IMPERIALS – SHE RETURNS

Tamade City, Gavaria

All was fine in Tamade City, it was a boring day in the life of Colonel Protector Malika. Colonel protectors are those designated guardians of the cities in a nation. They tend to be among the weakest class 8 warriors. If they were stronger they would be in the capital vying for political power. However, in recent times nobody has dared to challenge the authority of the generals on any subject, not since they eliminated Colonel Zahra for her attempted coup.

Today is not going to be a boring day for Colonel Malika.

She feels the ground shaking beneath her, the result of battle. It has been a long time since Tamade has seen any significant battles. Recently there have been a few rebel uprisings but nothing significant enough to draw her attention. She uses 'gale' energy, just like the hunter Shao Chin. It is a transcendent element strong enough to deter most rebels who would think of attacking her directly. This is clearly something different, an attack from someone much stronger.

She runs to the window and looks out for the attackers, but she cannot see anyone. She squeezes her communication stone, prompting one of her senior captains for a report, but he does not answer. She asks another of her captains for a report, she receives nothing back. She hears the cry of one of her defeated soldiers through the opening in the window and begins to panic. She sends out a message to all of her subordinates asking them what is happening.

"… taking us out one by one—"

That is the only message she receives as she hears her juniors defeated in quick succession. They are being taken out quicker than she can react and she has no idea how it is happening. She catches a glimpse of something flying back and forward twice, something she recognises from the reports she has received. She believes that the weapon moving in front of her is a kunai, one of the favoured weapons of the pocket-worlders.

She understands far too late that she is under attack from a group with very strange powers. The pocket-worlders are famed for their stealth capabilities, they could definitely do this. It takes only a few more seconds before the last of her followers is defeated, leaving her alone in her grand office. She is trapped in the centre of Tamade and is surrounded on all sides by an enemy she cannot see.

Thankfully one enemy does present himself to her. He walks straight towards her window down the street smiling all the way. Malika recognises his uniform as being that of a Military general. Furthermore, he seems to have customised his uniform to designate himself as the Head General. That means this can only be the traitor Clyde.

She is grateful that he is leading the attack against her, for Clyde is an enemy she knows she can defeat. However, he is only a distraction, a distraction she again recognises far too late. When she turns around she sees someone that was identified by the Ewoa Imperial Guard, one of the most powerful pocket-worlders of all. Uchiha Sarada has entered her office.

The Uchiha clanswoman is wrapped in a golden 'creation' cloak, showing her full powers of a class 8 warrior.

Malika plans to clutch her communication stone, bribing Clyde and his military allies to help her against the pocket-worlder.

"It's no use," Sarada says. "Nobody is going to save you."

Malika is stunned, it is as if Sarada has read her mind. Of course that is not the case, Sarada can do many things but she cannot read minds. One thing that she can do is see a short way into the future, gauging her foes intentions. That is the power she used on this occasion, the Future Sight, her intervention caused Malika to change her path.

The Colonel Protector has no choice now but to fight. She activates her golden 'gale' cloak and rushes towards Sarada. She strikes repeatedly at the 9th Hokage's head, but Sarada dodges each and every attack with ease, her skills so superior that the Future Sight seems almost unnecessary.

When the final attack has been avoided Sarada declares that it is her turn. She uses her golden 'creation' powers to create a pair of diamond shuriken. She throws the shuriken at Malika's legs, taking them out from beneath the colonel. She quickly runs over and the fallen colonel and uses the unique gravity-manipulating powers of her Rinnegan, keeping Malika pressed to the ground. She then uses golden 'creation' to form diamond once again. The diamond construct covers Malika's entire body, leaving only the general's head uncovered. When she is done there is no chance of the colonel escaping.

Tobirama teleports into the room with a collection of shinobi and military members, Clyde teleports himself with the divine ability that used to be Lara's. They all surround the bound Malika, observing that Sarada has made quick work of her. They are not going to stop here though; they came here with a very clear purpose in mind. They need to take the next stop on the road to liberating Gavaria.

"What is your name?" Clyde asks.

"You don't even know my name!?" Malika shouts back.

Clyde rolls his eyes; he doesn't have time to indulge Malika's delusions of fame. He asks Peterson to look through the desk and the general quickly returns with Malika's name and rank, including a brief record of her service in the Imperial Guard. She is stronger than the average Imperial Guard warrior but she has little in the way of accomplishments, people like her often end up in these ceremonious roles.

"Colonel Protector Malika, you are going to give us some information," Clyde says.

"Why would I tell you anything? I know that you rebels will not hurt me, you are too weak-willed to do what is necessary."

"If you don't answer our questions we will destroy every Imperial Guard building in the city," Kakashi says. "We will make this city a hotspot the rebellion, the focus of every dissenting warrior in Gavaria. Even the Imperial Guard will find it hard to keep control after that."

"We will be merciful to you, but I doubt your superiors will show you the same mercy," Hiruzen says.

"You would let them kill me?"

"You could join the rebellion," Mirai offers.

"Or you could answer our question," Sarada says impatiently. "You only need to tell us one thing and you can leave the rest to us. Your superior General Odion keeps a schedule for when and where Nadia and Swen meet. Where does he keep that schedule?"

"… Odion keeps the schedule in a secret room beneath the Silver Depths Lake. It is in the exact centre of the lake, as deep as you can go. He has a portal to reach it from the royal palace, but you won't be able to use that portal."

"I guess we're going swimming then," Clyde says.

Sarada thanks Malika before rising to her feet and leaving. The Colonel Protector protests that she is still bound by her diamond covers. Sarada removes some of them but leaves the rest, informing the colonel that she will remain here as a prisoner of the local rebellion until they have taken Gavaria. Malika restates her concern of the consequences for her when Odion finds out about her defeat, but Sarada insists this will not be an issue. The fall of one city will be appear insignificant when the entire nation is captured by the rebellion.

North Ewoa

Hannah launches herself at Mada, sensing what his counterattacks will be with her instincts. She plants her foot on the ground half-way to her opponent and swings to the right, avoiding one of his Energy Projection attacks. She continues to weave like this, dodging mostly invisible attacks long before they are formed, using her hand as an extra pivot on the ground. This is the most pressure Mada has been put under and she has not even reached him yet, but she is determined that she will, and as she weaves past the final projected attack that determination sees its reward.

Arriving right before Mada, Hannah throws dirt she grabbed with her pivot hand into his face. The One True Sense means he will still be able to see her, but that observation will be weakened. She leaps into the air, spinning once to increase her momentum before kicking towards Mada's head as hard as she can. He raises his arm to intercept the attack but she continues to push with her leg, driving through the target just as her teacher always told her to.

Mada is knocked back!

The counter-aspect creates a divine energy enhanced Rasen-Shuriken and throws it towards Hannah. She covers both hands in golden 'darkness' energy claps them together to create a defensive technique she calls Black Hole. The Black Hole pulls the attack towards it, crushing it with overwhelming power. Mada creates another pair of Rasen-Shuriken, throwing them at Hannah as well, but they are each drawn into the Black Hole as well.

With all the attacks absorbed, Hannah collapses the Black Hole and switches the golden 'darkness' on her hands for golden 'light'. She claps her hands together using her Light Speed movement technique to appear beside Mada in an instant. She then lands a clean punch to his face. She follows this up with a series of strikes, alternating between attacking high and low at random intervals just as Naruto taught her to do. The imposter is slowly forced back, despite having his master's expertise in hand-to-hand fighting. Hannah may be the only class 9 warrior with hand-to-hand combat skills superior to Naruto and Mada. Many would call her resistance against him miraculous.

But then Mada begins to use Detonation Martial Arts, and things change.

Mada divides his mind, power-transferring to both arms. He strikes repeatedly at Hannah, her instincts allowing her to guard the first few strikes perfectly, but after that he is moving two fast for her. He punches his way through her guard before hitting an uppercut to the underside of her jaw. After she is lifted from her feet he strikes her abdomen, knocking her backwards. He runs after her, using his Energy Projection to slow down her backward momentum. It is less than a second before Mada is in front of his opponent, so he strikes her again. He does this repeatedly, running several miles punching Hannah all the way before he stops. He then grabs Hannah by the collar and slams her down into the ground before binding her there with manipulated grass.

"It is no good trying to fight me, Hannah. I have your teacher's memories; I know that with my divine oddity you can be defeated. You have become stronger since that encounter, but so has my control over that divine oddity. You are strong, and I'm sure that you are stronger than most class 9s, but I am the one opponent you cannot defeat. I am your worst possible enemy."

"I never thought… that I could hate… that face so much…"

"You have no idea what hatred feels like. Every time I see this face reflected I am reminded of all the decisions that Naruto made. I remember all the times he sacrificed himself, he put all of us through pain so that he could play the hero. You hate this face because of what it is doing to you now. I hate this face because it has responsible for all the suffering I have endured through my entire life. It is all that idiot's fault."

"Naruto-sensei is no fool," Hannah says. "You may have… inherited his memories… but you… have none of his wisdom."

"You were stupid enough to learn from him, you knew how much it would hurt to walk beside him. You are clearly just as foolish as he is, entertaining your opinions has been a waste of my time."

Mada places his hand on Hannah's head and draws the 'life' energy from her body as quickly as he can. Using the bubble over a large area made the process of absorbing 'life' much slower, but even as he concentrates his life-absorption on Hannah she resists. The lifeforce of a class 9 warrior is clearly much stronger than a class 8 one. She begins to feel weak and feeble, but she is not going to die yet, she will not allow it.

"He will find a way back…" she whispers. "… he will come back… he will come for you… and he will defeat you…"

Mada smiles.

Suddenly a golden 'wind' powered Rasengan hits Mada's hand. It doesn't hurt remotely but for a fraction of a second it separates him from Hannah. Minato uses that moment to grab hold of Hannah's shoulder and teleport away with her. Now that the others are at a safe distance he can teleport numerous times in a row to markers that he has already placed, the escape is much easier.

For now Hannah and her cohorts have survived, but now they must face the grim reality, Ugokanai Mada is too strong for them.

Dunstone City, Ewoa

The Council of Ewoa once helped the former queen to rule this land. While the group still exists to deal with admin issues it has no true power anymore, no influence over the decisions of their current queen. Unlike her predecessor, Queen Wakamoto Taira, Queen Mauer Sabine has no wish for their advice, nor any use for their input. She rules the kingdom according to her own desires with no regard given to the suffering citizens of Ewoa.

The council is staffed mostly by weak warriors with little experience of battle. They are politicians and diplomats who have had their former importance taken from them. They resent their new reality and how the new regime forces people to struggle, but they have no power to resist. There is only one warrior of any note among them, a man who functions as their investigator.

This investigator has a rare power, the weaker version of the 'mind' energy possessed by Queen Hirsch Nadia, it is 'intelligence' energy. A transcendent element he understands to tier 2, paired with his tier 1 understanding of a manual and his divine ability it makes him a class 5 warrior. Many wanted to have him on the council from the moment he broke through both because of his element and the possible political benefits of becoming his friend. He is not only the council's investigator, but also the son of former Queen Wakamoto Taira. His name is Jun.

Jun has neck-length dark hair and wears indistinct clothes, usually dark green in colour. He can always be found wearing sunglasses, even when it is dark. The day his mother was killed he was wearing those glasses and he has taken them with him everywhere ever since, as if they were his last connection to her. Now he finds himself with his fellow council members pouring over the latest reports deposited by the Imperial Guard. Usually these reports contain nothing interesting said in as many words as possible; the Imperial Guard enjoys wasting their time.

Recently though these reports have been getting more exciting. First there was the one about the traitor Elliot who pretended to join the Imperial Guard and destroyed their local headquarters. There have been reports about the rebel forces to the east. The latest report that has been placed before them is about the string of villages that have been eliminated by a man resembling Uzumaki Naruto.

The others dismiss the information as proof that Uzumaki Naruto has finally gone mad and cannot be trusted, but he has a very different view on the matter. Jun believes that it is beyond any doubt, this is not the real Naruto, this is a fake Naruto!

North Ewoa

Minato returns to the others with Hannah. They all worry about her immediately, she is in terrible condition. Whatever Mada was doing to her has caused serious internal damage, the sort that could leave her unable to fight for weeks. Normally at a time like this Naruto would use 'life' energy to resolve the situation easily, but he is not here. They have no way out of this, no way to help Hannah, no way to fight the imposter.

Hinata holds her hands in front of her face and panics. She is seeing images of Naruto in the past; they are flashing before her faster than ever before. She doesn't know what to do. Now that Naruto is not here she is supposed to lead them, to guide them through this difficult situation, but she is panicking worse than anyone else. She feels completely lost without him, like all the light has vanished from her world.

"How do we help Hannah?" Kushina asks Ming Dai.

"I don't know."

"Alright then, how do we help Naruto?"

"I don't know that either!"

"What are we supposed to do then?"

"You do realise which way he is travelling don't you?" Michel asks Ming Dai. "He was heading towards Dunstone. Every village and town he has encountered on his path has been lifeless when we have arrived. Frankly we're lucky that he is stopping at so many of these towns, otherwise he may be there already. When he arrives in Dunstone, it may be the biggest massacre since the war with the Dark Dimension."

"We can't let that happen," Ming Dai says.

"Then what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know!"

"Perhaps this would be a good time to use that hidden power," Shao Chin says.

Dai rolls his eyes. "I told you that I won't use that power. Besides, even with that power I wouldn't be strong enough to stop Naruto. If he can do that to a class 9 Hannah then I wouldn't stand a chance."

Mana sees that her sister is crouching on the ground, still staring at her hands. She walks over and kneels in front of Hinata, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. But Hinata continues to panic. Mana has never seen her like this, even during her worst moments. Hinata has been sad, distressed, and furious, but never like this.

"Sister, are you OK?"

"Where is Naruto?" Hinata asks.

"We think that he is heading towards Dunstone. We're thinking of a plan to stop him now OK? Just calm down. I know it looks a bit hopeless but we will figure this out."

"No. I've been watching. I saw. That wasn't Naruto. That wasn't Naruto. He would never do that."

"Sis, is your voice OK?"

Minato is startled, there is something familiar in that voice. He looks around the others seeing that Kushina, Sasuke and Ming Dai all share the same reaction. That voice was different but it was not unfamiliar and the fact that these people recognise it gives Minato a working theory.

"Hinata, what is your name."

"Hinata… I'm Hinata… I'm…"

"It's going to be OK Hinata, I need you to keep calm. Tell me, what is your full name?"

"I am… I am…

"Hyuuga Hinata."

In Response to S
Who asks if Naruto is moving at light-speed in the void

Yes, probably somewhere around there.
I must admit the physics probably doesn't make sense though.

Thanks for reading.

In Response to Engineer
Who asks several questions

Q1: Is Hannah at the royal level?
A1: Yes.

Q2: Could Hannah defeat Nadia and Swen by herself?
A2: Maybe, it would be a very close fight.

Q3: Could Hannah see through Sabine's chaos?
A3: Maybe. Maybe she could see through half of it.

Q4: Could Hannah defeat Erik effortlessly?
A4: Maybe not effortlessly, but she is definitely stronger than him.

Q5: Does your divine ability get stronger as you do?
A5: Yes, it usually does.

Q6: What exactly does 'mind' divine energy do?
A6: It has not yet been completely revealed.

Q7: Who is stronger, Sabine or Sora?
A7: When Sora uses the second Crown he is stronger, otherwise Sabine is stronger.

Q8: Does the use of Energy Projection or Path Light consume divine energy?
A8: Yes, they both consume divine energy.

Q9: Can Naruto project divine energy indefinitely if he is not injured?
A9: No.

Thanks for reading.

In Response to awwal
Who asks what Sasuke is doing

Sasuke was among those teleported away by Minato.

Thanks for reading.

In Response to iloveffn
Who asks several questions

Q1: Does the Rinnegan give mastery of the five main elements and the ability to use elemental kekkai genkai?
A1: I think so. I'm not sure though.

Q2: Does the Rinnegan make breakthroughs easier?
A2: It might make things marginally easier, it wouldn't make a significant difference though.

Thanks for reading.

In Response to Snaketh
Who is worried that Naruto would be a strange old man

I don't know if the void is the same sorry.
To alleviate your worries, even if Naruto does become an old man there is the age-altering technology that Akashi used to become an old man, so it wouldn't necessarily be permanent.

Thanks for reading.

In Response to Guest
Who asks if Naruto could use all of the tailed-beasts elements simultaneously

He could but there wouldn't be much point.
Using 'life' and 'fate' together gives Naruto class 9 energy.
Using the other elements simultaneously wouldn't make Naruto stronger and it would take a lot of concentration.
They might be useful as utilities though as each element could have unique applications.

Naruto does now have more chakra than Mada.

Thanks for reading.

In Response to Ultimusred
Who asks if Boruto is a progenitor too

I couldn't possibly say without giving away potential spoilers.

Thanks for reading.