing one of his forearm disheartened them, but more so when they saw the monster that was once the Raikage's brother.
He looked at her then, and recognized who or what she was, with the red hair and the orange shade of fire-like hair, he knew that this woman was both an Uzumaki and a superhuman. "An Uzumaki. A rare sight to see, even in this place." Raikage remarked, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Perhaps the Raikage did not know of this, but Kushina still remembered of how the Shinobi of his village tried to kidnap her for the purpose of using her, being the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and all of what that title entailed. She felt a little bit of that old grudge still, but she chose to abandon that. It felt as if it had been thousands of years past ever since then, "My name's Kushina Uzumaki. And I'm here... for my son." she stated.
The Raikage frowned for a bit, she wasn't sure if it was because he found the name familiar or due to him not seeing any other Uzumaki in the premises besides her. For a moment there was silence, until he broke it, "Who is this... boy you speak of?"
Wordlessly, she answered by glancing at the still unconscious Naruto. The Raikage was more than smart enough to know who he was. "So the superman is an Uzumaki? But why the blonde hair and..." it only took a moment of contemplation before he shook his head and chuckled mirthlessly, "Gods, I should've seen that sooner..." he muttered, "How is he?" he asked to anyone wiling to answer, "He's defeated but not killed, that I can see, but how is he now?"
"He'll be fine." answered Satsuki, not looking at the Raikage, "He just needs some time to rest before waking up."
The Raikage sighed and grunted at the dull agony on the stump that was once his forearm, and he said to everyone there, in a defeated voice that a leader could ever say, "Men... this mission... is a complete failure."
No truer words had been spoken.
The armor he had been wearing fell in fragments to the ground below him, fully-spent, broken, charred, and his body weakened. The explosion that the boy caused was so great in magnitude that it actually affected him.
'Well, considering it destroyed the chamber that I designed to withstand my full power, I should've expected that.' Obito thought self-deprecatingly as he shed the form-fitting clothes beneath his armor, his gait, though showing his weakened form, was calm and still projected an unyielding aura.
He had successfully teleported away from ground zero, not unscathed obviously, but the wounds would heal in due time, and with him being in his still-unknown base, he would have an ample amount of time.
The boy was promising. Though he ended up risking his life in testing the boy's capability, he was glad that he did so and glad that the boy did not disappoint. The loss of the Uzushiogakure base was acceptable, it was bound to be found sooner or later when a lone fisherman who saw their activity from afar started a rumor, which the Raikage followed after his brother's kidnapping.
Fortunately, he had salvaged what he could from the Uzushiogakure Base and discarded what was not necessary and easily destructible. The place was built in the first place due to the fact that it was effectively abandoned by their former ally, Konohagakure, and would act as a good place to perform experiments which were not feasible or too risky to do in the current one that he was in at this moment.
'That phase's done, thankfully.' he thought as he walked towards a nearby metal wall, which shimmered near his presence before it showed the things contained within, which was a set of shirt and trousers colored in black. Using his red energy construct shaped like a mist, he wrenched it away and wore it, discarding his previously used one into the ground.
"Obito-sama, I see you've returned." said Kabuto just as Obito had done changing.
"Hn." he responded with but one word to Kabuto before he walked closer to him, "It was... enlightening, to say the least."
"Oh? How so?" Kabuto asked, genuinely wanting to know the events of what happened in the Uzushiogakure base, "I have seen the readings of the energy influx within that chamber. It was truly off the charts, but other than him being powerful, it was not enough to truly defeat you, no?"
"The boy's stronger than he is right now, he just doesn't know it yet." Obito began as he walked away, Kabuto following closely behind him, "He has the potential, but not the realization and the training. His last desperate attack was inspiring, but it was not the peak of his capability. He needs more time."
"And so we must play the waiting game I assume?" Kabuto asked.
"It's necessary. We must wait." said Obito as they approached a large metal door which slid open to show a massive glowing, pulsing sphere of energy constrained by an energy field, "The Source is ready, but the enemy isn't. We have ample amount of time..."
Kabuto chuckled as he remarked, "Well, there's no such thing as being over-prepared I suppose..."
His consciousness slowly came back to him. First, he felt his hands, then came the feeling of his eyelids, and as he struggled to wake, they fluttered.
"Naruto?"
Her soft voice made his consciousness more aware, and he could finally open his eyes. The first thing he saw was the sun, up at the topmost point of the dome that was the blue sky. Noon, it was noon. But when they left it was morning...
"Looks like I've been out of it for quite sometime huh?" he drowsily asked in a rhetorical manner, "Did we succeed on getting the Raikage's brother back?"
He heard her sighing from where she sat, "No. He was... turned into an abomination and we had to kill him." she then explained what had happened during the time he was fighting with the Uchiha, about the meeting with the transformed Killer B, her being ordered to get to him, and then...
"Then... I saw your body being carried by Sakura and there was... your mother."
At this, Naruto sat himself up from the bed that he had been lying on with a sharp intake of air. He turned to her and said, "Her Kyuubi told me. Our minds were connected somehow during the time when I was unconscious... when you helped her heal me." showing her his grateful smile, he said, "Thank you for that."
Satsuki chuckled a bit, both embarrassed and a bit proud, "Thanks." she replied back.
"Anyway... he told me the circumstances of her leaving, and I told him that I can accept that, but if she wants to go back to be my mother... I already had one. And she's dead and buried." Naruto said in a quiet but determined voice.
She could understand Naruto's unwillingness to just accept Kushina into his life as his mother. For eight years, the only mother he had ever known was Taji, and with her death, it had left a wound impossible to fix, like an amputated body part. A wound that Kushina would not be able to heal, an essential missing part of himself that could not be replaced.
Not even with a woman from whom half of his blood came from. However, she also felt bad for Kushina, whom she had seen her utmost desire to make her son well again after having been dealt with mortal wounds. The woman was honestly trying to get back into her son's life, to atone for her absence.
Thus, she did not know whether she should tell him to try and accept her or to tell him that she supported his decision. "Do you... want to speak with her?" she offered instead.
There was a silence and a blank expression from him, for a minute it lasted, until he finally said, "...Yes. But not now. Now, we'll have to return to Konoha, no? We'll have plenty of time to talk then. I assume that the others are waiting for me to be conscious again?"
"Pretty much, yeah." Satsuki said before she stood up, "Are you strong enough to get up?"
Naruto sighed before he took off the blanket and stood up with little problem. "It seems so." then he frowned and asked, "But why am I in these clothes?"
He was no longer wearing the Kryptonian bodysuit, as he was given a black trousers with black sandals paired with a slightly oversized white shirt. "Did the bodysuit get destroyed?" he asked Satsuki.
She sighed before nodding, "Yeah. Don't worry though, I kept it and I'm sure that Shiho will fix it somehow once we got back in Konoha. We still have a lot of similar materials to fix one suit, don't we?"
"Well... we do." Naruto said as he moved his shoulders around to get comfortable in the shirt, "Whose shirt is this? The Raikage's? I don't remember him having any shirts."
"No, it's one of his men's, I think it was... Mori. Yeah, Mori, that's the name of the guy." she said, remembering the name of the one who provided the spare clothes for him.
After silently reminding himself to give the man his gratitude, Naruto then said, "Hm. Let's go, shall we?"
From the isolated location where they were, Naruto and Satsuki went towards the more open area, where the Raikage and his men were recuperating, the former being surrounded by the latter. "Ah, I see you woke up at last. Now you know firsthand how strong that Uchiha really is, don't you?"
"Yeah." Naruto admitted, still remembering how equally strong and fast he was to himself, "I heard about what happened to your brother. My condolences, Raikage."
To that, the Raikage merely nodded, nothing much needed to be said. He loved his brother so much, and losing such a person was something he could understand. "We will return to Konoha, inform your Hokage and honor my side of the agreement." the Raikage said before he added, "However... with my brother dead, I will give him another offer. And it involves you."
Frowning due to the myriad of possibilities about what the offer could be, Naruto crossed his arms and said; "What offer do you have in mind?"
"You will be there during the negotiation. It is a lofty offer, but I'm sure your Hokage will agree with certain conditions." the Raikage said rather cryptically, "I won't just give away my remaining Jinchuuriki without some sort of recompense."
"I imagine so." was Naruto said in return.
...
Kushina was once again distancing herself from Naruto. Just like when he and his friends were in the camp with the other Kumogakure Shinobi, sojourning on the day before they would go to what remained of Uzushiogakure, she opted to remain hidden.
"Kushina-san?"
But apparently, not hidden enough. It was the voice of Sakura, one of Naruto's friends, the one with the pink hair, who got into the nearby branch of the tree beside her. Did she unconsciously choose a hiding spot that could easily be seen? Maybe.
"I was wondering if I can... talk to you for a second." was what the girl said.
Kushina looked at the girl and offered a smile, a forced one, but she hoped that the girl wouldn't notice, "Of course. What is it you want to talk about?" she asked back.
"You're... You're Naruto's mother." she began, where was she going with this? "You said that before. Um, you might want to know that he's woken up."
Did he? She extended her sense of hearing, and after noticing the one voice that she could identify as him, the one currently speaking with the Raikage, she smiled, "Indeed he is. Thank you for informing me, dear."
"It's no problem." Sakura said before she diverted the course of the conversation, "You're coming back with us though, right? To Konoha?"
"...Yes. Yes I will." she answered.
"Then... I apologize in advance for this, but why are you not at his side?" she asked, "You're his mother, right? I thought that you would want to be at his side when he woke up."
Oh how she wanted to do that. But she felt unworthy of doing such a thing. Mikoto's daughter had that right, to sit beside his unconscious form, waiting for him to wake up and be the first person he would see and talk to when he did... But she did not have that. She might have given birth to him, but she had never been his mother.
The guilt and the shame that she felt due to her being absent along with the fact that genetically speaking she was no longer his mother, made the distance between the two of them. So she let Satsuki be the one to be at his side, especially after hearing what her Kyuubi had heard from him.
"It's... It's complicated." she offered, a lame excuse, she knew, but it was all that she could say.
"...Look, um, Kushina-san." Sakura began, "I'm not going to pretend as if I know anything about the problem between you two, but... I don't think that distancing yourself from him is the right way." she said, "I mean, I know that you... haven't been there for him for eight years, but... I don't think that it's too late for you to... re-introduce yourself to his life, you know?"
There was a moment of silence that was followed by Sakura clearing her throat, as if finding what she just said as cringeworthy,"That's... that's probably it, actually. Please don't be offended, I just... I want to help both of you somehow. He's my friend, you're his mother, and..."
"It's alright." Kushina said, truly meaning it. Sakura was a good friend to try and help, "I appreciate what you're trying to do, really I do. I'll... it's a bit complicated for me to just... re-introduce myself so to speak, but... I'll try. I will but not now."
Sakura merely smiled and said; "That's all I want to hear, Kushina-san. I'll see you again." she then left her with her thoughts.
"She's right you know."said her Kyuubi with a slight chiding tone of voice that she had come to be familiar with after all these years, "You really need to establish your relationship with Naruto, whatever it's going to be, maternal relationship or otherwise."
'What do you mean by otherwise?' she asked with a bit of irritation seeping in.
"Everything that you think it is."was his smart-ass rebuttal. "Anyway, go out there, it seems that they're raring to leave now that he's woken up."
'I know I know.' she thought as she sighed and flew away from her not-so-secluded hiding spot, her flickering fiery hair followed her as she went towards the Kumogakure Shinobi, who were packing up and about to leave.
When she saw him, their eyes met. They were blue, like his father's, but where there was warmth in her late husband's eyes, there was confusion and cold neutrality to his own, and the sight made her heart quiver as she landed near him.
There was silence then, one that she felt longer than it should be. Then, he said to her, a greeting, a rather formal one much to her sadness, "Kushina-san." he said with a nod, "Thank you for healing me before. And saving me, I was at that man's mercy then."
"It's... it's no problem." You're my son after all was what she should and wanted to say, but it came only as a thought and disappeared the next moment, the feeling of unworthiness came at her again and prevented her from saying so, "How are you feeling now? Everything uh... everything alright?"
He nodded in response, "Yeah. I'd like it for you to teach me sometime. You used your Kyuubi to help healing me right? If it's not too much trouble..." he trailed off, waiting for her response.
"Sure." she answered, knowing that it was possible to teach him and it would also allow her to have time with him, which was why she tried to not appear too eager, "I'd be delighted to."
"And also... I want to ask you about how you acquire your superpower." he began, "My Kyuubi has tried to... experiment with my genes to try and find other untapped potential within me, and I want your Kyuubi to help with the process. He changed you, and I need that."
Kushina frowned at this, his intention was clear; he wanted to get more powerful and using the method that her Kyuubi did to her was the most efficient way to do so, but she was wondering as to why she wanted that, and so she asked him, "For what?"
Then, came the answer that she should've thought of; "For having a chance in defeating that 'Madara' Uchiha."
Some time later in Konoha...
Being the Kage of a village ensured that one would be given a level of responsibility that few people could handle with competence. Hiruzen shouldered it with the knowledge of the massive burden that came with it, every decisions, every mandates, everything that he did was done with the thought of maintaining the village's peace.
He had made some questionable decisions in his term, he had realized. Decisions that still haunted his conscience. One of which came back to him when he got the news that Danzo had been compromised.
Kushina. He remembered how he trusted him with her, after the Kyuubi's breakout. He was afraid then, afraid that it would happen again, for no one knew what exactly happened that weakened her seal and allowed the Kyuubi to break free.
Hiruzen didn't want to take any chances. But when she escaped, his relationship with Danzo had deteriorated so much that he was not uncomfortable with the notion of her escape. He came to regret that one decision so much when he realized that it was made out of fear and pressure and not through rational thinking.
The unknowns, it always made him afraid, especially if the unknowns had the potential to threaten the lives of many people, especially that of his own villagers. It wasn't an excuse however, he truly regretted what he did to Kushina, but with not a single word of her whereabouts and her situation, Hiruzen simply let the regret be buried in his mind.
'One of these days, one of my questionable decisions would come back to bite me.' he thought then what he had thought the first time he allowed such a decision to happen. He allowed doubts to linger in his mind regarding some of his decisions, but he would rarely show them to anyone. Being a leader, he must never showed that he doubted his own decisions, to be second-guessed by himself.
Of course, him being a human would also mean that he would have oversights and mistakes at some points in his life. It was the inevitable problematic paradox of being two different things at once.
Now, as he waited for Naruto and his team along with Raikage and his own to come back, he hoped that his decision to allow Naruto to accompany the Raikage would yield good results. It was to improve the relations between the village after the sore wound that was the Hyuuga Affair, to make the two villages have a less hostile relationship with one another, and for that to happen, the Raikage's request for assistance needed to be sated.
He could only hope for the best outcome, but... the 'Madara' character really rattled him. By the virtue of being one, the Raikage was one of the greatest Shinobi in the five Great Shinobi Villages, and yet the old Uchiha figure managed to defeat both him and his Jinchuuriki brother.
'What are they facing?' and 'Does Naruto have a chance in defeating him?' were the questions that plagued him. Until their return, Hiruzen's anxiety wouldn't go away. The unknowns always instilled fear to his heart, more so than bad news, and he couldn't wait for them to return, for the after-mission report, no matter what the outcome was, knowing it was better than the alternative.
A few minutes later, as Hiruzen was about to read another proposal that had been increasing in magnitude as of late concerning what was to be done to the barren Uchiha district, he saw a purple and orange sources of light coming closer to the village from the edges of his peripheral vision from the east, as if two rising suns, accompanying the one on the sky's zenith.
But though they were bright and powerful, they were not stars, they were Satsuki's energy construct and...
Who was it that possessed that fire-like orange hair? She was not any superhuman whom Hiruzen had met before, that he realized, but she looked somewhat similar from a brief glimpse that he had seen as she, Naruto and Satsuki who brought the Kumogakure Shinobi who were wounded in her spherical energy construct on their flights landed in front of his office building.
The tattered condition of the Kumogakure Shinobi, the stump on where the Raikage was supposed to have his left forearm and Naruto's lack of uniform gave away what had happened, and though Hiruzen's heart sank at the apparent failure of the mission, the fear of the unknown factor was gone, and it was replaced by the fear of what was to come.
Entering his office building with the other Kumogakure Shinobi, Naruto felt the eyes of everyone else on him. Failure was practically plastered on their faces the moment they were back, tattered, broken, and with some members of Kumo lost along with the Raikage losing one of his forearms, what other conclusion could the others reach besides their loss?
The Sandaime, on his part, reacted fast, as he came down to them instead of them to him. His eyes already told of the conclusion that he reached, and all that Naruto said to him was; "Our mission was a failure. Raikage's brother, B..."
Then, the old man's eyes noticed something that they brought along with them, a body covered in white cloth, a corpse.
"He's dead." Raikage said instead of Naruto, "He was experimented on, turned into something degenerate and monstrous." his voice was tight as he said; "He had to be put down."
"My condolences, Raikage." Sandaime offered with honesty, knowing how it felt to lose someone dear to him. "Do you plan on bringing his body back to Kumo?"
"Of course." said the Kage of Kumogakure, as if it were obvious, "He'll be buried in the lands where he was born in, I'll make that certain." he then sharply turned his head to Hiruzen and said; "Now, I request a meeting to be called in the next few hours. With my brother dead, I will change some of the requirements of the deal we made."
Hiruzen didn't look surprised by his declaration. In fact, it appeared as if he had seen it coming, as his face was one of resigned acceptance, "I will do so." he said with a nod, "I will inform you when it's time, in the meantime... You are free to do what you wish in Konoha. Your rooms at the hotel are still open for you to stay in."
With that, the Raikage turned to his men, and said to them; "Es, Rio, Houou, I order you to bring my brother's body back to Kumo, inform the people of what happened, and stay there as they prepare for the funeral, I'll send the message of what should be prepared."
With a nod they all began to take the body away, and before Raikage ordered his men to come with him, he said to Naruto; "Kanzaki Naruto." he called his name, "Should or when the decision come to pass, I require you to be ready for the burden to come. Remember what I said."
To that, Naruto nodded, "I will."
With a grunt and a nod, the Raikage left with his remaining subordinates, intent on giving some of the grievously wounded some further medical attention that they required.
"What was that about, Naruto?" Hiruzen asked.
"I'll save it until the old thunder guy said his requirements for the peace treaty between the two of you old man." Naruto then began his turn to ask Hiruzen, "And one more thing..." he began, "I want to re-introduce you to someone."
Only then the Hokage realized who the new woman was, who the woman that had been hanging on the back of the crowd, the woman with the flickering flame for a hair, the purple eyes, the red hair...
"Kushi-"
"Hello old goat." she said in a tone of voice that conveyed her anger, her frustration, her mental exhaustion, all muddled up into one and channeled through her vocal chords, "How are you?" she asked in a rhetorical fashion.
There was a silence for a couple of seconds before Hiruzen said; "So you are alive... Where have you been all this time?" he asked.
"...Away." she said, somewhat conscious of the fact that Naruto was there, able to hear -and judge- anything that she could say. Gods, she never felt wanting someone's approval or forgiveness so much that she was actually actively minding what she was saying, "I've been away." she said, her anger died down in near-instant.
"I assume you want to talk to me?" Hiruzen asked.
"Hell yes." Kushina said with a glare.
"Very well. Come with me to my office, I'll hear whatever you have to say." as he walked off, Naruto heard him say; "So today is that day..."
Kushina then looked at Naruto, her eyes conveyed her confusion as to what she should say. The silence lasted for three seconds before she said; "I... I'll see you soon." she said before she appeared hesitant and asked him, "Can I...? I mean..."
Vulnerable was the word that fit the sight of her expression there. Even though she was an adult, it looked as if she was a child seeking for approval from her parents, which was quite jarring, considering their positions.
"You can." Naruto answered with a nod, though he was genuine, he didn't smile when he did so, his expression was neutral. "Where will you be staying?" he asked her next.
"I don't know... maybe I'll ask my friend to let me stay at her house, but I promise you that I'll be here." she said before she hesitantly added, "I will not leave again."
"...Is that a promise?" he asked her with his arms crossed, wanting her to answer it truthfully.
Her smile then was a grateful one, glad that her son was giving her a chance. "That's a promise." she said with a nod before she left with Hiruzen.
Naruto then returned his attention to Sakura and Satsuki, who was smiling a bit at him giving Kushina a chance. Naruto pursed his lips before he let out a breath that he had held, "Despite everything... she is the woman who gave birth to me. If she wants to try, then I'll let her." he reasoned to the two girls with a shrug before he said; "Let's go meet with the Team. We need to tell them what happened."
In the end, Shikamaru decided not to tell the Hokage what Shiho had seen. The old man was taking too much problem on his plate already with the Kumogakure problem and the mission that Naruto was undertaking with the Raikage, he didn't need another thing to worry about.
At least it could wait until Naruto and the others returned. He noticed that Ino was quite distressed due to the information from Shiho added with the fact that Sakura was out there, with a very powerful adversary as the threat that they were facing.
"They'll return safely, don't worry." Shikamaru said to Ino, who was sitting at his side, watching over the spar between Fu and Tayuya in the Base, "Naruto is with her, remember? If you can't believe in his power, what can you believe in?" he asked in a rhetorical manner, "And don't worry too much about Shiho's vision either. It's too vague, too prophetic-like, no need to put much weight into it until it all makes more sense."
They were childhood friends due to their fathers being a part of a famous trio team in their past, and from the start of their friendship, even before their powers manifested, Ino knew Shikamaru was both a caring and an aloof kind of guy, a strange combination that made him cold but also welcoming at the same time.
That was why she knew how despite him sounding rather dismissive in telling her not to worry, he actually cared enough to mean what he said, that he had good intentions at heart. "I know, it's just... I asked Shiho to let me take a look, remember? What she saw was not truly lucid, I know, but it was Naruto whom she saw. He wasn't himself in that vision... Whatever the reason was, it was as if he was... weaponized."
Weapon. That was what he could be considered as, one hell of a deterrent for Konoha's enemies. But to consider him as such was something that disgusted all of them to the very core, "He won't become that way." Shikamaru said rather adamantly.
Ino looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze at that moment. He knew that she had some insight about what his thought processes, what he was thinking, even without her superpower. Despite the fact that she could be somewhat... stereotypical as to act like an ordinary and somewhat self-centered teenage girl, Ino possessed a shrewd mind that could see what people hid in their mind without her powers doing it for her.
Before she could ask, continue the conversation, or do anything else, she was interrupted by the arrival of three people who floated down towards the bottom, the team that was sent to assist the Raikage had returned, and their disposition did not tell the story of a successful mission.
"Hey, they're back!" Fu exclaimed with joy as she began to float over to them.
Tayuya, in contrast, sighed in relief. The green-haired girl's 'vulnerability' to her power that made her shiver and not to mention, moan rather dreamily whenever she used it riled her up a bit in certain ways that made it hard for her to concentrate whenever she did so.
Still, the blonde had returned, with good tidings hopefully, but Tayuya had learned long ago to not to be so hopeful regarding anything, even if the subject whom she was not hopeful for was the golden boy's mission.
And when she, along with others who were there approached them, she knew that if she had been hopeful, it would've shattered the moment she saw their faces and Naruto's lack of uniform.
"I take it that the mission didn't go well?" she asked them as Ino hugged Sakura, who reciprocated the gesture affectionately, "Your faces are so telling." she remarked in a flat tone of voice.
"Well, it is." Naruto said with a shrug, a sign that seemed to say that he didn't particularly care either way. However, his expression spoke of his disappointment, "Long story short, the Raikage's brother is dead after being experimented upon by Madara Uchiha."
"Who was not, in fact, the historical progenitor of my clan." said Satsuki as an important addendum. "He was an impostor, using the name for his own gain. His real name is Obito Uchiha."
"Who's that?" asked Ino.
"We don't know who he is exactly as of yet." said Sakura rather apologetically, "Just that he's an Uchiha who possess superpowers like Satsuki... And that he's as strong as Naruto." she added with a quiet tone of voice.
"No." Naruto said in a firmer tone of voice, "He's stronger, far more resourceful and an Amalgamation-Class superhuman." he revealed, "A Tank and Weaver hybrid class, with the powers that I and Satsuki have. And he's much more adept at using his powers compared to us too."
When the others were disquieted by what he revealed, Fu expressed hers by whistling, "Wow, that's... he's really strong." she remarked with awe and fear, "Was he the one that ruined your uniform too?" she asked Naruto.
With a sigh, Naruto looked at Satsuki, and she brought out the tattered and ruined clothing that was made so at the end of his battle with the one named Obito, "I'll go and ask Shiho if this could be fixed." Naruto said to the others, "In the meantime, Ino, I need you to call everyone to come here. The Raikage told me of the requirement that he needed for Konoha and Kumo to become a more stable ally, and I need all of your input on this."
"Got it." Ino said to him, "Anything else you want me to tell them?" she asked as she was preparing herself to use her power.
"...Yeah." Naruto said after a few moments of silent contemplation, "Tell them that if the deal between the Raikage and the old man holds through, then expect the possibility of us being considered elite agents of two villages."
At this, Ino stopped, her concentration broken, and she turned to Naruto who was beginning to walk towards the ship and said to him in a high tone of voice; "Wait a-, what?"
Hours later...
"...So this is your new requirement, Raikage." the Hokage stated in slight surprise, "I have to admit, this is not what I expected from you."
"Heh, a leader must have the capability to realize the weakness of his country, his village and himself." he said in a rather sage-like way but with a self-deprecating tone.
"With B no longer living, I lost a valuable army deterrent. Yugito is still inexperienced in using her Bijuu's power and would be harder to train with B dead. And also, I need something more concrete from our treaty if you want Yugito to be at this village." he explained before he got into the heart of the deal.
"Your golden boy, the superman, is the key to this. I propose a joint alliance between our two village, with these superhumans as the bridge and their leader, the superman Naruto, as our shared army deterrent and a key-person that would help our odds against 'Madara' Uchiha."
To be Continued...
So, there's an alliance near the horizon between Kumo and Konoha with Naruto being the metaphorical bridge. This move implies a great political upheaval in a scale that was unprecedented in the history of Shinobi. Two great villages joining with one another? That would mean unrest among the other villages due to two factors: Kumo-Konoha Joint Alliance and Naruto's increasingly spreading reputation as a powerful figure that can defeat Bijuu with ease.
And with the threat that was Obito Uchiha looming, this would mean that a case of Enemy Mine would damn well happen in the future.
One of the reasons as to why I made this fic is that I want to make Obito a proper bad guy. He's already a dark mirror of Naruto, but I personally feel that potential is not taken to the fullest by Masashi, and thus, the superpowers.
Stay tune for the next chapter to see the decision that will be made and please review.