'You'd better be on the other side doing this…'

Rat, Dragon, Hare, Snake, Dog, Boar...


The child was born silent. No tears were shed, no cries were made. A child untouched by the cruelty of the world yet abused by the cruelty of fate. The efforts made for the boy to begin breathing or for the heart to begin beating were futile. No words were said as the blonde woman held the boy tenderly, cradling him alongside the slowly whimpering baby in her other arm.

She had remained strong for so long, but she felt the tears welling in her eyes as the boy still hadn't made a sound. The doctors didn't move from their spots, giving their former Hokage a chance to grieve.

As the head doctor made a move to retrieve him from the arms of Tsunade, the child finally took in a deep breath of air, and exhaled a soft cry. As the cry began, his eyes slowly opened, revealing a strange sight.


The gentle strokes of a pencil on paper were barely heard in the well-lit room, the wall adjacent to him made of glass allowing him to continue drawing the vast forest.

"Zennou! You're always hiding away, why don't you come talk to everyone else?" With a voice as smooth as honey, the crimson haired boy looked up from the sketchbook he had asked Muko for. They were interesting, to say the least. They came in, and were first greeted with...well, whatever boiling pot of confusion and rage the fifteen of them had been experiencing.

It had been about two weeks since then, though, and everyone was beginning to accept them. The mentor had been fairly compliant with requests made by anyone in the group. The sparring room was allowed, and was attached to the original facility. That had been the most extreme of requests, otherwise kids had asked for simple things, like his sketchbook.

As he forgot to answer and began to look away, his sister, Hitode, moved back in front of him, staring directly into his eyes. "You did that thing again~ You started zoning out~"

"Sorry…" Taking a moment to bring himself back to reality and stop himself from zoning out yet again, he gave a quick smile to his sister with dual-coloured hair, one side a crimson not unlike his own and the other a simple blonde like their mother's. "What is everyone else doing?"

Hitode swayed back and forth before sliding down the wall beside her brother, making sure to keep her mulberry cheongsam steady. "Biteki and I are planning to have a bit of a sparring session today. I guess he wants to get himself beat before our chakra is back." Sighing with a solemn smile on her face, she shrugged as her brother let out a small chuckle. He had always been fairly hard to read, that's for sure, but he was much better than when he was younger.

Most people were fairly weird around Zennou, and when he was younger, it was hard to tell if that was because of his abilities or because of how he acted. He seemed aware of everything that was going on around him, and spoke almost...prophetically. Luckily, he had learned how to tune that down. As Zennou cleared his throat, she was reminded of what she was talking about.

"Muko should be coming by soon enough, he'll be meeting with a few people. I know Kudoku wanted to talk with them. A few others might as well. I think they are all getting a little pissed that no one has their chakra back yet." Taking a moment to nudge her brother, she cracked a smile. "You sure you aren't hiding anything from us, Mr. Scary-Eyes?"

Looking back to his art, Zennou attempted to find something within him. He couldn't seem to really feel the connection to the summons of the Animal Path within him. Something surprising to many who were around the young boy was the fact that those summons were quite unusual, and were actually much more large creations of chakra, similar to the tailed beasts. But given that he couldn't make any form of contact with them was enough to let him know that he was still dormant. "I'm still dry."

Dramatically groaning, Hitode pouted while she drummed on her knees. "If you haven't recovered yet, what hope do we have?!" Putting her elbow on his shoulder, she leaned over to look at his sketchbook. "This is really good, Zenny!" As she ran her fingers over the lines, careful not to cause problems in the art, she found a flood of sensations hit her. A delicate music to it, and a pleasant smell.

"Well! I'm off to find Biteki! Come stop by if you want to see me beat him up~" Hitode slowly stood up, with Zennou rushing to steady her and make sure she didn't fall over. He was always a caring little brother, which even if they were twins, she was born first and as such, deemed him the younger sibling. "And do me a favor?"

As Zennou set aside the sketchbook, he stood up himself. Looking at her, he hummed lightly, signifying he was waiting for her to continue.

"Step out of here, please. Talk to at least one person." As he was about to answer, she cut him off. "And not Midori. One, she can't really talk right now without her chakra. Two, she's your best friend, you can't only talk to her and me. Find someone else, please."

Sighing, Zennou nodded. "Okay, I can do that. I'll...see who isn't busy." Surprising him, the shorter girl quickly threw her arms around her brother in a hug. With that, she was off, softly shutting the door behind her.

For a moment, he contemplated sitting back down and going back to his art. However, he had to keep his word to Hitode. So, with a huff, the tall boy left the room as well, on a mission to find someone to talk to.

That wasn't very hard, though. The common room was filled with people socializing. This was probably the first period of down time any of them had in quite a while, and it was refreshing for a lot of them to relax. There were, however, a few outliers. Biteki and Hitode, for example, were two of them. Although, the two had always been sparring partners, pushing each other to their limits.

"Yo, Zennou, over here!" Looking over, he saw one of the members of his team. Zasshu. His mahogany skin and curly platinum-blond hair was unmistakable among the group of them. "You finally came out of hiding, I'm proud of you! I thought I would never see you again!" He was by the kitchen, and immediately began pouring a drink for his friend. "Here, drink up! It's punch, you should like it." As Zennou slowly took the drink in hand, he took a small sip before setting it down and leaning against the same counter as Zasshu.

"I haven't seen everyone so happy together since-" Zennou began, but the sentence was finished by Zasshu laughing.

"Never!" Doubling over in laughter, the boy clutched his stomach. "Hell, even in the academy, none of us were this happy to be together! I mean, sure, there are a few people here who aren't all that happy to be around each other, but overall, everyone seems pretty happy."

And ever so slightly, a smile began to form across Zennou's face. It started small, and began to grow, as did his laughter. It was a genuine laugh that he hadn't felt in so long. He was so focused on keeping everyone safe recently and making sure that nothing unfair was happening to them and trying to keep an eye on things from behind the scenes, he had forgotten to let himself relax. "You know what Shinwa-sensei would say if he saw us like this?"

The two looked at each other for a moment before busting out in laughter as they both answered in sync.

"Nothing! He'd join us!"

The thought of their serpent-like mentor sitting down and instantly dozing off brought nothing but joy to them. He was a diligent worker, and it would be a lie to say that the majority of his life had been working, but they remembered just how much of a lazy side the man had.

"Do you think they are worried about us, Zennou? Or do you think they are too busy with the war?" Zasshu's tone suddenly changed as he began to stare into his reflection in the maroon-shaded drink. "And how are we going to get back? What if we are stuck here forever?"

Zennou took a deep breath, figuring out what to say and what not to, carefully placing his filters in. "They know we are gone, and are definitely doing something about it. After all, the most prominent teams of our generation don't just disappear and go unnoticed." Nudging his teammate, he smiled at the chuckle he gave. "And we're going to get back. I don't know how yet, but there has got to be a way to get us back if there was a way to be brought over in the first place."

Nodding slowly, Zasshu's normal expression returned. "Yeah, once our chakra is back, we'll be out of here in no time!" Putting his hand on Zennou's shoulder, he gave an affirmative nod. "Then Team 14 will be back in action!" Zennou nodded with him, his smile nowhere near as prominent as his energetic friend.

"Speaking of which, let's go find Makoto. I'm sure she's got to be around here somewhere, right?" Zennou asked, and Zasshu shrugged. Taking his hand from the taller boy's shoulders, the two began to walk away.

And as they began their search, a number of black orbs began to form behind Zennou.


Tiger, Bird, Monkey, Dragon, Horse, Dog...


The child sat motionless in his crib, lightly tanned skin glinting in the moonlight. No wind blew from the window, the curtains were still, and the two figures in the larger bed didn't dare stir, fearing to wake the baby.

This fear was not present in the mysterious man who suddenly appeared in the window, remaining just as silent as it had been before. His bloodshot eyes stared into the cradle from behind the blank white mask, the only feature being the four curved lines representing his loyalty to Kirigakure.

"Let's get this over with then." Leather-clad hands gently reached into the cradle and pulled the infant to his chest.

However, he was met with crimson ichor raining from his back, painting the bed in the room like a canvas.


"You couldn't wait for your chakra to come back, could you?" Hitode's smooth voice echoed in the spacious room. "You think you are going to have as much of a shot without those abilities of yours?" Pulling her hair back, she began to tie it up into a large ponytail.

In front of her, Biteki was beginning to take off a number of crystalline gourds from his belt. "Don't doubt me, I'm still just as capable. I can match you with ease." The prideful boy took his time setting a number of items down on the floor. Cubes of iridescent metal along with the gourds shimmered as the light hit them from the high windows above.

Hitode hummed lightly, stretching her body back and forth. "If you say so~ Don't be upset when I beat you into the ground." The two had been rivals for quite a few years, and were always evenly matched when purely fighting with taijutsu. Using Ninjutsu was a different story, but the two had an unspoken rule for that. "Are you done putting your toys away? Can we go on and start?"

Stretching his muscular arms, a manic grin split Biteki's face. "Let's go then." Upon saying this, everything seemed to go quiet. Time slowed. There was no movement. Each waited for the other to make the first move.

Finally, Biteki made the first move.

Rushing towards the girl, he quickly slammed his right foot towards her head, only to be blocked by her forearm. Twisting his body unnaturally, he brought his left heel down on her head and blocked the punch coming from below by crossing his arms over each other.

'Damn it, she's still got that strength.' Wincing at the momentary pain that spread through his body, Biteki grabbed the second punch coming for him. He did not, however, see the kick coming for him as the girl flipped herself backwards.

As pain broke through his jaw, he steadied himself on the ground before both he and Hitode blitzed towards each other, easily matching each other in speed. As their fists clashed and stopped each other, Biteki slammed his elbow into her face and attempted to plant his knee in her stomach.

Her arm blocked him again and pushed his leg back as she swung a powerful punch into his core. Tightening his core, Biteki let the air in his lungs out quickly as he was hit to keep himself from losing his breath.

Shielding his face as she brought her leg down in a hammer kick, he shoved her off and attempted to kick towards her head. As she ducked under, Biteki hit her jaw with his knee.

Slipping into a crouching position, Hitode attempted to sweep her leg under Biteki, and as he jumped upwards, she threw herself up and plunged her elbow into his core, sending him backwards.

Jumping towards him and fracturing the ground with her powerful kick, Biteki rolled out of the way at the last moment, grabbing the punch that followed and swinging the back of his fist around to hit her face.

Vaulting upwards, Biteki began to kick towards his enemy, having every kick countered by a guard until he finally performed a mid-air spin and slammed his heel down, breaking her guard and causing her to fall to the ground.

That didn't last long though, for as soon as Biteki landed on the ground, she had regained her footing as well. "You've got a little bit of an edge here, you know that?" Biteki smirked as he looked at the wound on her forehead from his kick quickly heal over.

"I told you that you're gonna get beaten into the ground!" In a blur, she managed to reach Biteki's position and slam her fist into his face. Biteki, however, had predicted that much would happen, and kept his position, before bringing his right leg up and slamming a kick into her torso, pushing her back.

"You're holding back, Hitode. I can't stand it when people hold back." Biteki's words were laced with venom, but the two always gave each other their 100%. Any less and it was disrespectful.

'You want it all then? Alright.' Hitode smirked as she poked her index and middle finger out on both of her hands. Rushing towards him, she began to spear her fingers towards specific points of his body. However, going on the defensive, he blocked the strikes with his forearms, careful not to let her actually hit his body.

As her arm was pushed to the side, she changed course and grabbed hold of his forearm. Thrusting him in the air, she quickly slammed him back into the ground in a full arc. "Come on, Biteki, don't give up so soon!"

Sweeping his leg under her, Biteki managed to knock Hitode off of her feet. Bringing his fist down on her, he slammed into her stomach with unrelenting force that caused Hitode to force down bile that threatened to rise in her throat.

Planting her palms on the ground, she brought her left foot up, countering the incoming punch and forcing Biteki into the air and a reasonable distance away.

At this point, the two were beginning to take deep breaths as adrenaline pumped through them. Rushing towards each other again, they passed each other and brought a back-hand strike from either side, Biteki's left hand coming towards her right hand. Ducking under her punch, Biteki snaked around Hitode's body and catched her head in a hold with his elbow before slamming her into the ground.

Dodging the elbow piercing towards her, she rolled over his back and planted her knee into his stomach. Grabbing under her knee, Biteki threw her back by throwing her off of her feet.

Finally catching each others hands, they locked their fingers in both hands as a power struggle began. Each of them attempted to force the other back, their grunts being the only sound in the large room. Pushing back, Hitode used the moment to jab her fingers into several spots of Biteki's torso, causing his posture to slump and the feeling in his chest to go numb.

'Without his bone guard, this technique is perfect against him.' Hitode assured herself as she moved to attack again. However, surprising the young girl, Biteki still continued fighting. Grabbing hold of her shoulders, he forced her to his quickly rising knee, knocking the wind out of her as spittle dripped from her lips.

Following up on the strike, he began a flurry of blows to her abdomen, each punch forcing her upwards into the air, before finally finishing off the series with a kick that knocked her into the wall, fracturing it greatly. "You got too confident!" Sighing to himself, he walked over slowly. "Do you want to stop for the day?"

Almost as an answer to his hubris filled question, she suddenly snapped her eyes open to blitz towards him, delivering a flurry of jabs to his arms, causing them to go limp. Refusing to allow himself to be defeated that quickly, Biteki began to utilize his legs to the fullest of their potential, pulling one knee up and beginning to hop around with little difficulty.

Kicking away a jab that came towards him, he quickly grabbed hold of her arm in a scissor hold by expertly twirling his grounded leg up. Twisting her arm horribly, he kicked her away at the last moment before catching himself back on the ground, his arms limp at his side.

The sound wasn't pleasant, but Hitode ignored the sharp pain as her arm seemed to twist back to its natural position, the bones quickly healing and the muscles reattaching. "You could hurt someone doing things like that!"

"That's the point!" Giving little time for recovery, Biteki was in her face yet again, a kick aimed directly towards her head. However, as Hitode moved to guard her face, he revealed the true intentions of the kick being a distraction as he used his other leg to sweep her off of her feet and cause her to fall to the ground.

As her back harshly hit the ground, the breath was pushed out of her as Biteki's foot slammed on her chest. Looking down at her, a smug grin formed on his face. "Forfeit."

Contemplating her decisions, she figured that it was enough sparring for the day. "Alright, alright, I forfeit." As she gradually sat back up, she surprised Biteki by jabbing her fingers into a spot in the back of his neck, causing his body to go limp. "You haven't fallen for that trick in years, you must be pretty out of it."

Aggressively gritting his teeth as he attempted to bring feeling back to his limbs, he began to spit his words like daggers. "That was cheap, and you know it!"

"Doesn't matter if it was cheap, you would do the same if you were in my position." Hitode stuck her tongue out playfully. "You'll be okay in a little bit, just sit there and think about the fact that I was right~"

Biteki huffed as his sat motionless, mentally writhing inside. She was right, he normally never would let himself get caught like that, and that's what made him so upset. He had to work to make himself better without the use of his bloodlines, he knew that, but it was easy to forget it.

'I really hope no one sees me like this.'


Ox, Snake, Ram, Rat, Monkey, Hare….


How long had she been wandering the woods? How many times had she hidden from something crossing her path, barely covering herself in bushes and managing to be completely invisible to them?

She had wanted to scream out to them. Beg and plead for them to save her, save her mother, save her entire family. But she couldn't. She never would be able to.

The only thing she could do at this point was keep going. And she did just that. As the moon was at its highest, she was at her most active period, running furiously. Running both from, and to, something. What she was heading for, however, she did not yet know.


Without the ability to use her scroll to talk, Midori felt the memories of life was as a kid coming back to her. She had begun carrying around a small board to write things down for people who didn't understand her signing, and had found herself missing the "voice" she had when using the scroll.

The past few weeks had been relaxing, but she was beginning to get restless and found herself almost craving the adrenaline of actual battle. She didn't like being holed up in the containment facility, and desperately wanted to leave and find some way to get home.

When Zennou had explained to her, as well as everyone else, just what had happened, it had been...unexpected. The reactions were fairly different, with some responding with anger and others simply accepting it. But for the time being, a good amount of them had embraced the small break they had and began to relax.

But that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to feel her chakra again, she wanted to talk again, she wanted to be on the battlefield with Menma back home, helping to protect where she was raised.

A part of her knew though. She knew that if she participated in the war, she was going to face her family, and she was going to face her at some point. It was the fact of war. People that were once family and friends could become enemies in an instant, and she was expected to end them just as she would anyone else.

Shaking her head, she attempted to cast aside the thoughts in her mind. Turning her attention back to the scrolls, books, and photographs in front of her, Midori attempted to recall the differences between the two worlds. When Muko had first met with her personally, it took them a small amount of time to understand her muteness. However, once they understood, things went incredibly easy.

She had asked them for a number of maps of the nations, as well as some history books as to compare the two worlds, and they gave her plenty to work off of. On occasions, she and Zennou looked over it together, but she had done the majority of it on her own time.

Slowly opening her notebook, she set aside the tassel that kept her place. On the left side, pages upon pages of differences she had already noted. On the right side, endless potential for new discoveries.

Flipping open the history book to where she last left off, she began writing in her notebook.

'The Uchiha clan massacre was headed by Uchiha Itachi, the inciting point being the Kyuubi attack that occurred during the birth of Uzumaki Naruto.' Pausing for a moment, she lightly hummed to herself. 'Note- The Kyuubi attack never occurred for us, so the Uchiha clan massacre never occurred.' Making a mental note of the several other massacres that didn't happen in their world, Midori couldn't help but laugh to herself.

Whereas a large majority of the Senju clan had all but disappeared in this world, they were still entirely prevalent in her world. The destruction of Uzushiogakure had been attempted long ago, however, Konohagakure defended their sister village and managed to keep them prosperous, meaning Uzumakis were also still quite prevalent in Konoha in her world.

Silently laughing to herself, she made another note in the margins of her notebook. 'This world lets their clans get killed far too easily.'

Pulling out various maps, Midori immediately noticed one large village known as Otagakure had been reclaimed by Konohagakure and the Land of Fire, along with the territory it claimed. It was surprising to her, as Otagakure was another sister village to Konoha in her world, however, whereas the history books she had read portrayed Orochimaru as a villain, he was easily the top contributor to the scientific advancements of the village in her world.

So many things were different and yet so much was the same. Looking back, she attempted to find some further discrepancies.

What she came upon, however, surprised her more than anything so far. A tattered, yellowed piece of paper, tucked neatly into the page of one of the books.

The handwriting was barely eligible, messy and unintelligible. However, in all of her years of reading poorly drawn maps, chicken-scratch like this was nothing for her.

It detailed a prophecy that had once been told of two children, reincarnates of Indra and Asura Otsutsuki, that would save the world. The handwriting got smaller and smaller as the author of this note began to do what Midori could only describe as written mumbling. They talked of how the cycle was broken with Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, and how the previous reincarnates had been Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.

Immediately, Midori's mind began to do backflips. 'This cycle isn't in our world! That's completely different from our world!' She began to rush to write everything about the prophecy in her notebook, writing down every branching difference these caused and how they were caused by different things in her world or didn't happen altogether.

Finally, her attention was drawn from her excitement over this new discovery.

Her growling stomach screamed at her to venture to the kitchen and feed it. And as much as she wanted to continue looking into this, she knew that it would only get worse if she didn't listen to it. One thing that had always steered her in the right direction was her stomach, considering it was what somehow landed her in Konoha's territory, and would end up getting her entire life truly started.

Smiling solemnly, she was grateful for one thing that came from being brought to this strange world. She hadn't had her bouts of extreme pain the entire time she had been there. Her hand instinctively reached over her heart, remembering the nights of agonizing pain that seemed to pierce every nerve in her body.

But she wouldn't think of that for the moment. No, she was genuinely free for the moment, and that was what mattered to her for the time being.

Pushing off of the ground, she winced at the momentary pain that went through her bare arms from where the indent of the wood had imprinted on her skin.

Cracking open the door, she sighed as everyone was still gathered in the common area, chatting as loudly as ever. Pursing her lips, she began her adventure from her room. With tunnel vision on the fridge, she bumped into a few people that had been in the way, but they said nothing to her as most tended to just stay quiet when Midori did things like that.

Her glare was more lethal than any blade.

Making it to the fridge, she opened it up, searching for the meal she had ordered. Rice balls with assorted fillings. It was simple, but it was something she had grown to love. However, when her eyes finally rested on their tray, she felt her blood begin to boil.

Pulling the dish out, there was only one out of the six rice balls that had been left there from when she had last seen it. The wrapping was also poorly replaced on it, letting air freely roam under.

A vein threatened to burst in her forehead as her eyes seemed to glare into the plate for what seemed like eternity. Finally, her head snapped up at an inhuman speed, scanning every single face in the room, looking for the slightest amount of rice on someone's face, or even some filling. Anything, anything at all to let her incriminate them.

As the throbbing in her head began to reach a climax, the anger within her reached a boiling point. Hinging her mouth open, an ungodly screech came from within, albeit seemingly muffled and barely audible. It wasn't enough to draw attention from most, however, it certainly caught the attention of a few nearby.

It wasn't much, but it was a surprise to them, as most thought she was incapable of making any sound at all. Gritting her teeth, Midori snatched the remaining rice ball out and slammed it into her mouth whole. As she walked past the trash can, she dumped the ceramic plate into it, halting all conversation as the dish shattered.

Having very little care for it, Midori simply walked back to her room, where she resumed her research.


With a clap of their hands, a sudden shift began to form around them. Time seemed to halt, and space seemed to warp. And for a moment, the world seemed to cease all natural orders.

"And just like that...It is done."


Senju Zennou (16 years old)

Rank: Jounin

Team Shinwa/Team 14

Power:S+

Ninjutsu:S

Art Skills:B

Creepiness:S++

Social Understanding:F-

- Zennou is one of two twins born to Senju Tsunade. Raising him was difficult for the Fifth Hokage, given his unique challenges that came with him, however, she still did everything she could for him. He was extremely advanced as a child, and could have been high in the ranks at a very young age, but purposefully chose to keep himself back as to grow with teammates.

XXXXX

Senju Hitode (16 years old)

Rank: Chuunin

Team Kyuuki/Team 10

Medical Ninjutsu: S+

Strength:S

Charisma:S

Meeting Self Imposed Expectations: C

Genjutsu: C

- Hitode is the first born twin to Senju Tsunade. Given her extreme similarity to Tsunade, she was trained in a good number of skills frequently used by her mother. However, given the high reputation of Tsunade and how highly everyone thought of Zennou, she found herself constantly second guessing her own abilities and setting expectations for herself.

XXXXX

Kosshi Biteki (16 Years Old)

Rank: Chuunin

Team Hinata/Team 19

Taijutsu: S

Bloodlines:S+

Hubris:S++

Clan:F-

Bonsai Skills:B

- Biteki was born to two civilian parents, however, due to their long lineage, a number of bloodlines ultimately culminated in him and awoke. Because of his impressive abilities, he developed an unhealthy amount of pride and hubris. Despite this, growing up, he was unheard of at times due to only being from a civilian family instead of a clan, which had a heavy impact on his viewing of society when it came to clans and civilians.

XXXXX

Ningyoushi Midori (16 Years Old)

Rank: Chuunin

Team Menma/Team 12

Genjutsu: A+

Stealth:S+

Talking:F-

Cartography:B+

Smugness:A

- Hailing from Takigakure, Midori was from the Ningyoushi clan. This clan possessed an unorthodox cooperation with the Shiwasu clan of Takigakure. However, she managed to flee and escape to Konoha at a young age, where she was found by Senju Zennou. For a large portion of her childhood, she was borderline feral and extremely unpredictable.


Hey hey! Not much to say here this time, but anyone who needs an extension on the deadline, don't be afraid to ask, I understand that a lot comes up and Midterms and Exams are also around this time of year! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you all next time~ Ciao!