Prescripto13: Thank you! :3
"Sore wazu shinno": "It was real"
Original word count: 3.6k~
Recommended songs: Invasion by Shiro Sagisu (Rayden Remix).
Enjoy my vent (lol) :p
Chapter 2: Sore wazu shinno
Lightning clouds gathered over a forest, winds blasting and scaring animals away to their homes with ease. In between each individual cloud, electrostatic charges were gathering up, and within a split second, a rather large lightning bolt struck the ground of a clearing.
Red chakra blasted in the air the instant it hit, winds howling even more. Thunder eagerly followed, the loud booming echoing throughout the forest. Rain pelted the ground, and the chakra continued pulsing. It made the grass, leaves, trees and any plant life decay and die with ease. The force of the wind, rain and chakra pushed trees down.
In the middle of the clearing, however, was Ketsuban and Uchiha Obito. Blood was streaming down his chin, the source of the bleeding coming from his mouth. He was on his knees, panting heavily and leaning on the staff. Gudōdama started wrapping around Ketsuban, and when it was completely concealed—rings and all—the chakra stopped.
But the storm didn't.
He was still being pelted by what felt like rocks.
He stretched his senses out. He was alone in the clearing, the occasional lightning strike and thunder clap being his only company for many miles. Any nearby animals were either dead or dying. He slowly stood up, coughing up a bit more blood that just added to the river of crimson liquid.
But he just disregarded it, simply making his way towards the rotting forest line. He walked for a good fifteen minutes before reaching a decently large and strong oak tree. He sat in between the crook of two roots, wiping the blood off of his face. He leaned back, and sunk into the tree smoothly. His breathing slowed, and he eventually fell asleep.
Minato woke up with a scream that synced with a thunder clap. He shot up, his clothing and hair soaked with sweat. He frantically looked around, his breathing erratic. He was in a bedroom—one he was all too familiar with. His and Kushina's bedroom, within the house he lived in before his death twenty-seven years ago.
"Dear gods, Minato…"
He jumped and uncharacteristically cried out in alarm in a rather girly manner, falling over the side of the bed. He landed on his neck, his feet in his face and his torso scrunched into a C. The shock and fear of the surprise made him confused. He had genuinely gotten afraid of the voice; he should've sensed it, or noticed that there was another presence.
Lightning cracked and thunder shouted.
The blonde shifted, sliding onto his side and slowly sitting up. He rubbed his face free of sweat, getting it out of his eyes and hair. He stopped and turned his head towards the second voice, seeing the menacing glare of Uzumaki Kushina coming from the other side of the bed. She, too, was on the floor.
His eyes widened in shock. What…
Her eyes narrowed. "You must've been fighting a real rough fight if you needed to kick me off the bed, dattebane," she snapped. Her glare intensified. "What the hell!"
Minato blinked out of his shock, breaking away from his stare and looking down at the ground. "Genjutsu," he murmured.
"What?"
"You're a genjutsu," he repeated. She had to be. Kushina died twenty-seven years ago. Even if he was an Edo Tensei, he would've had to release himself in order to see her again—and he didn't remember doing that. He just remembered being pressed down on the ground before his world went black.
The Uzumaki blinked, obviously confused. Her rage from before was forgotten, and she frowned. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "Minato, I'm real—"
His eyes narrowed as he looked at her with a steely expression he would give an enemy. "Uzumaki Kushina died of bijū extraction," he hissed vehemently. "You are not real."
Kushina's eyes widened, shock making her thoughts race. A few moments later, however, she blinked when realization dawned. "You had a nightmare, didn't you?" she asked. When he didn't move to reply, she continued with a reassuring smile. "If you want, you can check my seal. Nobody can copy the Kyūbi's power."
Minato blinked. That was true. Nobody could copy a bijū's power. One could try, but the maliciousness would always be too much. Not to mention, he knew what the chakra felt like rather intimately. So he cautiously made his way towards her, chakra channelling into his fingers and into the seal on her torso.
It showed itself, the Uzumaki swirl being over her belly button. He channelled more chakra into it, and turned it into sensory chakra.
"That Uchiha is a bastard," Kurama's voice rumbled.
Minato blinked in surprise. "What?"
"Ketsuban is a bastard," he continued.
"Kurama? Is that the you I know of?" the Namikaze questioned.
"Yes. It is," he replied. "Kushina can't hear us, not unless she channels chakra into the seal as well."
"Minato?" the woman's voice sounded.
He waved her off, pretending to tamper with the seal even further as the conversation dragged on. "I'm aware of that. Do you know what happened? Why aren't you my bijū anymore?"
"Because Ketsuban and Kosha-gaki reversed everything," Kurama snapped. "I will have Naruto summon us all to the space where we can talk. For now, find Sasuke, Kakahō and Naruto. I don't know where Kosha-gaki is, though. Just act normal; this is real."
Minato internally nodded to himself, and stopped channelling chakra. He paused for a few seconds, soaking in what the bijū had said before realization dawned.
"This is real."
A big happy grin split his face before he jumped and gave Kushina a big hug. She squeaked in alarm and they toppled to the ground. "God dammit, Minato…" she grumbled. "What the hell are you doing now?"
"Giving my lovely a big hug," he replied, nuzzling Kushina's stomach happily.
No one could ever touch a genjutsu.
It was real.
Tsunade woke up in sync with a thunder clap, just in time to dodge the katana that was aimed for her throat. She rolled off of the bed, quickly getting into a taijutsu stance. She charged the man, punching him in the gut with raw strength. He doubled over and coughed, vomiting blood. He didn't last much longer. His neck was crushed by the Sannin with ease.
She pushed the body down onto the floor, frantic eyes scanning the room. It was dark, rain was pelting the window and lightning flashed in the distance. She controlled her breathing, calming herself and making her way towards the nightstand. She turned the knob of the lamp, but it didn't flicker on as expected.
She sighed. The power was out. So she looked outside, and instantly recognized the town as Torii-gai. It was a small tourist town, rather similar to Tanzaku-gai. It, too, was known for its brilliant gambling opportunities and fine women. But it was also known for the brilliant, colorful and traditional town parties, festivals and so forth. Torii's decorated the quarters' middle, where most of the attention of said parties were held.
She liked it, visited it once. Never came back.
Debts and all.
So why am I back? she wondered to herself. She looked at the man who had just tried to kill her. He had black hair and glazed over grey eyes that mixed oddly with fair skin. She recognized him. She gambled with him over thirty years ago; he was nameless to her, but she was never really good with names. Just faces.
She was pretty sure Torii-gai was destroyed during the third year of the Fourth war.
"Tsunade-sama?"
Said Senju stiffened when she heard the voice. It was that of a young girl—one that she could never forget. She whipped around, her eyes widening as her eyes landed on the dark haired kunoichi. "Sh-Shizune…"
Shizune frowned. "Are you alright, Tsunade-sama?" she asked pensively. Her dark eyes narrowed suspiciously when she saw the man and the blood that dribbled down his face. Realization dawned, and she rushed up to the blonde Sannin. She grabbed the woman's hands, eyes wide with concern. "Tsunade-sama, are you alright? What happened? Why—"
Tsunade's smiles and tears of joy interrupted the teen. She stopped rambling, frowning and looking into her masters eyes.
The Senju was happy because illusions couldn't be touched. Hallucinations, perhaps, because the brain convinces itself that something truly is going on. But genjutsu? Illusions, fake worlds, dreams? No, they could never be touched. Not physically, at least. True, they could be heard, seen—sensed, even. But never, ever touched.
She sobbed, pulling the dark haired girl in a hug.
It wasn't one of those petty nefarious dreams. Dreams were always confusing.
It was real.
Sasuke's back hit a tree. He didn't leave a dent, but it still hurt. He coughed, eyes wide with surprise of the sudden pain. He roughly landed on the roots and rolled onto the mud and grass. He laid there for a few moments, panting and just letting himself get pelted by rain. He was suffering from Pins and Needles, something he never really liked. He didn't know why, though.
But then again… he thought as he reflected on what happened literally seconds ago. Gravity was a tender thing; it changed with altitude and stayed within earth's atmosphere. Chakra defied it, and if put under heavy pressure via chakra, one's blood flow could slow down. Being ripped from said heavy pressure so suddenly naturally gives one Pins and Needles.
He slowly sat up, deactivating his dōjutsu and suppressing his chakra signature with ease. He quickly made his way up a tree, just in time for a child that looked more like a toddler to rush into the clearing and duck under a bush.
Sasuke's head tipped a little. He cautiously got down from the tree, landing softly on the muddy ground. He made his way to the bush, crouching down. He pushed branches aside and saw a young child shivering as said toddler used the branches as cover.
Innocent black eyes widened and he blinked. "U-um…"
The elder male narrowed his coal black eyes, noticing the resemblance to a certain somebody. He just couldn't put his finger on it. "Are you lost?" he asked stoically.
The child shivered and pulled himself further into a ball, sniffing and obviously failing in trying not to cry. "Y-yes…"
"Where do you live?"
"I can't tell strangers that…" he murmured.
Sasuke blinked the rain out of his eyes. "Well, I have no reason to hurt you. I'm not a stranger to the area," he said. He recognized the tree—one glance out of the corner of his eye told him that the area was a training ground he was all too familiar with.
But—along with the rest of the hidden villages—Konoha was destroyed eight years ago. How this part of it was still around confused him.
"O-oh…" the boy murmured. His eyes turned pensive as he stared at the muddy ground. "Uh…I-I live in the Uchiha compound…"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "The compound was destroyed eight years ago," he stated coldly.
The young Uchiha blinked. "What are you talking about?" he questioned.
Genjutsu, he silently concluded. It's obviously—
But his thought stopped. His chakra was completely suppressed—almost gone, matter of fact. That meant no flow. Genjutsu could never be cast on another person without chakra being fluent. He knew that intimately. Even Mugen Tsukuyomi couldn't last long without the victims chakra flow.
"Never mind," he said. "Just a memory. Come on out. I'll take you back there."
The child hesitantly crawled out of his hiding spot, muddy, wet and shivering. He scanned Sasuke, his lips pressing in a thin line in attempts to stop the teeth clattering. Tears pricked at his eyes—it was obvious for a ninja—and he was hugging himself.
Sasuke took off his cloak, using the outside of it to get rid of any mud before draping it over the presumed four year old. "May I pick you up? It'll go faster and be much more safer if we do so," he stated. Sakura, before her death, talked about families at one point—told him how to handle children, if only a little.
He felt a pit form in his stomach, but he promptly ignored it.
The toddler nodded timidly. "O-okay…" he stuttered.
Sasuke attempted a smile, and failed miserably. He picked the boy up, walking out of the training grounds. He leaped up into the air after walking down the pathway, hopping from roof to roof. "…What's your name?" he eventually asked over the rain. He kept the cloak over the toddlers head to protect it from being hit. The rain felt like rocks.
"Sh-Shisui," he chattered out. "Uchiha Shisui…"
Sasuke blinked in surprise, his eyes wide. His expression snapped back to the usual flat one within a thunder clap, the rain pelting skin once more. So that's why he looked so familiar… he realized. But how? Just—just how? "Nice to meet you," he replied in spite of his thoughts. "My name is Sasuke."
Shisui simply nodded, ducking his head in. Eventually, they reached the familiar gates of the one and only Uchiha compound. Sasuke landed on the mud, sliding professionally for a few seconds before stopping. He put Shisui down.
The Uchiha guards instantly bunched up, eyes narrowing suspiciously. Sasuke almost snorted. Gate guards of the compound were to never leave their post unless something drastic happened; weather wasn't essential and was disregarded like gum stuck on a wall.
"Shisui!" a woman shouted over the howling wind and rain.
Sasuke turned his head towards the woman, stiffening when he noticed who the woman was. She had fairly pale skin, beautiful black eyes and raven bangs that roughly outlined her jaw. He visibly paled.
Uchiha Mikoto was quick to pick up the toddler, examining him despite the thunder clap that scared him. She pulled the cloak off, holding him closely. She looked at Sasuke, her expression full of relief, suspicion and thankfulness. "Thank you, so, so much!" she called over the distant lightning bolt and thunder clap.
Sasuke nodded, taking the cloak. "No problem."
"I have to go," Mikoto said. She bowed. "Thank you!"
He nodded again, putting the cloak on and watching her as she turned and rushed back inside.
Neither Shisui and Mikoto were no illusion.
Besides, the rain was more than enough proof. Genjutsu could never be physical.
It was real.
Naruto and Kakashi were unfortunate enough to land in the burned down crispy remains of a forest. They hit in the ground in-sync with a thunder clap. The ground was destroyed by fire of a ninja technique that was obviously executed during a fight.
Lightning struck, and both landed roughly on the ground, skidding and hitting many half-fallen tree trunks. Naruto deactivated his Rikudō Mōdo, his eyes wide with pain. He screamed bloody murder, coughing up excessively large amounts of blood despite him baring no internal or external wounds.
He laid still on his side, his back curving as he held his stomach. He was shaking with the sheer pain he was experiencing. He wheezed for air, his breathing wet as he coughed.
Kakashi was quick to reach his former student's side, his Sharingan regaining exposure. He sat on his knees, quickly starting up a diagnoses jutsu. But it was interrupted when the nine minty green heads of the bijū flew out of the blonde Uzumaki. They manifested for a second before completely disappearing, chakra and all.
Naruto's face was scrunched up in pain. Even more blood was coughed up, said crimson liquid melting together with rain. The Hatake restarted the diagnosis jutsu, attempting to find what was wrong. It took literally a nanosecond—and he found it, confirmed it, and promptly hyperventilated.
Over time, he lost control of anxiety, panic, fear or anger related emotions and attacks. It was a little quirk that followed with his MPD he was diagnosed with in the second year of the war. The "other" side of him had cut down the Shiro Zetsu army with ease, torturing and quite literally ripping apart the alarmingly large amount people who had hopelessly sided with Madara, though he didn't remember. He had gained said disorder thanks to the PTSD he suffered from after the battle that was more like an abattoir.
Tenten, Tsume, Shino, Kurenai, Hana and Ino had died in that same drastically large-scale battle. At the end, he had a shattered femur and five broken ribs. His jaw had been broken, too, and his right temple was bruised rather badly. He was also forced to sit and watch with his Sharingan eyelid wide open. They were all killed one by one; Madara went as far as torturing them as payback for the abattoir he caused.
After that, Rengōku forces became much more spread out and much more stronger.
The Hatake openly flinched back when he felt Naruto's hand touch his knee. He looked at the blonde, frantic mismatching eyes unsure of what to do. He knew what the problem was, and the only way to fix it was to give something that was damn near impossible to get before he died.
Bijū extraction was just fucked up like that.
"Baa-chan…" Naruto rasped.
Kakashi's eyes widened. That's right… he thought. Tsunade had made a jutsu that kept all cells alive and working for a stretched period of three days. But he had no idea where she was, and guessing wasn't really his forte.
But then again, luck was part of a ninja's skill. He had to take a chance.
His Kamui activated, and he teleported into the dimension with Naruto. The two landed, soaking wet with the rain. Their clothing was tampered and soaked, smears of charcoal marring their backs and sides. Kakashi put his right index and middle finger up, his chakra pulsing once more. He picked Naruto up bridal style, and the duo disappeared in another swirl of Kamui. His destination was the closest town possible.
He landed on top of a torii.
Kakashi looked around. Rain continuously pelted him, multiple inches of water and mud filling up the path. He stretched out a portion of sensory chakra, the thin spiritual material blanketing the area. Barely a second later, Tsunade appeared right next to him, her eyes steeled with suspicion. But it immediately disappeared. "Kakashi," she said.
He jumped slightly and looked at her, eyes still frantic. He was breathing heavily, and he was pretty sure his body was shaking rather violently. He couldn't really tell. His panic was on the verge of making him hyperventilate into unconsciousness and having another anxiety attack.
Tsunade obviously noticed this. She grabbed his shoulder and shunshin'd back into her hotel room, instantly taking the soaking wet Uzumaki Naruto from the Hatake's arms. She put the blonde on the bed, and started up with a diagnosis jutsu. "Shizune," she said sternly. "Calm our guest down, now."
A young dark haired teen kunoichi nodded firmly, turning to Kakashi and pulling him away. She looked into his eyes and pulled him through some calming procedures that had helped.
But he was only half-listening. He really wasn't too use what was happening, but he knew that Obito's jutsu very likely had something to do with it considering it was the last thing he remembered before waking up in the charred monument.
Suddenly he processed something. His eyes widened again, and his breathing became erratic as he started at the teen who stood before him. Her jaw clenched as she took his soaking wet, gloved hand, using more words to calm him down. But he was still half-listening. Slowly, he turned his gaze towards her hand. He regained control of his breathing as his mind zoned in on it and the thoughts that followed.
Because the young teen standing before him was no normal teen.
She was Shizune.
Illusions could never be touched.
It was real.
Madara opened his eye in sync with a thunder clap that echoed outside. It met darkness, something he actually expected. He expected to feel the power of the Wood Release within his cells, blood and veins—and he did. He felt the hunch, the aches, the joint pains. He chuckled darkly, slowly standing and resting almost all of his weight on his Kama. He slowly made his way forward, stopping after a few stops. He felt the aches in his knees, his back, in his neck.
It was wonderful.
He grinned darkly, his Rinnegan activating. It was perfect. Absolutely fucking perfect. True, he did not have Ketsuban. He no longer held the power of the Jūbi, or of the Shinju, but he had a second chance to slit everyone's throats.
He returned to his seat, slowly sitting down on his perch. His Rinnegan deactivated. He was disappointed to some consent, but this…oh, this? All of it was very perfect.
The gravity affect was not surprising. He hadn't been expecting it to happen so suddenly and he sure as hell didn't expect the force it held. But he expected it. Obito had fairly brilliant control of Ketsuban; all intel of that could be collected from that single supplementary move.
The seal was another thing he didn't expect. He had wondered why the blind Uchiha needed Ketsuban. The weapon was a ticking bomb, and only someone who knew how to use it rather intimately could prevent it. But no one did, so it would have to remain that way.
But the user…
The user was a mental nuclear bomb. Slowly, the corrosive power Ketsuban held would corrupt him or her. Eventually, said user would snap under the mental pressure they were to be put under, and go on a bloody rampage that would mark shinobi history like a bright red smudge against a bright green piece of paper.
After all, Ketsuban was the Shinju's toy.
He grinned devilishly.
It was real.
Yus. Madara, too.
I'll be honest, this probably won't be the brightest of stories; no happy ending. The summary should be hint enough.
I'm not sorry. Besides, I can just put my sorrow here ^-^'
Peace! :3
