AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.
Proofread by: Author and Kyluxia
Daylight savings just hit me recently. The confusion that follows is always fun. Especially since not all timezones switch on the same day, or in some cases, even the same week. Apologies for the delay in releasing this chapter today.
Chapter 36: Support and reward.
Finally arriving at the passage that led to Kushina, Sakura was confused to find a corridor where the door used to be, a faint light visible in the distance of the darkened corridor. Tentatively, she reached into the corridor and felt around with her senses to find out if the corridor was part of their mindscape, or wherever it was Kushina was. If it belonged to the Kushina chakra fragment, it was likely some kind of defensive mechanism that Sakura couldn't afford to ignore. On the other hand, if it was some kind of protective measure their mind had conjured up against Kushina, then she could likely just skip past it all, as she could no longer feel the presence of those blood tendrils.
Fortunately, it seemed the painstakingly long corridor was indeed part of the mindscape Sakura shared with Heikō, reassuring Sakura rather than worrying her. Utilizing the well-practiced art of skipping to a different part of their mindscape, Sakura found herself in front of Kushina's door, only to stop in shock at the sight within. The door to the room was wide open, and inside, Sakura could see Kushina on all fours, crying, while surrounded by seals, all painted in blood. The bloody hands of the girl gave away the source of the blood.
"Kushina?" Sakura asked, wondering exactly what was going on, or what the many, unfamiliar seals she could see painted all over the walls, ceiling, and floor were supposed to be.
"I'm- I'm sorry!" Kushina replied, hiccuping as she tried to apologize. "I didn't mean to hurt you!" She clarified, remaining on all fours, trembling. Sakura could hear the sincerity of Kushina's words, letting herself relax as she sat down outside of Kushina's room.
"Well, that's good at least. Now, I think it might be a good idea if we have a talk. Why don't you start with what exactly it was you were doing." Sakura decided to ask. She actually wanted to know how Kushina had managed to become so aware and animated without relying on the memory copies of Naruto they had provided her. The most obvious suspicion she had were the seals she could see, but what exactly they did was a mystery.
"I was trying to find and use the nearest source of chakra. My own is rapidly running out, and I can't make any more on my own without a body. I thought I was caught in some kind of seal and was trying to extend my reach beyond it, but I made some kind of mistake. Forgive me!" Kushina explained, apologizing once more.
"So, all you did was attempt to forcefully take my sister's chakra?" Sakura asked to which Kushina finally looked up from the floor, revealing her reddened, frightened eyes, with tears trailing down her chin.
"Y-yes. She's alright now, I hope?" Kushina asked, and Sakura could tell that she was actually worried, just as much, if not more than Sakura. After all, Sakura could tell that Heikō's presence in the mindscape hadn't in any way diminished. Since Kushina no longer seemed to be an active threat, Sakura reached out to find Heikō and Fukō to confirm their condition, only to find Heikō unconscious and Fukō missing.
"She's unconscious now, but I don't think she's in any danger," Sakura explained, knowing that if Heikō had been in danger, Fukō would either be working on helping her or joined Sakura to attack Kushina for what she had done. With the threat no longer present and Heikō no longer in danger, Fukō must have retreated to the depths of their mindscape again until she would once again be needed.
"T-that…" Kushina began, relaxing slightly before sitting up, letting out a small sigh as she wiped her tears. "I'm glad. I was afraid I seriously hurt someone." Kushina admitted, shuddering at the admission.
"You surprised us, that's for sure. Now, would you mind explaining how you're conscious now, as well as why you need to replenish your chakra? Last we checked, your chakra was stable and depleting at a rate that should last you a long time." Sakura pointed out, and Kushina nodded before explaining.
"The memories you gave me. They're all of Naruto, my son. They… they let me focus on him because he was my focus before… well before I ended up like this. I don't know how I ended up here with you and your sister. My last thoughts before this… I was dying. Through a certain seal, part of my chakra was supposed to be sealed inside of Naruto, so that when the time came, I could help him, and he would get to know me, and I could tell him how much my husband and I loved him." Kushina explained with a sad smile, before looking downcast.
"I guess that didn't work." She concluded mournfully.
"Actually, we think it did. Technically speaking, you are a copy of a sampled chakra trace. I think it remained intact within Naruto's seal." Sakura decided to correct Kushina, causing the chakra copy to look at her with wide eyes.
"Wha- You can't be serious! Someone managed to replicate my chakra, down to my memories and personality?" Kushina asked, which made Sakura feel a bit sheepish, but she nodded in confirmation.
"Yes, it was actually us, kinda. It wasn't even intentional, but we have a very unique relationship with our own chakra, that causes it to enhance and improve certain techniques in accordance with our will or wishes. It's not always intentional, but when we tried to create a transformation of you to show Naruto how you used to look like, we wanted to make it as perfect as possible, and our chakra took it as a challenge, managing to recreate you, using the chakra in Naruto's seal as a template." Sakura explained.
"That sounds rather unbelievable," Kushina admitted, not looking entirely convinced.
Sakura chuckled, not too bothered with Kushina's disbelief as she shrugged it off. "It's the truth, as far as we can tell. We've been making a lot of discoveries lately, and it seems that Senjutsu Chakra, combined with our Kekkei Genkai and chakra control can do some crazy stuff." Sakura explained, which just made Kushina furrow her brows and pinch the bridge of her nose, trying to understand Sakura's statement.
"Hold on, you mean to tell me that not only do you have a Kekkei Genkai I've never heard of, but you're also a sage, at your age? Not to mention that you're wording implies that your chakra is usually influenced by your sage mode?" Kushina asked, looking skeptically at Sakura.
"Well, yeah. Our Kekkei Genkai is what's allowing us to speak right now, as I'm currently in my own mindscape, while you're… not. We still haven't figured out where you are exactly, just that that room of yours isn't directly part of our mindscape." Sakura clarified, before continuing with her explanation. "Another benefit of our Kekkei Genkai is that we have a substantial resistance to Natural energy. Even before we found out about Senjutsu, we were able to control and weaponize Natural energy against others." Sakura informed Kushina, who looked a bit more accepting of Sakura's earlier claims now.
"On top of it all, we managed to figure out the difference between different Natural energy types before we began training to become a sage, and once we knew how to practice Senjutsu, our chakra control made it easy to become the first Human Sage. Since Humans don't exactly run the risk of turning into a human from using Human Natural energy, we managed to completely convert all our chakra to Senjutsu chakra, and with practice, as well as an incident or two along the way, we eventually reached a point where our body automatically produces Senjutsu chakra, instead of regular chakra." Sakura concluded her little explanation, while Kushina was once again staring at her, wide-eyed.
"That, that's amazing." Kushina eventually stated, realizing the viability of Sakura's claims. The ability to constantly be in Sage-mode was a previously unthinkable concept. Her husband had certainly been right. The younger generation really was the future. "I think it's a good thing I didn't leech any of your chakra then. That could have ended in a disaster." Kushina then realized, shuddering at the idea.
Sakura nodded in agreement. "Yes, that might have ended badly for you. Speaking of, you never did explain why you need so much chakra now. Is it because of those seals?" She asked, gesturing at the seals that remained in the room.
Kushina nodded slowly, seemingly in a bit of thought. "Yes, partially. They're mostly there to stabilize this space, freeing up some of my chakra for retaining my focus and ability to think. However, what's really draining my chakra is another seal I placed on myself that allows me to cannibalize my Physical energy, converting it into Mental energy so that I can convert my chakra into Yin chakra. Makes it easier to keep my head from cluttering and lets me last longer. Unfortunately, I can't produce any more Physical energy, so once I run out, I'm screwed. That's why I need more chakra." Kushina explained.
Sakura, however, while intrigued by the mention of Yin chakra, had latched on to another piece of invaluable information. Kushina was converting Physical energy into Mental energy. Energy conversion was one of the problems Sakura and Heikō were facing in the creation of new techniques. Sustaining Kushina was suddenly a very big priority.
"That's amazing. We've been trying to figure out energy conversion for a while. If you have a seal for that, we might have access to near-limitless chakra in the future. Something which should allow us to sustain you." Sakura added, before sparing some of her focus to portion off some Physical and Mental energy, ready to offer it to Kushina. "Until Heikō wakes up and you share the seal with us, I could feed you some of our own Physical and Mental energy." Sakura offered Kushina.
Kushina, however, just sighed and shook her head. "I need chakra, not the individual energies. I can't convert them like that. I need your chakra, which I will first be converting to my chakra, before improving the seal I'm using on myself right now. I'll happily share my sealing knowledge with you two if I can just have a portion of your chakra, but it's not simple to convert energy of one kind into another, even when using seals or when you know what you're doing. I don't actually recommend using my current method." Kushina told Sakura, frowning.
It was slightly disheartening, but it would still be worth listening to what Kushina had to offer. Not to mention that they had planned to keep Kushina alive anyway for Naruto. Allowing the energy she had spared to mold into regular chakra, Sakura carefully tried to create a constant flow to begin molding regular chakra for Kushina to use. Once she felt certain that she had managed, she directed the chakra towards the passageway.
All of a sudden, a wide copper pipe appeared along the wall, connecting to the passage into Kushina's room, ending in a valve on Sakura's side of the passage, giving Sakura a way to regulate the flow of chakra, or cut Kushina off completely in case it became necessary. At least, that was how it was visually represented in the Haruno twins' mindscape. In the room, the pipe transformed into a flat surface with a seal on it, which seemed to simply feed chakra into the room.
Sakura and Kushina both looked at the pipe in surprise for a moment, before Kushina went up to the new seal, studying it for a few moments, before putting her hand on it and turning it, as if turning a valve, letting out a relieved sigh as Sakura felt some of the offered chakra disappearing from her senses. Kushina turned to look at her with a smile. "Thank you, this should work nicely."
AN: Well, would you look at that. Things are certainly looking up now, aren't they? Kushina is back, at least mentally, and she brings with her an important piece of the puzzle for one of the Haruno twins' goals. Of course, some limitations and conditions need to be observed as Kushina hinted, so it might not turn out to be exactly what they need. At the very least, it is a start and a hint to something they previously had no idea about how to tackle.