Bonjour mes chers lecteurs!
HAPPY NEW MONTH!
This is the epilogue!
Before you get into it, I'm going to give out some HUGE shout outs: Tyrese, darkwolfz, Laigro, dominator088, Highcat, nirmtheworm14, Ishimaru Taiki, Fuyuriku, shinobinoyami16, Apocalyptica-sama, Spenge, volcasiron30, animedood, groverthegoat, bunto, puzahx2, Xebolous-1, Tohka123, paulagustin101, geraldsha, theotakuboy, ankur2005, Le Shiro Usagi, Primarx, TigrezzTail, alivemikasa1, guest110, champblaze, SpiralStorm75, 777torn777, rescue 007, Blackseal84, Imheretolive08, BJJF691, Night-Wolf Pack and Swaggerboy. You're all amazing :)
Take note, most characters are OOC. If you're not a fan of canon characters diverging from their original personalities, then I'm honestly not sure how exactly you got through to this epilogue.
When I write all in italics ( I'm talking about something like this), then the environment is a dreamscape. I'm saying this cuz there will be a point the story takes place in a dream, then would transition to reality.
I made a correction to the last chapter; the Otsutsuki corpses inside Naruto's god tree root pods won't become Blue Zetsu but rather White Zetsu.
That's enough of my rambling.
Enjoy…
Epilogue
Eighteen years later
05:45AM
Beep-beep...beep-beep...beep-beep-
A hand snaked out from underneath the blankets and slapped the top of the bedside drawer, grumbling and slapping it again, then once more before the person finally brought their hand down on the alarm clock, rising up and sitting against the headboard.
Orochimaru blinked slowly, sleepily, one eyelid opening and shutting faster than the other as she blearily reoriented herself with her home of eighteen years; even though this body had at least two more hundred years before it could expire, a good night's sleep was a luxury the legendary Sannin wasn't so keen on escaping.
The lady's room was conservative and somewhat plain, not doing her long-standing wealth or her legendary status any justice. The blinds flew up and soft orange-yellow light poured, adding light to bare toned wallpapers and deep red carpeting. She had a tall, mahogany wardrobe on one side of the room, the same side as an underwear drawer. Cool air-conditioned air hummed around her home, seeping to her room and gliding about her moderate sized bed; it could comfortably accommodate three people though not for a while.
Most of her furniture was from Hidden Chill, her old base of operations before she packed everything in that village and relocated here. Everyone from that village, the Iwa Orphans her son had rescued and refugees of the Third War, came with her and made their homes around the god tree, adding to the expanding landscape of the developing Hidden Village.
She yawned widely, stretching her arms high and wide, smacking her lips at the nice click of her lower back. The golden eyed woman threw off her blanket and swung her legs down, wiggling her toes on the carpet and ruffling her frizzy, dark locks; she hadn't really changed skin since all those years ago, using that dark skinned Iwa Explosion Corps Captain she hijacked during the Festival at Hidden Salt, moments before her son killed Jiraiya.
To commemorate her son's sacrifice, she drew further away from criminal acts, like associating with the Iron Yakuza by working part-time as a Mob Doctor, and though she hadn't done questionably moral experimentations on a living-or formerly living-beings since when Blue was eight, she didn't feel that she should halt her scientific research.
Her scientific breakthroughs were beneficial for human survival, and the people of the village, not to talk of the world, acknowledged her for her hard work.
The woman tiredly slinked to the bathroom, tugging her favourite silvery yellow pyjamas over her head and tossing it into the laundry bin in the bathroom, nudging the door shut and passing her shirtless reflection as she made her way to the bath. She tied a towel over herself and pulled off her pants, throwing that over her shoulder and leaning into the sink.
She found her toothbrush, spilled some toothpaste on it and ran it under a tap, brushing her pristine white teeth, taking extra care with her fangs. When she was done with that, she gurgled some mouthwash and rinsed her mouth, checking her teeth in the mirror.
Ten minutes later, she left the bathroom and went back to her room to get changed.
The radio on her alarm clock switched itself on at 6AM on the dot and the host of the morning radio show spoke in a voice much too excited for that hour.
"Good morning, Blue Tree!"
Orochimaru grunted.
"It's another wonderful day in our wonderful home and what better way to start the day than with ya boy, Ostrich." Random bird sounds trilled-eagles, chickens, ducks and swallows-, accompanied by party horns. This brought a scoff and a small smile to the Sannin's expression, as she picked up a lab coat and slung it on her forearm.
Her clothing choice was somewhat different from years ago; a short sleeved forest green robe that fell to her upper calves, opening at the front by a slit from her collar to her navel that showed her modest long sleeved grey shirt. A pair of equally grey pants peeked out from the end of the dress, coming down above her ankles and complementing a pair of low heeled ninja sandals.
She wrapped bandages around her hands and, unknown to a few people, she did so as well for her abdomen, still sore from her prolonged battles with the Otsutsuki clan.
Shedding her skin rejuvenated her body, and yet still some injuries couldn't so easily be healed.
These particular injuries were taking their sweet time healing and it bothered her.
Making her way down the stairs, the speakers in her livingroom hummed, connecting with the radio and letting the radio show host's voice follow her to the kitchen.
"We are nearing the end of summer break, so it's getting cooler and the wind's blowing harder. Dont forget to put on some warm clothes and carry an umbrella with you, because we're expecting a light shower around midday."
The lady of the house took note.
"Before I warm up your morning with a glorious lineup of music, I've got a special request here from the world's most adorable kids." He pressed a button and a voicemail from the previous evening started. The children were young, maybe four or five. The scientist stilled for a moment as she recognized the first kid speaking loudly, or maybe he was holding the phone at his mouth. "Hello! Good evening, Ostrich! My name's Ichimaru," his siblings and cousins introduced themselves as well. "Konstantine! Hebi-Sora! Junior! Tyga! Mimiko! Arashi! Kirai! Koun! Krow! Kaguya!" Sasuke's quadruplets were last. "And we want to wish our grandma a happy birthday! Happy birthday Granny Orochi!" Said woman smiled, lowering her face and closing her eyes, chuckling fondly at the chorus of kids voices screaming into the phone. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRAMMA!"
Some adults chortled in the background of the voicemail, and Orochimaru could pick out each and every one from the timbre of their laugh, shaking her head softly and continuing her trek to the kitchen, enjoying the nice pang of her heart.
"WE LOVE YOU, GRAMMA!"
"I love you too, babies." She couldn't help but respond, refusing to feel ashamed for talking when no one could hear her.
They were sweet kids.
As "grandpa" or "grandma" was what the children of the family called those older than their parents, meaning Kushina, Yugao and Blue were also their grandparents, Orochimaru made it a point to stand out.
Like she always wanted if Blue were to have kids, she spoiled those children.
Oh, she spoiled them.
Heaven only knows why they weren't rotten.
"Well isn't that the cutest thing you've ever heard?" Ostrich cooed in spite of himself, sighing forlornly. "Anyway, I want to add my voice and wish Lady Orochimaru the happiest, brightest and most amazing birthday, and also that each coming birthday be better than the last. Happy birthday, ma'am!"
Orochimaru decided against breakfast and jogged back upstairs to her study, going straight to the wall dedicated entirely to a small fraction of her library.
She unconsciously nodded to Ostrich's birthday wishes for her, pulling out a few books written by the obscure ancestors of the Yamanaka clan, stolen by yours truly some decades ago during the chaos of the Third War.
The stack of books increased to seven and she sealed them away for later reference.
Meanwhile, Ostrich kept talking.
"Fun fact about Lady Orochimaru, she's still single and I personally think she's a catch." She rolled her eyes, exiting her study. "My advice though is that unless you're a solid double S rank with a friggin death wish , DO NOT come at her for a relationship. The stories I've heard...dead suitors littering the streets of Konoha...and Kumo...and Snow…and Waterfall…." He cleared his throat, shaking off a shiver and in turn making a ghost of a smirk flick up on the dark skinned Sannin's lips. "Anyone interested in hearing those stories? I'll try and invite her to the studio; I hear she's a fan. She might agree. Fingers crossed!"
She would definitely agree to telling some of those gruesome stories on Ostrich's radio show, if only to entertain herself at the village's reaction.
As Ostrich began mixing songs, she left through the frontdoor. The radio turned off automatically as she snapped the lock shut, testing the doorknob and tucking her house key into a pocket.
Then she thought of her grandkids and their army of children,
Ichimaru, Konstantine and Hebi-Sora were Itachi's, and he had them with Isaribi, except Hebi-Sora, who they adopted from a remote village in Water country. Kon and Hebi-Sora were four while Ichimaru was six, the oldest of their ragtag group of kids.
Isaribi showered them with so much love and affection, Itachi had to work double time to get them to so much as look in his direction, but they were his world and he loved them.
Junior and Tyga were Izumi's, naming her first daughter after herself because the girl had the brazen audacity to look more like her father than her mother, and her second daughter's name was inspired from a popular cartoon her husband enjoyed as a child. The man unfortunate enough to fall in love with her was a puppet master from Suna, the Godaime Kazekage's older brother for that matter. Kankuro and Izumi enjoyed their playful bickering; she would rib him into flushing red and he would bite back with a harmlessly scathing retort.
It was fun watching them.
Shisui adopted Mimiko from Suna, and later on Arashi from Wave country, adviced so by his best friends to stop him from jumping from boyfriend to boyfriend. The Uchiha speedster wasn't one for relationships but he was all for raising children, oddly enough. It was a risky move on Itachi, Izumi and Sasuke's part but those three knew Shisui too well that they could pinpoint exactly how to make their friend grow up.
A single person not willing to commit skipping over getting a pet and adopting two children was, admittedly, irresponsible though it worked out excellently; Shisui was an amazing father and though he still went on dates from time to time, it didn't end with him naked and hungover in a sketchy stranger's bed.
Her mind wondered to Sasuke and his unlucky plight, unable to hide her tickled smile as she waved to her neighbours, bowing ever so slightly in appreciation for their kind birthday wishes.
The Sannin's bright yellow eyes might have been looking up the street at the giant tree some miles from her position, evergreen leaves and widely encompassing with its branches, though she lamemted at the hilarity of Sasuke's situation.
That man had a one-off fling with a Haruno girl a five years back in a party at Zyouki, while both were out on a mission for their respective villages, and one month later she rampaged against Blue Tree's southern gates, the one bordering Konoha, bellowing for Sasuke to drag himself out and take what he had coming.
Apparently, one of the condoms broke that heated night at the Elder god Hotel and Casino, and even though the pink haired girl assured Sasuke she was using a strong Contraceptive seal plus a reliable Morning After jutsu and birth control pill combination, mainstay techniques for females on the field and a backup if the condoms didn't work properly.
Sasuke even checked with his sharingan and confirmed her words were true, finding the B rank seal on her lower abdomen and the fact that she was a well-known medic was another big plus.
In the heat of the moment, they kept going without condoms.
Orochimaru snickered, amused by the vague similarities between how she got pregnant for Naruto, although hers was that her son's father forgot his wallet at party and didn't want to head back, keeping her waiting. The Sannin in turn had forgotten to set up protection for herself, drunk and dazed as she was.
Sasuke's swimmers bypassed everything.
Thus the quadruplets.
She bound up a building, pursing her lips to stifle a giggle. Leaping from roof to roof and gesturing briefly to the Police Officers patrolling the early morning streets, noticing her fleeting figure and greeting her.
Their big family didn't let the tired father any moment to rest.
As a medic and a mother, Orochimaru respected Sakura Haruno, but as a person the Sannin detested the pinkette with every fibre of her being; even though Sasuke had been able to smooth things over with the Clan Council, being the Uchiha Clan Head and Leader of Blue Tree, Sakura refused to step foot in the illustrious village.
Her reason?
Because Orochimaru, Konoha's Most Wanted Ninja and the mother of the Blue Uchiha, the man that not just betrayed his village but also murdered the Yondaime Hokage in cold blood, was also living in the village.
That was the deal breaker, on both sides for that matter.
Sakura was at liberty to believe whatever she wanted and at the same time Sasuke was obliged to rule his village how he saw fit.
Blue Tree and Konoha were constantly butting heads on several issues, the biggest being that the relatively newer village should submit the Snake Sannin to Hidden Leaf for judgement on her and her son's crimes.
That wasn't ever going to happen and although Orochimaru had been galavanting outside Blue Tree, sometimes on errands and other times for leisure, no person dared touch her for the collective might of Blue Tree would crash down on the aggressor. The famed grandmother needn't lift a finger.
After some intersession from Itachi and Asuma Sarutobi, Godaime Hokage, both parties agreed that the parents could split custody of their children; six months for Sasuke and the remaining six for Sakura. For the children's birthdays, they would go to any neutral place to celebrate. Their father also freely came and left Konoha to see his children, even as it was Sakura's six months to have the kids, staying some nights at Sakura's place on her living room couch; it was the pink medic's loss that she wouldn't enter Blue Tree during Sasuke's six months.
Schooling was another issue entirely for the parents.
Sasuke wanted to be a father to his kids, and though he didn't once enjoy handing the four over to the Konoha medic he ensured to write and call them every week.
Orochimaru dropped down to an average sized one story building, idly glancing up at the sign neatly hanging at top.
Crystalline Pharmacy and Laboratory
The street her lab was on was beginning to wake up; food kiosks were setting up shot around the corner, the shops close by were opening their doors and the street cleaners were rounding up their work, packing up and heading back to the Administrative Tower.
Orochimaru had gone legit, if not for her then for the sake of her extended family.
A lot had happened since eighteen years ago.
Since Blue's god tree grew out from what used to be the Valley of End.
The Village Hidden under the Blue Tree was spread just about as large as Konoha, taking for themselves a quarter of Fire country's land mass and soundlessly daring the Fire Daimyo to call foul; they weren't separating themselves from the country, so for that the Daimyo breathed a sigh of relief.
It was mainly populated by the Uchiha clan-now three times their number from when they were in Konoha-, the partners of these Uchiha men and women and also provided sanctuary for people in the Blue Network.
Anyone on the Blue Network that wanted to set down roots around the god tree was welcome to come, and their presence in Naruto's coveted map of friends and acquaintances could be confirmed by Blue's letters to them the day before Minato killed him at Wave, where he informed them that he was trusting them to look after his nephew.
Many villages were rightly angered at the move to Blue Tree, losing some of their best Shinobi in the coming years. For the most part the Uchiha Council ignored their threats, continuing their lives as normal and making sure the people didn't worry for their livelihood inside Blue Tree. To placate their neighbors against taking an offensive stance against the growing power that was their village, Blue Tree sent merchants to establish businesses, where goods made in the village could be sold outside.
This stilled any aggression for the long term because the products made in the Uchiha populated village were unarguably high quality.
Poising for invasion to steal these resources was an option they couldn't take; the barriers and military expertise of the village was an impossible obstacle to overcome.
The Snake Sage wore her lab coat and the double doors of the pharmacy slid open on their own as they sensed her approach, shutting behind her with a soft swish. Inside, Kabuto was accounting for the drugs on the shelves, looking down at a clipboard to see if they were where they were supposed to be and also seeing that anything a year to expiry was put aside.
Public health and safety was the lab's priority, and it was this reliable reputation that the General Hospital and the village's one clinic partnered up with them.
Drug supplies and medical technologies were the things purchased from them.
Never did the snake-eyed woman imagine she could turn her life around so drastically, but here she was.
And here she thought her son was the only person in the whole world that could bring the best out of her.
Kabuto jerked at her master's appearance, blushing faintly when the pale lady just smiled at her from the closed double doors. The Sannin's protege stood up straight and bowed. "Good morning, Lady Orochimaru," then she beamed. "Happy birthday."
Orochimaru's features shone. "Thank you, Kabuto. How was your night? Did you sleep ok?"
"I slept well. The screws in my back are gone now, so I don't need those meds anymore."
Her mistress's expression dimmed at the memory.
Kinshiki had snapped her student's spine moments before Orochimaru's arrival, and though her regeneration was able to fix her up, it was a long and painful journey of rehabilitation and recuperation; to aid her recovery, she underwent spinal surgery to support her internal healing.
Depression and feelings of worthlessness while the world was falling apart set in after surgery, especially on finding out that the person she adored was now a tree, and Kabuto's master took it upon herself to cheer her student up. Their small family came together to distract the medic of her agonizing plight.
Making her Assistant Manager of Crystalline helped as well.
Kabuto had grown up and matured over time. Her clothes had changed; gone was the all black, tight bodysuit, now the bespectacled medic wore a beige battle kimono that reached her knees, grey tights, black sandals and a blue sash on her hips. She wasn't as slender as when she was younger, filling out a bit more now eighteen years later, but Kabuto Yakushi was a very beautiful woman.
Though her love for the blue Uchiha didn't fade, not even a little, she was a stellar medic and a determined Kunoichi.
Orochimaru couldn't possibly be any prouder.
She came in for a hug and her student laughed awkwardly, circling her arms around her mistress.
They parted and Kabuto bowed again, exuding unending gratitude to the older woman.
"Finish up with this and come to the back, I'm going to order for some breakfast." Orochimaru walked around the counter, and stopped for a minute. "What do you want?"
" Uhm... Ah! Maybe some waffles, eggs- sunny side up-, lemon tea and a spoonful of honey." The Sannin bobbed her head, looking to the ceiling and murmuring the order told to her by her young apprentice. "Thanks!"
Orochimaru made the call from the landline in their laboratory to a local bed-and-breakfast that offered delivery services around the village, first listing out Kabuto's order and then providing her own.
When she was done, she went to work studying chemical compounds and preparing drugs for transport either to the hospital or to the clinic; their laboratory also offered research services, where diseases, ailments and unknown maladies were looked into and cures were churned worked on. This was only the case if the hospital's lab and the experts there were having trouble isolating the problem, calling for the help of the legendary scientist.
The disease she was examining now was a cross between chickenpox and measles that made the sufferer hallucinate and vomit blood. It wasn't widespread, detected in small numbers in Kiri some days ago but Sasuke and the Council personally requested Orochimaru study the infection to prevent a spread in the village, seeing as Kiri was one of the many places they regularly associated with. The things the dark skinned lady and her protege could cross out was that it wasn't airborne or waterborne; now she was looking into physical contact, fluid exchange and, to a lesser extent, Hoshi Pink Meteorite Radiation.
If anyone could get the job done, it was Granny Orochimaru. The temptation to ask Tsunade for help was nonexistent.
Orochimaru was nearing a cause and cure for this problem.
She didn't expect that day to be particularly different from others, regardless of it being her birthday, her schedule, though specially altered for that day, reflected some changes; sign off a batch of deliveries to the hospital and another one to the clinic in a few hours, write and submit a report on her current findings concerning the mystery pox, go on a midday walk with her assistant, lunch with Kushina and Yugao, people watching at the front counter of her pharmacy, join Itachi and Kankuro in picking up the pack of kids from preschool-this one happened in uneven rotations depending on their schedules, though the doting grandmother made sure to do this at least twice a week-, step away for a moment to phone Yugito who was staying in Kumo, come back and pick up a few baking tips from Isaribi, try and fail to pry the overly clingy Hebi-Sora off her back, have a dinner party to celebrate her birthday and to end the day she often went to the village shrine to speak to her son, tell him how their family was faring and that she missed him.
Dearly.
She wanted Blue to know that she loved him.
Always.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Some time later
Blue Tree Temple
Centre of Hidden Blue Tree
Blue Tree village was a peculiar place.
Whether or not it was a true Hidden Village was constantly up for debate among outsiders, seeing the place more as a bigger, more urbanized Uchiha clan compound than anything else.
The laws governing the village were Uchiha in nature and anyone staying inside the village strictly had to abide by them or else face punishment.
Itachi entered the smooth marble temple dedicated to the blue Uchiha; the interior had a vaulted ceiling lit up by soft glowing light bulbs and almost nothing else if not for the base of the tree rooted at the head of the temple. The base of the tree itself was merely a quarter of the whole lower region but it was considered special by the Shrine Attendants because the crow that led the clan to the god tree swiped a claw there.
The place wasn't solely made for the blue marksman; memorial stones for late, great Uchiha were fixed around the bigger shrine dedicated to Naruto.
Graves and gravestones were carefully moved to a plot of land at the outskirts of the village where a tree root pod was located. The graveyard was a sacred place, treated as an extension of the temple and attended to accordingly.
Non-Uchiha indigenes could be buried there too.
Blue Tree was a place where everyone enjoyed the same things and were limited by the same laws without favour for bloodline or social status.
Both the graveyard and the temple were places often visited.
The genjutsu master wanted to beat the long line into the temple so he arrived at the crack of dawn, as per his usual morning habit, to offer his greetings to his uncle; he had Blue's hunter ninja mask clipped to the right side of his hip, wearing a dark short sleeved shirt, a long sleeved mesh armour underneath that shirt and black pants with Shinobi sandals. Over his torso was a red and black jounin vest, bearing the Uchiha fan at the back.
In Itachi's left hand was a hitaite that had the Uchiha fan stamped on the metal plate.
He didn't have any of his standard weapons on his person.
The lines under his eyes deepened, staring at the tree from the Shrine's entrance, then he chuckled as three small bodies collided into his legs.
He didn't make them come with him on his morning routine; they woke up, bathed and scampered after their father every day before and after Preschool.
Their bedtime was at eight and yet it still baffled their father how they could be up and ready for the day at six, when at that time their parents were struggling to keep their eyes open.
They had too much energy for kids their age.
Itachi and Isaribi were contemplating cancelling sugar from their house completely, or at the very least switching from sugar to honey; it was real debate at home.
Ichimaru, Konstantine and Hebi-Sora ran ahead of their mother, who was slowly treading in with a tin foil wrapped tray of pastries, an incense stick and some flowers, smiling slightly at her children mobbing their father.
The oldest, Ichimaru, and the middle child, Konstantine, were identical to their father in all but the deep lines under Itachi's eyes. Jet black hair and light brown eyes, the boy and girl lugged their red tinted school backpacks while wearing normal mufti. The youngest by eight months from Konstantine's birthday, Hebi-Sora, also had a schoolbag and he was the one that had his mother's features, adopted as he was.
He took after his mother due to their backgrounds.
Hebi-Sora had green-red scales over his body not unlike a snake, covering his arms to his shoulders, neck to under his chin, stomach and from his knees to his toes, sporting sharp black nails his parents regularly had to file down to prevent calamitous injury. His snake-like eyes were a gleaming shade of copper yellow with a hypnotic blend of purple and black serving as what were meant to be the whites of his eyes. The snake child's hair was soft brown, straight and tickling the nape of his neck as the front fringed over his temple.
He looked nothing like his family and still the resemblance with his mother was uncanny; the similarities being the circumstances around his birth.
Isaribi had been on a personal trip somewhere in Water country, taking time for herself while her family were staying in Kiri, when she came upon a camp isolated from a village. In that poor camp and inside a tattered tent, was the recently deceased body of a skinny woman with the lower torso of a snake, dearly hugging a crying one year old baby.
There were some words written on the ground of the tent by the dead mother.
Hebi-Sora
Love our child
The fish-woman buried the snake-woman respectfully and took the child back to the village, soon learning how much they despised both the dead lady and her baby. People of that village saw their existence as bad omens and the sheer disgust mixed with morbid fear wasn't lost on Isaribi.
Exactly how the people in Land of the Sea saw Isaribi.
Staying at the remote camp for two more days, for the woman couldn't stand the sight of that village, Isaribi waited for the person the dead mother hoped would come for their child, the person called Hebi-Sora, but that person never came.
Itachi was all for bringing the new addition into their home and the couple were raising their child normally, in spite of his looks.
Blue Tree didn't mind; the boy was an honorary Uchiha, what was there to be bothered about?
Orochimaru swore she didn't have a hand in both the dead mother and her grandson's reptilian affliction.
Said snake-boy clambered up his father's shoulders, coiling his arms and legs around the man's neck and middle like a constrictor though that action bore no malice or ill-intent; his father didn't bat an eye, exaggeratedly staggering when his two other children attached themselves to his legs.
Their laughter brought a warmer smile to Isaribi's face.
The couple met on a blind date.
Shisui's then boyfriend had a friend of a friend of a friend that knew a single lady that newly moved to the Fire Capital, and the date was set up.
Itachi was as cool as ever, charming despite his stoic front, but the observant woman could see right through the Uchiha man, spotting the small beads of sweat on his brow, his untied right shoelace, the quick fumble for his wallet after dinner, not sure if it was rude of him to pay for the whole thing.
It was funny.
The two of them weren't exactly skilled when it came to dating but it was amusing watching the man stumble through a conversation, something anyone other than her wouldn't have noticed.
Her secret smile eased the man's nerves.
A handful of months into their relationship, they found out how they were connected together through the blue Uchiha.
Her husband winked, managing to pick his three children up in his arms and whirl around to face her, and she waggled her eyebrows right back at him.
Itachi laughed.
Making a home with her was the best decision he ever made; she didn't have a problem with his sparing facial expressions and he could tolerate her terrible jokes.
Match made in heaven.
It was impossible imagining a world without each other.
Reflecting on their village, she gently dropped offerings to the blue Uchiha at the shrine, lit the incense and clapped her hands together, bowing in respect. Itachi ushered the children before the shrine and joined her, tilting his head down.
The kids mirrored their parents.
They were grateful for Blue Tree.
The being inside the god tree had not ordered for the village to be made around him; he was still the one that brought them all together, Uchiha and non-Uchiha.
It was a place built on the dreams and drawings of the Naruto "Blue" Uchiha.
Even though Blue was an inventor that focused on etching out images of machineries and equipment to make day-to-day life convenient for the average person, Itachi also found several files and folders among the throng of uninvented blueprints that detailed building constructions, dated from when the man's blue uncle was about ten years old.
Naruto, as a way to distract himself between missions during the Third War, made imaginary citywide plans. They weren't ever meant to see the light of day, juvenile as they were, but Naruto took those drawings very seriously.
Blue wasn't much for leadership but he was perfectly fine being a builder.
His clan didn't strictly abide by those blueprints, following only logical building placements and raising houses for their people to live in. For the most part, the clan had been making secretive plans to part ways from Konoha since Hashirama Senju was appointed Hokage, all they had to do was dust off old plans and merge them with Blue's.
The earth within a five hundred square kilometer radius of the tree was rich in nutrients, blessing everything planted to not just grow relatively quicker than normal but also bountifully as well.
The farms of the village saw regular harvest, adding more and more surplus crops to the dozens of storage houses safely nestled about the village. At a point, there was a declaration from the Administrative Tower for farmers to reduce how much they planted, at least for a little while until they found a way to deplete their stores.
This crop surplus in the stores brought about a demand for industries and specializations they never knew would be in dire need of, so as to make proper use of those stored products. Cloth/shoe making businesses and lumberjacks were among them.
Travelling merchants were called on in newspapers, radio stations and TV networks by the Leader of the village to help export goods from Blue Tree, whether as raw materials or finished products, opening the floodgates for demand from countries and a steady stream of profit. These traders would be given the best possible security and hefty incentives to keep them satisfied.
Blue Tree was self-sufficient; they had large food stores, an abundance of ninjas, a sprawling civilian population, bearable weather in comparison to other places, and limitless innovative, creative and imaginative people willing to work hard for their home; the latter point could have resulted from the Uchiha's mastery of genjutsu.
The only resources Blue Tree didn't have were precious metals and crude oil, so for the former they established an agreement with the trading village of Hidden Mountain, one of the only villages to recognize their autonomy and were not bothered by their rise, buying gold and silver in exchange for discounted goods like clothes and food. In the case of oil, the Clan Leadership immediately moved for Blue's solar panels to be constructed, adopting solar energy throughout the village.
Solar battery cells stored the suns rays, carrying them through nights and cloudy weeks; they really only had to follow the inventor's blueprints to the letter.
At the beginning, things were tough.
It was a time where the clan mourned, marking their new home and defending outside prodding.
They first had to live in tents, each family in their own, opening their doors to orphans and elders that were too worn to survive alone.
It was a time the Uchiha Way shone.
Live within your means.
Leave no one behind.
The arrival of the Snake Sannin and all of Hidden Chill as well as Itachi supporting the clan with his uncle's immeasurable billions boosted their morale, moving out of tents and into wooden houses, then to advancing to concrete constructs.
Clan Leadership and Leadership of the village was raised in a Council meeting, attended also by Blue's mother, the four Uchiha friends and Yugao.
Kushina politely declined the invitation; she didn't want to impose.
Being from Fugaku's lineage and acknowledging his maturity, the Clan Council came to Itachi to take up the role of Clan Head. This was about the same time they were settling down and raising walls around their new home.
Itachi refused, stating that he wasn't interested in being clan head, receding into an advisory function alongside his grandmother, Orochimaru of the Sannin, and his aunt Yugao Uzuki.
Sasuke was next in line, though he was too young at that time being four years old then; the Council ruled the village until Sasuke was old enough and skilled enough to be recognized by the whole clan.
Ten years into Blue Tree's creation and finding their feet in the world, Sasuke accepted the role of Leader and Clan Head, becoming the youngest of either for decades to come at fourteen years old.
When he was sure everyone in the village had a stable roof over their heads and a dependable supply of food to each table, Sasuke commissioned for the Administrative Tower to be built.
Though the shade of the god tree only covered the Shrine, where the tree itself was tended to by Shrine Attendants and the prayers of the people were left for a hopeful answer, its shade also easily encompassed the ten story Administrative Tower where the Leader and his Council oversaw the daily lives of the people.
The tree's branches didn't shade the whole village but its significance was no less important.
Not for a second did anyone think Naruto "Blue" Uchiha was dead.
Not any adult and not any child.
And this time there was definitive, unflinching proof that Naruto was alive. In place of hope and loyal speculation, there were actual facts.
Chakra sensors could feel Naruto's presence inside the god tree, pulsing in a soft symphony of life and nature.
Those permitted to study the tree found that the thrum of chakra flowing within and ebbing in gentle waves from it resembled that of a resting- borderline sleeping-Tailed Beast, albeit the chakra barely seeping outwards wasn't poisonous.
Dreaming.
Studies of the tree's chakra signature determined for a fact that the being inside was dreaming.
The specifics of the dreams were uncertain, though the certainty was that Blue wasn't having a nightmare.
Itachi's pocket chimed.
He fished out his phone, seeing that it was a message from his brother.
Brow knitted and curious why Sasuke was texting him so early in the morning, he swiped his index finger over the sensor at the back of his phone and opened the new message.
-Mom's sick
Isaribi noticed her husband's invisible frown, burrowed under his controlled expression, and she asked, pulling her only daughter back from climbing a shrine attendant and carefully eyeing Ichimaru as the boy visited the other Uchiha shrines, guided by another attendant.
"What's wrong?"
The man showed her the message and her lips screwed to the side, understanding her man's sudden withdrawn emotions. He didn't react to Hebi-Sora wrapping himself around his middle, harmlessly nipping his lethally sharp, poisonous fangs at his father's neck like the vampire demon from a horror movie he mistakenly walked in on that his Granny Yugao was watching at her apartment.
The man's wife shared a look with her husband, communicating mentally for ten silent seconds, before she nodded, calling her kids to her. "Why don't we visit Yugao and see if she finally fixed her washing machine."
The retired swordswoman was going through this thing where she made it a point to do repairs herself when she didn't know heads or tails of anything but being a swordmaster, watching instructional videos and jumping headfirst into her broken appliances.
Most of the time it ended well, other times she had to beg her unhappy roommate, Kushina, to pitch in for a new machine.
...Why was she their family's designated handyman?
The couple shrugged, chuckling at their telepathic joke.
Might as well burn some time watching the famed swordmaster toss around and dig into a washing machine until the kids had to get to school.
Kon and Hebi-Sora's class were graduating preschool to Year One of Four, whereupon the time they were eight years old the kids would decide whether to choose a specialization in the Ninja Arts or a Civilian occupation, and as per the yearly tradition of the Preschool Graduation there would be a short drama held by the graduating class.
Konstantine was "Tree B" and Hebi-Sora's function was to smash a pair of together from backstage.
If only he could do that on cue.
Ichimaru was in Year Two, so he wasn't in the play. Instead, his class was doing a song presentation to start off the graduation ceremony.
Their little girl, Konstantine, swore to be the best tree a tree could ever be; she was oddly fired up to be a tree.
It was weird.
Meanwhile, the youngest boy still couldn't hit his mark.
Exiting the temple, Konstantine looked back to the great tree their village was built around, wondering what her Grand Uncle was dreaming.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
At the same time
Sasuke's House
Sunset District
Southern region of Hidden Blue Tree
A small, five year old girl, gaily tapped her feet on the carpeted floor from her low perch seated in-between her father's crossed legs and humming a tuneless song.
Her three siblings were still fast asleep, scheduled to wake up in ten minutes and prepare for school.
She slept in short, random bursts at a time, barely taking afternoon naps. By the time her siblings were sleeping, she was stubbornly nodding her head as her father piggybacked her.
In many ways, she was like her father's older brother, Itachi, when said man was younger and plagued with crippling insecurities.
Sasuke put the finishing touches on Krow's two braided pigtails, lethargic and helping her off his legs. "There we go, princess. All done."
"Thanks, daddy!"
He had just finished bathing her and dressing her up, an easy task when it came to Krow seeing as she was the calmer of the four kids. He did so for himself earlier, wearing unassming dark clothes; a deep brown shirt, black Shinobi pants and ninja sandals. He didn't wear a jounin flak jacket often. He was a simple man that didn't flaunt his affluence.
For Sasuke, there wasn't a reason to wear your wealth on your sleeve or brag of your power.
He let his enemies do that.
He, on the other hand, didn't want to.
He didn't need to.
Like his Uncle Blue, Sasuke Uchiha was perfectly fine being underestimated.
Sasuke smiled at his daughter, accepting her kiss on the cheek with a tired nod and unfolded his legs, standing up and stretching.
It was amazing how much he would do to make his children happy. Happier than his parents ever made him, and as happily as his uncle Blue ensured he was.
Like braiding hair; he learnt it for Krow and Kaguya, his daughters. They enjoyed having their hair braided. And whenever he stayed at Sakura's too, he was subjected to the quadruplets painting his face with their mother's makeup till he was an unrecognizable clown, the stuff of comical nightmares.
The man rubbed his eyes and bobbed his head when Krow asked if she could go and wake up the rest; she got a pale, pinkish hair tone and dark eyes, Kaguya's hair was jet black with lime green eyes, Kirai bore Sasuke's unruly jet black hair and the man's black orbs, while Koun was his mother's son, having her pink hair and her green eyes.
The quadruplets were identical in all but behavior, the Leader of Blue Tree hummed, ambling to the bathroom to bath his kids.
Krow was assertive, taking charge of the four though not the overall leader of the gaggle of kids.
Kirai was stubborn, crying himself hoarse if he didn't have his way, pushing and shoving for what he wanted. The oldest of Sasuke's quadruplets cried over everything, literally crying over spilt milk on many occasions.
Koun was the shy one, receding to the back of the pack, and still the adults saw the flicker of awareness as he overlooked the other kids like a guardian, or better yet a protector; one time, Koun gave Kirai his ice cream before the other boy could cry up a storm at the museum for his ice cream falling to the ground, quicker than Sakura or Sasuke could react.
Kaguya was entitled and bossy, often almost asserting herself over Krow and demanding the attention of everyone around her. She spoke like a noble-in-training and both parents swore they don't know where she learnt it from.
The youngest quadruplet, Krow, barked at Kaguya to stop dancing and stand still for their dad to wiggle her into her clothes, and Sasuke scoffed, winking at her in appreciation.
Kaguya pouted and raised her hands, slipping on a dress and a pair of shorts.
Sasuke would have scolded Kaguya to keep still if he wasn't so damn tired.
On top of not having the physical support of the other parent during his half-year of raising their kids, his girlfriend of three years was having trouble getting the Hokage to accept her resignation in order to permanently move to Blue Tree and now he got a report that his mother was sick.
Most would think that Hanabi Hyuuga was going through a "Rebellious Princess" phase, dating the Leader of the village Konoha as a whole hated and going as far as to meet with Sasuke's family, making her intentions for her Uchiha boyfriend clear as day.
Three years later and the couple were going strong.
Sasuke was actually planning to propose sometime next week.
The problem was that her clan and her village were setting up roadblocks to stop her move; the Hyuuga clan pulled some expensive strings just so she couldn't get her is own place in Konoha no matter how much money she was willing to pay, forcing her to live in the clan compound, which would explain why Sasuke was sleeping in Sakura's couch instead of at his girlfriend's place.
She was at liberty to take missions away from the country, so there was that.
Hinata said and did nothing.
Asuma, the Godaime Hokage, flat out declined her resignation.
The Sarutobi's faux hospitality ended with the four kids when he realized Blue Tree wouldn't submit, merging with Hidden Leaf in all their might.
Rather, the only other Hidden Village in Fire country was growing more powerful.
More developed.
More advanced.
Eloping would put the quadruplets in danger and also set off an international incident; Konoha would use that excuse to declare war on Blue Tree. Although Sasuke's village had the manpower, military mastery and technology to stave off an attack, it would be hard keeping away Konoha's allies.
In a few years, Blue Tree would have more villages and nations dependent on them. Now though and in this particular situation, they were stuck.
"There, there, daddy." Koun mumbled, standing on his toes and patting his father's dark locks. Sasuke didn't even realize he had been sitting on his bed in reflective silence, unmindful of the kids jumping on his bed.
It seemed little Koun was also watching over him too.
That made him smile.
Sasuke playfully crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, and Koun giggled.
He picked the boy up and took his phone from his pocket at the same time it chimed, notifying him of a message. He opened it and Koun poked his head at the phone as well.
It was a morning selfie from Hanabi, taken from the upstairs balcony of her bedroom, sulking in her adorable bed head and dishevelled pyjamas.
Under the picture she wrote:
-Missin u
The dark bags under his eyes instantly cleared and his tiredness swept out of his body, shining as if he had just shed off all his troubles and worries.
"Daddy, daddy," Koun pat his father's cheek, waking the man up from his blissful daydreams. "Answer, answer!"
"Oh!"
-I miss u too. Are u free in an hour?
Her answer was swift.
-Yeah? What r u planning Uchiha?
-It's a surprise. I'll be there later
-Y'know I've got these eyes. U literally can't hide anything from me
-Is that a dare, Mizz Hyuuga?
Her reply was a winky emoji, followed closely by an emoji sticking out its tongue, then a gif of a cartoon squirrel doing a funky dance.
Sasuke smirked.
"Challenge accepted."
You'd think they were teenagers, toying around like this.
"Daddy? Is that Hanabi?" Kaguya asked, tugging on his pants leg. "Say hi for me!"
"Ok, calm down."
-The kids say hi
Her answer landed soon after.
-Kiss em for me! Tell em I've got presents!
He shrugged, relaying only half of that message. "She wants me to kiss you guys."
A devilish twinkle come to his eyes.
As if on cue, Koun began struggling in his arm, wiggling and thrashing in near hysterical hurry to escape his father's arm, but unfortunately for the quiet boy, he was Sasuke's first victim.
The other kids shrieked gleefully, fleeing from their father's heat seeking kisses, stampeding downstairs like they were running for their lives.
KYAAAAAAAA!
They were going to run late for school and Itachi was probably already on the way over for them to head out to see their mom, but damn it if he couldn't help messing with these four babies.
As he was layering kisses on a joyously squealing Kirai's belly, restraining Krow with a hand and honing his kisses to her face, the door bell rang.
Ding-dong!
Getting up to answer the door and leaving those two children panting, his two other kids leaped on him, Kaguya clinged on for dear life with arms around his neck and Koun held Sasuke's left ankle.
" Oh?" Their father hummed, acknowledging how unexpected this ambush was. His body blurred and their positions suddenly changed; Koun was thrown over a shoulder in a fireman carry and Kaguya, dazed at the sharp change, was hefted off he ground under the Leader's arm. Kirai and Krow joined in, screaming war cries that reached those standing outside at the frontdoor, but Sasuke's deftly lifted Krow to his other shoulder while the youngest found himself under his other arm.
The four blinked.
Sasuke smirked.
The pair at the door pursed their lips at the hilarity of the position once the clan head opened his door.
"Hey." The youngest of Fugaku's sons nodded in greeting, all too calm for the four children draped over him, tired and winded from their play. "Morning. How's it going?"
Kushina chuckled, collecting the two five year olds from their dad arms. "Morning." She slid past Sasuke with Kaguya and Kirai carried on each of hips, smoothly stepping inside. "Sorry I'm late. Some genin needed help finding a lost dog." Sasuke allowed his other kids down, though Krow and Koun stayed glued at his sides. Itachi peered around from the open door, leaning on the frame and scoffing at the shiver that rolled through the familiar redhead. "I hate dogs."
Probably the effect of living with Yugao the Cat Lady, the infamous swordswoman that adored cats but was deathly allergic to them.
Uzumaki genes kept age away for the most part, making her face and physique youthfully the same. It was from the few grey lines in her red hair, the paleness of her skin, the sleepless shadows under her eyes and ths subtle sadness of her gleaming purple eyes did the Uchiha brothers see her true age.
Her sparse, light makeup didn't hide her age from them.
Kushina wore a black battle kimono with golden yellow trimmings, black tights and white sneakers with black laces. She had a slightly oversized navy blue bomber jacket, it had a red Uzumaki on the left chest and a red Uchiha fan on the right. It was unzipped and her long hair was styled into a neat ponytail.
"I'm sorry for bothering you like this, and so unexpectedly too."
He called her at the crack of dawn, long before Krow yawned her way into his bedroom.
A squad of his chunin were passing by their mother's abode and informed him, apologetically knocking on his door at four in the morning.
Kushina shrugged casually. "Don't be. As a teacher, its my job to get kids to school, keep them there and then to make sure they get home safely." It went above and beyond what other teachers did, but for the kids of the family, Kushina couldn't help but favour them. Only a little bit. She half-smiled at Sasuke's concerned frown. "Seriously, it's fine. I've got this."
"Alright."
The redhead Uzumaki wasn't a preschool teacher or even a Pre-Academy teacher.
She was a full-time Academy teacher.
A cool, stylish teacher but a teacher nonetheless.
Sasuke laughed inside.
The last mission she took was eighteen years ago, helping build the barriers around the then smaller Blue Tree. She would have put a hand in expanding that construction if not for caving to Itachi asking her to relax.
"They haven't had breakfast yet." The father of four supplied. He then explained to his former teacher, telling her what she didn't need to stress herself over. "Their schoolbags are packed and their homework's finished." He bowed a little. "I really appreciate this, sensei."
" Pshhh, I said don't worry about it, Sasuke." She repeated, sincerely not minding whatever trouble Sasuke thought he was putting on her. "I'll fatten them up before we leave the house."
Sasuke became nervous. "Sensei-"
"I'm joking! I'm joking!" She looked around to Itachi and rolled her eyes. "Now get going, if they don't eat now, they'll be late for school."
Sasuke pressed a kiss to the tops of their heads, doing the same for Kaguya and Kirai, who jumped off their Granny Kushina. "I'll see you guys later."
"But daddy~" Kaguya whined. "I want to show you my boyfriend!"
Itachi choked on air and Sasuke's eyes bugged wide open. "Boyfriend?!" His eyes snapped to Kushina, incredulous at her apparent amusement of the situation. "What boyfriend?!"
The little girl's answer was a blush and an innocent swoon.
Sasuke saw red.
His eyes turned red too.
The teacher giggled. "You shouldn't worry; it's probably some boy that gave her his juice box during lunch break, or something like that."
Unknown to them, that was exactly what happened.
Sasuke needed more convincing.
"' Probably'?"
"...Maybe."
"Sensei, I'm serious!" Kushina laughed, louder, making her way to the kitchen to make pancakes. The father called out after her. "Sensei?!"
Koun patted his father's side, calling for his attention. Sasuke's sharingan flicked off and he looked down to his son.
Uchiha Black met Haruno green.
At that moment, father and son reached an understanding.
Sasuke left the house with his brother, at ease for the moment.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Somewhere in Grass country
Mikoto gathered her white-grey shawl about her and sat down on a tree stump, exhaling as she took her seat and scrunching up her age-lined face.
The poor shawl she wore was a customary garb according to Uchiha traditions.
It symbolized grieving.
Repentance.
Penance.
It covered her head, hiding her greying hair that were once lush and shimmering. The shawl hid every part of her body, her hands and feet included, leaving only her pale face, weather-beaten face.
Her eyes were closed.
At her back was a ramshackle hut, barely big enough for her to stand up fully, and all around was an endless field of grass, as far as the eyes could see and with not a single noise from the nearest human settlement.
Rabbits slept at the blind woman's feet.
She turned her head to the right, as if looking there but instead facing her ears to the two men standing before her.
"I-I...I have tea." She proposed, about to rise again, not caring how her bones ached. "I can make tea."
"We're fine." Sasuke said. "Sit...please."
Itachi remained silent, fixing an empty gaze on their mother.
Mikoto eased back down on the stump. A hesitant smile twitched to her expression. "My boys…." Her voice cracked. "Sasuke...Itachi-"
"What was wrong with you?" Itachi questioned, breaking his tense stare. "Did you eat something bad?"
"I...I lied." The woman replied softly, holding back a sob. "I'm sorry. I lied."
Age and exile couldn't take away her skills in deception.
She held out her hands to her two sons. "I wanted to...to hear from my boys again…"
" Tch." The older brother scoffed. "Typical."
Sasuke didn't break composure, saying. "We're in enough trouble coming here. If the Council find out-no-" He shook his head. "If the village finds out you're not dead..." Mikoto's arms steadily fell, weariness dropping her shoulders. Her youngest son didn't need to finish his words.
The chunin that brought the report worked directly under the Leader and were sworn to secrecy.
Only those in their family knew.
Sasuke's words reigned supreme in Blue Tree, without a doubt, though that didn't lessen the people's ire on Mikoto, Blue's disgraced sister.
The two brothers had no hand in Mikoto travelling to Grass country or establishing her sanctuary in the deserted grass plains. It was ensuring Konoha knew nothing of her whereabouts those two men oversaw.
Their mother wanted nothing to do with Hidden Leaf.
Mistaken loyalty to her village instead of her clan brought this punishment down on her.
Hatred of her brother was why she was there, a poor, blind, chakra-less woman.
Mikoto taught her boys to love their clan and live for their clan, one of the only things she ever taught them, and she had broken that because of spite.
In all the world, she had one brother...and she hated him.
Not anymore.
Blue gave her a chance to be his sister, confiding in her by telling her of his therapy sessions with Inoichi.
He opened his heart to her, and she stepped on it.
She made peace with the fact that she could never apologize to Naruto for all she had done and that never again would she go back to the clan, welcomed in life or otherwise.
Her legacy as a proud Uchiha was gone.
All she could do was feel sorry for herself.
The two boys detested their mother...but they respected her wish to avoid Konoha no matter the cost.
Until her death, Mikoto would not speak a word to any person pleasantly affiliated with Konoha.
This, though, was the brothers first time meeting their mother in person in years.
"When my only company is the wind through the meadow...and the gentleness of these rabbits...I can only wonder why I'm here." The mother whispered. "I knew the things I told Minato would turn the clan against me...make me a blood traitor...and I still went and did it." Her sons listened, observing the deep, weary lines etched on the woman's once graceful features. "I'm sorry, Sasuke...Itachi...for breaking up our family."
"What we had with you and Fugaku wasn't a family." Itachi corrected the tired lady, looking down on her witbout remorse. "It was broken from the start."
"I-I'm sorry. I could have been many things." The woman shifted her shawl, showing them her hands. "A wife...a mother...and a sister. And I failed." Her hands receded into her humble clothes. "Can I...be a grandmother? C-Can...can I...please...meet my grandkids…?"
The two exchanged a look, and Sasuke spoke on their behalf. "No."
Mikoto wilted.
"That's not going to happen."
Not unless they sought her out themselves.
Both fathers wouldn't hide who their Uchiha grandmother was from their kids; whether they wanted anything to do with her was up to them.
Taking that pause to change the subject, fully intending to convince them later, Mikoto said. "I went to the market yesterday to...to work for some money."
It took some long, hard searching but she finally found a business in the market willing to let a frail, blind woman wash their dishes.
The nearest market was in a rural village roughly five kilometers from where her camp, and she made that walk on her own everyday from sunrise to sunset.
Regretful memories of her past kept her company.
"Someone came up to me. He said his name was...Zetsu."
The pair tensed, recalling that name from a written text recovered from Ame by Orochimaru. The Sannin had used the pandemonium of her son's battle with the Rinnegan god to steal from the knowledge-wealthy library of Hidden Rain.
The document was recorded by Konan, the Angel of Ame; it said that a creature with a Venus flytrap around its head and its face split in two, one half white and the other black, had come to Ame, hiding in the shadows of "Madara Uchiha".
Konan wrote that Zetsu did the thinking for "Madara".
Itachi asked the woman. "What did he want?"
"He said...he could give me my sight...restore my legacy and unite me with my family."
"In exchange for what?" Itachi questioned.
"F-For signing a Summoning Contract. Koi Fish, I think."
Sasuke's jaw hardened and his face dipped in reflective silence.
Zetsu had been unaccounted for since Kaguya came out of the moon; some Hyuuga now living in Blue Tree reported to have spotted a creature bearing similar features to that Konan wrote of falling down the false god tree that was razed down by Blue's Amaterasu flames but Kushina and the other ninjas sent to investigate didn't find anyone or anything there.
Not even a human shaped pile of ashes.
Blue Tree searched for Zetsu.
That was a gross understatement.
Zetsu had a big part to play in releasing the goddess from her prison.
Up till when she was blasted off into space by Yugao Uzuki, Konan recorded every single event discovered by herself in connection to Zetsu.
The Origami Angel didn't trust Zetsu.
Another gross understatement.
When Nagato sent her off to Zyouki, tasked to be Yugao's warden and capture Blue once he surfaced, she noticed Zetsu's panic and his sudden fascination with Minato Namikaze.
It wasn't a coincidence that the Yondaime's death, which was done in the secrecy of the Otsutsuki dimension, was somehow leaked to the Elemental nations.
Zetsu did that.
The invading Otsutsuki spoke nothing of it, carrying this secret with them as they fled once the earth was polluted by corrosive Ten Tails chakra.
There hadn't been a sighting of those from Kaguya's clan ever since and Zetsu too for that matter.
Or...Mikoto could be lying.
Deceiving them into being with her for longer.
Sasuke leaned to his older brother and whispered. "What do you think?"
Itachi frowned. "We can't just brush this off."
"If this is true, then he could want mom's DNA connection with uncle to somehow manipulate the god tree." Sasuke sharply deduced. "Zetsu could want to try again to free Kaguya."
Konan guessed that Zetsu's curiosity on Minato had something to do with how the Blue Uchiha died on that day in Wave country.
She didn't know how or why.
When she attended a meeting with Minato present, where the Yondaime felicitated for Nagato's support in luring out Blue, she could distinctively sense another chakra reserve aside from Minato's.
It could be from Blue but that would only mean Minato sealed part of the blue Uchiha into himself.
That...made no sense.
The chakra she sensed from Minato was too immense to be human.
Later, while the Clan Council were piecing everything together, Yugao confirmed that Minato sealed half of Blue's soul into a level ten Tailed Beast containment seal using the hands of the Shinigami.
Blue told her so and she couldn't help but believe him.
That was Minato's connection to Blue.
A spiritual connection but a connection all the same.
Zetsu found a way to tap into that connection and used it to grow a false god tree to free his mistress; the amount of chakra needed for the jutsu was collosal and the Blue half soul had just enough.
There were still many questions left unanswered.
Orochimaru filled in what she could and yet more questions unfurled before their very eyes.
Life and Death.
Existence and reality.
Alternate dimensions.
Even godhood.
In the end, their findings were made classified under the Leader's Seal as a double S rank secret, invariably swearing all involved to silence.
"I-I-" Mikoto reintroduced herself to the talk. "I told him no. I don't want any part in his plans."
Sasuke nodded. "Good." He turned to Itachi. "We'll have to keep an eye on her. Come by more often."
"Maybe." The genjutsu master agreed. "Yeah."
"I can send down some of my jounin, sworn to secret at the cost of a painful death, of course."
Itachi directed a hard glare at their mother. "If you're lying-"
"Then strike me down." Mikoto swore. "Send someone to kill me...or hand me a kunai so I can do it myself." She got up with a wince, arranging her shawl. Her left fist closed into a ball and she thumped her right chest thrice, vowing. "I swear. I am not lying."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Blue tapped his chin.
A frown played on the corners of his lips.
His left hand moved, hovering over a chess set. His fingers found a pawn and he inched it forward once.
He smirked at the unseen perspiration breaking on Kaguya's brow, eying the pieces he had claimed from her.
It was an even fight; there were casualties on both sides.
If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought she was a genius. Blue wasn't raised to move the pieces; he was a piece, likely a pawn too.
She on the other hand was brought up in the Otsutsuki clan head's home, raised to take over the clan by virtue of her birthright.
For someone that didn't study the extensive layout of every possible wartime manouvre, Blue was holding himself fairly well against the Otsutsuki Princess.
Question was how, in spite of the games they played that constantly waged evenly, why did he keep winning?
Did she let him win?
"I thought you were trained in War Strategies when you were a kid." The man's blue eyes, a mirage he cast over himself alongside this cloudy landscape, glinted at the invisible perspiration that broke over on his opponents brow.
"Hello, Naruto. I'm rusty, nice to meet you." Kaguya harmlessly sneered, sarcasm dripped in her airy tone.
"It's been eighteen years already-"
"Yeah? What's your point?"
"You haven't beaten me once." He placed his hands on his knees, sitting up straight and raising an eyebrow. "Why don't we take a break?"
"I'll break you !"
"Really now." He leaned back a little, mildly surprised at her frustrated outburst.
"I've got you where I want you." She whispered so quietly he might not have heard it. "Right where I want...you ."
Her true tone slipped out.
Blue narrowed his gaze at her secretive smirk, shyly looking up at him from under her lashes.
A wave of chakra pulsed from her, shaking the dreamscape and shifting it from a serene cloudy world to the Valley of End before the god tree grew out.
Naruto raised a bored eyebrow.
"Black Zetsu, huh." He commented idly, perching his chin in his hand and the elbow on his knee, deciding to move a knight to strike down one of Kaguya's pawns, shifting it back to safety at the back of the ranks. "You forget that you're quite literally in my head, Kaguya." He scoffed when she snatched his Queen, who was purposely lingering at the frontlines as bait. "Hm ."
Literally and figuratively, there wasn't a thing in all the multiverse he didn't know and there wasn't an errant thought in her head he wasn't aware of. She was a smart, cunning, conniving woman and there were many ideas in her head placed to mislead him from her true ambitions.
She was steadily learning how to obscure her real thoughts.
Obscure, not erase from his sights.
"Right down to the finer, most intricate, most complex details...I know what you're thinking. I know everything, Kaguya."
She exhaled a laughing breath. "Do you, honey?"
"You, on the other hand, can't read my thoughts." He took one of her knights with a solitary pawn.
"Enlighten me on what you're thinking then."
"Your Black Zetsu isn't the only one awake."
Her hand stilled, floating over a Rook aimed directly at the Bishop guarding Naruto's King.
Blue's smile broadened at her hesitation.
Black Zetsu took injury from falling down that great height when Blue burnt the false god tree with an Amaterasu, scorched closely by the Black flames but not lit on fire.
It dug itself and Kaguya's White Zetsu deep into the earth of Blue Tree to heal and regrow, creating for itself a direct link back and forth the village without alerting the alarms.
Kaguya brought her Rook down on Blue's Bishop, smashing it to wooden pieces in a show of shortly losing her patience.
"So?"
He glanced down at the chipped wood that was now his Bishop, setting his hands on his knees. "While I don't have access to your Zetsu's mind and I can't read its thoughts...I know exactly what its going to do."
He didn't take her trap, instead moving his King away from the attacking Rook.
His first prediction already came true, with Zetsu trying to convince his sister to sign Kaguya's Koi Fish Summoning Contract, and that route was effectively blocked now that her sons were aware of Zetsu resurfacing.
Blue's next prediction would happen not at once but gradually, over the years and again encompassing the whole continent.
Zetsu would influence governments.
Manipulate minds.
Raise an army.
This wouldn't be like Akatsuki.
Or Obito.
Or Indra and Asura.
Or anything like that.
This would be different.
Zetsu would somehow find Blue's DNA in Hidden Whirlpool, maybe a dried up blood stain, lingering chakra on surfaces or a tiny piece of his skin from somewhere on the island. Taking that DNA away was another thing entirely, for he would face opposition from Blue Tree.
But Zetsu would find that Blue DNA.
Zetsu would cultivate a clone of Naruto from that DNA, and it would implant kekkai genkai into that unfortunate clone.
Little by little.
One at a time.
Zetsu would give the clone freedom to gain awareness, while still toying with its mental state.
Then war would come to Blue Tree and all its allies, which would grow and be many by that time, forcefully dragging the world into a Fourth Shinobi War.
The Otsutsuki return was uncertain without Kaguya herself directly ordering them, though that wouldn't matter much by that point.
The clone was to grasp control of the god tree and separate Kaguya from it, releasing her from Blue's mental prison.
Naruto changed the location they were in.
The Valley of End switched to the graveyard in Blue Tree at night time, devoid of visiting mourners and with its gate closed for the night.
The two deities played their game of chess beside a grave.
Kaguya's Byakugan didn't peer around at the environment switch, focused on the chessboard; Naruto's omnipotent power over existence and reality could base the dream world they were currently in on the real world outside, including real people if he wanted to but not able to directly affect them aside from the healthy aura emanating from the god tree.
In the silent battle he was having with the Rabbit goddess, he couldn't spare much of his attention away from her.
What he could do was prematurely breathe life into his Will.
Naruto's Will wasn't him and he couldn't speak to it...but it lived to serve its master.
Blue raised a finger to his lips and closed his eyes.
"Listen."
There was a tree root pod inside the graveyard.
Utter quiet bathed the graveyard, broken by the chirping of crickets and the hooting if owls.
Then the pod broke open and something fell out.
A White Zetsu.
Not one of Kaguya's.
This one was Naruto's.
Seconds later, dark vines erupted from the earth, gathering together to form another thing; its head warbled with those vines and its body, humanoid as it was, writhed with plant life.
Darkness in the graveyard prevented a better look at the creature.
Its cerulean eyes shone on the panting White Zetsu, who hunkered down to its knees, lowering its head to the newcomer.
Blue's Zetsu or better named Blue Zetsu.
It was made during the chaos of Blue restructuring the planet, where he imbued a single Creeper Vine on the other side of the world with his Will.
He was inspired to do so when he realized Kaguya's Zetsu was still alive. The lady had done so, creating Zetsu from her Will when her two sons sealed her away into the moon.
While the lady's Will was the weakened manifestation of the Koi Fish contract, Blue's Will was the less powered version of the Crow contract.
Blue's Will merged with his White Zetsu.
It had one job to do, implanted in its head from when Kaguya's Zetsu buried itself in the ground to heal.
It would scratch and claw to not let its master down.
Kaguya laughed.
Naruto beamed.
At this new beginning, the first battles would take place in the shadows.
It would eventually see light.
War was coming to the Elemental nations.
That much was unavoidable.
Authors note
*Slowly closes storybook*
If you're confused and have any questions, any at all, don't hesitate to send me a PM. I'm also on Discord (Snoozy Writes # 4673), Reddit (Snoozy_Foy) and Twitter (SnoozyWrites). Come over let's chat!
I...can't give an exact date or time my next story will be out. I've hit a small...bump while writing. There are also some irl stuff I need to sort out.
I'll deal with it. It's fine.
When I'm ready to upload it, I'll put something like a preview after this epilogue on an entirely new update (like what I did as the last update for Silent Night where I introduced Killing Off the Blue Uchiha).
I can't wait for you all to see it :D
Please and please stay safe, wherever you are in the world. I'll see you when I see you.
Foy.