Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or it's affiliated products
Chapter 3
Second chances come in short supply, but if they're offered from the hands of devils, is the new beginning worth the price?
If I blacked out one more time from one of Kaguya's techniques I swear I'll.
Honestly, I can't really do anything about it, given her divinity, and my firm lack of it. But did she really have to keep knocking me out every time we moved?
But I was awake now, and it was time to see what other mind bending place I woke up in. Probably that lava dimension or something like that, Kaguya seemed to be the sadistic type.
Although, what I saw wasn't a field of lava but the evening sky.
I was standing on the air. That was, that was amazing. I was standing on the air!
Whoo!
There was a flash as Kaguya materialized beside me, her robes billowing in the breeze and she inhaled deeply.
"Ah it's good to breathe real air." Kaguya said, a peaceful smile growing on her face. "My prison has no substitute." She breathed deeply and stood there in silence for a moment. I couldn't blame her, this was beautiful and peaceful, the very air felt alive in a way I couldn't describe. Was this what Kaguya meant when she said Earth was dead?
"How are you even here?" I asked, almost disappointed to break the silence.
Kaguya sighed and turned to me, a hint of irritation mixed with disappointment in her eyes.
"I am a god," She scoffed. "Do not believe two fledgling godlings can vanquish their progenitor. The power they used is mine, and I know how to use it best."
That was a concerning train of thought, if the Sage of Six Paths couldn't stop Kaguya, who could?
"My sons were skilled in Ninshou but there is always a weakness in any technique. You'd do well to remember that." She chided. That wasn't bad advice, still I was taking anything this lady said with a grain of salt.
Or a gallon rather.
"Now, let's get the needless groveling you humans are prone to indulge in over with. Behold." I looked down toward the direction she pointed and gaped. Beneath us was a city, great in size, with streets connecting like a wooden labyrinth. It was a thing of beauty. Each street laid out in a pattern visible only from our great height. Each park or fountain placed in just the right spot to provide the perfect amount of color. Whoever built this place was an architectural genius.
They had to have been, to arrange the thousands of houses and stores that littered the city. Even in the growing twilight, throngs of people moved through the streets, a gentle buzz of conversation noticeable even at our great height.
But what caught my eyes the most was a mountain. Dark brown stone stood imposingly over the city, but even more noticeable were the three stone faces carved into it.
That was the Hokage Monument, from Naruto, but why wasn't Tsunade's or even Minato's face up there?
Just when was I?
"Konohagakure no Sato. The Village Hidden in the Leaves." I whispered. There was nothing quite like seeing your childhood imagination brought to life, even beyond the magic animation provided.
"Yes." Kaguya said, distilling gallons of venom into a single word. "Home of those who defy me, and those caricatures of my grandsons' spirits."
That was the second time Kaguya mentioned that, was it something to do with the 'reincarnation' crap that showed up later in the series? I stopped watching Naruto long before that point myself, but I'd overheard things, few of them flattering.
"Fitting that I placed two of my agents among them." Kaguya smirked. "Willing or not, the irony is quite delightful." That's one word for stealing people from their lives and using them as puppets.
Another was evil.
"But now that you've gotten the gawking out of your system, it's time we continue." Kaguya spoke. She'd said the words with such finality a chill ran up my spine.
Continue what? I got my answer when Kaguya's reached out and touched the sky.
"Yomotsu Hirasaka." Kaguya said. There was a sound, like metal scraping against metal as the air flaked away revealing a dark gaping hole in the sky. Kaguya chuckled at the sight, a pleased smile on her face.
"It's good to see some of my power remains. Now come." She commanded.
"That's a freaky hole in the sky you just made, and you want me to go inside it?" I asked, disbelief lining my tone. I wasn't a superhuman like Naruto characters, that might just kill me! Kaguya rolled her eyes before grabbing me by the scruff of my neck. Her long nails scratched against my skin and I instantly stilled, lest those talons cut something I needed.
"When I give an order, you follow." Kaguya said, in the tone one used for someone particularly idiotic. I nodded as best I could given her grip on my neck.
"Yes, ma'am." Kaguya seemed amused by that statement, but not amused enough to prevent what she did next.
The Rabbit threw me into the portal!
And laughed while she did it!
A few expletives flew out of my mouth before I fell inside. My breath left my lungs as I crossed the threshold and the sheer lack of everything stunned my senses.
In the void, there was nothing.
No light, no heat.
Just cold and darkness, stretching out into the eternity.
I stumbled when I exited the portal, my knees and palms skidding across soft grass. I laid there on the ground a moment taking deep and cleansing breaths.
"Thank god, normal ground." I said. No floating air or moon rocks or oblivion portals, just plain old earth.
Kaguya floated to the ground alongside me, her feet never once touching the ground.
"Get your face out of the mud." Kaguya commanded, her eyes disapproving. I very reluctantly rose from the ground and dusted myself off. That was remarkably therapeutic, and a sign of my growing mental instability.
"Where on earth was I?" I asked. Or was I on earth at all? At this point, I didn't know anymore.
"The underworld, a plane I know well." Kaguya said, something inscrutable in her eyes. She blinked and it was gone.
"Observe, the stage that I have formed for you." The Princess said, her earlier eloquence returning in force.
My eyes looked over the area and tried to catalogue everything I saw. We were on a small patch of grass inside a courtyard of sorts. On all sides, imposing walls surrounded us, even if time seemed to have worn them down. Away from the walls, and towards the center of the complex, a large building took up most of the courtyard. The design was definitely Japanese or East Asian, but given the fact that we were in Naruto I supposed that was par for the course. Several smaller building were built in a ring encircling the main building, a definite oddity given humanity's tendency to build off squares.
"This the home of the Kurama Clan, wielders of one of the Cursed Kekkai Genkai." Kaguya stated. The name was vaguely familiar, wasn't there a filler about the heiress? Yakumi or something like that? She was supposed to be crazy as a bag of cats though.
"This will do nicely." Kaguya said simply, but her tone made it clear she was patting herself on the back. "I haven't used them in a plot for a very long time." And once again, Kaguya's manipulative tendencies come to forefront of the conversation.
"What do they have to do with me?" I asked, "And what the hell does a stage have to do with anything?" Kaguya turned towards me and scoffed.
"I explain the simplest parts of my scheme and somehow you still manage to miss the bigger picture. Perhaps I had you overestimated, Fox." My pride stung at her words but I barely managed to keep from saying something I'd regret.
"My intelligence has never been anything to write home about, so please enlighten me." I said, fighting to urge to grit my teeth. This rankled, but pride being the death of someone was a major theme in human history, I wasn't keen on repeating those mistakes.
Kaguya smiled, and somehow that was more unsettling then her smirk.
"Very well, since you have humbled yourself, I will answer your questions. Observe."
At those words, the sliding door to the main building was flung open and a woman stormed out of it. Tension was clear in her delicate features and her blue black hair was frizzing a bit from the humidity in the air.
"Uroko Kurama, matron of the Kurama Clan." Kaguya began, her voice not unlike the narrator of a wildlife documentary. "She was Sarutobi by birth, but by virtue of being a younger daughter, a political marriage was her fate."
Uroko paced back and forth in front of the small koi pond, muttering something harshly under her breath. She stilled as the door to the main building slid open and a man with too deep lines on his face for someone so young stepped outside and slid the door shut behind him with an audible sigh.
"Murakumo Kurama, Head of the Clan but with none of the power. His uncle Unkai holds the support of the traditionalists, and there are too few progressives to bring about the future he desires." Kaguya added, the hints of a smirk on her face.
"How do you know so much about them?" I asked. "You don't strike me as the type to care about 'mortals'."
Kaguya merely chuckled before commanding with an outstretched hand.
"I take an interest in drama I begin, now watch."
The couple silently stared at each other, each appearing to weigh how this conversation would go.
"I can not believe them!" The woman began, frustration and anger an equal mix in her words.
"Uroko." The man pleaded, his bright eyes sorrowful.
"Do not 'Uroko' me!" She snapped, eyes blazing. "I am a Jonin of Konoha, and a daughter of the Sarutobi!" It certainly looked like the couple didn't care about airing their dirty laundry in public. They were certainly braver then I was.
Murakumo sighed again and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"You act like the request is unreasonable." That seemed to anger Uroko more. She began pacing back in forth once again, almost gliding across the surface of the ground.
"I understand requesting that I stay inside the village, I'm not an idiot, Murakumo!"
"I never claimed you were." He answered long sufferingly but Uroko paid him no heed.
"Believe it or not, husband of mine, I happen to know I'm pregnant." The woman scoffed.
That was a surprise to me, she certainly didn't look it.
"I know better then to request an S-Rank to kill a Daiymo, but bedrest?! I'm barely two months along! At the very least I can file paperwork for Uncle Hiruzen so I don't go stir-crazy!" The growing shadows made it hard to see Murakumo's face but even so I could make out the growing tension in his jaw.
"I'm not the enemy here!" He protested. "I was standing up for you the entire time!" Uroko slowed and actually seemed to look at her husband. She sighed as some of the tension bled off her face.
"I, I'm sorry. You're not the one I'm mad at, and I shouldn't take this out on you. It's,"
"Unkai." Murakumo interrupted, a strained laugh following his words.
"Unkai." Uroko answered. The chirping of crickets filled the silence as the two stared at each other. As silent and as quick as a specter, Murakumo appeared by Uroko's side.
Was he a Jonin too? Wordlessly the two embraced in the stillness of the evening.
Well, they made up quick.
"Murakumo?" Uroko asked. The man hummed softly in response.
"I love you, but your uncle is a pain in the ass." Murakumo laughed at that before pulling her closer.
"That he is." The man paused as though choosing the right words. "But you understand his reasoning, don't you?" When Uroko didn't immediately resume the argument he continued. "There's so few Kurama left. We can't afford the risk of something happening to you, or our child." Uroko sighed at his words before speaking.
"I understand that, I do. But I'm not made of glass, I was fighting in the Second Great War, the same as you."
"I know. I know." Murakumo whispered as a reply. Another moment passed before a smirk appeared in his face. "Do you think if we ganged up on him, we could get him to shut up?"
Uroko giggled slightly before responding.
"If we can break out the fun Genjutsu then maybe." The conspiratorial look the two shared was enough to raise alarm bells in my mind and I wasn't even there.
"Now let's get back inside. If we're lucky maybe some of our cousins dressed inappropriately and now Unkai's honed in on them." Murakumo suggested. Uroko merely hummed, as a cool breeze rushed through the area.
"All right. But you're distracting him if he's still ranting about us." At Uroko's words he laughed before taking her by the hand.
"After you, Lady Kurama." Uroko returned his smile before the two headed towards the door; a picture of functional matrimony. Note the sarcasm, readers.
"A bit of a disappointing conclusion, but I believe that sets the stage well enough." Kaguya said as the couple departed.
"What was the point of that?" I asked. "Do you enjoy the romance?" Kaguya ignored my flippant words while keeping her eyes on the couple.
"The Kurama Clan has the strongest of blood, Black Zetsu has seen to that."
Not, overly surprising given what I did see of the plant person.
"A careful scheme years in the making culminates in those two's child." Kaguya stated, a pleased smirk growing on her face.
"Yakumo?" I asked, as I finally remembered the name. "Isn't she absolutely insane? Like multiple homicidal split personalities, insane? "
Kaguya turned to me again and rolled her eyes at my perceived stupidity.
"The child is you."
"What?" I gasped. What the hell was she talking about?
"The moment we 'left' the moon, I placed your soul within the Wheel of Reincarnation." Kaguya said, the smirk returning in full force. "The grand stage I have made for you is the Kurama Clan, a clan open for whatever destiny you may desire. I am a benevolent goddess, and my faithful receive the greatest of my blessings."
My hands were trembling, that was the thing that I noticed the most. They weren't trembling with fear or adrenaline, no they shook with anger.
How dare she? How dare she steal me from my world and place me in her own personal theater?
"I had a life. I had a family back home! And you stole me from them!" I growled. "Who gave you the right?!" Kaguya merely raised an eyebrow at my outburst.
"You speak as though your life was one worth returning too." I froze at her words, my hands stilling. Where was she going with this?
"A dead mother." Kaguya began, a cool detachment in her tone. Against my will the image of that balmy August day we lowered her casket into the ground her filled my mind. The pain was still raw, and every day I missed the sound of her voice.
I never got to say goodbye.
"An ashamed father." Kaguya continued, no care for my distressed state. Another memory came to mind. A snow filled day and a conversation about the future. I wanted to go off into places like New York or Los Angeles. He claimed I was abandoning the family, running off to the big city to escape the responsibilities my life provided.
I disagreed.
That was the last time we spoke.
"A sister who's face you barely know." Another image, another dagger to the heart.
My older sister worked herself to bone to help provide for our family after mom died. Dad had a bad knee from the military, I was lazy bastard even if I was just a kid, and she bore the load.
I'd missed her last birthday party because I was too caught up living the big city life.
Tears prickled at the edge of my vision and Kaguya gently landed on the ground beside me.
"I did not choose you at random, I call many to my embrace but you alone were worthy. This is my gift to you, a second life. A second chance." Kaguya's serene smile was shockingly different than the smirk and smug grin of before.
"All I ask is that you worship me."
I, never made a much of a stand for anything in my life. I always took the easy way out.
And wasn't this the easy way? Kaguya just wanted to give everyone their happy ending right? Was that so evil?
My father was right, I was a coward. I fled responsibility like a cat fled a water hose.
But not today.
Not again.
Today, I'd be a person my parents could be proud of, in this life or the next.
"No." I whispered. "I will never worship you." Kaguya took a step back, seemingly surprised by my dedication. "I will never bow to you!" I said my voice growing stronger. She might kill me for the slight, but I'd at least die for something that mattered. Kaguya's eyes narrowed and I prepared for her jagged bones to pierce my chest.
But instead she laughed.
"Ah, that's better. I was afraid I'd broke your spirit, fox." Kaguya chuckled
"That is it! I have had it with your mind games!" I roared. "Send me home, now!"
"I can't." Kaguya said simply. "Your soul is tethered to the Wheel. Even if I could send you back to your world, within seven months you'd drop dead as your soul was forcibly brought to this world." Kaguya shrugged. "I may be a god, but there a rules even I can't bend."
I, I could never got home again, could I? I'd never be able to apologize to my family for what I'd done.
I'd never get to say goodbye at my mother's grave. Fine then, I'd fight Kaguya every step of the way during my second life. And if I ever do find a way back home, it'd be as someone they could be proud of.
"I'll find a way to stop you." I swore, certainty in my eyes. "Naruto and Sasuke might not have been able to kill you, but I'll find a way."
Kaguya seemed amused by my promise, by the strength behind my words.
"We will see who will win this game of wits, Fox."
The edge of my vision flickered and I began to slowly sway on my feet, a wave of exhaustion overwhelming me.
"What'd you do?" I asked, my tongue stiff in my mouth. My face contorting to try and force the words out.
Kaguya curiously looked over me, her third eye taking in all.
"Hm, it seems you've used your most of your Yin Chakra. Without it, your soul has to return to your body lest it dissipate. And, in case you've forgotten, that body is now developing inside Uroko's womb."
"No, I hadn't forgotten." I spit out. "Thanks for the reminder." Kaguya merely chuckled.
"When your soul recovers from the chakra you senselessly wasted by defying my will, Black Zetsu will make it known to me. Until that day comes," Kaguya said with a real smile as at last everything turned dark.
"May the cleverest win."
On October 22, Uroko Kurama, wife of the Kurama Clan Head gave birth to a son. After a brief period of deliberation, the proud parents named him Asakumo Kurama, for the hope of a new dawn for the Kurama Clan.
They were half right about that.