Chapter Fifteen: A Change in Chakra
Shizune stood over Lady Tsunade who lay sleeping in her hospital bed. Tsunade's youthful jutsu was no longer in effect which meant that she appeared as an old woman as her body adapted to the Goddess chakra. As promised, Shizune was there to watch over Lady Hokage, but she couldn't help but think of Genma who held the last amount of chakra the Hokage needed to complete the process. Tears streamed down Shizune's face, and when a single tear drop landed on Tsunade's arm, the Hokage stirred.
"Shizune..." Tsunade said as she opened her eyes, "I-"
"Don't speak," Shizune said, "Just rest, please just rest."
Tsunade frowned. She then began to cough and Shizune turned to grab a cup of water for Tsunade to drink.
"I-" the coughing continued, "I don't-"
"Lady Tsunade, please be at ease," Shizune said, "Don't speak."
"I-I don't think this chakra absorption thing was a good idea," Tsunade said, "As tough as I am, I don't..."
Tsunade closed her eyes and breathed heavily. Shizune was overcome by fear and her hands shook as she touched Tsunade's arm.
"Shizune...I don't think I'll make it...this was all a mistake."
Shizune backed away from the Hokage slowly. Her chest tightened as she tried to suppress her scream.
Lady Tsunade's breathing became more shallow. Then she was silent. Her heart had stopped.
Shizune wailed as the world around her began to spin. She felt something deeper than dread and despair, it was the type of feeling Shizune would never wish on even the most evil person. It was devastation felt in the most tender part of the soul.
"Lady Tsunade! Lady Tsunade!" Shizune screamed into the darkness.
In that moment, Shizune's sense of hope was gone and only pain remained.
...
...
...
"Oh, will you shut up!" Shizune heard someone say. Shizune then felt the impact of a magazine that had been thrown at her face. Slowly, she opened her eyes and turned to see a more youthful Tsunade sitting on her hospital bed.
"Lady Tsunade," Shizune said, obviously shocked to see the Hokage alive and well.
"I'm right here, there's no need to be so loud," Tsunade said as she flipped through another trashy magazine, "What are you screaming about anyway? It had to be my death, right? I can't imagine you making all of that noise for any other reason."
Shizune did not respond. Instead, she looked at the floor.
"Come on, out with it! What's got you so upset?"
"I'm just worried, I guess. I won't even be assisting you in starting the next cycle for a few days, but I'm concerned. I should have said something earlier, but when I spoked to Genma, I just lost it. I don't want to lose you in all this."
"And I'm assuming that you don't want to lose him either, correct?"
"No, but there's nothing that can be done about that."
"I wouldn't be so sure."
Shizune looked at Lady Tsunade with wide eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean nothing is impossible," Tsunade continued, "Don't get too excited though, I can't guarantee that he'll be saved, but I know Kanoko. If there's a chance that there is any of her consciousness left, then there's hope. Now go wipe your face, you got drool running down on your chin like you're some kid."
Shizune got up immediately and exited into the hall. She wondered if what Tsunade said was true, and she was also unsure of why Tsunade had so much faith in Kanoko. As Shizune was deep in thought, she ran into Kakashi.
"Hey, Shizune. Fancy meeting you here," he said, "Actually, this is perfect timing, I had a dream about you recently."
"What? What kind of dream? Oh, don't tell me it was one of tho-"
"Relax, it wasn't a steamy dream,"
"Good, because with all of those books you read I-"
"Hey, don't knock my hobbies," Kakashi said, "Now, this dream was an important one. In it, you were with Genma."
Shizune's face turned tomato-red as she tried to explain herself.
"Don't worry, like I said, it wasn't anything sexy," Kakashi said, "I couldn't hear too well, but I saw both of you. I guess he told you something sad because you ended up crying on him, but I could tell it wasn't just a dream, was it?"
Shizune sighed. She pulled Kakashi away from the rapidly-moving medical nin and explained what she had learned about the Unknown Fire agreement. Shizune then asked Kakashi how he saw her moment with Genma, which also made her blush again.
"It's a bit hard to explain, but the short of it is that Lady Kanoko recently connected me to her subconscious power that's hidden deep within her mind. Her sister has taken control of her body, but Lady Kanoko had done a few things without her sister's knowledge to counter her invasion of her consciousness. She did all of this by connecting to her own time-space. For example, at that meeting place where we lost Sakura, Lady Kanoko had already sent messages to another dimension via the time-space to throw off her sister's plans to seize her Goddess chakra. Of course, doing that greatly weakened Lady Kanoko's power level."
Shizune started at Kakashi for a few seconds.
"Huh?" she finally said.
"The training, the power she gave the girls, all of it was part of her plan to prevent the Goddess chakra from falling into the wrong hands. When she sensed something was wrong, she began planning subconsciously. She didn't know her sister was behind all of this until much later, so her plans weren't perfect, but at least we know there's a way we could win here."
Shizune stared at him for another few seconds.
"Do you need to, like, get checked out or something," she said, "Because we're already at the hospital and they do psych evaluations downstairs for free."
Kakashi sighed.
"Never mind," Kakashi said, "I guess I'll have to make plans to save Genma and the rest of the world on my own."
"Genma!?"
Did she not hear me say "and the rest of the world?" Kakashi thought.
"Yes," Kakashi said to her, "Based on what you just told me, he's in trouble too. Now, I need to connect with whoever is in Kanoko's time-space so that we're all on the same page. Also, I need to get to the Mist as soon as possible. I should probably work on both of those things at once."
"What about the girls?" she asked.
"They'll be okay, Lady Kanoko factored them into her plan. In fact, they may be the most important part of all of this," Kakashi said. He then turned to walk away "Are you coming or not?"
"I can't, Lady Tsunade has to do a check up, right now," Shizune said.
"I see," he responded, "They'll need electricity to run some of the tests, right?"
Shizune responded to his questions with a "yes", although she immediately regretted it. Kakashi looked around to make sure no one was watching. He put his hand on a nearby wall.
"You wouldn't dare!" Shizune said.
"Don't worry, it'll just affect her room," Kakashi assured her.
Kakashi sent a surge of lightning through the wall which affected the wiring in and around Tsunade room. This move triggered the shutdown mechanism and the doors and windows of that room went into lockdown mode.
"Hey!" they heard Tsunade yell, "What the hell is going on?"
"Kakashi, that's cruel!" Shizune frowned.
"It'll take them some time to fix this, but she'll definitely break that door down soon. If she does break it down, she'll be using chakra, and she isn't supposed to do that, right?"
"Right, it'll stall the whole process," Shizune bit her nails as she thought about Tsunade raging through the hospital.
"If you go with me, you'll avoid being dragged into this," Kakashi said, trying to convince her in a sing-songy voice.
"If I go with you or stay, I'm dead either way," Shizune closed her eyes, "Okay, fine, I'll go."
"Great, now try to keep up because we don't have time to waste," with that he zoomed off and she scrambled to catch up with them.
On their way out of the village, Raido and Genma saw them running in the distance.
"What the hell..." Genma said. Raido shook his head and smiled.
"Don't be jealous, it is Kakashi after all."
Suddenly, Genma clenched his chest and his knees buckled.
"That's not what I'm talking about," Genma said in a voice barely above a whisper, "It's my chest! Something's happening-"
Genma fell to the ground. Raido immediately picked him up.
"Let's get you to the hospital," Raido said.
He picked up Genma, maneuvered around a crowd of villagers, and sprinted to the hospital. They barely made it there in time.
—-
Tenten twirled the staff in one hand as she shifted the shield in the other. The guardian swung her own grand sword as Tenten leaned forward.
Okay, let's try this again, Tenten thought. She took a deep breath and initiated the next stage of their battle. Several more pulses of energy shot out from around them as they fought and a few of their moves even shook the island's core.
On the other side of the island near the roaring sea stood four other battle ready shinobi. Ruby Lee and Hiroto stood behind Ino as Sakura glared at them with the Goddess's shield in her hand. Ino linked her mind with Hiroto and Ruby Lee to communicate her plan. In the blink of an eye, Ino and her comrades sprinted out onto the water, and Sakura chased them.
Ino's mental link to Hiroto allowed Ino to view her own moves from the point of his Byakugan. That enabled Ino to move quickly and evade Sakura's attacks without having to even look directly at Sakura. The mental link with Ruby Lee helped Ino push Sakura into certain directions that make Sakura vulnerable to a barrage of coordinated attacks from both Ruby Lee and Ino. The rapid attacks prevented Sakura from staying balanced as she swung at her foes. It was a good strategy until Sakura became angrier.
Sakura upped her power level and eventually saw an opportunity to grab hold of Ino and Ruby Lee as they rushed around Sakura the same time. In one second, Sakura managed to grab them both and toss them even further out into the restless waves. Their bodies skipped across the water and a part of Ino's left arm cracked on impact. Hiroto decided to move in.
Tashiro observed their fight as an invisible bystander. Once he believed that Sakura was not attempting to kill the other shinobi, he moved to find Kichiro.
Once he located the villain who lay unconscious on the other side of the broken island, Tashiro made himself visible. He thought about extracting all of the water from Kichiro's body, but that would surely damage the consciousness of his uncle who was also bound in the villain's body. There was only one thing Tashiro could do at that point, but he hesitated to do it. The villain looked so much like Tashiro, that he found it difficult to move forward with his plan.
"Damn it, I've waited for this for so long, I've wanted to defeat you so badly, and yet. When I look at your face, I can't bring myself to just move. If I could just-"
"Step away from him," a weakened Yasu said. She crawled toward Tashiro from behind, covered in dirt and bruises. Her arms and legs shook. Tashiro turned to look at her.
"Wha- Oh, it's you," Tashiro said, "Still holding onto life, I see. Don't waste your last breath trying to defend someone like him. He's unforgivable."
"I don't care," Yasu said, "Stay away from him! Don't touch him. He is not perfect, I know. I am not a foolish child. I can see him for who he is, but he has given me a life. When I had nothing in this world of illusions, he gave me a vision and power. And that means everything to me, so I'll ask you once more to move!"
Tashiro shook his head. To say Tashiro pitied Yasu would be an understatement.
"What he has given you is what he would willingly take away the moment you show any independence, any defiance. Don't you get that? He wants to control you! He gave you an ounce of his so-called power and now he's your god. Some power that is! If it's power you want, you should find your own way to get it."
"You don't know what you're saying!" Yasu yelled with all of her might.
"Actually, I do," Tashiro said, "I've been keeping an eye on this little kunoichi band of his for a while. I know the only one he cares to even consider at least half-human is the one in white. The one called Yukina. And you know that. You've known that for a while, haven't you! Is that what you want? To be second best? To be discarded as soon as you prove useless!"
"Shut up! Shut up!" Yasu wanted to cry, but the tears still did not come to her eyes. Instead, she roared like the sea.
She had pushed herself up to kneel, and continued to yell at Tashiro. Stunned by her sudden movement, Tashiro had almost forgotten about Kichiro, and he would soon regret allowing Yasu's presence to distract him.
As she battled the guardian, Tenten suddenly sensed Kichiro's killing intent. Katsu, who controlled the body of Kichiro, had his own reserve of Goddess chakra which Yua had given him when they agreed to take Kanoko down, and that was the first time Tenten could sense that chakra so clearly. It had mixed with the chakra of both Hiroshi and another man who were still unconscious within the fabricated Kichiro. Many things began to make sense to Tenten.
"I'm sensing some new chakra in Kichiro. We have to take care of him immediately," Tenten communicated to Ino.
Way out on the water, Ino tried to figure out how to deal with Sakura and Kichiro simultaneously. She was determined not to be indecisive for long.
It was a risky move, but she combined her Mind Transfer jutsu with a Goddess chakra power-up and entered Sakura's mind. Hiroto and Ruby Lee lost their mental link to Ino but could see the shift in Sakura and Ino's bodies. Hiroto moved to grab Ino's fallen body as fast as he could.
"Ruby Lee," he said with Ino's body in his arms, "We have to get away from here!"
"We do?" Ruby Lee said, "But I thought we were instructed to help our gender-swapped friends?"
"Trust me, we don't want to stick around to witness whatever happens next. When there's too much power in one body it can be subdued, but multiple people are reaching their capacities and my Byakugan can see their chakra systems cracking. We'll retreat and return soon for the other girls."
Ruby Lee and Hiroto ran across the water with Ino's body to a different island.
As Tashiro watched Yasu's breakdown, he failed to notice Kichiro's chakra shift. Instantly, Kichiro appeared behind Yasu and yanked her up by her hair, which caused her to scream out.
"It's about time you revealed yourself, boy!" a crazed "Kichiro" said, "In fact, it's inspirational! Perhaps I should reveal my true self as well!"
Before Tashiro's eyes, Kichiro changed from a young man with blue hair to a middle aged man with multi colored hair red and blue hair. Kichiro's chakra levels increased exponentially, but he still wanted more. He then absorbed the chakra from Yasu, who fainted. He let her body drop to the ground as though she were a piece of garbage.
Tashiro stared at him in shock for a moment before taking on a fighting stance. Ino soon arrived in Sakura's body to fight the villain as well.
"I'm sorry, my Lord," Ino said, "It's truly nothing personal."
Ino used her increased speed and Sakura's strength to toss Kichiro away from Yasu. She and Tashiro then ran over to continue fighting him, and Yasu lay nearly lifeless on the sand. Tears still failed to form in Yasu's eyes as a light drizzle began to fall. The sky cried even though she could not.
Tenten and the guardian were still engaged in a battle, but noticed "Kichiro's" change in chakra.
"Do not let that insignificant fight over there distract you from the enemy in front of you!" the guardian said as she slammed into Tenten's staff.
Tenten was forced backward, but was still standing. Her entire body burned with every strike she endured, but she wouldn't even consider giving up.
The guardian increased the frequency of her swings. Tenten blocked most of her attacks with the shield, but felt her knees weakening. She had to think of another strategy. Luckily, Tenten had gotten better at thinking on her feet.
"Guardian, how can you stand here and fight me, when there are people who need your help," Tenten said as she exchanged her staff for her own sword.
"You fool, I serve the Goddess of Fire," the guardians said, "She is the one I protect, I have no allegiance to your kind!"
"You know, I thought that it was weird that you reside here in the Land of Water, but that's not the weirdest thing about you," Tenten continued, "The weirdest thing about you is that your Goddess's power has been siphoned, and you did nothing to defend her! Some guardian you are!"
In anger, the guardian moved to slice Tenten in half, but instead sliced thought a log.
"Substitution?" the guardian mumbled.
Suddenly, the Goddess was kicked from behind by Tenten, which caused the guardian to tumble forward several times. Tenten had summoned her kama while the guardian was distracted by the substitution and swung the chain around the waist of the unbalanced guardian. With all of her strength, Tenten swung the guardian upward far into the air and lifted the Goddess shield she held.
"Art of the Goddess: Guardian, Return Fire!" Tenten yelled. The jutsu forced the guardian back down at a high speed and she slammed into the shield. This attack shattered the guardian's defenses, and the shield absorbed a large portion of the guardian's chakra in the process. Unfortunately for Tenten, that attack took the last of her chakra and she did not manage to absorb the chakra from the shield before she collapsed on dirt. The guardian struggled to get on her feet.
"I can't believe-I can't believe that worked," Tenten said. Tenten then closed her eyes and her mind took a rest. The guardian began the process of healing herself from the attack as she limped over to Tenten. She was impressed by the Leaf kunoichi's bravery and skill. No one had challenged the guardian and lived to tell the tale in many years.
"Maybe you're not such a fool after all," the guardian whispered.
Sensing Tenten's life force weakening, the guardian made a decision that went against her nature. The guardian returned to her original form and leaned over Tenten. She then transferred herself into Tenten's body.
"Thank you..." Tenten thought before her mind drifted off.
The rain began to pour down harder. The waves tossed recklessly.
Ino sensed that her mental link to Tenten was gone, but she could not stop her battle with "Kichiro". She and Tashiro took turns attacking and they were both surprisingly in sync.
"So you decided to join the good side, I see?" Tashiro said to the person he thought was Sakura. Ino simply grunted in response. They continued to fight until Kichiro lost interest.
"This has been fun, but I am tired of you children," Kichiro said, "And I would just like to note that you all are far too slow to catch on. And that will cause your downfall."
"Kichiro" then quickly weaved hand signs and disappeared.
"Ugh, that coward!" Ino said before stomping and causing ripples in the water beneath her. At least that was something Sakura would do.
"Don't worry, we'll catch up to him again," Tashiro said, "Are you okay, Sakura?"
Ino turned to look at Tashiro's handsome face. She then turned away and blushed.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Ino responded, "All that matters is that we track Kichiro fast."
"Katsu," Tashiro said.
"What?"
"Katsu. That's his true name. I will no longer allow him to disgrace the name of my uncle, Kichiro. He will die at my hand as Katsu Minazuki. I swear it."
Before Ino could respond, Anbu from the Mist had arrived. One of them appeared from the water directly behind them, leaving them no room to escape.
"Don't move. By order of Lady Mizukage you are under arrest for the total destruction of a sacred site. We ask that you come with us willingly, otherwise you will be taken by force."
Stunned, Tashiro and Ino looked at each other. The Anbu tied their hands and walked them across the water to a ship. Ino was terrified, but Tashiro appeared to be emotionless.
The sky continued to cry.
