Hinata led Akihiro up the side of the large chamber. It echoed with their steps. The place was dead. Skeletons of men, who had tried and failed to reach the scroll of seals, lay strewn in odd and unsavory places throughout the catacombs, which sat under the ruins of Uzushigakure.

Hinata used her byakugan to guide them away from genjutsu that were sealed in objects laid in their path. The genjutsu were activated if the objects were disturbed. Hinata could see the chakra signatures of the long dead Uzumaki ninja who sealed the objects. Still, there had already been two or three near misses.

It had been three years since Hinata started working with Gokurukon's gang of bandits. She moved from low level thief to Akihiro's partner after about a year. Bunta had managed to get himself killed by a bounty hunter who recognized him from the bingo book. And she and Akihiro were no longer stealing wealth and treasure. Gokurukon had assigned their team to steal coveted jutsu from targeted shinobi.

Since Hinata's mokumokuren allowed her to take and enhance the chakra of others, she and Akihiro began to steal jutsu and seal them in scrolls. Gokurukon never said exactly what he did with all these scrolls, but he always had a never ending list of requested targets to hand back to them.

Hinata had also begun to learn to use the mokumokuren with purposeful restraint. It made her cold inside like a calculated assassin instead of an out of control berserker. The only thing that softened her was the presence of her children.

Hinata began to keep many of the powers that she stole for herself. And she was becoming stronger and more powerful by the day. With Akihiro's brains and her power, their team had become infamous throughout the lands of ice, iron and earth. Hinata was given her own name, the ghost ninja because there was no way to track her chakra, and her reputation made Gokurukon's gang the most feared gang of bandits in bandit country. In appreciation, he gifted her with his cloaked katana.

As for her children, Hinata visited them every chance she was given. They were growing up into two unruly toddlers, who were starting to come into their own powers. Himawari had already received her byakugan and Boruto could do simple hands seals. But she still felt they were too isolated from the rest of the world at the monastery.

Hinata eventually took her children to Lady Tsunade, who had left the leaf village for a life of solitude in the Land of Lightning after Kakashi succeeded her. After some convincing, Lady Tsunade took over as sensei and adopted grandmother to Boruto and Himawari. And with Orochimaru lurking around, Hinata felt better about leaving her children with another sannin, when she had to return to Gokurukon and his bandits.

"We need to stop and rest." Akihiro said to Hinata. "It has to be night by now."

Akihiro had become like a brother to Hinata. He was the only one in the gang who knew about her children. And though he was a money hungry bastard, he always had her back.

As they settled down among some ruined pillars, Hinata asked, "Why would Gokurukon send us on this mission? You'd think he'd find someone else to do Orochimaru's errands for him."

Akihiro removed his curved blades from his back and lay back against a pillar. He sighed. "Gokurukon has something going on with Orochimaru. Every once in awhile he gives out a task for us to do at the snake's biding. It's been that way since before you joined us."

Hinata lay back against a pillar too. She closed her eyes, but she could not fall asleep. Akihiro did not seem to have that problem –ever. He was already snoring a couple of paces away from her.

Time passed and she still could not sleep. Hinata felt like someone or something was watching her. She had been feeling that way since they entered the tomb. At first she thought it was just the place. It was a tomb –so it was inherently creepy. But now, in the darkness she was almost certain there was actually someone watching them.

She stood up and activated her byakugan looking around her. She noticed something slither away, further down the catacombs. It did not appear human… it looked more like a snake.

She grabbed her katana and slipped it over her head onto her back. She walked towards the intruder ready to disperse at any moment. As she got closer, the shadow of the snake started to take on the form of a man.

Swiftly, Hinata drew her sword. The cloaked katana became visible in her hands. "I see you."

"Yes. Of course you do." The voice slithered toward her, Orochimaru's stringy black hair and pale snake like features becoming visible in a sliver of moonlight that seeped in from the top of the tomb.

"Orochimaru? What do you want? Why are you following us?" Hinata asked, her sword held in front of her.

"Why so aggressive, Hinata Hyuga? I mean you no harm. You're just of interest to me." Orochimaru hissed. "You and your new eye."

Hinata felt her left eye pulse. Her mokumokuren activating in the presence of Orochimaru.

"Aw! There it is. So beautiful. Now I know why Gokurukon wants it –and you so badly."

Hinata sneered. She did not like the way this man was staring at her as though she were his next meal. "Back off or face me. This taunting that you're doing is pissing me off."

"I have no interest in aggravating you. I just wanted to see it for myself. That was Tenori's gift to you. Besides, there is something else that interests me much more."

Orochimaru disappeared into the shadows. His snake slithering away.

Hinata stood there for a second to see if he planned to come back. Why had he sent them to get this scroll if he was just going to show up himself? Had he sent them on this wild goose chase just for that purpose?

She walked back over to Akihiro and woke him up. "Orochimaru was just here."

"What?" He said, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "What'd he want? He coulda' gotten the scroll himself if he was just going to show up."

Hinata nodded. "I know. He said he just wanted to see my dojutsu… that he didn't want anything else from me. It was strange."

"Orochimaru is strange. I still haven't figured out if he's a woman who looks like a man or a man who looks a woman."

"It's part of the distraction." Hinata replied, swiftly. "When he was a leaf ninja, everyone said Orochimaru had the best sleight of hand ever created."

Hinata looked over her shoulder at the spot where the sannin had disappeared. She had no doubt he wanted something from her, but she did not know what yet. By accepting Tenori's eye, she had made a deal with the devil, and at some point, he was coming back to collect his pay.

It took another day for the grave robbers to finally make it to the bottom of the tomb where Kazue Uzumaki sat on a stone throne.

Hinata did not know what she had expected, but an actual woman sitting on a throne was not it. The red headed Kunoichi was covered in a thick layer of cobwebs, but her body was very well preserved. She looked more like she was asleep, rather then dead.

"The scroll is supposed to be sealed inside of her." Akihiro whispered.

"The key?" Hinata whispered back, though she was not sure why they were whispering, since they were the only ones alive for miles.

Akihiro pulled the key from his pouch. It was a small scroll that he unrolled and held up for Hinata to see. Hinata made the hand seals and then reached into the scroll. When she pulled her right hand back out, it contained small bits of light on each of her finger tips. She held her right arm steady with her left and then turned towards the dead woman in the throne. "Clear the cobwebs and lift her shirt."

Akihiro quickly did as he was told and then watched as Hinata stuck her hand into the seal marks on Kazue's stomach and twisted.

Kazue's body twitched as the seal was broken. Dead nerve endings activating, her body arched its back and then threw back her head. Her mouth opened unnaturally wide and a large scroll rose up and out of it. Hinata grabbed the scroll and attempted to pull it the rest of the way out of the woman's mouth. There was some resistance at first, and then it slid out easily. As she turned to hand the scroll to Akihiro, she felt an ice cold hand wrap around her wrist.

Kazoo's dead eyes were open and she stared right into Hinata's eyes. "The cursed power that you carry is not only yours to bare. My last descendants, your children, will also bare this curse. It will take many years, but all paths lead back to Naruto Uzumaki. Your children will have to return to Konohagakure in order to meet the one who will make the final sacrifice that breaks the curse."

Hinata froze in place and listened to the dead woman until she was finished.

"Hinata!" Akihito snapped his fingers in her face. "Wake up! Let go of the scroll."

Hinata released the scroll and then shook her head. "Did you see that?"

"What?" Akihiro asked.

"Nevermind." Hinata stared at Kazue, who now appeared just as dead as she did before.