It had been a few days since Asura was born. Right now the three eldest present Otsutsuki were helping to fix the old women's roof, while Futami and Kaito were sweeping, cleaning, or doing anything else to help clean the house. The two men had offered to fix the roof instead, however, Hagoromo had proven to completely break the stereotype of women when she just smiled and continued working. She had said, and this was in her own words: "I did not mind resting when I was pregnant, however Asura-Kun has been born now, and I must continue what I set out to do".

The red-haired sage looked down at Futami, who had just come out of the house, "Futami, would you mind handing me one of those wooden planks please?" she asked. The former thief nodded and picked up the plank in question, lifting it up so that his friend could grab hold of it, "here you go" he said. The red-haired woman nodded, "thank you" she replied with a grateful smile. Pulling it up into place, Hagoromo began to nail it down, slowly fixing the roof, thankfully enough, it was not as tiring a job as fixing bridges, however, it was still something that she and her brother had caused fighting Kaguya, that made it her responsibility to fix anything that was broken due to the Juubi's rampage. Just then the old woman whose house it was came out carrying a tray with wooden cups on it, "I thought that you might like something to drink, as you have all been working so hard to help me" she explained.

Hagoromo, Indra and Heiwa climbed down and took the water gratefully, "arigato Meiyo choro-San, if I may ask, how is Asura-Kun?" the Sage Of The Six Paths asked. The elderly woman smiled, "he is fine, that boy is very happy and cheerful already" she replied. "Kaa-Sama, can I hold Asura Otouto?" Indra asked, turning to look at his mother. Hagoromo nodded, "I do not see a reason that you could not" she stated, "come, I will show you how to position your hands to hold him properly" she said, all three following the woman into the house, while the two men stayed outside, "I think we will continue working for a little while longer" Futami said to himself and his comrade. Kaito nodded, "that sounds good" he replied.

ĤŎ

Hagoromo and her six year old twins entered inside the house. The red-haired woman turned to face their host and bowed, "once again, thank you for all of your help Meiyo choro-San (Ms honorable elder)" she said respectfully. She straightened up to the sight of the woman shaking her head, "please call me Yuki, and it was no trouble at all, in fact you have all helped me far more that I have helped you, so please, there is no need to thank me". Suddenly Asura started to cry. Indra, who was the closest, went over to the bed and picked his baby brother up, "their their Otouto, Kaa-Sama will feed you in a moment" he said softly, while gently rocking the baby in his arms.

"I should feed him now," Hagoromo said, walking towards her eldest son, "here Indra-Kun, I can-" she was cut off however when the entire house began to shake- hard. Yuki fell to the ground first, then Heiwa and Indra. The black-haired boy wrapped his arms around his baby brother, who was screaming in fear from the Earthquake. Indra clenched his eyes shut. Suddenly he felt something pulling on his brother. Opening his eyes, they widened in horror. A completely black human shaped figure had it's arms wrapped around Asura and was pulling him. It's yellow eyes looked up into Indra's own and it seemed to smile- a horrible cruel smile. To the eldest Otsutsuki child it looked like some kind of demon. Indra screamed and clung to Asura as the shaking continued. However the black thing was too strong and his baby Otouto was ripped out of his arms and both the creature and Asura disappeared into the ground, the baby screaming in fear.

As the Earthquake began to die down, Indra kept screaming. When he finally snapped out of his shock enough to move, he began clawing and digging at the earth beneath him, now beginning to have words mixed in with his screams, "Asura! No! no! Otouto! Baby brother! No, no!" he cried, tears beginning to stream down his face and he continued frantically digging at the earth. When two strong yet gentle hands grabbed hold of his shoulders, he struggled to get rid of them and continue digging, "no, Otouto! that thing! That thing grabbed him, I have to- have to save him-!" "Indra!" Hagoromo tightened her grip on her sons shoulders slightly and shook him gently, "calm down!" she cried. She was worried about what her son was saying, his terrified and frantic actions and the lack of Asura in visible sight, but right now she had to calm Indra down and find out what had happened, otherwise she would not be able to do anything.

Besides, she had a feeling that things were very wrong. Indra wasn't like this, he was never frantic and prone to panic. He was always so calm and intelligent. But that just solidified that things were far worse than she thought. Indra was beginning to calm himself as Heiwa walked up, but tears were still streaming down his face and he was paler than usual. He looked up at her with wide, terror and shame-filled eyes. "Kaa-Sama," he paused and began to shake, "I am sorry," Indra broke off in a sob, "I am, s-so sorry," he held onto her like a lifeline. Hagoromo leveled calm purple-rippled eyes on her son, "tell me what happened?" she asked slowly. Heiwa placed a hand onto her twin brothers shoulder and it seemed to give the boy some more of his composure back because he swallowed and sniffed, "I was holding onto Asura, trying to keep him safe while the earthquake was going on, but during it a- thing came out of the ground and grabbed Otouto!" he cried, getting upset again.

Heiwa squeezed Indra's shoulder and he shivered, but continued in a calm tone of voice once again. "I-I tried to hold onto him, but it was too strong, it took him right out of my arms and smiled at me before sinking into the ground like the ground was not even there, t-taking Asura with it" at this the boy began trembling again and clung to her, while his twin wrapped her arms around her brother in comforting gesture. "I am so sorry Kaa-Sama!" he cried, tightening his hold on her as he began crying once again. Hagoromo stroked her boy's hair softly, "it is alright, I promise I will get Asura-Kun back- after all he may be your baby brother, but he is my son" she proclaimed with so much conviction that her eldest son actually smiled, "I know you will" he said, wiping his eyes. The red-haired sage nodded and released Indra.

"Stay here with Heiwa and Yuki-San, understand? I will be back" she said, her face becoming hard and dark. Indra and Heiwa shivered slightly, but they knew that the thing that took their baby brother would regret it's decision for the rest of it's life, however short it was. Hagoromo stood up, her face was stony. The woman then turned and shot off, 'damn you Black Zetsu, I thought it would not appear until both Indra and Asura were at least children, but no, it had to come now- well it had better pray that I do not find it, or I will show it the true meaning of hell! How dare it come after Asura-Kun! What does it think it is doing, taking him?! well, I will ensure it regrets this decision for the rest of it's existence!' she thought furiously as she ran, sensing the creatures hatred and heading directly for the bastard.

ĤŎ

(meanwhile, with Black Zetsu)

Asura screamed, feeling the coldness of the person that held him. Though, using the word person to describe Black Zetsu was a stretch. Not only was it evil incarnate, with no moral what-so-ever, it was only shaped like a human, with most of it's body completely made up of an unidentifiable black substance with only it's two yellow eyes being anything other than black. It was already beginning to regret it's decision. This meat-sack would not stop screaming and crying! It was the most annoying human it had ever had the displeasure to meet. Black Zetsu had originally taken the child to train it up into a weapon to use against Hagoromo, the cause of it's mothers imprisonment and separation.

Yes, Black Zetsu was the manifestation of the will of Kaguya Otsutsuki herself. It's plan was to revive mother, not deal with a screaming flesh-bag! "Shut up!" he yelled at the baby, hoping to get it to stop it's infernal screeching. Asura, terrified of this scary thing that wasn't Mama screamed harder, squirming as much as his baby body would allow in the grip of the one that held it. Black Zetsu scowled, placing the baby on the ground, "if you do not stop that damn noise right now, I will make you scream!" it yelled. Asura sobbed and screamed, wanting his Mama to keep him safe and warm. "Fine!" the creature picked up a thick stick and began hitting the baby over and over again. The brown-haired child, feeling pain for the first time sobbed more, wailing, crying out for the kind woman that he knew was Mama, or the other person with the gentle touch to help him.

He was so afraid, and the scary thing made him hurt. He just wanted Mama.

ĤŎ

Hagoromo ran through the trees, using her sensing ability to find Black Zetsu's hatred and darkness. 'I swear if that worthless bastard has hurt my baby, I will kill it!' she thought with fury. "But Bethany-Chan, if you kill Black Zetsu, will that not change the future?" the Sage asked. The red-haired woman scowled, 'I do not care, he is my son, and if anyone hurts him, I will destroy them, just like I would do for anyone that hurt the rest of my family' she thought back, narrowing her eyes. "I can understand that, however, while I do believe that it was the hard work and determination of the people of the future that allowed them to win, Black Zetsu was right in the fact that if he had not manipulated things to his own advantage, those of the future might not have became strong enough to overcome the trials that they faced- not to mention peace may not have been achieved without events happening to push all the Shinobi of the world to cooperate and form a peace treaty- you must not forget about causality Bethany-Chan" Sennin-Sama replied.

Hagoromo scowled, her face scrunching up in frustration. 'I know that Sennin-Sama, but what am I supposed to do? If I do nothing, that bastard will know that I cannot touch it and will keep manipulating and hurting my children, and I-' she paused and clenched her fists, 'I cannot let that happen, they are my children now, my responsibility- they are the first children I have ever had, and I cannot just stand back and watch them suffer so much- if you had a chance to redo things, would you not stop your children suffering before it could begin? Would you not want to stop the hatred between the Senju and Uchiha Clans before it could start? Would you not want to protect your sons?' she asked. Sennin-Sama frowned, 'besides, if I kill Black Zetsu now, their will be no need for Naruto and Sasuke to be that strong, they might even be friends from the beginning, with both their families still alive' she thought.

"That is what I mean, their would be so many things that would change if Black Zetsu died today, yes many of those things would be good, but it is a ripple effect Bethany, do you know how many things would change if for example, the Uchiha Massacre never happened?" the Sage asked. Hagoromo frowned. If the Uchiha massacre never happened, their would be a Coup de ta, then Civil War, if the village won, the other villages would take the chance to invade, and the weakened Hidden Leaf would try to fight back, leading to the destruction of Konoha and the weakening of the other villages. With the weakening of the other villages, everyone would be trying to invade each other, leading to a World war, which would mean that when the Fourth, or rather Fifth war started, not only would no one trust each other, but they would stand no chance against Madara and Kaguya, leaving the entire world trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi forever. The woman shuddered, 'alright, I agree, it is too risky to change things, no matter how much I want to or how much it hurts me to just leave things the way they are, it is the only way to ensure that the future stays as it should be- although, that does not mean that I have to like it' she thought back with a sigh.

Hagoromo continued to run towards where she sensed Black Zetsu and her sons own Chakra. She clenched her fists, 'Asura-Kun, I may not be able to prevent your future pain, but at least I can save you now' she thought, coming to a stop at a particularly plain looking spot. "This is it," she spoke to herself, pausing and clenching her fists, "this is where he took Asura" she hissed, Rinnegan glowing with an ethereal light due to her rage. Kneeling down, Hagoromo focused Chakra into her hands and slammed them onto the ground. A hole opened in the ground, and, with one last furious look, the woman composed herself, schooling her features into a blank mask with an undercurrent of fury, and jumped into the hole in the ground.

ĤŎ

(With Black Zetsu)

The physical manifestation of Kaguya Otsutsuki's will was getting fed up extremely fast. He had thought that stealing one of Hagoromo's brats was a good idea at first. She loved her children so much, so he would steal one, corrupt it and destroy her from the inside out, not to mention manipulate it to resurrect mother. But obviously he took the wrong one! The wailing would not stop! It was getting to the point that he regretted ever going near the brat. Currently, baby Asura was lying in one corner of the cave, naked, as he had only been wrapped in a blanket when he was grabbed, and covered in scratches and dark bruises. Asura was cold, hungry and in pain and the nice person with the soft touch wasn't here! He was so scared. This scary thing had hurt him! He had never felt pain before now, and he didn't like it!

Currently, Black Zetsu was contemplating killing the damn kid to make the noise stop and to hurt Hagoromo, when suddenly he felt a strong sense of fear take hold of him. The manifestation of will had never felt fear before now, but what he felt now was defiantly it. Suddenly the ground burst open, and a powerful and deadly Chakra enveloped it, focused only on Black Zetsu and not filling the rest of the cave. Slowly, with purposeful steps, Hagoromo entered the cavern from where she'd blasted the ground open. Her furious eyes were locked onto Black Zetsu, focusing all of her hatred and rage on the being. Against it's will, the creature began to tremble in fear. The red-haired woman stalked over to the wailing baby, gasping in horror when she saw the state of her child.

Hagoromo tenderly picked up Asura from where he was placed on the cold, hard and rough rock of the floor of the cavern. The baby sobbed from the pain he was in, and the Sage directed a deadly glare on the black construct. Black Zetsu couldn't help but shudder at the amount of controlled rage he could see in those rippled Amaranthine orbs. Without even a backwards glance at the creature, Hagoromo stalked from the cave, the ground closing up behind her. As soon as she left, Black Zetsu found that he could breathe again. Which was strange, as he didn't need to breathe, so he shouldn't have been unable to while in the woman's presence. The manifestation of Kaguya's will glared at the spot where Hagoromo had entered and exited. He would get that bitch back!

ĤŎ

As she ran back to her other children and Yuki-San, Hagoromo glared at the wounds adorning her baby sons body. How dare that bastard! Sending healing Chakra into her hands, the Sage began to heal her baby's wounds. Asura had calmed from his screaming when she had begun healing him and had now settled into her arms. Hagoromo cuddled her child gently to her chest. She had decided. She would never let anyone or anything touch her children ever again, not while she was alive. "Shhh," she whispered softly, "I promise, I will never allow you to get hurt like that again my precious son".

To Be Continued