Naruto: A Red Eye Hidden by Shadow

by Tatanka4Life

On the fateful night of the Uchiha Massacre, a girl of Uchiha and Nara blood is spared and left with no memories of her past. Now she must walk on the path left by her family to help her build a new future for herself. Her path will be hard, full of struggles and pain, but as long as she has her friends and family at her side she will keep forging ahead, even if it was a drag.

142. Chapter 141: A Battle of Wills

Chapter 141

Ultimate Power, Ultimate Price: An Old Promise and a Battle of Wills!

"Yūgao, there is something I must ask of you."

The absence of the Nara Matriarch's fond nickname—little doe—set the tone that day.

It was the harbinger of an ill omen, an ancient prophecy heralded in vague lyrics, further obscured by the low, guttural chorus of apocalyptic horns trumpeting the arrival of death's army. Constructed of shadows and bones, their cloaks and armor gently poured wisps of icy white fog like incense, freezing the land at their feet.

Yūgao had sensed it as such. She sensed those guttural horns trembling the earth, saw the shadow and bone clad army in her mind's eye, and felt the cold wisps of fogs curl and roll around them simply by the absence of a nickname.

Something was amiss. The ill omen tainted Miyako like a Curse Mark. It was impossible not to see it, but she never expected the vague lyrics of the prophecy to lead to this.

She never expected to collapse beside her Master's motionless corpse—the blood still fresh, her hand still somewhat warm—but a few days later, nor did she expect to enter this district afflicted by betrayal and cold-blooded murder.

Standing before her Master's home, beams of artificial light pouring through the windows onto the street blanketed in shadows, she found an unnatural chill of heartache and trepidation paralyzing her.

Paralyzed on the street, Yūgao recalled once happy memories now stricken and twisted by grief and agony. She'd been invited into the cozy sanctuary countless times. Sometimes for the purposes of new missions. Most times she found herself there for friendly—

No, she quickly and painfully corrected herself. Those gatherings weren't mere casual, friendly meetings. She'd been a guest, true. But Miyako treated and doted on her as though she was a daughter, and Kiyoshi by extension treated her with warmth, kindness and respect.

There, inside the now lifeless structure, it was like coming home.

Some days the home seemed to exist in a separate space-time, occupying a plane of tranquility and love where the laughter of Shisui and Haya often rang out. She could still see them running around in the backyard, playing games, training; sometimes they simply lay together in the grass, watching clouds.

She could still see her Master and Kiyoshi stop their activities just to watch their children, always with smiles.

At the home of the Mistress of Shadows and the Burning Light of the Leaf there was no darkness. The shinobi world, the Anbu, and all other shades which sought to corrupt their peace, it had never infiltrated their small piece of tranquility.

Not until Shisui's death. Their home hadn't been the same since.

Now it never would be.

Now it wasn't a home. It was just a place, a building like any other. What made it a home was gone—stolen. Harshly ripped from the arms of her Master first with the death of her son, and now the heartless massacre of the entire Uchiha Clan.

The thin cloud obscuring the moon drifted off. Slowly, sheathes of the moon's pale glow touched the street, illuminating the corpses of men and women who were ambushed or slain in battle. The pale light reflected off the broken windows of homes where children, previously sleeping soundly, lay murdered. It glimmered in the pools of blood.

The air could've been hot or cold and Yūgao wouldn't have known it.

All she felt was the absence of feeling. A cold void that couldn't be filled.

"What is it, Lady Miyako? I'll do whatever I can to help."

Beneath the cat-mask, her quivering lips were hidden. The shadows cast by the moonlight hid her glistening eyes, but her trembling fists could still be seen. She tried to detach, to be a shinobi.

She couldn't. The swelling turmoil was too much.

Yūgao entered the home for the final time. She climbed the stairs to the second floor, dread and anger frothing together in her belly with each step closer to Haya's room. Each step closer to Kakashi's chakra signature, presently inside it. Alone.

"There may come a day where I give my life to defend all that I hold precious."

The door to Haya's room cracked opened before she could reach for the doorknob.

Looking up, she saw Kakashi through the small gap, recognizable by both the porcelain Fox mask he wore and silver hair. He said nothing, but his eyes told her everything.

He made no move, taking on the form of an impenetrable Barrier Ninjutsu, barring entry and sight of what rested inside.

"Let me through," she tried to demand, but her voice wavered as much as her trembling lips.

"There's nothing you need to see in here. Go," he commanded gently but firmly.

"She was my Master's daughter," she argued, finding and latching onto indignation and anger. "Haya is—"

"Dead," interrupted Kakashi. "There's nothing we can do for her now."

Yūgao grimaced and bit her quivering lip. She knew that. God, did she know. She could sense the lack of Haya's chakra signature inside. But…

"What if Lady Miyako used a technique formula or a Seal of some type to simulate death?" she asked. "She wouldn't have died fighting without securing Haya's safety first. Maybe she left something only I can undo. Maybe there's a chance Itachi didn't kill her."

"Yūgao—"

"Please, Kakashi," she pleaded. "If there's even a slight chance, I have to know. I have to try. I promised Lady Miyako. I swore I would…" She stopped herself.

Kakashi held her gaze for a long moment. Neither moved an inch. Had anyone seen them standing there they may have mistaken them for statues.

"Fine."

Inside the room she saw Haya's final resting place. She would never forget the sight of her small body covered by a thin, white bed sheet, which seemed to glow ethereally beneath the pale moonlight entering the room from a nearby window.

She would never forget how a family photo of Miyako, Kiyoshi, Shisui and Haya sat on a nearby desk, their smiles, their love, frozen forever in time, staring at the deceased child.

Kakashi hovered close by, his gaze locked onto the photo. She couldn't know the dark thoughts that consumed him. How he cursed Itachi Uchiha for being a wretched, two-faced bastard. How he spat on Itachi's disingenuous sense of regret, guilt and mourning hinted at by covering Haya's body.

But she would come to know them, to feel the harsh, cold, corrupting darkness when she found no signs of life, or a technique formula or a Seal on Haya's small body. Only her cold, dead face in a peaceful slumber she would never wake up from. And the clear signs of suffocation.

Yūgao covered the child's body when she finished her examination. She knelt before the bed and lowered her head in mourning, in one final act of farewell, grateful the mask was hiding her heartbroken grimace and the warm streams of tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Should that day come, I will do everything in my power to ensure that Haya's future is secured. Haya is my little shadow. The light of my life. She is my greatest legacy. She will change this world, Yūgao. She is light and hope in a world that is shrouded in darkness and despair, and I will sacrifice my life to protect her.

"Haya and Shisui blessed my life with love and joy I never would've experienced. I will die happily knowing I raised two of the greatest children this world has ever known."

"Lady Miyako…"

"You may never understand what I'm about to ask of you. You may wonder for years why I asked something like this when, in the end, it ended up being an impossible wish no one could fulfill. I hope you can one day ask me what the point was, but should that not be the case, I need you to listen closely. Then never speak of it again.

"Do you understand? You will tell no one of this request. Not even the Hokage. Am I understood? This will be a personal favor. Not as my student, but as someone who I hold very dear to my heart."

"Is everything all right, Lady Miyako?"

"You said you made a promise to Lady Miyako," Kakashi began suddenly. So suddenly Yūgao felt herself jump. "May I ask what it was?"

"Swear it, Yūgao. Swear to me that you will never repeat my request to anyone."

"It means nothing now," she said without emotion, despite her tears.

"I swear."

"I'm leaving," she announced, standing up. "I can't…"

"I understand."

Those two words would've rang hollow from anyone else. But not from Kakashi.

He understood. He understood it all too well.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'll take care of her."

Yūgao simply nodded her head and turned to leave.

They both pretended Kakashi couldn't see the tears streaming down her neck.

---

"Should that day come," Miyako's voice returned to Yūgao, "Haya will be forced to walk a long and difficult path. There will be darkness and pain, and I will not be there to help protect or comfort her. She will come to bear the burden of her heritage and all it entails."

Standing on the grassy field, carrying the young boy who contained the Nine-Tailed Fox beneath one arm, who's back was wounded and bleeding, who's blond hair was soaked in sweat and stained by blood, and who was barely conscious on top of all of that, Yūgao stared wide eyed at the small, unconscious blue-haired child beneath Kurenai Yūhi's arm.

"Her path may take her far away from you, for a time. Should this day come, you will think what I have asked was impossible, that all I have said was a pointless wish from a troublesome old woman. In your grief and anger you may even curse me for asking you this, and that is okay."

It couldn't be possible. It simply couldn't. She saw the body. She saw her dead face. She had been haunted by it and her Master's final wish for years.

How… How was she…

"But, I promise you, one day Haya will return. She will bound into your life when you least expect it. I will take measures to ensure it."

"It can't…" she struggled for words.

She checked for those measures. She checked for everything she could think of that Miyako would do to protect Haya, but she found nothing. There was nothing.

The corpse was dead—suffocated. There hadn't been a doubt in her mind.

Kurenai glanced her way, wary to take her attention away from the legendary Reanimated kunoichi they were standing before, protected inside a Barrier crafted by her golden hued chains.

Osamu and Atsuko noticed her deviated attention.

"It's impossible."

"What's the matter?" Kurenai asked.

"So, Yūgao, I ask that you wait for that day. Patiently. Even if it seems foolish and cruel. And when my little shadow bounds into your life, I want you to watch over her. Guide her. Teach her all that I have taught you. And make sure she understands this one thing…"

"You're…" Yūgao felt her eyes burn.

"She is never alone. I am the Shadows she commands, Kiyoshi is the unquenchable fire that burns in her soul, and Shisui is the light that guides and protects her. We will always be with her."

"Haya…You're alive," she whispered, voice breaking.

The haze of unshed tears obscured her vision. When she blinked, she swore Miyako was casually leaning against Kurenai's back, arms crossed, eyes shut and head bowed, a faint smile on her lips.

"Master, how did you…"

The ethereal being glanced her way, smiling somewhat cheekily, as if to say, "What's that look for? I told you, didn't I?"

Blinking again, and feeling tears stream down her cheeks, Miyako was suddenly in front of her, threading her intangible fingers through her purple hair, just as she had that day.

"I entrust my Will, my hopes, my dreams and all of my love to you two." She could hear her Master's voice as clear as daylight was bright. "So keep that chin high. Walk tall, little doe."

Lady Miyako…

Miyako smiled and ruffled her hair. When she blinked, the Mistress of Shadows was nowhere to be seen.

"How?" she demanded of anyone willing to answer, voice a shuddering mix of happiness, grief and anger.

No one had told her. No one. Kurenai could not be blamed; she knew nothing of her bond to Haya's family. Neither could the Crows; they did not answer to her and doubtlessly had their reasons for secrecy.

However, Haya was Shikaku's niece, Kakashi's student, and apparently Tenzō's charge. They all knew of her bond to Miyako, two of them were there that night and witnessed her grief.

And yet they hadn't bothered to tell her the truth. They hadn't told her Haya—her Master's precious daughter—was alive.

"How is she… Haya," Yūgao's voice trembled. Her eyes stung terribly. After all these years, after all this time, Haya was alive. Right here in front of her. "Why wasn't I told? Why didn't anyone tell me she was—"

"I will explain later," Atsuko interrupted curtly. "Lady Kurenai and I will hold Lady Mito here. You and Osamu are to evacuate the children and then break Mizuki's control over the Reanimation Jutsu. Now go. Quickly!"

Yūgao snapped to her senses at the command.

"Of course." She approached Kurenai and wrapped her arm around Haya's waist. "I sense Shizune nearby. I will take them to her. Be careful, Kurenai."

Kurenai nodded once and equipped Asuma's trench knives, thrumming with his Wind chakra.

"This will be a tough fight. Are you ready, Atsuko?" the Genjutsu Master asked.

"Always, Lady Kurenai. I will defend you with my life."

Yūgao leapt off towards the nearby tree-line, in the direction of the Hokage's assistant, expanding her senses to search for Iruka, Tenzō and the traitor known as Mizuki—the man responsible for the death and suffering her comrades endured today.

When she sensed Mizuki's chakra she couldn't help but contort her face in disgust. His chakra was disturbing, repulsive as watching a snake slowly swallow a fat rat whole, tainted by vileness which scurried like insects over her skin. Its power summoned her hairs to stand on end even at a distance.

Tenzō is luring him farther from Shizune's and Kurenai's position, towards Iruka's trap. I sense four other chakras beside Shizune. One is Kakashi's ninja hound—Pakkun. One is Sasuke Uchiha. I do not recognize the other two.

"Hey, lady," Naruto groaned. It was clear by the low intonation of his voice and how the words almost melded together that he was stubbornly grasping consciousness.

"Hush, child. Save your strength," she replied gently.

"I'll be fine. This is nothing. Geh! Though it does hurt a bit. But what I wanted to say— Gah! About Amari. Don't be angry. With her or anyone else. Her situation is really complicated. And don't get caught up on the years she was gone. She's here now. That's what matters."

"Well said, Naruto," said Osamu.

"You think so? I don't know…"

Yūgao looked down after a moment of silence, then ahead to her destination.

"Exhaustion has taken him as well," she noted.

"They will sleep soundly tonight. Let us hurry so that we may as well."

She found Shizune kneeling beside another Leaf kunoichi, wounded and grimacing as the Hokage's assistant healed the long cut across her abdomen. Joining her were Pakkun and two children, one was a kunoichi who's pink hair brought to mind cherry blossoms, and the other was Sasuke Uchiha.

He'd grown since that cruel night of bloodshed. No longer a child, but a shinobi of strong body and sound mind despite the Sealed Curse Mark branded upon him.

They didn't sense her presence. Pakkun, however, did.

"Hey, down here," Pakkun waved his paw in a downward motion. "You can leave them with us."

Yūgao dropped to the forest floor, amid the two slightly startled children and beside Shizune.

"Naruto, Amari," the kunoichi gasped in worry.

"Are they all right?" Sasuke Uchiha asked.

"Shizune, Naruto is wounded," Yūgao informed, kneeling and settling Naruto and Haya on the grass. "I believe Lady Mito Uzumaki's chains are the culprit. The bleeding hasn't stopped."

"Okay, lay him there. Sakura, I need you to start tending to Naruto. Remove his jacket and use these gauze to stop the bleeding."

"Yes ma'am."

"What condition is Amaririsu in?" Shizune asked.

Amaririsu.

Yūgao didn't recognize the name, she barely recognized the girl herself. Haya was no longer a small, feeble girl. She was still on the shorter side, but her body was stronger, fitter. She, like Sasuke, had matured into a young shinobi.

She had new scars, the most prominent and obvious through her left eye. An eye which had taken on the form of the Byakugan. Or, far more likely, was replaced by it. But time and adolescence could not deceive the Anbu agent.

The chakra, the wild blue hair and those expressive eyes, no matter the color, were Haya's.

The pendent of her clan crests proved it beyond any doubt. This was Haya. The light of Miyako's life, who she swore to guide, protect and teach.

Haya was here. Right in front of her.

"She is exhausted," Osamu answered when it became clear Yūgao wouldn't. "But it is thanks to Naruto she is relatively uninjured."

"Thank you, Osamu."

Yūgao gently brushed aside locks of Haya's hair out of her face. She took the child's smaller, scarred hand into her own, holding it warmly, shutting her eyes and focusing simply on the chakra within her and the physical anchor of her hand.

Haya's chakra was warm. Inviting. Bright. Fierce. It was just like her parents. Just like Shisui.

For the first time since Hayate died, the cold, absence of feeling and black void was illuminated by the smallest of flames.

She sensed Sasuke shadowing her, but did not react outwardly to him. She sensed Shizune, Pakkun and Sakura all watching her, uncertain, confused, observing her thumbs caressing Haya's limp hand as though it was stranger than the Reanimation Jutsu.

"You're alive," she whispered. "You… You bounded into my life when I least expected it, just as she said you would. I do not understand. I may never understand. But you are here, you are her, and that is all that matters."

Yūgao bowed her head forward, resting the small scarred hand against her mask, at her forehead. She shut her eyes against the sting of tears.

"Haya," she said the name with reverence.

Sasuke and Sakura both visibly stiffened, and she sensed Sasuke's chakra flare with the activation of his Sharingan. Sensed the faintest tingle of Lightning chakra on her skin. She didn't acknowledge it.

"I will protect you," Yūgao promised.

She lowered Haya's hand gently to the grass then rose, glistening dark eyes fixing upon Mizuki's position in a severe expression.

"I will break Mizuki's control over the Reanimation Jutsu," she spoke to the point. "This area will be secured momentarily. Until then, stay vigilant."

"Roger that," Pakkun saluted with his paw.

Without another word she vanished.

---

Sasuke squinted at the empty space the Anbu kunoichi once occupied, onyx eyes flushed crimson.

He knew there was no point asking who she was; that answer was classified and sealed far above his rank and privilege. Nevertheless, the question hung in his head.

Initially, he watched her in suspicion. The way she lingered beside Amari, the way her gaze was fixated on her, he didn't like it.

Despite Osamu's presence on her shoulder, and knowing if she tried anything foolish the Crow would doubtlessly eviscerate her and come up with a new solution for their situation, he felt uneasy.

The stranger was too close to Amari. She would see the Clan crests, and he suspected she had already seen the Sharingan and the Byakugan and—like him—wondered a question that was above her rank and privilege.

So he hovered nearby. Ready to take action, though he wasn't sure what he would do. Or could do, for that matter. He couldn't catch an Anbu agent by surprise, with or without the Chidori.

She was beyond his current level. To her, the differences between him and a fly was the shape of their bodies, and nothing else.

All the same, he remained close, watching the stranger in silence and how she brushed Amari's hairs out of her face and then held her hand. Almost as though they shared a history, long as the suns rays and equal in its warmth.

Then she said that name. Haya. Her birth name. The name she'd lost and regained, known only to a very select group of individuals.

Instantly his Sharingan had activated. His thoughts raced to potential allegiances she may hold. Foundation? Masked Man? Orochimaru and Kasai? Stone Village spy? He felt the electric power of the Chidori tingling over his hand, ready to be summoned at a moments notice if she so much as reached for Amari's face or neck.

It no longer mattered if he was no different than a fly. He would protect his clan-sister from any threat.

"I will protect you."

Sasuke pursed his lips.

"She said she could break Mizuki's control over the Reanimation Jutsu." He chose his words carefully. Very carefully. "Any idea how she plans to do that? When we first arrived, Iruka-sensei said we couldn't risk killing Mizuki or we'd lose all chances of undoing it. Pakkun, you explained that we couldn't kill the woman he summoned; the Reanimation Jutsu allows her to regenerate from any damage to fight eternally."

"Right," Pakkun replied. "Our initial plan was to force Mizuki to undo the Reanimation Jutsu on his own, but I don't think that's much of an option anymore."

"Why's that?" Sakura asked.

"From what I saw, he's becoming more and more unstable. The potion he drank or the Curse Mark is rapidly eating away at his psyche. Besides, any man who doesn't comply with a command on the threat of being neutered is either crazy or devoted to his ideals. In Mizuki's case, it's probably both."

Sasuke looked at Amari's unconscious and sweaty body, muscles trembling even as she lay there. He looked at Naruto, lying on his side as Sakura applied pressure to the crimson colored gauze.

They barely made it out alive. That's the cold truth, he thought. There was nothing we could do for them. We couldn't break the barrier, and even if we could, all we could've done was retreat or take their places.

"You've made it sound like the Reanimation Jutsu has no weaknesses," he said at length. "Yet that isn't really the case, is it? In theory a strong enough genjutsu could force Mizuki to break the jutsu, but if that was the plan, Kurenai-sensei wouldn't be holding the Reanimated kunoichi in a stalemate with Atsuko. She would be targeting Mizuki. Or I would've been asked to use my Sharingan."

"You're right about that," Pakkun agreed, dipping his furry head in a short nod. "Though who's to say genjutsu would work at this stage."

"What do you mean?"

"We can't forget that Mizuki's Curse Mark isn't the same as yours. It's transformed him into a hybrid of man and animal, literally. His entire genetic makeup has changed. We've seen his psyche deteriorate rapidly, and that's just what we can see and smell."

Sasuke squinted. "I'm not following."

"We have no idea how it's effecting his brain," Pakkun tapped his head with his paw. "That potion is rapidly changing him even as we speak. We don't know what it will do in the long term. So, while in theory Mizuki could undo the Reanimation Jutsu, we can't be sure he'll even remember how to undo it."

"You've got to be kidding," Sasuke hissed out. "You think the potion or Curse Mark will damage his memory?"

"Possibly. I can't say for sure. Think about it, though, kid. How many of Orochimaru's minions have had Curse Marks? How many had free will? And how many more haven't we seen that are drooling maniacs incapable of forming a sentence, let alone remembering how to undo a Forbidden Jutsu like this?"

Kimimaro's sad green eyes appeared in his mind's eye. He shook it off quickly.

"That's just one theory, though," Pakkun continued. "So you can bet Shikaku has considered the possibility genjutsu is no longer an option, or that Mizuki will be too strong-willed to succumb to it. To end this he needed a guaranteed means to break Mizuki's control over it. That's why that kunoichi is here."

"What's so special about her?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, to put it simply, the kunoichi you just considered striking down was the sole pupil of Amaririsu's mother. She was handpicked by the Mistress of Shadows herself. You may not understand the gravity of that; her legend isn't as widespread as, let's say, Lady Tsunade's because the vast majority of her missions are sealed and classified under S-rank clearance."

"Some documents don't exist at all," Shizune added. "Lady Mi…" Her eyes shot over to Amari's unconscious body; her chest rose and fell but she did not stir. "Amaririsu's mother's contributions in protecting the Leaf will never truly be known in detail; she was the gold standard for the Anbu, truthfully."

"Did you know her, Shizune?" Sakura asked.

"Not personally, no," the medic-nin shook her head only slightly. "But she was a powerful figure of inspiration and strength within the Leaf when she was alive, to young kunoichis growing up in a time of war and to shinobi as a whole. She also commanded great fear from our enemies.

"Although Amaririsu's mother did work in the shadows, she also fought fiercely in the last war. She is not known as the Mistress of Shadows by allies and enemies without cause. Amaririsu's mother was the strongest Nara of her generation, and she cemented her legacy vanquishing enemy shinobi from the Stone and the Cloud.

"Sakura, I'll take over with Naruto. Please finish bandaging Tsubaki's wound."

"Yes ma'am."

"Make no mistake, though," Shizune continued as she began to apply Medical Ninjutsu to Naruto's injury, "Amaririsu's mother was a legendary kunoichi worthy of the respect and fear she commanded. To this day the shinobi who knew her personally, who worked beside her, or simply knew of the Mistress of Shadows hold her in the highest regard. Among the Anbu her legacy is still felt and given its due respect."

Sasuke processed the new information he gathered. He found his thoughts drawn back to the memory Amari had shown him of Shisui, Itachi, Aimi and her mother, specifically to Shisui's feelings of deep respect and love for the Mistress of Shadows.

He felt it despite the state of exhaustion and mischief Shisui was in. He felt it so keenly, so intimately, it was as though the feelings were his own.

Shisui wasn't alone. He thought back to the respect his brother and Aimi had shown, not only through their embarrassed words, but in subtler ways of body language and how they looked at the Nara Matriarch.

They all held the utmost respect for her, bordering on reverence.

"All right," he said after a moment. "So how does being taught by Amari's mother guarantee the end of the Reanimation Jutsu?"

"Let's not forget," Pakkun said, "Amaririsu's mother is the same woman who crafted an S-rank space-time ninjutsu that suspended and bound six elite shinobi, plus Amaririsu, in a separate time-space from our world. She also possessed the ability to seal Shisui's chakra into Amaririsu so that he could speak to her years later."

The ninja hound stared at Sasuke. "Teachers pass on their knowledge to their pupils, just as Kakashi passes his onto you kids. Now imagine what Amaririsu's mother may have taught her student."

Sasuke hummed, acknowledging the point but leaving it there.

The student of the Mistress of Shadows, huh?

Their Trinity had its work cut out for them to reach the Anbu, even more work to escape the tremendous shadows waiting for them there, but maybe they had a way in.

"I will protect you."

Maybe they already had an ally on the inside who's goal aligned with theirs.

Maybe.

---

"This is just embarrassing!" Mizuki laughed madly, chasing the man in the cat-mask through the hilly, natural woodland. "An Anbu agent fleeing from battle? What happened to your duty? To commitment? Didn't you dare me to test it?"

The Anbu agent did not reply to his taunts. He fled, dashing and weaving between the trees. Mizuki's longer and more powerful strides cut a path straight to the poor fool; it was clear the Leaf shinobi was tiring out, he was moving soo much slower now, while Mizuki felt like the wind itself carried him.

He couldn't have felt more alive and exhilarated.

He swiped his elongated claws to eviscerate the Anbu agent's weak, fleshy body. His prey leaped up into the branches, Mizuki's claws tore and carved five deep grooves into the bark.

As he leaped after his trail, the Anbu agent sprang to another branch, then dropped to the forest floor, dashing off again. Mizuki wasn't far behind.

The sight of the Anbu agent stirred something primal deep within him. A gut instinct that he couldn't control or ignore. Once he turned his back and started running, Mizuki was already running after him, like a bear who's chase instinct activated.

"Now that you realize you stand no chance against my Ultimate Body you flee with your tail between your legs!" he taunted again. "You abandoned Naruto and Amaririsu to their fates the moment your life was at risk. You removed the dead weight. You cut the fat off in order to preserve yourself! Because you can see that your life—your power—is more valuable to the Leaf and your mission than their wasteful lives!"

"Are you judging me for it?" the Anbu agent called over his shoulder.

"On the contrary, I respect you for it!" Mizuki grinned. "Don't you see? This is everything I was saying! You and I are the same!"

Again he caught up to the fleeing Leaf shinobi. The air hissed beneath his claws, but they did not find flesh a second time. The Anbu agent ducked beneath his strike, then jumped up and whirled around in a single fluid motion, swinging his leg—transformed into a wooden stump—to kick at his head.

Arm quickly raising to block, the wooden stump struck his flesh dully, but did little damage. It was incredible, this body of his. Its durability, its strength—everything!

What he wanted most now was to see its full limits, but this Anbu agent wouldn't be enough. He'd shown him everything he was capable of, and now it was time to put this pointless resistance to rest.

His palm flashed forward, crashing brutally against the Anbu agent's chest. He saw the stranger's eyes go wide before he flew away, felt the recoil of his own power tremble up his arm and felt delight at the sight of his prey sliding and then rolling like a limp animal. He could hear his painful gasps in intimate detail.

"I'll still have to kill you, though," he remarked as though it pained him. "Can't leave loose ends. I'm sure you understand."

"…Heh."

Mizuki paused, ears pricking up at what was certainly a laugh.

"I'm sorry. Is something funny?" he asked in annoyance, wiping his forehead, slick with sweat.

His perfect body was warm. Sweaty. He felt his chest expand and compress as he panted in an attempt to cool off.

"I'm certain of it now," the Anbu agent said, slowly rising to his hands and knees. "That you haven't noticed the changes yet is either your unmitigated arrogance or the influence of the Curse Mark. Not that I'm complaining."

"Who's the arrogant one?" Mizuki asked with a haughty, if not breathless, laugh. "I have you on your knees, and if you beg I might just kill you quickly."

"Why would I beg? I have you exactly where I need you."

"What?"

Mizuki glanced at his surroundings, seeing nothing but trees shrouded in shadows. He sniffed the air, but smelled nothing out of the ordinary.

He caught himself chuckling as he wiped his brow again. Of course, it was a bluff. A pathetic attempt at one, but a bluff all the same.

"Your bravado is amusing, but honestly, did you think it would change anything?" He began to approach the Anbu agent. "My senses are even keener than an Inuzuka's now. You and I are all alone, and you can't stand."

"Are we alone?" The Anbu turned his head ever so slightly to look at him from the corner of his eyes. Despite his face being hidden behind a mask Mizuki could tell he was smiling. "You're sure of that, huh?"

He was but two steps away, and grating his sharpened teeth together.

"I've had enough of you mocking me!"

He took the first step and drew his fist back. He took the second step.

The Anbu agent suddenly flung into the air, landing on his feet and sliding back along the grass.

"Iruka, now!"

Movement in his peripherals snapped Mizuki's wild eyes to the trees on his left. Iruka braced his shoulder against a tree trunk, grimacing through his injuries, sweating, but wearing a determined expression.

"Irukaaaaa," he growled savagely. "I don't know how you're hiding your scent, but I am far past tired of your interruptions! This time for sure I'll kill you!"

"It's over, Mizuki!" His former friend had the Ram seal already formed. "Seal and Capture Perimeter!"

Golden light glowed from the tree trunk Iruka braced himself against, small and rectangular-shaped, just like the Sealing Tag that it was emanating from.

Mizuki's eyes went wide. What was left of his rationality commanded him to move, but all he managed to do was turn his head to see three other Sealing Tags placed on three other trees, creating an irregular box perimeter around him and him alone.

"Shinobi Tactics 101: When springing a trap, draw the enemy as deep as possible for maximum devastation," Iruka lectured.

"No! No! Irukkaaaaaaaaa!" he roared.

---

When compared to the radiant and impenetrable Barrier Ninjutsu utilized by Mito Uzumaki, the Seal and Capture Perimeter was far less grand in scope and aesthetic. There was no towering dome erected to encase Mizuki, no chains cast in a golden hue rising from the earth like metal serpents.

At a glance, to the more inexperienced eye, it appeared Mizuki had been caught in a mere Paralysis Jutsu, standing in a single spot with tense muscles contracted to the point of agony, and roaring like a wild animal rather than a furious man.

The Seal and Capture Perimeter technique did little to reveal itself. Like a true shinobi, it acted in the shadows, neither needing the acknowledgement or praise that Mizuki himself had desperately sought.

The only sign of its presence was the golden light emanating from the Sealing Tags, which in their darkening environment glimmered and pulsed in synch with the first stars of the night.

Tenzō lowered himself carefully to one knee, bracing a forearm on it, and found his breath.

He did not lower his guard. He kept his eyes on Mizuki, who was roaring and screaming as he tried to will himself free; the hybrid man-beast was sweating in such profuse amounts he could have cured an entire continent suffering of drought.

All the same, though he was quite certain Mizuki's strength—like his speed—was deteriorating as rapidly as his mental stability, Tenzō maintained a state of vigilance.

Mizuki was captured, ensnared in a technique he wouldn't escape. However, the battle wasn't over. Until Mito Uzumaki was released from the binds of the Reanimation Jutsu, none of them were safe.

Gently, he began to check his crushed gauntlet. It was digging into his flesh. Every little movement agitated the injury further; he wanted it off, wanted to free his forearm and wrist of the crushing bind. His better instincts and judgement kept him from unbuckling it.

Wise, he realized, for when he touched it with the lightest of pressure, a jolt of pain shot up the length of his arm, contracting the muscles. His fingers went numb, briefly.

Tenzō hissed and pressed his elbow into his side. He breathed in and out, controlled and focused. His emotionless eyes maintained clear sight in the ever darkening environment on Mizuki.

The physical strength Mizuki attained was incredible. My gauntlet is all that is holding the bones together.

"Irukkaaaaaaaa!" Mizuki roared. "Tell me how you did it! How did you get past my sense of smell!"

"I didn't do anything," Iruka replied in a grimace. "It seems to me your 'Ultimate Body' is at its ultimate limit."

"Liar! Is that all you can do? Lie after lie after lie! When I get free—"

"You won't," Iruka promised fiercely. "I may not be as talented or as gifted as you, and I may not possess a Sharingan or Byakugan like Amari, but even in this darkness I can see you clearly. Whatever power that potion and Curse Mark gave you is crumbling now."

"You think you can manipulate me?"

"Think what you will." Iruka slowly began to lower himself down the trunk of the tree. "This 'gift' you sought was a curse. All of us could see it. Even Lady Mito warned you; I think she sensed it. But by then it was too late, I suppose. You became twisted by the darkness. Now you will have to pay the price for your obsession."

"Stop lecturing me, Irukkkaaaaaaa!"

Iruka settled on the grass and rested his head against the tree trunk, looking up at the night sky.

"You think you're better than me, is that it? That's the way its always been, hasn't it! You, a weakling and class clown who everyone had to feel sorry for just because your parents died. You're not better than me, Iruka! You never were!"

"…I never thought I was. I aspired to be like you," Iruka admitted. He chuckled somewhat bitterly. "I suppose that's what you wanted. To have a fool, a jester, praising your every act, inflating your ego while you laughed behind my back."

Mizuki snarled and roared incoherent threats. Tenzō watched and listened.

"Well, congratulations, Mizuki. You succeeded. I fell for your illusion. Not only me, but Tsubaki, too," Iruka said. "You manipulated us. You used us for your own twisted and perverted satisfaction. And we never even realized it. We never suspected you were poisoning our lives, just as Naruto said, until it was too late.

"I should hate you. Perhaps a part of me does. However, all I feel right now is pity. Pity that you can't see what is all so clear to us. Orochimaru manipulated you masterfully; he is even greater than you in that art. But it's too late now. You made your choices. You must deal with the consequences now."

Had he been able to, Mizuki would've thrashed his head around as he roared. But then, had he possessed the power to move, he would've tried to kill the two Leaf shinobi responsible for his humiliation and capture.

But he couldn't, and so he roared at them instead.

Like a child.

---

Kurenai was light and agile on her feet despite battle fatigue. She hopped swiftly to the side once, and then for a second time as a multitude of chains erupted from the earth and struck like golden scorpion stingers.

The chakra emanating from the chains was intense. She could sense them keenly, could practically see the golden veins running beneath the earth and streaking across the sky, splitting off each other, branching off in a vast and complicated web of neurons and synapses that linked to the legendary Reanimated kunoichi.

A chain dove in at a diagonal, spearing for her center. Once a single foot found solid ground, she leaped away; a chain rising at her back and the diagonal chain rattled by harmlessly.

She landed, spun a rapid single full rotation as yet another chain zipped past her torso, then bolted straight ahead at Mito Uzumaki.

Atsuko swooped down in front of her, leading the charge. Commanded by the Reanimation Jutsu, the web of chains beneath the earth split into new veins, those above ground reeled closer to Mito to retarget.

Not a moment later, the chains lunged at the pair like a pit of angry vipers disturbed by an intruder.

Together they evaded the incoming chains. The Crow rolled through the air, glided over, beneath and between the chains. The kunoichi darted side to side, racing wide arcs and shooting in at sharp angles, vaulting over chains meant for the Head of the Crows, never ceasing her advance.

The elderly woman, who's pale flesh was cracked, held her ground. She kept her arms crossed in front of her, hands hidden in the sleeves of her loose kimono. The Adamantine Chains were sticking out of her torso, stiff and taut as though piercing through the kunoichi.

Unrest and weariness swam in her dark eyes. The profound solemnity on her wrinkled face was almost disheartening.

Kurenai couldn't let it move her, couldn't let it make her hesitate for a second.

Mito Uzumaki was already dead. The body in front of her was just a Reanimated corpse that imitated life, and though the soul of the kunoichi was bound and her personality intact, in the end the body in front of her was no different than the Puppets created by the Sand Village.

It put on quite the theatrical performance worthy of awards that drew its audience in, making them forget the performer was merely a puppet on a string rather than a living being, but it was still only a puppet.

Mito wasn't real. Her soul was; it had been bound to a mortal shell decades after her death. However, the body she and Atsuko had damaged, the body her soul was imprisoned inside of, was another puppet on a string.

Kurenai couldn't cut the strings, but she could buy time for her comrade to sever the puppet-master's strings.

Atsuko beat her wings strongly, ascending above a rattling chain. She rolled through the air, swooping gracefully as chains passed by her feathered body.

Kurenai vaulted gracefully over a blade and its chain as the Crow came out of the swooping motion, unleashing a powerful Wind Bullet from her open beak that barreled straight for the flat-footed kunoichi.

Beneath the gales Mito's maroon hair whipped viciously. The sharpened invisible blades cut like a samurai's sword through thin fabric. Her kimono and skin, but apart of the illusion and imitation of life, ripped and disintegrated, spraying ash and dust instead of blood and gore.

Yet she held her ground; there was no reason to flinch or evade when her body would regenerate.

Newly crafted bladed chains surged out of her torso to charge Atsuko, who disassembled into a frightening flock of cawing Crows that surrounded the Reanimated kunoichi on all sides, gliding past her, pecking and clawing at her pale and cracked flesh, swirling about in an furious black tornado.

Amid the cluster of black feathers Kurenai glided in noiselessly beneath Mito's chains like an ice skater. She rose at her side, expression fierce. An expression which the Reanimated kunoichi met without shock or surprise, but with a weary and anxious look in her eyes.

Kurenai didn't hesitate.

She slashed the Wind-enhanced trench knife and amputated Mito's left arm at the shoulder.

Then, shifting her weight, she hopped into a quick pirouette that brought her behind the Reanimated kunoichi, where she lowered her center of weight and spun rapidly, slashing a whirlwind of strikes across and through her back and torso while rotating.

The profuse sprays of ash and dust did little to obscure her vision.

Her untamed black hair whipped through the air, strands tickling her cheeks. She held Asuma's trench knives tightly, feeling his Wind chakra thrumming within the chakra blades, hearing the fierce, buzzsaw-like purr.

As she whirled and rose out of her spin, Mito's attached hand swung out, reaching for the Leaf kunoichi.

Kurenai unconsciously narrowed her eyes as though a wave of heat was washing over her. The imminent danger hastened her pulse.

Mito was quick. Quicker than her appearance would have otherwise suggested. However, whether it was because of age or her willful struggle against the Reanimation Jutsu's commands, her movements were nowhere as quick as they would've been in her prime.

Kurenai had no such impediments. She anticipated the physical response. Additionally, Asuma's Wind chakra granted her the advantage of reach—the invisible blade added at least the length of a forearm to her striking range.

She saw the palm near her bicep, the tips of Mito's fingers on the verge of brushing against it.

In a graceful movement, Kurenai stepped back and slashed simultaneously. The trench knife cut through the elbow faster and easier than a guillotine could sever a head. The hand, previously on the verge of touching her, fell limply and collapsed into ash and dust.

Hands neutralized, Kurenai drew a trench knife in and down towards her opposing hip. She stepped in and slashed, cleaving a diagonal cut through the neck, chin, left cheek and skull.

The intense presence of chakra was the only alert of Mito's forced counterattack.

Red eyes darted down; a golden hued blade was emerging from the Reanimated kunoichi's torso.

She's still alive?

Swiftly, Kurenai pushed off into an agile retreat, pursued by the rattling Adamantine Chains.

Mito's chest and torso suddenly exploded into ash and dust, and through the gaping hole dozens of Crows poured through.

The chains halted. Kurenai retreated back all the same, building a relatively safe distance.

I hope they release the Reanimation soon, she thought, breathing in deeply the crisp air. She flexed her sore fingers and squinted. My hands are beginning to cramp.

"Even when she is holding back," Atsuko's voice preceded the beating of her wings as she landed on Kurenai's shoulder, "Lady Mito's Adamantine Sealing Chains are as fierce as the legends say. That Young Haya and Naruto survived their encounter at all is due to Lady Mito's incredible willpower."

"She's tough," Kurenai nodded once. "Her restraint saved their lives, and is saving ours, too. My chances of defeating her in one-on-one combat are the same as my chances of winning an arm-wrestling contest against Lady Tsunade. I can sense the difference of our strength, I can sense it just by standing in her presence, by looking her in the eyes. She's holding so much back for our sake."

There were layers upon layers of strength Mito Uzumaki kept locked away, she could feel it. It simmered beneath the surface, beneath the bundles of ash and dust that mimicked flesh.

Yet Mito kept it at bay, resolving to use a single technique that, while powerful, was evadable. Likely under the pretense of whittling them down to fulfill the compulsion of Mizuki's orders.

Kurenai stretched and flexed her fingers. "But even with kid gloves she's wearing us down. Bit by bit," she said thoughtfully.

"Too true. Our chakra and stamina are a stone at the mercy of her wave, and though she does not wish to crash against us, eroding our solid foundation bit by bit, she has no choice but to act as she is commanded. Just as the waves are compelled by wind and tide, she will be compelled to strike us regardless of her true Will.

"However, to exert this level of restraint when compelled by the Reanimation Jutsu is truly magnificent."

"I'm glad she's on our side." Kurenai shrugged slightly. "Mostly on our side."

"As am I."

Ash and dust gathered and swirled together, reforming the amputated arms of the Reanimated kunoichi. Her half severed head reformed and reshaped in a pale, featureless mush. The gaping hole in her torso refilled.

Finally, the white kimono, the maroon hair and her solemn and wrinkled features took shape.

Against her will, Mito began to walk forward, the chains undulating gently behind her like golden tails or writhing serpents. Suddenly the Reanimated kunoichi grimaced in agony.

At the same time, Kurenai's entire body went rigid. A surge of powerful chakra flooded Mito, hotter than boiling water; it set the Leaf kunoichi's skin ablaze despite the icy chill in the air.

The red-hot chakra, she recognized it immediately and felt her stomach drop.

"This is the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra," she exhaled in horror.

The red rhombus upon Mito's forehead began to burn incandescent, resembling the same fury and fire of a red-hot brand on the darkening battlefield.

"This is not good." Atsuko shivered, fluttering her feathers. "Lady Mito must have spent years carefully storing a small fraction of the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra inside of herself. To that effect, she has turned herself into a pseudo-jinchūriki."

"A pseudo-jinchūriki? Is that even possible?"

"Yes," the Head of the Crows dipped her beak sharply. "No shortage of fools have sought to steal and possess the power of a Tailed-Beast without becoming true jinchūriki. Kinkaku and Ginkaku, the Legendary Gold and Silver Brother of the Cloud Village, are the first to come to mind.

"It is said they were swallowed whole by the Nine-Tailed Fox while trying to capture it, but they did not die inside of its stomach. Instead they ate the Nine-Tails intestinal lining to survive for two weeks, causing such havoc in the beast's stomach that it eventually regurgitated them. That is the legend, perplexing and impossible as it sounds.

"However, it is unquestionable they possessed the Nine-Tails power afterwards. Just as it is unquestionable that what we are presently feeling is the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra emanating from Lady Mito."

Kurenai clutched her cramped fingers tighter around the blades. She felt her skin tingling, burning. And something more unsettling. Something deeper and instinctual she couldn't quite describe at first.

Then the cause revealed itself arrogantly. proudly, as a second source of red-hot chakra suddenly washed over her senses, vibrating with furious delight.

---

"Something isn't right with Naruto," Sakura noticed it immediately, panicked and worried for her teammate.

"He's burning up," Shizune noted clinically. "And sweating profusely. It's like an infection, but—"

When Sasuke's Sharingan eyes fell upon him, they went wide.

"It's not an infection," Sasuke said. He could see it. He could see it in frighteningly vivid detail. "It's the—"

Naruto's eyes snapped open in either pain or horror, drowning out Sasuke's voice with an agony filled roared.

He dug his fingers into his stomach as he cried out. Streams of orange-red chakra began to rise off his body like steam.

"Dammit… Dammit… Dammit!" he cursed, sounding furious and desperate. "You won't break free… I won't let you!"

Naruto howled again, turning onto his side, both hands scratching and burying into his stomach.

"Naruto!" Sakura rushed to his side but was stopped by Shizune.

"No, wait!"

"Stay…away, Sakura!" he ground out. "You have to…get away!"

"Just hold on, Naruto. We can—"

"Don't worry about me!" Naruto's red eye fell on them. He blinked and it was cerulean again. "I'll keep this fur ball in check as long as I can. Just get away!"

His eyes went red again. Another roar bellowed out of him, more animalistic than the last.

And an orange-red cloak enveloped his body.

---

Kurenai's eyes went wide as she spun a half turn to face the trees.

"No! Naruto!"

"What is it? What's happened?"

"Their chakra is resonating! Naruto is being overwhelmed by the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra!"

"You must lead me to him," Mito commanded through a grimace.

Kurenai looked back to the Reanimated kunoichi.

"If you get any closer to Naruto while releasing the Nine-Tails chakra—"

"He will lose control of the Nine-Tailed Fox," she interceded. "However, while I am still bound to this plane by the Reanimation Jutsu, I can Seal his chakra and force the Nine-Tailed Fox to go dormant once more with my Adamantine Sealing Chains."

The Leaf kunoichi hesitated. "It's a risk. You could kill him instead."

There had to be another way. Some way that didn't put Naruto's life in such perilous danger.

"True, I may," Mito confirmed. "It is a risk. However, the Leaf will kill him if he does not regain control. The Nine-Tails will kill him if it manages to escape the Seal. This way there is a chance. We need only time it right so when I am released from the Reanimation Jutsu I can Seal the Nine-Tails chakra without killing Naruto."

Kurenai shut her eyes. She couldn't think of another option. Whether Mito released the Nine-Tails chakra here, next to Naruto, or farther away wouldn't matter; their chakra was resonating, linked to the original source and communicating in a language that transcended words.

Once Mito released the Seal, the Nine-Tails chakra inside of Naruto would follow.

They couldn't allow the Nine-Tailed Fox to escape. She couldn't allow Naruto to die.

It was a risk. But there was no other choice.

Exhaling, she turned towards Naruto's chakra and darted off.

Mito, compelled by the Reanimation Jutsu, followed.

---

Forehead braced against the grass, Naruto dug his fingers into his stomach, into the Seal branded upon it that made him believe his organs were rupturing and tearing apart inside of him. He trembled from head to toe in a vicious tug-of-war between control and chaos.

He could feel the Nine-Tails chakra flooding him, feel the translucent red chakra of the demon fox cloak encapsulating his body. Boiling bubbles flowed through the shroud.

It burned. His skin was on fire, cooking him from the inside. He groaned and screamed. He punched the ground, hoping the pain would somehow give him focus.

It didn't.

His canine teeth and nails elongated and sharpened. His eyes were pure red, his pupils elongated into slits, and his whisker marks became thicker, broader and more defined. Around his hands, he noticed with a concerned glance, the cloak was taking on the shape of paws.

"Why?" he growled aggressively. "Why is my chakra acting up? I should be able to control it!"

"Hmhmhm!" The Nine-Tailed Fox laughed maliciously. "What happened to your promise, Naruto? I thought you weren't going to lose control? I thought you wouldn't let me take over?"

"I didn't," he snarled. "And you know it, you stinkin' fox! Something strange is happening. I don't get it. I'm in control of my emotions. I'm fighting your chakra with what strength I have. But this feeling… It's getting worse. It's like feeling as if you're going to puke and trying to fight it down."

"You're too weak, brat. I told you. It was only a matter of time." He could sense the Nine-Tails grinning behind its cage, see in his mind's eye the red chakra seeping into the water of his flooded prison like cooking oil spreading over a sauce pan. "To think it would be Mito Uzumaki to hasten my escape. Hmhmhm! Take one last look at Amaririsu, Naruto. When I gain control, she'll be the first to die!"

"Not a chance," he growled. In the haze of hatred and anger overwhelming his senses, a sudden thought jumped to the front of his mind. "Wait a minute. Granny Mito…"

"Kushina's son, do not let these chains touch you," Mito's voice came to him. "They will bind your chakra and the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra."

A flicker of hope ignited in his heart. A long-shot hope. Maybe an impossible one. Maybe even one that would end in his death.

"I say let's roll the dice then. I'll take my chances against impossibility," he recalled Amari's words.

Naruto chuckled. It came out as animalistic and cruel despite the hopefulness and determination he felt. He pushed himself onto his hands and toes.

"What do you think you're doing, brat?" the Nine-Tailed Fox demanded.

"Following another reckless impulse. Get used to it because you're not going anywhere!"

With a roar he bolted off on all-fours.

Naruto burst out of the tree-line covered in the translucent, bubbling red cloak of raw chakra. He felt the intensity of the strange sensation responsible for unleashing the Nine-Tails chakra intensifying with every bounding stride.

Slowly, he began to grasp the cause through intuition and the Nine-Tails hatred.

This feeling, it led him straight to Mito Uzumaki. It resonated from her and from within himself. It wasn't something he could see. It didn't have form or make a sound. Yet he still comprehended its presence on a basic level, like the feeling of hunger after not eating breakfast and lunch.

Desperate and determined, he kept charging along the grass at the Reanimated kunoichi, who was chasing after Kurenai and Atsuko; every stride closer he felt the Nine-Tailed Fox's hatred and chakra grow in intensity.

It's getting harder to focus, he squinted, feeling hot all over. Sweat seemed to evaporate right off of him. At this rate, it's going to be like that time I fought Haku. I couldn't focus. I couldn't think straight. All I could feel was overwhelming hatred that blinded me to everything else around me.

It was only when I saw Haku's face, when I recognized him from that morning in the Land of Waves when I trained alone and passed out, that I came to my senses.

He could still see it so vividly. Haku's porcelain mask shattering, some chunks were large revealing portions of his face—a chin, a cheek bone, half of his lips. Some pieces were tiny, but he could see each little fragment. He could feel his body charging straight ahead, bringing him closer and closer, fist drawing back as he roared.

Then he saw Haku's face. His sad, accepting smile that his time had come. And he stopped, snapping to his senses in shock, fist mere inches from striking the dark-haired boy.

I don't think that will happen if I lose control this time, Naruto though. Or I'm afraid it won't. It might be just like how Amari described that time she was consumed by the Curse of Hatred, where she no longer saw anything or anyone except Itachi and Aimi, and all she wanted to do was kill them.

Had she succeeded, we wouldn't know everything they've gone through for her and Sasuke. We wouldn't know that a thing like the Foundation exists. Who knows how things would've turned out then.

That's why I can't lose control of this power. I don't know what I'll do, but I know what the Nine-Tails wants. I know who he'll target, and I can't let him. Even if that means risking my life, I'll do it!

"Kurenai-sensei, Atsuko, get out of here!" he bellowed.

The Nine-Tails would target them, his gut instinct told him. Once this resonating chakra passed the point of no return they'd be at risk of being caught between two jinchūriki, who's power, speed and chakra would outmatch theirs.

Naruto couldn't explain why he knew that or how, but he just felt it. He felt it so keenly even though the dissection wasn't his own.

"Naruto, just buy time for now," Kurenai replied passionately without breaking off. "You have to fight the Nine-Tails chakra for a little bit longer. If you can do that, Lady Mito will be free of the Reanimation Jutsu and won't be compelled to kill you with the Adamantine Sealing Chains. You are forbidden from dying, do you understand?"

Again the foreign gut instinct imparted another feeling upon him.

Kurenai hadn't given up on him. She wanted to protect him, for his sake, because she cared about him. Not as a Jinchūriki. Not out of fear of the Nine-Tails. She cared about Naruto Uzumaki the person, the boy, the child who Amari and Hinata held unwavering faith in.

Naruto grit his teeth. Kurenai-sensei… You never once looked at me like I was some sort of Demon. I could spot those people from miles away. But you… You always looked at me like I was me. You looked at me and saw me. Like Amari did. And you never pulled Amari away when you saw us together. I've always appreciated that. So many parents would just drag their kids away, some would even slap them and tell them to never go near me again.

You didn't, though. You could sense the Nine-Tails inside me, but you never looked at me like the others. You never pulled Amari away. It meant the world to me, you know. I've always wanted to thank you for that… And I will. I will. Because this won't be the end. You gave me an order, right?

I am forbidden from dying. Which means no matter what…

"I won't die!" he declared. "Not here, not now! I won't taint Granny Mito's soul by dying at her hands. And I won't lose control! I'm gonna be there when Amari reaches the future she's after. I'm gonna help her build it! All of us are! That's a promise! And a future Hokage…"

Chains erupted from the earth around him, but he evaded, dodging on instinct. He could sense their power more keenly than before.

Kurenai, seeing he wasn't stopping, dematerialized into a flock of Crows that darted across the sky.

Naruto evaded left, then right, chains spearing up all around him like sprouting trees or angry scorpions, then sprang ahead and roared,

"Never goes back on their word!"

He slammed his fist through Mito's side, disintegrating the ash and dust. He landed and skidded on all-fours, leaping aside as chains sought to eviscerate him from every conceivable angle.

It was all a blur to him. Metal chains hued in gold seen through the filter of red. His body flashing and darting, bending, spinning, vaulting over them as they fell and rose on every side.

The hatred-filled chakra flooding him was intense. For a moment he couldn't tell where his motivations began or where the Nine-Tailed Fox's ended, but, with immense effort, he drew his consciousness forward, overpowering the Nine-Tailed Fox's by focusing on one sole objective—his promise.

He envisioned his friends, his comrades, his dreams, and he held them tightly even as the red chakra poured through him, covering his whole body.

He thought of good memories, of the laughs, smiles, tears, the joy, the happiness and love he'd experienced, and he jolted under, over and around the chains, hearing them rattle and sing and hiss past him.

Sliding backwards to a stop on all-fours, he eyed the chains which had stopped chasing him.

"That's it child," Mito suddenly spoke. "Hold onto those feelings."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto growled.

"Our chakra is resonating. I can sense your emotions. I can see glimpses of your memories as if they are my own.

"The Nine-Tailed Fox is a being consumed by hatred. If you are to control it, you must first fill yourself with love. Surround yourself with true friends like Amaririsu, like the one's you call Sasuke and Sakura, like those you call friends and comrades, who share their love and make life brighter and joyful. In them you will find the power to control the Nine-Tailed Fox. Just as I found them, and your mother found them."

"How do you know my mother found that?"

"Because you exist, Naruto. You are the proof of her love," she said confidently. "I cannot say what befell Kushina, but I know her love and her spirit remain within you. You share her dream, after all."

Mito smiled. "To become Hokage. You carry her Will, Naruto. That is the truth. Just as Amaririsu carry's the Will and love of her family—Madara, Yua, her parents and cousin—you carry Kushina's Will and love. Never doubt that."

Something struck his heart. Something that was tight and painful and he didn't know what to do with it. He only knew that it made his vision blur, for a moment.

The tears evaporated into the boiling chakra.

"Naruto, listen carefully," Mito began. "I cannot restrain the Reanimation Jutsu's commands much longer. In a moment I will unleash the chakra of the Nine-Tailed Fox that I stored while I was alive. This is what has caused you to begin losing control."

"Our resonating chakra, right? And once you release it, it's going to be harder for me to control it?"

"Yes. I'm sorry. However, if you place your faith in me, I promise you I will seal the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra. All you must do is survive until I am released."

"Don't worry about me, Granny Mito. I'm ready."

"Remember what is most important to you. Remember your dream. Remember your friends. Remember their love."

"I won't ever forget it!"

The rhombus on her forehead, glowing incandescent, vanished. In its place black whisker lines appeared on her cheeks as though painted by a brush, her eyelashes grew longer as black eyeliner seemed to be applied to her eyes.

A cloak like his own erupted around Mito, shaping fox-like ears around her head and three tails of chakra to join her undulating chains. Her maroon hair floated upwards against gravity, her dark eyes shifted red.

Amidst it all he saw shimmers of gold flow across her kimono, her skin, but it never quite took form.

Immediately Naruto grimaced, both at the sensation of the extreme amounts of chakra pouring off of the Reanimated kunoichi, and at the sudden rage that flooded his entire being. A tail of chakra manifested from his cloak.

"Mito Uzumaki!" roared the Nine-Tails.

Remember…what's important, he grunted. Don't you ever forget it.

"This power…is incredible, Granny. How are you controlling it?"

"Years of patience and practice and, of course, love. I cannot command it perfectly. However, you are your mother's son," Mito said, calm and composed and regal as ever despite the nature of the chakra. "You bear the name of Uzumaki. You bear her Will. Do you understand what that means?"

"I…don't know. It's…hard to focus."

"It means within you Kushina's Will of Fire burns like the sun. No matter what darkness or hatred you face, you already possess the love you need to control the Nine-Tails, because she is always with you!"

Naruto grunted, eyes stinging.

"It means you will surpass us both. That is the destiny of the next generation. From our old and withered leaves you will rise anew, stronger, fiercer, bearing the love and dreams we passed on, as well as the burdens of our mistakes and the wisdom to correct them. You have a future to build, do you not? You made a vow. Remember it. Remember it and prepare yourself, Naruto."

"Your vow is meaningless," rumbled the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Naruto felt himself be pulled into the flooded chamber of his mindscape, where the Nine-Tails red eyes seared inside the shadows of his cage. Red chakra poured out of the cell into the water surrounding his ankles. It almost looked like blood.

"Look around you. Look at what Mizuki has done today. There are thousands upon thousands of humans just like him across the entire shinobi world. People like Arashi. People who would so quickly sell their own secrets or kill their so-called comrades in order to claim new power.

"You humans only think of your own self-interests. Your greed and desire for power is limitless, so much so you imprison my kind into yourselves to siphon—no, steal our power!"

He felt the steaming hot air of Nine-Tails breath brush over his body. The water rippled and the chamber trembled as the the beast swished and slammed its tails violently against the walls of his cage.

Blinking away his mindscape, Naruto awoke in time to see four chains and all three chakra tails elongating from Mito, spearing at him from nearly every side. He leaped back, then darted off to the side, racing on all-fours as golden hued chains and red, bubbling chakra tails crashed into the earth behind him.

"Humans are capable of nothing except war, betrayal and hatred. What hope do you have of changing this world when the Stone seek war without provocation?" the Nine-Tails lectured in hatred.

Naruto sprang forward and landed on his hands, running in a handstand to evade a chain rising out of the earth. It narrowly passed by his abdomen.

He carried his weight forward, landed on his feet and returned onto all-fours, shooting off at a sharp diagonal, leaping over a chakra tail swiping and grating across the earth.

A fist of chakra extended up from his cloak. It was met by two of the tails, which collided as though made of physical flesh rather than chakra.

Beneath the colliding chakra formations, Naruto dashed side to side before lunging at the Reanimated kunoichi, who was shrouded in a cloak of red and shimmering with golden chakra now and then.

Mito pivoted out of the range of his lunging attack faster than he could blink; her movement was fluid, agile, nothing at all like an old lady. She kept her hands crossed over her belly as her leg rose swiftly. It slammed into his abdomen harder than any old lady should've been able to kick.

Gasping, spittle flying from his lips, Naruto barely perceived her second spinning kick, but he sure felt it.

As he flew and bounced off the dirt, chains and chakra tails chased him.

Naruto rolled out and onto his hands and feet, digging his toes and nails into the earth, grinding it up and, without thought or effort, extending his tail to block the two opposing chakra tails.

The meeting of tails made him grimace. Mito's power was off the charts. It made his tail waver, until being fully slammed into the earth, rupturing the ground and throwing small specks of dirt and rock through the air.

Naruto, again without conscious effort, allowed his tail to collapse out from beneath Mito's and shot off again to evade the chains.

"Well! What answers do you have, brat? That's right. You have none. You claim and vow impossible ideals like an ignorant child, but look at how well that worked for Sasame."

His eyes squinted against the sting of searing hatred burning his skin.

"You're right. When you say it like that, it all sounds impossible."

"Then why bother fighting it? Stop struggling and all of your pain will be over."

At a distance Naruto threw two punches, off of which shockwaves roared and tumbled across the battlefield towards Mito. The kunoichi, with poise and regality, uncrossed her arms and struck the air with a single palm.

A larger, fiercer shockwave met his and blasted them into oblivion. Grass and chunks of dirt were torn from the ground. Had he not dashed off again he would've met the same fate.

"That's enough, Naruto. You've struggled all this time. I can make it all end."

"No."

"What?"

Again, without warning, he was back in his mindscape staring at the Nine-Tailed Fox through his cage, standing in water swirling and bubbling bright red.

"I've seen and heard a whole lot today from Mizuki and Granny Mito. And you, of course. It all sounds impossible when you say things like that. But we won't really know if it is impossible until we try."

"More foolish idealism," the Nine-Tails chided hatefully. "You have no answers for peace. You do not even know how you can protect Amaririsu from me."

"I may not have any answers," Naruto replied. "But I'll never find them either if I just give up. Giving up, I bet it's a whole lot easier. It'd be simpler to accept that the world is the way it is and will never change. But if I did that, I'd become cold and callous. I'd become another cynical wheel in an old, rundown machine."

Pain snapped him back to reality. Harsh pain as a chakra tail slammed into his torso. More hatred flushed over him alongside the pain.

A second tail formed out of his cloak.

The haze of hatred was thickening. He couldn't think straight.

Remember…what's important.

Snarling and growling, Naruto caught himself on the ground, leaped over one tail and crashed his two tails into the second. Chains and their blades sang past him, cutting through his cloak with all the ease of scissors cutting paper, and causing his tails to disassemble.

With a cry, he crashed to the earth beneath the tail, beneath all the hatred and fury of the Nine-Tails chakra.

He awoke in his mindscape, panting, struggling to breathe, to move, to think. The haze was consuming him.

All of this hatred… This hopelessness…

"You fool!" roared the Nine-Tailed Fox. "What does an insignificant brat like you hope to do? Fight the world on your own?!"

"I don't have to do it on my own!" Naruto half-turned away from the Nine-Tails, breathing heavily. "I've got a whole lot of friends who feel the same way. Amari, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru's team, Hinata's team, Mimi's team, Gaara and his siblings, Hikari, Haku, Sasame and Daisuke and Manzo and Hanzaki and the kids, and a whole lot more."

Beneath Mito's vicious tail, Naruto grit his teeth together and pressed his hands—covered in chakra shaped like paws—against it, struggling push it off of him. Two large chakra hands formed and gripped the tails, but it wasn't enough.

Thinking quickly Naruto created the Clone seal and two Shadow Clone's appeared lying beside him. They, too, were covered in the Nine-Tails chakra cloak and joined their hands—human and chakra constructed—in pushing the tail off.

He just needed to remember what was important. He just had to buy time.

He just had to build enough space to squeeze out from beneath the tail before a chakra chain finished him off.

"There may be thousands of Mizuki's, but there are thousands more of people like us," he spoke aloud to the Nine-Tailed Fox. "People who are willing to step up against the cynics and the monsters who make this world the way you see it. People like Amari's parents, Itachi and Aimi and Shisui, and countless others, who sacrifice their lives, their futures and their peace for others."

"And what has their pointless sacrifices amounted to?" the Nine-Tails demanded to know. "They were betrayed, slain by the Leaf because of the hatred inherited by the subordinates of Tobirama Senju. Tobirama passed along his hatred, he orchestrated Yua's murder and thus Madara's descent into hatred, which inevitably led him to me.

"Because of Tobirama's single act of selfish hatred, he set in motion the events that forced us together. He is the reason I was Sealed inside of Mito, he is the reason your parents are dead, he is the reason Amaririsu's family and Clan were murdered. He is the reason my kind are enslaved and forced to be used as weapons by humans!"

More boiling chakra flooded through Naruto, causing him to gag and choke.

Inside of his mindscape he collapsed to his hands and knees into the red-tainted water.

"No matter what you do, humans will always be the same!" claimed the Nine-Tails in furious passion. "Shisui, Kiyoshi and Miyako, they devoted themselves to the Leaf, to the Senju ideal one Village over one mere Clan. Yet where are they now?

"They're dead!"

Naruto blinked away the flooded chamber and found himself being slung over the shoulder of his Shadow Clone, carried away from Mito.

He blinked again and he was back inside the dank and dark chamber with the Nine-Tails harsh gaze reflected in the water, glaring at him.

"They were murdered in cold blood. And the man responsible walks free, unpunished. He wields the same power he did at the time. It doesn't matter how many 'people like you' exist. Greed and selfishness will always control humans. Sacrifices like the ones Amaririsu's family made—like your parents made—will always be meaningless!"

"…You're…wrong," Naruto choked. "It wasn't meaningless!"

His Shadow Clone popped. He knew that not from its memories, but from crashing to the earth, thrown out of harms way.

A third tail formed from his cloak.

He couldn't fight like this. Not with the Nine-Tails fighting him for control over his body.

"You must fight his control, Naruto!" Mito commanded. "Remember your vow. Remember those you hold precious! Remember that you are never alone!"

Naruto grunted. He shut his eyes, overwhelmed by all the emotions seething inside of himself.

I'm not…alone? No. I'm not. Not anymore. I've got Iruka-sensei, Team Seven, Kurenai-sensei, and so many others now. I have so much it's almost hard to hold onto it all…

He pressed his hands against the dirt, then extended his chakra arms to fling himself head over foot through the air with a roar.

"How can you say it wasn't meaningless? How can you honestly tell me their sacrifice had any point when nothing has changed!"

"Because Amari is alive!" he roared back, creating a horde of Shadow Clones to use as a shield as he flew towards Mito. "And that final, selfless act of theirs brought her into all our lives! She changed Kurenai-sensei's life, Kakashi-sensei's life, Shikamaru and his parents lives, my life!

"Their sacrifice paved the way so that she could be here. They entrusted everything to her, their hopes, their dreams, their love and Wills—everything! They believed in her. They believed in their daughter, their sister, and they died knowing she would find a way forward!"

Chains rattled and tails swung, spearing and crashing through his horde. He was knocked out of the air and sent careening into the dirt.

He rose again and dashed across the battlefield unleashing roar after roar, shockwave after shockwave, creating Shadow Clones that fell in alongside him like wolves.

He was faster, so much faster than he ever had been before.

Together they charged Mito. Naruto darted in at sharp and short diagonals, weaving as bladed chains fell from the sky and rose from the earth. His Shadow Clones popped around him.

When Mito's chakra tails came swinging across and hammering down from the sky, his horde of Shadow Clones lunged at the bubbling tails and latched onto them, heels and toes digging into the dirt, bearing the weight on their shoulders even as the earth shattered beneath their feet.

He needed a single opening. That was all. Just one single opening, and his Shadow Clones were going to give it to him, damn whatever the Nine-Tailed Fox thought.

He wasn't alone. Not anymore and never again!

A Shadow Clone fell in line in front of him. Naruto rose onto two legs and put his palm out, facing up, and summoned the swirling Rasengan, colored vermillion within the shell of the cloak.

He took two long strides, jumped onto his Shadow Clone's shoulder and leapt into the air just as a third tail pierced the Shadow Clone.

"And if my parents sacrificed themselves for me," he yelled, "then that means they believed in me, too! That means they died entrusting everything to me. Their hopes, their dreams, their love and Will—" he jabbed his finger to his heart, tears flowing down his face, "they're all right in here! So don't you dare say it was meaningless!"

Mito, shimmering with golden like flames, looked at him with fascination and fondness.

He blinked and found himself in the mindscape again.

The Nine-Tailed Fox's hatred-consumed gaze glared harshly at Naruto. He glared right back.

"You say it's impossible, and maybe it is," he said after a beat of silence. "But I say let's roll the dice, then. I'll take my chances against impossibility. I made a vow, after all. I'm never gonna quit, and I'm never gonna go back on my word. That's my ninja way."

He turned his back to the Nine-Tailed Fox. "I'll find a path forward, but I won't do it alone. Amari and all the others will be with me the whole way."

He placed his hand over his heart and dug his fingers into his shirt.

"And…I've got my mother, too. I've inherited her dream. So you can quit trying to get me to give up. I won't ever quit. I'm gonna help Amari build a path to the future. I'm gonna be there to look after her, and she's gonna be there to look after me.

"We'll keep rolling the dice. We'll keep taking our chances against impossibility, and we'll change this world together. You'll see. That's a promise."

Blinking it all way, Naruto thrusted his hand forward.

"Rasengan!"

Mito's eyes widened.

And golden chains shot out of her torso.

He never had a chance to dodge.

---

It happened when Mizuki was roaring in rampant fury, frozen in place beneath the Seal and Capture Perimeter, dripping profuse amounts of sweat, reeking of an unnatural, deathly odor that made Tenzō and Iruka battle against gagging now and then.

With no warning, mid-roar, a flock of Crows suddenly nosedived out of the canopy directly in front of Mizuki. They came cawing. They came with a gale of icy wind that startled Iruka visibly and made Tenzō tense.

Out of the swirling flock appeared a kunoichi attired in the uniform of the Anbu and a cat-mask bearing three distinct red stripes. Her long purple hair flowed down her back like a long waterfall.

Tenzō recognized his comrade immediately. He also recognized that the plunging temperature and gale was sourced by her killing intent as much as it was sourced by the terrifying and calculating rage of the Crows.

Mizuki, ever consumed by his rage and his ego, did not sense it. He did not understand the fatal relevance of this kunoichi's presence anymore than a fly understood the fatal relevance of the swinging fly swatter until it was too late.

"Another one of the Anbu, huh?" Mizuki grinned despite the sweat pouring down his face. He still hadn't realized or accepted the deteriorating state of his body. "I feel honored. All of you sent strictly to stop—"

Yūgao cut him off with a thrust of her palm, slamming it into his exposed abdomen, at his sternum. Mizuki's eyes bulged, spittle flying from his lips.

Across the white fur covering his sweaty abdomen black patterns of fūinjutsu expanded into a ring intersected by lines of script at the cardinal and ordinal directions of a compass.

"What… What have you done?" Mizuki gasped for air.

"Mito Uzumaki is no longer yours to control," Yūgao said coldly.

"N- no, it can't be. There is no way for you to undo the Reanimation Jut— gaahhhh!"

Yūgao's fist countered his fatal judgement, burying into his abdomen until his cry became little more than a airless gasp. The furry flesh rippled around her fist, proving that even Mizuki's durability was at its end.

"I should kill you," she hissed as he gasped for the air she knocked out of his lungs. "Your hands are soaked in the blood of my comrades. Why should you be given the dignity of breathing the same air as those you've caused untold suffering to?"

"How? How?" Mizuki was at a loss of air and words.

"But there's something worse than death awaiting you," Yūgao didn't acknowledge his question. "Killing you would be too easy a punishment."

"You… What have you…" Mizuki struggled to speak.

The kunoichi leaned her head forward so she was beside his ear.

"You cannot sense it. But I can." Her soft voice was somehow more frightening than any of Mizuki's roars. "Savor these final moments of power. They will be your last. Ever."

Without another word, Yūgao turned away from Mizuki and approached Iruka to aid her injured comrade.

"Damnable…woman," Mizuki cursed. "Turning your back on me! How…dare you! I will—"

Mizuki's eyes suddenly went wide. His jaw hung open, and from his mouth a wordless wail slowly built, starting low in volume before rising and rising and rising until the man was shrieking.

Tenzō and Iruka watched on in shock at the events that followed. Yūgao showed no emotion, and Osamu's dark eyes glinted with morbid satisfaction.

The price was finally paid.

---

Mito's eyes widened.

The sensation of being released from the commands of the Reanimation Jutsu was strange, as though she'd watched the entire battle today from outside of her body, only to then be thrust into it without warning.

"Rasengan!" Naruto bellowed out.

Thrumming with Nine-Tails chakra, Mito acted without restraining herself any longer. Adamantine Chains rushed out of her torso, wrapping around Naruto's torso, his arms and his legs in a mere moment without causing any physical harm to the boy.

All but instantly the shroud of chakra around him vanished, his eyes returning to their natural, tired cerulean.

Likewise, Mito contained what was left of the Nine-Tails chakra she possessed, a red rhombus once more forming on her forehead.

Naruto looked on the verge of fainting again. But he smiled weakly at her.

"Knew it'd work out. Thanks, Granny…"

His eyes slid shut and his head fell forward.

Mito reeled the boy in and unwrapped him from her chains so he could rest in her old arms.

I was released by a Contract Seal, she thought. I am free of that man's orders, but I am not free of this cage. However, I suspect whoever concocted this plan understood that and has already prepared a means to release me. For the moment I am trapped as a being neither alive nor capable of dying.

She looked down at the boy sleeping in her arms.

But for now that isn't so bad.

---

"What about Mizuki?"

Mito hummed.

Kneeling on the grass with Naruto's head lying in her lap, the old woman looked to the pink-haired kunoichi—Sakura Haruno—responsible for the curious, if not worried, question.

She, Sasuke Uchiha, Amaririsu, Kurenai Yūhi, Atsuko, the ninja hound named Pakkun and the kunoichi known as Tsubaki, all in varying states of injury, exhaustion or simple fatigue, huddled around the Reanimated kunoichi, Naruto and Shizune, who tended to the minor injuries Mito hadn't taken care of in the immediate aftermath of their battle.

They had all come to check on Naruto. Worried and concerned for their comrade, their teammate.

As their chakra resonated, she had seen glimpses of Naruto's life as an orphan, of the mistreatment he suffered at the hands of Villagers and Leaf shinobi despite the ultimate sacrifice foisted upon him as a newborn. She saw the eyes of hatred, of fear, of distrust that all jinchūriki faced. Even her.

But she'd also seen these people. People like Amaririsu, Kurenai, Shizune, Sasuke, Sakura, the ones called Iruka and Kakashi, and many others who treated Naruto as a human being, not as the destructive Tailed-Beast he contained. Not as a weapon to be thrown at enemies or a glass doll to keep sheltered and protected in an ivory cage.

Even after witnessing his transformation they did not shy away from him or look at him with fear or distrust.

It warmed the old kunoichis heart to know this boy, this child who was jinchūriki like her and his mother had found and filled his life with those who cared for him. Who loved him dearly.

"The one you know as Mizuki will no longer trouble you," Mito answered the young kunoichi.

"She's right," Kurenai concurred, placing a hand on her hip. "Mizuki is finished."

She, too, sensed his unraveling.

"What happened?" Sakura asked.

"The darkness devoured him from the inside," said Mito. She looked directly at Sasuke. "See to it that it does not devour you as well."

---

Tenzō, Iruka and Yūgao loomed over the curled up form Mizuki much like the Crow on the kunoichi's shoulder, distant and invariably absent of remorse.

States of shock and horror had passed, while cold calculation and morbid satisfaction remained within two of the observers.

Pity formed in Iruka, knowing it was just as he said: His dark obsession had a price to pay, and now Mizuki was paying it. He frowned in solemnity at his former friend, who was weeping and wailing incoherently in the fetal position.

Tenzō looked at what remained of the hybrid man-beast without emotion. It was hard to believe he was the same person. Minutes ago he was a towering behemoth, muscular and covered in tiger fur.

Presently he was just a shriveled man. Nothing of his muscle mass remained, rendering him so emaciated his ribs protruded out of his wrinkly, sinewy flesh, which had taken on the complexion and texture of a loaf of dark rye bread.

His pants were several sizes too large for his pencil legs. His hair had all but fallen out save a few tufts of white. His skeletal frame shrank to his natural size, but his spine was deformed, bending sideways in possibly the first ever case of self-induced scoliosis.

His hips didn't quite sit right anymore. His fingers were unnaturally long.

Eyes sunken in and eyelids seeming to be peeled back so far that they could see large portions of the sclera, cheeks gaunt, face wrinkled with more lines than a map, the potion had affected every part of his body in some fashion. It eliminated his control over bladder and bowel functions, too, by the stench wafting off him.

He looked absolutely pathetic.

"He was right in the end," Osamu broke the silence.

Tenzō glanced at the Crow. "About what?"

"It was fate."

---

Review Response to NarutoFan: You're welcome! I'm happy you enjoyed all the backstory and insight into Mito's character the last chapter dove into. Despite having looked it up a few times, I actually can't remember what the prerequisite requirements are for the sealing chains, but I would think it is possible since if its bloodline based he would have access to it because of Kushina, and if its Clan based, like a secret jutsu of some sort, it wouldn't be impossible for him to learn it.

Anyway, I'm happy you enjoyed all the stuff in the last chapter and hope you enjoyed this one.

Thanks for the review!