IS OC JESUS?: No. But she is still an Otsutsuki, and while they are inherently god-sue-esque, they still have hard /
TIMELINE REGARDING AGES: Everyone is legal. Yay! The fourth war is happening when our main crew is aged 18-20
CANON: Canon is a big oak tree and I'm hanging shoes, bottles, and corpses from it. The story begins in April, after the Five Kage Summit. It will cover the rest of shippuden, the time skip, the new era, and [REDACTED]
CREDITS/Inspo: Obviously Masashi Kishimoto and Mikio Ikemoto. I do not own Naruto. Credit to Bungie Destiny for some of their Dualism concepts/Rules. And a huge shout out to all my shamans and theoretical physicists out there. The real Gs.
DISCLAIMER: If you hate women, non-yaoi ships, the concept of conflict resolution, actually coping with mental illness, characters with the full range of human emotions and not perpetual sunshine/darkness, or major canon divergence, then don't waste your time.
"The past is just a memory of prior movement and change which animates the future development of the universe and its fate."
Chapter 1: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Present - Land of Fire
Rain pelted against the wooden roof of the small cabin, the loud thrum blocking out all other sounds as he sat and stared out of a squared window. Droplets of water collected on the glass, clinging together and rushing downwards in such a manic expression that it seemed as if they were trying to escape from something. What great terror awaited them that caused even the clouds to shudder and the rain to show fear? The corners of his mouth twitched upwards at such an absurd thought. Many powerful men and beasts had trod the bloodied soil of this planet, yet here he still sat. Bored, and waiting.
An incredible clap of thunder shook the walls and rumbled along the storm front, eliciting a frightened whimper from a figure huddled in the back corner of the room. His nerves tingled with anticipatory rapture as the atmospheric pressure dropped impossibly low, indicating the arrival of his muse. Licking his lips, he stood up and cracked each of his knuckles one by one, groaning from the relieved tension. Turning away from the picturesque chaos, he crossed the room and stood over the bound individual now cowering at his feet. He afforded them a brief moment of pity while he twirled a small mallet between two fingers, not wanting to disrespect the woman who provided him this vessel some years ago. Something inside him dared her to say his name. She did not.
Tap.
Narrow black eyes watched with cold indifference as the body slumped over, a solitary tear dripping down off of her slacked jaw and joining the rain in its pursuit of safety.
"Tell me, what good are mere Kings when contested by the Gods?"
Tearing through the forest, she left a trail of broken limbs and deep mud-tracks in the wake of the fury that was blurring the edges of her vision and acidifying her blood.
You two can't hide forever.
Once those pent up emotions were allowed to run rampant, there was nothing left to keep her inner rage from boiling over and incinerating everything within reach. The mind's eye opened to bring forth the truth from where it hid, a blue sphere of sight emerging from blackened sclera. Two small horns elongated until they were spiraling, deadly appendages capable of extracting agonized screams from whoever dared to venture too close. A red marking on her lower lip blackened and stretched down the center of her chin, continuing across her neck before branching off to cover the rest of her body in geometric patterns. Like a living tattoo, an ominous warning displayed upon her flesh.
Sharp talons of metal and bone displaced her fingers and toes, the combination of platinum and organic tissue glinting in the darkness. New bone formations split from the back of her rib cage and curled behind her like skeletal wings making sense of her floating form. The Rinne Sharingan blinked in her palm, producing a glowing blue Shinkin. Gripping the base, she thrust it into the air and released a feral, otherworldly roar.
A column of lightning struck the sword, called forth by the siren song of salvation.
Obsidian and cyan chakra billowed around her like a cloak, crackling with electricity as the thunder sang out its welcome. An orb of black truth materialized within her palm and she batted it into the earth with the blunt end of the sword. Shock waves of electrified gravity exploded outwards from the point of impact, magnified by the turbulent downpour. The night skies lit up like daytime and nothing could escape being illuminated by her truth. Scorched trees shook violently in its wake, succumbing to their damage and crumbling along with the earth beneath them. Birds flocked to the skies as they fled in terror, narrowly escaping the fate of the flora they nested in.
The ferocity of the storm was a comfort compared to death's incarnate, levitating beneath its front.
As if the rain was quenching the fires within, lucidity quelled her mind once again. The demonic transformation rescinded during the next minute, leaving an unassuming young woman to float calmly in its place. The sole survivor of a divine cataclysm. Scolding herself internally, she glanced around to assess the destroyed woodland and large crater of which she was the epicenter.
"Shit," she cursed. Between her unbecoming language and inappropriate outburst, she could practically feel her father's relentless, unwavering resentment and hear the vitriol pouring from his mouth and suffocating her small form, filling her lungs until she was drowning in an ocean of hate. Such supreme cruelty and ass-holery seemed to transcend dimensions and space-time itself.
The King was ruthless, villainous, and corrupted. Pure evil; every cell comprising the disgusting waste of flesh that was his body radiated with malintent and oppression. For her entire life his insatiable need for power and control had smothered her, entrapping her in a literal prison built from his antagonism. The closest thing to happiness she had ever experienced was a brief childhood friendship with her elder cousin, Kaguya.
In a time that seemed too dreamlike and distant to have been more than a fantasy, they'd shared a vision. A Will. But once her imprisonment began they saw each other less and less, and eventually Kaguya stopped visiting altogether. What was once a friend had become another cold and disinterested spectator of her mistreatment.
At some point Kaguya left their planet, presumably having succumbed to her partner's persuasive words, departing without hesitation to fetch yet more chakra for her tyrannical king. Just another Harvester.
Now that she'd managed to escape, saying she was anything less than lusting for the blood of everyone who swore fealty to her father would be the understatement of an eternity. She was a victim, a survivor on a path towards redemption. Kaguya and her asshole partner Isshiki were the lucky firsts on her intergalactic shit-list.
Poetic, Isshiki leaving her here. Karma can be a real bitch.
Fuck them and their damned Credo.
"After I deal with Kaguya and Isshiki I will come for you, Outosan. My sole purpose is to prevent you from ruining more of this universe. Don't think I am above ending your life. And when I do," she paused, turning her face to the obscured stars and raising a fist in solidarity.
"I will piss on your grave, dattebayo!" she screamed, her words fading into an unholy battle cry that ended up sounding more like a screech.
Torrential rain poured into her open mouth, assaulting the back of her exposed throat and causing her to sputter. She flailed her arms about, accidentally smacking her hand onto one of the now small horns protruding from her forehead. Hissing in pain, she angrily tugged on her soaked hair, muttering a stream of curses while stomping around in the puddle that had formed under her feet.
"This is the true power of youth!" A voice cried out from the distant treeline.
Head snapping up, she immediately found the source. If not for being so pissed off, she would've been embarrassed by the failure to detect any other chakra signatures. For a natural sensor and possessor of a powerful kekkei mora, it should have been impossible to miss a glaring detail such as the three living beings standing fifty meters ahead. Perhaps she had noticed them, but was too busy groveling in angst to acknowledge it.
That had to be it.
Her ethereal gaze traveled over the three humans- Shinobi, she guessed, judging by the hitai-ates Toneri had told her about- who stood at the edge of the crater. The one who'd spoken was mirroring her raised fist, his strange bushy eyebrows contorted into an expression of chronic and possibly terminal over-enthusiasm. To his right was a muscular woman with chocolate colored buns on either side of her head, mouth agape in abject horror. She wondered how much they saw, fervently hoping they'd missed her unsightly transformation.
The answer stood to the left of the green dude, where a tall man with long black hair and bright violet eyes was staring at her with a mixture of disgust and confusion.
Land of Fire - Warring States Era
The symphony of battle pervaded the area around him. Swords clashed, armor clattered, flesh tore, men grunted and screamed as they ripped the lives out of one another, all composing a magnificent orchestration. Suffocating; the stench of death and blood and earth clung to everything like a noxious fog. His lungs burned, ragged breaths forcing their way out of his dry mouth, desperate to gather more oxygen for his tired lungs and aching muscles.
Izuna Uchiha had never felt more alive.
Dipping and dodging around the blows of his enemies, Izuna displayed his impressive skill and expertise in taijutsu even without the use of the sharingan. He cut down the Senju's men left and right using his katana, the blade a vessel for his hatred of the rival clan. Blood sprayed across his face and wet his black hair as he slit the throat of the shinobi in front of him. Licking his lips, he grinned victoriously and watched as the body collapsed, the partially decapitated head of some poor fool bouncing against the rocks. Lifeless eyes stared into the sky, and for a brief moment Izuna wondered what it was the dead were seeing, why they were always looking up.
A flash of white hair caught his attention, coaxing him back into the fray of combat. Metallic ringing filled his ears when his blade crashed against Tobirama Senju's shinkin. The rest of the world fell away, a deafening silence taking over his mind while he fought ferociously against his sworn nemesis. Sharingan crimson challenged albino red, their gazes locked as they danced around death, guided by the melodic cries of their fallen clansmen.
The man in the moon came down too soon.
Eyes snapped to the horizon at the behest of the stranger's voice inside of his head. It was night. The stars winked down at him, the unknown beckoned. Only a moment ago, it was mid-morning. How long had he been fighting? The battlefield was now soundless, the air stagnant. Warmth pooled around him, thick with the scent of iron. Blood. His blood, spilling from the mutilated tissue that was formerly his abdomen, cradling his body as it grew cold.
He blinked up at the sky. The moon swallowed his vision, consumed his soul, his everything. Madara and the moon. His brother. The only two things that mattered.
The night was dark, too dark. When did the sky become so dark?
He was unable to look away from its omnipotent gaze. Blood red, rings swirling with tomoe. The moon will take care of him. It is everything. It is infinite.
Izuna understood now, why the dead were always looking up.
Present - Konohagakure
They arrived at the so-called village less than an hour later. She was unimpressed, to say the least. The village sat in the center of what seemed to be a massive crater. A wide road cut through the middle, surrounded by newly constructed buildings. The buildings were mostly small and wooden, with some larger constructs in progress. Practically everything was wood, now that she looked closer. Did they not have other materials? What a massive fire hazard, perhaps that's why the country was named what it was.
Her eyes were drawn to a mountain just beyond the far edge of the crater, where the faces of four men and one woman had been sculpted into the rock. judging the people below with their stony eyes and upturned noses.
"What happened here? Do all of your mountains have faces?" she asked, stopping to take in the sorry state of their home.
"You're not in a position to be asking questions," Neji replied, applying pressure to the kunai at her back to get them moving again. They both knew that what he said was bullshit- given what he had just seen- but he honestly didn't know what else to tell her in this fucked situation they'd gotten into.
Aratashiki huffed in annoyance but stopped her questioning for the moment and subtly turned her palms towards the ground. "Fine, I'll just see for myself."
In true ignoramus fashion, she wasted an ass-load of chakra searching through time until she found the thing that had caused such destruction. An emaciated red-haired dude and six emo-ginger-puppets, who was stopped by another dude who had the complexion of a tennis ball. And no, not using chakra or a jutsu, but rather an emotional monologue. The guy had a good message, but the success of it all was a bit absurd. Angry-skeleton's eyes, however, were a point of interest.
'Pain', huh? A human with the rinnegan...and he even learned the Inochi no uta! But it seems he lacked the chakra to survive it. How intriguing...perhaps there is more to this species than meets the eye, if they can evolve that dojutsu. I knew there was a reason I felt drawn to them, other than being visited by Kaguya.
She nearly collapsed from exhaustion, combined with the brief but explosive migraine that always accompanied her use of that ability. With Tenten now supporting her arms to keep her upright, the group guided Aratashiki off of the main road towards a small wooden home set apart from the rest. As in, located away from them. It was just as drab as the rest. Who puts their leader in such a crappy place? Sheesh. The exterior was surrounded by serious looking shinobi who tensed and withdrew their weapons upon the group's approach.
"We must speak with Lady Hokage urgently!" Lee said, raising his hands up as if to calm the guards. Unfortunately, Lee couldn't have calmed down a rock even if his life depended on it.
As expected, the guards did not stand down. Just as Aratashiki opened her mouth to speak, a young woman with short black hair and a small pink animal in her arms stepped out from behind a curtain covering the entry. The creature in her arms squealed in terror, and the woman holding it startled in reaction to Aratashiki's foreign appearance. She began frantically swatting the curtain covering the doorway, not taking her eyes off of the visitor.
"Lady Tsunade! Lady Tsunade, I think you should see this person!"
An annoyed voice grumbled from within the hut. "Shizune, just bring them to me, dammit!"
"Uh, y-yes Lady Tsunade!" The woman, Shizune, approached their group cautiously, staying at a safe distance. A very safe distance, such that it was almost offensive. Really, Aratashiki was not scary looking, especially when compared to the vast majority of her clansmen. Shizune finally tore her eyes away to address her captors. "Neji, bring her inside. Tenten, Lee- go find Kakashi. Hurry!"
The latter two scurried off to find this mysterious 'Kakashi' person while Neji forced Aratashiki to walk forwards again. Shizune held the curtain open, leaning as far away from her as possible when she entered. A blonde woman with a large bosom and a small rhombus marking her forehead sat behind a low wooden table, empty ramen bowls piled high on either side of her. It seemed like she had just rolled out of bed. Two guards were positioned at both ends of the room, each with their hand over their weapon pouches. Aratashiki used her sensory abilities to examine the figure in front of her.
Impressive chakra for a human; she is definitely their leader. That mark on her forehead almost looks like karma, and it seems to be connected to her chakra pathways. I wonder if human breast size is related to chakra reserves.
Tsunade's large brown eyes finally looked in her direction, widening when they tried to comprehend what she was seeing and, more specifically, what she had just heard.
Paralyzed, Aratashiki came to the horrific realization that she had been thinking about loud.
An unfortunate side effect of being held in solitary confinement for years .
Shizune, Neji, and Tsunade all gaped at her while she started to blush. Neji coughed and fumbled his kunai, dropping it onto the floor where it landed with a soft thud. The sound seemed to dispel Tsunade's shock, and she threw her head back to let out a loud cackle, clutching her sides and knocking over several bows in the process. Shizune giggled nervously, and Neji remained completely silent, as stiff as a board.
The distress emanating from the young man nearly drowned out the playful aura surrounding his Hokage. After a few moments, Tsunade regained control of her breathing and settled down, fanning her face while looking up at Aratashiki.
"Who- no, what- the hell are you?" she asked.
"I am High Priestess Aratashiki Otsutsuki, daughter of Emperor Junichiro Otsutsuki of the Otsutsuki clan. I am here to inquire about the whereabouts of a citizen named Kaguya Otsutsuki." She finished her painfully flowery introduction with a deep bow of respect, praying that no secret doors had opened up in its wake.
Best to stick to formalities on the off-chance that they'd already endured the misfortune of being made cognizant of her father's existence.
"Hmm, and what exactly are your intentions?"
Clearing her throat, Aratashiki repeated her earlier statement. "As I said, Hokage-sama, I simply wish to locate Kaguya Otsutsuki. I neither intend to nor am I interested in harming you and your people. Forgive me for saying this, but if that were my intention you would be long dead."
Misinterpreting her words as a threat, the two guards drew their weapons and advanced towards Aratashiki. Oops. At times she had a way with words, and other times not so much. When it came to the shit she came up with, the odds were good but the goods were odd.
Tsunade stood, holding out her arms to halt their advance. "Stand down."
Both shinobi stopped, but did not retreat or stow their weapons. The tense silence that followed was only broken when a grey-haired man with a mask covering half of his face stepped into the room. Immediately, she got mega-douche vibes. The arrogant kind. Aratashiki's gaze latched onto him, taking notice of the Sharingan in his left eye. When their eyes met she opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Tsunade. A blessing, as she was probably about to say something divisive.
"Kakashi, thank you for coming on such short notice. Everyone else, out!" Shizune and the guards began to leave, and Neji's presence behind her retreated as he tried to escape. "Not you, Neji. Stay here."
Squashing his discontent with a short bow, Neji resumed his position slightly behind and to the side of Aratashiki. She cursed to herself, suddenly remembering the state of her appearance and feeling self-conscious.
I can't negotiate looking like this! What a disaster. I should just...no, I shouldn't. No. At this rate I'm going to be out of chakra if that attack. But...ugh, fuck it. Yes, I really, really should.
Tsunade began speaking. "This is-"
Twitching her fingers discreetly, Aratashiki used her rinne sharingan and slowed time to an infinitesimal crawl. Letting loose a dramatic sigh she quickly rolled out her tense shoulders, needing to hurry before her chakra was completely depleted. She created a specular reflection of herself by gathering moisture from the air and pooling it into a smooth surface.
"Fuck, I can't believe I've been looking so ratché this entire time…"
Heat rose to her cheeks as fresh embarrassment set in. Her hair was dry- tinted yellow-brown from dirt and kami knew what else- and her braid was lopsided. There was blood smeared on her horn from when her hand whacked it. She brought the hand in question to her face, but the wound was already healed. Looking down, she saw that mud caked her bare feet and legs, and the pale blue kimono she adorned was now tattered and stained.
Fucking A. What a great first impression she was making.
Raising her arm to her face, she gave it a good sniff and recoiled from the pungent odor of ozone and dirt.
Kaguya would never let herself look this bad, and I refuse to be one-upped by a thot like her.
Aratashiki did a little jumpy dance to motivate herself and then got to work, using more water from the air to scrub the grime and dirt away. Clean and wet, she gathered chakra around her hands and used it to dry everything out. Consulting her reflection for support, she wove her hair into a much more elegant braid than the first. The kimono was a disaster, but so was her life. Besides, maybe it would make her look tough or something.
Feeling much cleaner and satisfied enough with her appearance, Aratashiki blinked and returned time to its usual pace while trying not to let her renewed exhaustion show.
"-Aratashiki Otsutsuki…." Tsunade stopped, and they all stared at Aratashiki who was smiling innocently.
Seizing the conversation before any comments were made regarding how and when she took an invisible shower, Aratashiki turned to the man named Kakashi. "I see you possess the sharingan. Are you a descendant of Kaguya as well?"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but did not answer. Instead, he turned to Tsunade, the two exchanging a knowing look. "Absolutely no one can know about this, especially not outside of the village. Not until we know more."
"I know. This has to remain completely confidential," Tsunade replied, with a pointed glance towards the Hyuga. "And, there is only one other village official with any knowledge on the 'Otsutsuki' clan." Their gazes turned simultaneously and landed on Neji, who was confused and becoming more agitated with each passing minute.
"I'm afraid I don't understand what I have to do with any of this," Neji stated.
Aratashiki was relieved by the prospect of at least one of these clans having knowledge of their ancestry.
"Not you," Tsunade said, folding her hands together and resting her chin on top of them. "Your clan head."