Well, then! This is going up a bit later than I was hoping because of a thunderstorm, but here it is! I hope y'all enjoy! :)
Chapter Twelve: a Spectacular Mess
While Naruto's new family continued to grow, something big was going down in his home world… (1)
The Raikage, Ei, bit back a scowl as he found himself standing in what appeared to be this flying village's… lounge? That seemed to be the best word he had for it, anyway.
The chamber was massive, easily the size of a large apartment complex, his house and the Kumogakure administrative building, combined! It was three stories, the upper two split down the middle to look down upon the bottom floor and connected by walkways, with two bars on each level, multiple cafes, and other amenities including a fucking bathhouse! Literally… it was both a bathhouse and a brothel!
Much as he admittedly needed one of that particular establishment's... services at the moment, he avoided the temptation and awaited the arrival of this infamous, so-called God-Empress. Fortunately, the said wait was not a long one as Kaguya chose then and there to grace Ei with her presence.
Her entourage consisted of only four people; Ei could tell they were greenhorns, but the guards had a fire in their eyes. All four of them would gladly give their lives to protect Kaguya. There were two males and two females between them, garbed in ceremonial-looking, but still practical armor. The helmets provided effective enough facial protection without hindering their senses and were decorated with long, white feathers. Each guard was equipped with an identical polearm and donned a silken, high-collar black mantle that concealed any other weapons they may have had.
Kaguya herself was garbed in her simple but elegant, flowing robes of white, black, gold, and purple; she was clearly barefoot and if the woman wore anything else, it was not visible. Despite the simplicity of her attire, the woman looked every bit as godly as her title would imply and carried herself with equal grace.
"I'm glad you could make it," she told him with a charming smile.
"And I'm thankful for the invite," Ei grunted with a begrudging, but respectful bow. Truth be told, he didn't want to be here, but keeping this woman's empire off of his village's ass for the foreseeable future was his foremost priority. As such, he was swallowing his pride in order to secure Kumogakure's safety.
After seeing the people of Konohagakure getting so thoroughly beaten, even to the point of getting their asses kicked out of their own country, Ei understandably did not want the same fate to happen with his own village.
Kaguya gave the man a once over and had to say he lived up to his reputation. He was nothing short of a towering wall of meat, clocking in around seven motherfucking feet tall and easily well over 300 pounds with almost no body fat. Even with Kaguya's horns, he stood head and shoulders above her and then some... and she wasn't a particularly small woman, either. As for his attire, Ei wore black trousers; armored white boots; golden bangles, and a comically-large belt with a lion's head on the ornate buckle. His kage robes were draped over his shoulders like a cape, showing off his pectorals. Despite being in quite visibly good health, the middle-aged kage well into his fifties, which was quite frightening, to be honest.
Kaguya couldn't help but contemplate what manner of complete and utter bullshit this man could potentially achieve on the field of battle. No wonder the Akatsuki was so wary of him! As one would expect from a man with his appearance, though, Ei was anything but subtle; she could read him like a book and tell the man would much rather not be here.
"Right, then," Kaguya chirped, breaking the ice. "Let us not waste your time; this way, please."
Ei nodded and followed her with a respectful nod and nary a single word.
Unbeknownst to either, five hooded figures had infiltrated the village. Four males and one female were dressed in all black, save for the white masks concealing their faces. Each one of these five had an ax to grind and they were confident in their chances to succeed in this assassination.
Unfortunately, said group had no idea what they were getting into...
As they walked down a large hall to the meeting room, one of Kaguya's entourage perked up. She swore she'd just sensed something… was it her imagination…?
"Is something wrong?" Kaguya asked, looking at the girl out the corner of her eye.
She recognized the girl as Karin, one of Orochimaru's minions who volunteered herself to be part of the Royal Guard. The girl was a redhead with matching eyes behind her minimalistic, black-framed spectacles. She was also the youngest person here by a long shot, having been promoted to Kaguya's personal guard because of her impressive grades—particularly in perception.
"I… don't know," Karin muttered uncertainly, before closing her eyes in deep concentration."I thought I sensed something… off, but it disappeared just as suddenly. One moment, please."
Kaguya nodded, trusting the girl's instincts and Karin cast a technique to reach out with her senses more effectively. Then, she flinched, looking utterly shocked.
"How… how could he?"
Kaguya frowned at that. "Explain," she ordered.
"Four trespassers with ill intent," Karin replied. "They're being led here by… I-Itachi."
The God-Empress' frown deepened and her eyes narrowed. She activated her All-Seeing Eyes and immediately spotted the group Karin pointed out. Their masks proved ineffective against her gaze as she looked right through them and her blood boiled upon recognizing them all. She'd only seen most of them in passing, but all of these trespassers were from Konohagakure no Sato.
Was, this was how the Kazekage chose to repay her generosity?!
"Stay here and protect the Raikage," Kaguya barked. "If anyone you don't recognize comes through this way before I do, kill them on sight."
"E-Empress…?" Karin muttered hesitantly.
"I understand and appreciate your concern, but I can handle this," Kaguya said gently after taking a deep breath. She meant it, too; these four were shaping up to be some of the most loyal guards she's had in the past twenty millennia."You four are not ready to take on someone of his caliber, just yet; and if there's one thing I hate to see it's potential going to waste… potential like yours. Rest assured, I will be right back." (2)
With that, she left, before any of her entourage or the Raikage could get another word in.
Kaguya's personal guard shared a frown, but followed her orders without hesitation; Karin and two others formed a line in front of Ei, halberds at the ready, while one of the males took up a guard position behind the Raikage, facing the other direction, for good measure.
As for Kaguya herself…
The mighty God-Empress hated very few things in the many worlds and even universes she'd visited in her long life. But, one of them... was wasted time; as such, she was upon the group before they even realized it.
"You'd best have a damn good explanation, Itachi," she called out from behind the man, floating above him and his group.
They all flinched at that.
"Well, then," said man muttered with a sigh, taking off his mask to reveal a young male in his twenties with red eyes and black hair; his irises both had three strange, comma-shaped markings on them in a triangular configuration. It would appear the cat—or weasel, rather—was out of the proverbial bag. "May as well come out and say it, I suppose." Then, he quickly looked up to her, one eye bleeding and before anyone could blink, a burst of black flames engulfed the woman… only for said woman to reappear beside him.
To the shock and dismay of his compatriots, the man was completely frozen in place.
"Wh-what the hell did you do?!" One of them staggered back, looking at her in shock as he shouted that.
"Silly child," Kaguya sighed, looking utterly bored. "Time and space are one and the same; if I can bend one to my will, then of course I can control the other." True to her words, Itachi was frozen in time, utterly helpless until she released him and had the trecherous bastard interrogated.
With the primary threat having been set aside for later, the God-Empress gazed down upon her remaining opponents condescendingly. "If you are sincerely trying to assassinate me, then you are several-thousand years too young to even come close." The tone Kaguya used as she spoke to these gnats trying to play hero was one of a disappointed mother scolding her child.
Undeterred by this revelation, the one who spoke formed a quick hand seal and his very shadow seemed to come to life, forming a giant hand to try and snatch her up. Clearly this so-called 'god-empress' had her limits if freezing someone in time was nearly as easy for her as she made it look, then there was simply no reason for her not to have used that ability on all of them and had the whole group arrested, so the young man took this opportunity to try and take her down while she was presumably maintaining her hold on Itachi.
Kaguya didn't look at all threatened as she casually floated away from the giant hand. "A Nara," she mused aloud, "yes, I've heard much about your clan." They were a clan of geniuses who could literally weaponize their own shadows to terrifying effect. The woman was careful to not cross her shadow with his own while keeping a safe distance and eyeballing the others. "I believe you're noted to be the son of General Shikaku, specifically - a lazy boy who had an IQ of over 200… such a shame."
Then, she vanished once more and there was a loud crunch as the young man fell to the ground in a boneless heap. Truth be told, the boy's sheer intelligence alone made him a legitimate threat; if she didn't deal with him right then and there, he could have become a problem. Keeping Itachi frozen like that also required a degree of concentration that he could have potentially broken. Floating above Shikamaru's corpse, Kaguya kept sight of the other three.
"You monster!" The lone female of the group charged her with a roar, her hands wreathed in black and blue fire, taking on the form of lion heads.
With a roll of her eyes, Kaguya evaded her lunge and with a blur of motion, something flew from her hand and into the neck of another assailant. A bloody, bone-white spike protruded from his neck, piercing his jugular. Before he hit the ground, the girl was sent into a wall and rebounded to the floor with a thud.
"Daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi," Kaguya commented, still looking utterly bored. "If I recall, you had a crush on that boy… the demon vessel who tore this 'village' asunder." Calling it that would still take some getting used to, but it wasn't too troublesome. "You wish to avenge him I take it?"
Yes, she knew full well about this girl… Hinata, was it? Akatsuki was thorough in keeping tabs on the demon vessels and their loved ones, in case they had to resort to extortion or the like.
"I will fucking murder you for taking my Naruto-Kun away from me!"
"Charming…"
As the girl in question leapt forth to assail the God-Empress once more, a series of fireballs were launched from her remaining compatriot in an attempt to help Hinata, only for Kaguya to vanish once more. The last thing he saw was a dainty, pale-skinned hand bursting from his chest in a bloody spectacle.
As the boy fell before her, Kaguya refocused her attention on the troublesome girl.
"Put it behind you child; even if I did end up killing him, what you're doing is pointless." In all honesty, Kaguya pitied the girl, knowing full well about her background and fragile mental state; even if it was laughably unlikely for her to convince this girl to stop, she felt the need to at least make an attempt. The God-Empress' conscience simply would not let her do otherwise "Your compatriots are dead; your leader will soon follow; you have no hope of defeating me." As if to prove her point, she sent Hinata flying back into the wall with a savage bitchslap. "Turn back now, and I'll forgive this slight."
Hinata pushed herself back up, her mask falling off from the impact. "Go to hell," she roared, charging at Kaguya once more in a blind rage.
The God-Empress sighted, feeling only pity and disappointment. "Your funeral, then…"
Swatting one last palm strike out of her way, Kaguya grabbed her last assailant by the throat. She was young… clearly not even in her twenties, with violet hair and pupilless, lavender eyes. The veins bulging around them made it clear that she had inherited the Byakugan—a watered down mockery of Kaguya's own All-Seeing Eyes, gifted to Hinata's ancestors millennia ago by the Two-Tailed Demon Cat, Matatabi. (3)
Those eyes then went wide as the girl felt a sharp pain in her neck. Blood flowed from Hinata's lips and under Kaguya's hand as she struggled, desperately trying to kill this bitch, kicking and clawing at her and pumping chakra into her to try bursting the woman's veins or to tear her muscles, anything! But… it didn't work… nothing she did even seemed to make the devil-woman flinch! But still, she struggled, trying to extract herself from Kaguya's iron grip and fight back, oblivious to her skin turning an ashen gray.
Eventually, her thrashing slowed and then stopped; she went limp as the discoloring spread to her extremities. The fire, and then the light, faded from her eyes as they and her hair were the last things to turn gray. Once that happened, her clothing fell to the ground, filled with naught but a pile of ash.
A while later, Ei was eventually led to the royal meeting room.
It was... big and far fancier than he was used to. In the center were three sofas and a wooden table with gold accents; the curtains were made of the finest silk, and the carpets were made with the finest furs around; sofas were made from the finest leathers the Elemental Nations could find and there was a fully stocked mini bar and refrigerator one one side with the restrooms on the other; finally, to finish it all off, just beyond the sofas and table was a glass wall made with elaborate, golden frameworks and providing an excellent view of the countryside.
All-in-all, it made for an impressive meeting room, Ei had to admit; it also showed the Raikage this so-called "God-Empress" had an abundance of wealth under her sleeve… and that was not all by a long shot; the fact that she was able to make such quick work of an assassination squad lead by Uchiha Itachi of all people made it abundantly clear that the woman herself was no slouch.
As much as the man did not want to admit it, Ei was impressed by the displays of wealth and power he'd seen so far.
Kaguya wasted no time in heading on over to one of the sofas and gestured towards the one across from her. "Please, have a seat," she urged.
Ei nodded and did just that, occupying the sofa in question. The man observed this woman sitting opposite him, and noticed how agitated she was. One doesn't tend to hold the rank of Kage for as long as he did by being dumb enough to stir this hornets nest, though, so so did not ask her what was wrong.
"I assume you know why I asked for this meeting between us?" Kaguya asked.
Ei nodded. "Yes; you wish to discuss relations between Kumo and the Empire," he replied. "As you showed back there, we actually share at least one thing in common: we both hate to see lives wasted."
"Very unlike your predecessor, thankfully," the God-Empress commented.
"I was the one who lead the rebellion," Ei pointed out with a shrug. "The Hyuuga fiasco had the potential to start another world war, and no one wanted that."
"So I heard," Kaguya chirped. Truth be told, that was a good thing and a bad one. On one hand, it exhibited that they did indeed share that common trait. On the other, however, it also showed his potential to be a loose cannon if she didn't treat this relationship with care. "Speaking of rebellions, it would seem that I have one of my own to deal with. That said, I'd like to propose an arrangement of sorts; you scratch my back and I scratch yours, if you will."
"Tempting as that may sound," Ei admitted, "the people of Kumogakure, my brother especially, are feeling rather… apprehensive about helping out the Gelel Empire."
"If I recall, his students were among those who fought in the Great Siege of Konoha," Kaguya commented with a frown. "While one is most certainly no longer among the living, the other two may yet still be alive."
Ei perked up at that. "What do you mean by 'may be alive'…?"
"To make this clear upfront," Kaguya told him with a stern look, "I am not yet able to say if they are or not for sure. But there is a chance; during the siege, I opened a portal and sent two of them to another world. The twins… I want to say Arui and Omui?"
"Karui and Omoi," Ei corrected politely.
Kaguya nodded to show her gratitude. "I was not aiming anywhere in particular when I opened that portal, so they could have ended up literally anywhere. However, if you give me the information I need to do so, I will search for them… using this." She reached into her sleeve and extracted a little crystal ball.
"Hiruzen's…"
"It was mine originally," Kaguya interrupted. "It was called the Eye of Gelel, back in my empire's heyday. Hiruzen simply undid the lock and figured out how to use it after finding it. Never let it be said that he wasn't a brilliant man; what he achieved was quite a feat, I must say! It truly is a shame that I never got to meet him." (4)
"What do you need to know?" Ei asked, cutting to the chase.
Kaguya smiled at that and explained. "Height, weight, likes, dislikes... literally anything you can tell me about them. I'll find them and bring them back, be they dead or alive… hopefully the former, of course."
The man frowned in contemplation. "I'll let Bii know, then. They were his students."
"Very well, then... In addition to this, the Gelel Empire will gladly help you rebuild... out of my own pocket, no less. I assume this will serve as a sufficient peace offering?"
"We'll see what my people have to say about that… It's certainly a good place to start, though."
1: Y'all seriously thought I wouldn't be coming back to this world, eventually...? I shit you not, I lost track of how many people complained about the prologue and how "pointless" it was. To assume is to make an ass out of u and me. Just saying, lol.
2: Heads up, people: it's time for another rant. The fact that Kaguya couldn't fight for shit in canon bothered the absolute fuck out of me... As a final boss, it frankly made her feel utterly pathetic.
"Oh, but if she was a competent fighter, Squad Seven would have lost because of her sheer power!"
First the fuck off, she had like five tricks: seeing shit with her Byakugan, making portals, mass teleportation, flight, and the Ash-Bone Whatchyamafuck. Not once did she use the elemental bullshit of the Rin'neigan, the majority of Pein's gravity techniques, or literally any of the Sharingan's abilities... like, y'know, copying Naruto's shadow clones to counter them? There is no suspense in that fight, because they were up against someone with the tactical creativity of a toddler!
Were it not for the contrivance of her having to be sealed away by Naruto and Sasuke grabbing one tit each, literally because "fuck you, that's why", Kakashi alone would have been sufficient to kill her outright, even without the Deus ex Machina Susano'o.
Good writers do not rely on contrivances and ass-pulls.
3: Does anyone else remember a simpler time when the fanon explanation for Kekkei Genkai was that they were gifted to the various clans' ancestors by the Bijuu? I actually kinda prefer that to the Uchiha, Senjuu, Uzumaki and (presumably) Kaguya Clans being descendants of the Sage. This alternative would also serve as a good motivation for the Kyuubi to attack Konoha in an AU setting... just saying.
4: Further expanding the universe, I decided to give Hiruzen's crystal ball a name and origin while implying a reason for why no one else was able to use the damn thing This is the Eye of Gelel I mentioned in the prologue of Into the Void and I will likely expand upon it in future fanfics where Akatsuki's existence is not removed for simplicity.
And that's all she wrote, lol. Hope y'all enjoyed it! As stated before though, this chapter is basically a prologue for the next major arc. That being said, the next chapter will be coming out tomorrow to give y'all some more to sink your teeth into once you've processed this little... appetizer, lol.
Until then, have a good one, eh? :)