The Sasuke retrieval mission ended in a failure but the bright side is that the team were able to take out some of Orochimaru's most powerful ninja. Everyone included in the mission were badly hurt. The one who was hurt the least was Shikamaru.
Orochimaru was happy that Sasuke came to him of his own free will. But there was something that he wanted, and he was going to get it.
"Kabuto, I'm gonna need your help with this next mission" Orochimaru said
"I'd be happy to help, Lord Orochimaru" Kabuto replied
"Good because I want someone else to be here along with Sasuke" Orochimaru said
"Who would that be?" Kabuto asked
"Bloom Uzumaki" Orochimaru said
IN THE LEAF VILLAGE
Bloom was still recovering from her mission and opening 5 of the 8 gates really took a toll on her. She understood why it was classified as a forbidden jutsu. She had some time off and was spending most of that time at home. She was mostly better, but she still needed some time before she could go on missions again.
She then heard a voice call out to her, it sounded like Orochimaru.
"Come to me, child" Orochimaru whispered
Bloom gasps as she felt her curse mark starting to spread throughout her body. She started groan in pain and started to sweat a lot. She was doing all she could to suppress it but in her current condition she didn't have much strength to suppress the curse mark on her own.
"Daphne" Bloom muttered
Powering through the pain, she managed to get up and went into her sister's room. She saw that she was sleeping peacefully.
Orochimaru could see everything that Bloom was seeing thanks to her curse mark. He started to chuckle evilly.
"Good idea, Bloom, your big sister can be your first victim. Kill her and prove your loyalty to me" Orochimaru said
Bloom then grabbed a kunai and she was positioning it over her sister's head. Her hand was shaking, she was trying to stop herself from doing it but she was still weak from her battle with Ogron.
"Sis! Wake up!" Bloom said
Daphne groaned and opened her eyes to see that her sister was over her with a kunai. Her eyes went wide and rolled out of bed just in time to dodge it. She looked at her sister in shock. She wondered why bubbly little sister had just tried to kill her. But she got a closer look at her and saw that her sister's curse mark was active. She also saw that her sister's right eye looked like a snake and her eye was also bright yellow.
"Bloom's curse mark activated. But how? A sealing jutsu was placed on that to stop it from spreading" Daphne thought
She also saw that her sister was breathing heavily and was shaking. The older Uzumaki realized that her sister was trying to fight the effects of the curse mark.
She then saw her charge at her. She managed to parry her and disarm her. Daphne's fingertips on her left hand glowed blue and touched her sister's curse mark and managed to suppress it again. She then caught her sister before she hit the floor.
"Are you ok?" Daphne asked in concern.
The redhead breathed heavily for a moment before responding.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine" Bloom said
"Bloom what happened to you?" Daphne asked
"I was trying to go to sleep for the night but…then I heard the voice of Orochimaru" Bloom said
"Orochimaru? Are you sure?" Daphne asked
Her sister nodded.
"And then my curse mark activated. I was going to wake you up so you could seal it again. But as soon as I entered your room. I no longer had control over my body" Bloom said
"It's good thing you woke me up before then" Daphne said
Daphne then became concerned about something else though.
"Bloom's curse mark seems to be different though. The one that he gave her probably allows him to spy on the hidden leaf. He can use his chakra to control her movements. Although it appears that people with a strong enough will can resist its control to some degree. We need to remove this curse mark completely" Daphne thought
Naruto then appeared after hearing all the commotion.
"What's going on?" Naruto asked in tired tone.
"It's Bloom's curse mark" Daphne said
Naruto was confused about that.
"Curse mark? What about it?" Naruto asked
"Orochimaru wants Bloom" Daphne said
Naruto's eyes were shocked for a moment but then his expression changed to anger.
"NO WAY! It was bad enough that he took Sasuke but now he wants Bloom?!" Naruto asked
"Bloom's curse mark is much worse than the others" Daphne said
"What do you mean it's worse?" Naruto asked
"Orochimaru is able to control Bloom's body with the curse mark he gave her. She managed to wake up me just before she was about to kill me with a kunai. Orochimaru was about to kill me using Bloom as his puppet" Daphne said
Naruto was shaking in anger. He really hated the snake Sanin and he was going to beat him to a pulp the next time he would see him.
"THAT ROTTEN BASTARD!" Naruto shouted
"Naruto calm down! I managed to suppress the curse mark for now, but I don't know for how long" Daphne said
"We just need to take down Orochimaru!" Naruto said
"Taking him down won't be easy. Remember he's one of the legendary Sanin" Daphne said
"Then what are we supposed to do?! Huh?! Just let Orochimaru use her?!" Naruto asked
"What we need to do is find a way to get rid of it completely. Sealing it won't be good enough. He can undo the seal and take control of her. But if we can get rid of it completely then we can stop him from using her" Daphne said
"Ok and how are supposed to do that?" Naruto asked
"I'm not sure yet. I'll visit the hokage in morning and see what if she knows anything that could help" Daphne said
The next morning, Daphne went to Tsunade and told her what had occurred last night in their apartment. The slug princess had a troubled look on her face.
"This kind of curse mark will be tricky to deal with. It's possible that he's trying lure her to his hideout. Most likely to make her a future vessel" Tsunade said
"Is there a way to get rid of it? Suppressing it won't be enough" Daphne said
Tsunade thought for a moment. She had never come across this kind of curse mark before.
"I'll have to do a little research in order to understand how it works and then I can see what kind of jutsu to use it that will get rid of it. In the meantime, keep an eye on her. If it activates then seal it again" Tsunade said
At that moment, someone entered the Hokage's office. It was an elder looking man with bandages covering the left side of his face, he was wearing a kimono type of clothing. He also had a cane with him.
Daphne knew who it was instantly.
"Danzo" Daphne said
"Pardon the intrusion, but I overheard that Bloom Uzumaki received a curse mark that allows Orochimaru to control her movements" Danzo said
"Right, we're discussing on a way to completely erase it from Bloom" Tsunade said
"Tsunade, that kind of curse mark can't be erased. There is a much simpler solution" Danzo said
"And what would that be?" Tsunade asked
"Kill the girl" Danzo said
Both women's eyes went wide in both shock and horror. Tsunade then got angry at the old man that made such an outrageous suggestion.
"There's no way we're killing her!" Tsunade said
"But if Orochimaru gets a hold of her then the village could be put in danger. Not to mention that she's considered to be a prodigy ninja. If she sides with Orochimaru then village will suffer greatly" Danzo said
"Bloom will stay here! And I will find a way to erase that curse mark! If that's all you came here to say then get the hell out of my office!" Tsunade said
Danzo left the office. He stood outside of the office and one of his ROOT anbu approached him, waiting for orders.
"Gather up a group of anbu and kill Bloom Uzumaki. While you're at it, make sure you take Musa Uchiha's sharingan" Danzo said
"Yes sir" The anbu said
Bloom was being visited by her two teammates. They were concerned about her. She told them what had happened, and they were not expecting to hear what the curse mark could also do.
"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll find a solution" Musa said
"Yeah, have some faith" Flora said
Bloom smiled and thanked her friends for being there for here. She then sensed some unfamiliar chakra. There were several targets of charka that she was sensing. They were surrounding the apartment.
"There's several people surrounding the building" Bloom said
Musa was not expecting her to say that, but then again, Bloom was a sensory type. She used her sharingan and saw that what Bloom said was true.
"There are several targets here" Musa said
"But why?" Flora asked
They heard the sound steel against the door, and it was sliced to pieces. The three of them saw that they were anbu.
"Anbu? What are they doing here?" Flora said
The first anbu ran towards Bloom with a sword ready. Musa's eyes went wide in horror.
"They're after Bloom!" Musa thought
Musa got in front of Bloom and blocked the sword strike with a kunai.
"What's the meaning of this?! Why are you trying to attack my friend?" Musa asked
The anbu didn't respond and tried to power his way through her but Musa gave more resistance.
More of them entered the apartment and tried attack her. Flora responded with a jutsu.
"Wood style: Dome wall"
Flora crafted a wooden dome just in time. Musa managed to push the anbu back and behind Flora and now all three of them were behind the dome wall.
"What's going on? Why are anbu here? And why are they going after Bloom?" Musa asked in frustration
"That dome wall won't hold for long. We need to escape through a window" Bloom said
Bloom was weakened right now because Orochimaru's chakra was disrupting her own. She's not in the best condition to fight right now.
Musa had her friend get on her back and the three of them managed to escape through a window.
The Anbu managed to break the dome wall and saw that they were gone.
"They're gone" The anbu captain said
A female Anbu, who was second in command, gave out the order to search the village.
The three of them were hiding in some trees in the training grounds. Bloom apologized to them.
"I'm sorry you two, I would like to help you fight but I can't really fight right now" Bloom said
"Don't worry about it, we understand" Flora said
"We'll keep you safe" Musa said
In the middle of the village Hinata was walking around seeing if there was anything that she could do during her off time. She then noticed some anbu racing around the village.
"Anbu? Is there trouble in the village?" Hinata thought
She then overheard something they were saying.
"Bloom Uzumaki isn't here either. Let's try the outskirts of the village" The anbu captain said
Hinata was not expecting that. The anbu was after her friend? But why?
Hinata was starting to have a bad feeling about this. She ran into another group of her friends. There was Sakura, Ino, Tenten and a girl named Roxy, who was wearing a teal green dress and green spats. Her magenta hair was in a ponytail and was being held up by a green bow.
"Hi Hinata" Ino said
Hinata snapped out of her thought process and greeted them.
"Oh, Sakura, Ino, Tenten, Roxy" Hinata said
"What's wrong? You seem troubled" Sakura said
"I just saw a group of Anbu running around the village" Hinata said
"So, what? The anbu do that to keep the village safe" Tenten said
"But I overheard that they were looking for Bloom" Hinata said
That caught everyone's attention.
"Looking for Bloom? Why?" Roxy said
"I don't know, but I'm thinking about searching for them too" Hinata said
"Let's search together" Sakura said
"They went to search the outskirts of the village" Hinata said
"Let's try the training ground" Tenten said
"Yeah and let's try her apartment if she isn't at the training ground" Ino said
The girls arrived at the training ground. Hinata was using her Byakugan and saw that there three people in the forest area. Musa and Flora were there and looking after her.
"Musa, Flora" Hinata said
The two of them looked over and saw that it was their friends.
"Oh, hi girls" Flora said
"We thought you were anbu" Musa said
"So, they really are after you" Sakura said
"Yeah and they ambushed us when we were visiting Bloom at her home.
"But why are they chasing you?" Tenten asked
"We don't know, but right now, Bloom's condition has gotten worse. We've tried medical ninjutsu but it's not helping very much" Musa said
Sakura stepped forward and looked at her friend who was breathing heavily and looked like she was suffering from a fever.
"She's not well at all" Sakura said
"We should get her to the hospital" Ino said
"We can't, the anbu are looking for her and we need to find out why" Tenten said
"Those Anbu, I'm pretty sure they want to kill her" Musa said
The rest of the group was taken aback by that statement.
"Kill her? But why?" Hinata asked
"We're not sure. But they attacked us with an intent to kill" Flora said
Hinata then saw that there were several people approaching the area and saw that there some kunai and shuriken headed their way.
"Everyone, look out they found us" Hinata said
All of them managed to jump away in time and the group of genin were now face to face with the anbu.
"All of you, move aside, we're here for Bloom Uzumaki" The anbu captain said
"And what exactly do you want with her?" Roxy said
"That's none of your concern" Anbu captain said
"We're not letting you touch her" Flora said
The anbu captain was left with no choice.
"Restrain the other genin but don't kill them" Anbu captain ordered
They all charged at them.
"They're coming!" Ino said
"We need to protect her!" Roxy said
Ino made the first move against them.
"Ninja art: Mind destruction jutsu"
A few them started suffer from a splitting headache. Tenten took out her scroll and summoned a shower of shuriken. They were forced to dodge it. The ones that suffered from Ino's jutsu took the hit from the shuriken.
Roxy focused her chakra and attacked.
"Ninja art: Lion's rampage"
Roxy launched an aura of chakra that was in the shape of a lion. They were forced to dodge that too. One Anbu that was the air was taken by surprise after seeing Hinata was the air.
"Gentle fist!"
A hit in the stomach caused the anbu to fall back down and hit the ground. Another Anbu was about to land safely but Sakura managed to make it there before he landed.
"Cha!"
Sakura landed punch that sent the anbu flying back several meters.
Musa saw that there were still several of them left and fought too.
"Fire style: Phoenix flower jutsu"
A shower of fireballs was spit out at them. An anbu on the left responded quickly.
"Water style: Water wall"
A wall of water blocked Musa's attack.
An anbu then came and attacked with wind style.
"Wind style: wind blade"
A gust of wind was sent at them that would cause a major cut if it hits. Luckily Flora managed to respond in time.
"Earth style: Mud wall"
A wall of stone managed to block the wind blade.
Now there were even more anbu that showed up.
"There's too many of them" Sakura said
"Keep fighting! We have to make sure they don't get near Bloom" Musa said
Bloom then started to feel more pain and the curse mark spread throughout body again. The curse mark didn't stop there though. It changed her appearance and her skin color changed to red. Her nails grew longer and dragon like wings grew out of her back. She grew a long tail and horns. Her eyes changed to yellow.
The anbu then stopped attacked and backed away.
"Huh? Why are they stopping?" Tenten asked
Ino looked back and gasped. The other kunoichi looked back and were shocked to see that Bloom had transformed into some type of monster.
"B-Bloom?!" Sakura said in fright
The redhead just roared and breathed some fire at them, and everyone had to dodge it. The anbu then charged at her with their kunai ready. The cursed kunoichi looked at them as they came at her. She managed to knock them away with a swing of her tail.
Daphne and Tsunade managed to find what was needed to erase the seal. A ninja then came in and informed of something awful that was happening.
"Lady Tsunade there's some type of monster in training ground" The ninja said
"A monster?" Tsunade asked
"Yes, some anbu black ops are engaging it in combat right now" The ninja said
Tsunade then turned towards Daphne and asked her to investigate.
"Daphne, go to the training ground and see what kind of monster this is" Tsunade said
"Yes, Lady Tsunade" Daphne responded
Daphne rushed over towards the area where this monster was supposed to be and was shocked to see it. But what truly shocked her was the other kunoichi that were there with it.
"Bloom! Please stop!" Sakura begged
Daphne was shocked that this monster was her sister. She guessed that this was the result of her curse mark.
Bloom then rushed at them with her claws ready. Daphne jumped in and blocked it with a kunai. The other girls were relieved that they were saved from this nightmare.
"Daphne-sensei" Sakura said
"Are you all ok?" Daphne asked
"W-we're fine, but that monster is Bloom and we don't know what to do" Hinata said
The anbu captain got up and told her what should be done.
"That monster needs to die now!" The anbu said
Daphne responded immediately.
"There's no need to go that far. Leave everything to me" Daphne said
The monstrous Bloom took a deep breath and Daphne took that as a sign to back off quickly. This proved to be wise because the monster ninja breathed some fire that would've done some damage. The monster then released another fire attack and Daphne responded quickly with her own jutsu.
"Water style: Giant waterfall"
A giant ball of water clashed and overpowered the fire and consumed her sister. The monster was laying against the tree and Daphne had to take this time to finish it off without killing her. She placed her hand on her and released another jutsu.
"Lightning style: Super discharge"
A discharge of electricity shocked the creature and it was down and out. The woman made some more chakra on her fingertips and sealed the curse mark again. Bloom's other friends approached her and asked if she was ok.
"Is she ok?" Roxy asked
"She'll be fine, but I need all of you to step back. I have a jutsu that will get rid of this curse mark on her once and for all" Daphne said
She lied her sister down and performed the necessary hand signs that was necessary and placed her hand on Bloom's neck where the curse mark was.
"Curse removal"
Daphne then pulled and the curse mark was removed and is dissipated.
Orochimaru and Kabuto realized that their curse mark had been removed.
"So, they removed the seal. Quite an impressive feat since its very difficult to remove" Orochimaru said
"So, what should we do now? Should we target her again?" Kabuto asked
"No, we'll leave her alone for now. We'll have other opportunities" Orochimaru said
Bloom woke up and saw that her sister was there. She saw that she was in the hospital.
"Big sister?" Bloom said
Daphne hugged her. She was very relieved that she was ok.
"What happened?" Bloom asked
"Well the curse mark forced you into the second stage and you were going on a rampage. You didn't kill anyone though" Daphne said
"Oh, thank goodness, I was afraid that I hurt someone" Bloom said
Bloom remained in the hospital for a while, but she got many visitors and that made her happy. Once it was clear that her chakra was back to normal, she was discharged.
The anbu returned to Danzo and informed him on what happened and he told them to just keep an eye on her.
Naruto then came by to inform his sisters about something.
"Hey, Daphne, Bloom, can we talk" Naruto asked
The two of them nodded.
"Listen, I'm going to go on a training journey with pervy sage" Naruto said
"Naruto's going on a journey with Jiraiya?" Daphne thought
"You're leaving?" Bloom asked
Naruto nodded.
"When I heard what happened to you and realized that there was nothing I could've done, that made realize that I need to get stronger and pervy sage is the only one who can help me become stronger. So I'll be traveling with him for a while" Naruto said
"Knowing Jiraiya, you'll be gone for a long time. If this is something you really want to do then I can't exactly stop you" Daphne said
"We'll wish you luck and when you come back I'll be stronger" Bloom said
Naruto then bid his farewell to everyone and left with Jiraiya and would soon return after 3 years of training.