The Ryugan Awakened
The morning after Usagi's episode with the Nine-tails fragment within her, Karasu used Shiro's sight to track down his uncle. He wanted to be there when Sasuke went up against the real Madara, especially after Koku appeared in his dreams to warn him that Madara was not the greatest threat that would arise, nor was the Ten-tails. Karasu wasn't the only one with a cold pit in his stomach when the group awoke, Inu and Usagi both felt something dark looming on the horizon as well. Karasu was able to find his uncle quickly with Shiro's eyes, heading for a large battlefield covered by the Allied Shinobi forces. He could see strange Chakras coursing through the man who had claimed to be Madara, the strange light Karasu saw within him reminded him of Usagi when she used the Nine-tail's power.
"It looks like the war is about to enter its final stages," he told the others as they gathered the few belongings they kept while traveling.
"Are we heading for the hot zone?" Inu asked as they prepared to set out.
Karasu replied with a nod, remaining silent and grim as they set out. They came upon the Allied forces near dusk, Shiro's eyes revealing Sasuke and his former teammates preparing to launch an assault on the Ten-tails. He motioned for the others to hold their positions, not wanting the Allied forces to mistake them for enemies while he watched his uncle in action.
It seemed like they would succeed against the multitude of creatures being spawned by the Ten-tails and slay the beast, but something seemed off to Karasu. They continued to watch from a safe distance, Karasu using the combined powers of the dragons' eyes to share what he saw with his team. It looked like the war would soon be over as the Allied forces rallied and gained ground on the battlefield, but all that changed after the masked man disappeared. Karasu watched as Madara nearly killed Sasuke, as the Nine-tail's main body was extracted from its Jinchuriki. The allied forces nearly gave up after seeing their two strongest assets nearly killed, many turned and fled the battlefield.
"Should we intervene?" Inu asked Karasu.
"Not yet," he said distractedly, following the battle closely.
Madara returned to the battlefield in a different form after disappearing for a few minutes, something about his appearance seeming incredibly familiar to Karasu, though he didn't know why at the time. Karasu swore as Madara was nearly defeated by the Leaf shinobi fighting him, only to return stronger after absorbing the Ten-tails. Karasu noticed a strange presence within the legendary Uchiha shinobi, seeing it begin to tear him apart from the inside without him noticing. Madara's body swelled and exploded, revealing the entity that Karasu had seen. It was a woman that he felt he should recognize, with an almost grey complexion and long white hair. Her eyes were what struck him the most, feeling as though she were watching him even before he watched her emerge from Madara. Karasu felt dread when her attention was turned to Sasuke and his Jinchuriki friend, something about the way she looked at them causing him to worry for them.
His heart dropped as the strange woman disappeared, taking Sasuke and the Jinchuriki beyond his sight and returning alone shortly after. Karasu felt her eyes on him as she emerged from the strange rift she had created. She vanished again, emerging behind him and wrapping her arms around him like a mother would her child. He froze in her embrace, though he felt no malice from her. Inu and Usagi also stood frozen, the shock of the woman's sudden appearance and actions too great for them to withstand.
"It is time you learned the truth of what you are," she whispered into his ear as a root emerged from the ground beneath them, encasing the three young shinobi in strange cocoons.
The root hesitated as it neared Karasu, almost as though it feared him. It encased him regardless, his mind going blank as he was shut away from the world.
Karasu opened his eyes to find himself before a massive tree with a closed flower at its top, the strange woman kneeling before it. She turned to him, a look of motherly love on her face.
"Welcome, Karasu. Do you know what this is?" She asked him, placing a hand on the trunk of the tree.
"The sleeping Ten-tails," he said, seeing it clearly through his still active dojutsu.
"That's right," she said with a smile.
The smile was suddenly replaced by a look of anger and hatred, causing Karasu to adopt a combat stance. She stared into his eyes, her expression softening once more.
"Did you know that I come from a place beyond the stars you see at night?" She asked him, to which he shook his head.
"I feel as though I should know you, but I don't know why," he answered.
"I am Kaguya, of the Otsutsuki clan. I was sent here to plant the seed that ultimately became the Ten-tails, but I consumed its fruit for myself instead of calling on the others from my clan," she said. Karasu felt like he recognized her name, but he didn't know from where.
"Do you know where the dragons within you came from?" She asked him. Again, he shook his head to indicate that he did not.
"They never did like talking about where they came from," she said with a short laugh.
"They were weapons made from the blood and chakra of my clan, sent here to destroy me and everything I created here. They couldn't survive on their own, and ended up inhabiting my own children. My two sons were able to keep them locked away inside them, unable to use their power against myself, my family, or my subjects. The dragons' spirits continued to pass through my sons' lines but the Otsutsuki blood became too impure, putting the dragons into a deep sleep until another Otsutsuki was born from the divided bloodlines," she explained.
"Are you telling me that I am neither Uchiha nor Hyuga? That I'm of the Otsutsuki line?" He asked incredulously.
"Not exactly. You see, Karasu, the Uchiha and Hyuga are both descended from the Otsutsuki, as are the other powerful clans, such as the Uzumaki and Senju lines," Kaguya told him, her tone gentle.
"Why are you telling me all of this?" He asked her, not understanding why he had been brought to this strange place.
"Because I wanted you to know what you really are. I learned long ago that living in ignorance of what you are and where you're from can be a very dangerous thing," she said sadly.
"So you are the common ancestor of the clans you mentioned? How could so many variations come from one person?" Karasu asked her.
"Yes, Karasu. The 'variations', as you called them, are the result of the dragons' power mixed into the lines of my two sons, causing mutations as the Otsutsuki bloodline became more diluted by humans," Kaguya explained.
"What am I supposed to do with everything you're telling me?" He asked her, to which she shrugged with a half-smile.
"What you do with the information is up to you, Karasu. I want you to join me, become a part of my family once more. What do you say?," she said, opening her arms in invitation.
"No," he whispered.
"What?" She asked, her face becoming angry.
"No! I will never join you!" He shouted, calling on the dragons within him to enter his fiery dragon form.
Before Kaguya could react, Karasu launched himself into the sky above the dormant Ten-tails. He focused all of his anger into summoning a massive inferno of dragon fire to consume the slumbering "tree". He heard Kaguya shriek from the ground below as an enormous pillar of fire covered the Ten-tails, accompanied by a strange cry of pain from the Ten-tails. Karasu kept drawing from the dragons' power until everything in sight was covered in fire.
Karasu opened his eyes, surprised to find the cocoon that had covered him burning away on the ground around him. Kaguya was kneeling before him, panting for breath and covered in a sheen of sweat. Her eyes went wide as Karasu felt a change in his own and a pressure in his skull, the dragons within him becoming one with not only each other, but with him as well. He didn't know it, but the whites of his eyes had become as red as the eye like Kaguya's that had emerged on his forehead, his Sharingan overlapping with Shiro's Byakugan to create a new form.
"The Ryugan," he heard her whisper.
"Not only do you defy me, but you would merge yourself with the weapons meant to destroy me?" Kaguya demanded, her eyes filling with tears.
Karasu remained silent as he stepped out from the burning cocoon he had been trapped in, white flames running down his spine and forming a tail while black flames emerged from his shoulders like wings, the two intertwining and coalescing to cover his head and form a dragon-like mask. His three eyes were still visible through the fires covering his face, a visage that left Kaguya trembling in fear. Before Karasu could attack, Kaguya vanished into another rift and moved to a place beyond the sight of his newly awakened Ryugan. Karasu turned his attention to the two cocoons still holding his teammates, destroying the wood-like structures with his dragon fire. Usagi and Inu shook themselves as they emerged, as though waking themselves from a dream. Karasu felt relieved at seeing them unharmed. His flames suddenly vanished as the eye on his forehead closed and he fell forward, having spent too much of his strength and losing consciousness. His last thoughts were of his uncle and friends.