Hello again, everyone! To the shock and awe of many, I'm sure, it only took me a week and a half (instead of a year and a half) to get a chapter out this time! Don't pat me on the back just yet for it, though. I still remember days when I'd put out two, and sometimes three, chapters for WTSIG in 24 hours. If whatever spark of creative insanity that drove me then would like to come back, I'd appreciate it.
Review responses:
1. TigrezzTail: To be honest, I'm sending him back because my storytelling method is "make things up on the fly until you've painted yourself into a corner." And also because I'd hate to have him make the leap to "completely brain-bustingly OP" while offscreen and being trained by a clone of his from an alternate timeline. I've also got a lot of bad news coming Konoha's way.
2. Noahendless: No, he's a clone, but...more or less, I suppose? I didn't want WTSIG Naruto to make a direct appearance because that would make no sense with the context of WTSIG's epilogue, but I feel like it would be in keeping with his character to leave a clone or two in each universe where he passes by.
We're back in business, baby. Let's get this trainwreck moving.
"Commander." Sai said blankly, his eyes nearly glazing over as he observed a withering man in a medically-equipped wheelchair.
"Soldier." Danzo replied. "You are prepared for the execution of the plan tomorrow, correct?"
"Of course." Sai's reply was curt and matter-of-fact, betraying nothing.
"See to it that your confidence is not misplaced." The elderly man spoke with finality, and Sai knew that he was dismissed. The conversation was kept short for a reason.
Danzo didn't trust him, and it was obvious why: first, he was the son of the White Snake, by far Konoha's most infamous criminal in recent memory. Second, his loyalty had been split between Danzo and Naruto since his childhood. It was Danzo who'd taken him in off the streets, certainly, but Naruto was the one who'd kept him alive while he was on them. Even as emotionally stunted as he was, Sai was grateful, and he recognized that Naruto's interference was a debt that would forever go unpaid.
Leaving the room where Danzo sat and plotted, Sai's gaze turned further inward as he thought about his former friend and leader. Naruto was the most resourceful person Sai had ever met; in the absurd best-case scenario where Naruto survived his clash with Zabuza and his assistant, it wouldn't be far-fetched to believe he would take a dying Kakashi's Sharingan. With the eye possessing a thousand techniques, and Naruto's inhuman chakra capacity, it was easy to believe that the blond could fight his way to freedom. But what bothered Sai, and the one thing he couldn't wrap his head around, was the rumor that Nami no Kuni had completely sunk beneath the sea. After all, the only way to survive that would be to leave the same way that Gato or Zabuza did—and Sai didn't relish the thought of the Banchou being held deep in an enemy prison's torture ward. Still, against a better sense of judgement and several mountains of evidence, Sai wanted to believe that Naruto was alive and well. Or, at the very least, alive and free.
He was his father's son. Whether they knew it or not, he cared about his teammates and his leader. To protect them, he would live in the darkness, and guard against the threats that they never knew would come. That was his duty as the Sai, the swordbreaker. To his leader, he held greater loyalty than any other group, ideal, or person—even Konoha. Danzo, erroneously, believed that loyalty belonged to him. How else could such a crippled man be left alive, no matter his former strength, than if he commanded the loyalty of several powerful ninja?
Among the roots of the great tree, many of the Banchou's family had opted to enter Danzo's corps, but not one of them had forgotten the face of their leader. It was Naruto who had given them their foundation, their hope, and their fellowship; it was Naruto who had shown them that they could use their skills for far more than petty thievery; it was Naruto they would lay down their lives for, not Konoha or a relic of its bygone days.
Of course he was ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow, his father's plan would be set in motion.
"One day, Sasuke, your strength will need to surpass mine." Itachi said as he watched his younger brother train. Both wore plain black robes, and Sasuke strode easily to stand near his sitting brother. Uchiha Izumi sat with her husband, though her conversation with him had come to a halt when he'd spoken up to Sasuke.
"I'm not sure that's possible." Sasuke replied. "Even if I became strong enough to look down on the world, you'd still be flying over my head."
"Give yourself some more credit...and my illness its due diligence. Tomorrow, you're competing for a promotion to Chunin at the age of thirteen. That's an impressive feat, no matter whether or not you're selected. And, even though my medicine has halted the advance of the disease, it's incurable. In this life, I've reached the ceiling of my abilities. " Itachi's stern face betrayed his seriousness.
"Itachi's right, Sasuke. Clan heads and Kage aren't chosen by finding out whose fist is biggest, or else they'd change hands on a daily basis. Your brother is strong, of course, but his ability to lead others is why none of the other Uchiha our age have attempted to unseat him. So if he's the pillar that protects the clan with his voice, then your duty will be to protect the clan with your strength. Otherwise, we'll end up like the Hyuuga—a clan where the patriarch can rely on nobody, even his elders. Would you really force Itachi into that position?" Izumi's words struck a nerve in Sasuke, though whether it was his loyalty to his brother or his disdain for the Hyuuga, even he couldn't say.
"I...will work hard to meet your expectations." Sasuke said, closing his eyes and nodding his head in deference.
"Sasuke..." Itachi grinned sheepishly. "...it's not like I'm saying you need to reach my level of strength in the shortest possible time. I only want you to look to the future. If you stay concerned with taking life a day at a time, or thinking about the past, your growth as a shinobi will suffer for it."
"I know, but it's hard." Sasuke's tone was downcast. "I don't really remember our parents or elders well. I wasn't very attached to most of them. But I grew up beside Naruto, and I feel like we betrayed him when we left him behind. He did everything he could to buy time for us to escape, and I don't regret making it back to Konoha, but..."
"Did you see him die?" Izumi asked as her younger brother-in-law trailed off. Itachi gave her a reproachful look, almost as if to say, don't give him hope, but as he thought about it, he understood what she meant.
"His opponent was one of the Seven Swordsmen." Sasuke said bluntly.
"A fair point, but you may be underselling your comrade." Itachi replied. "I don't know that any other ninja would be able to adapt and survive in the conditions he grew up in before inheriting his familial estate. Maybe, if it helps you move forward, you can just...believe he's still out there. Most of us don't get that kind of luxury."
Sasuke wanted to complain that his brother was being too optimistic in an attempt to spare his feelings, but the abject failure of his first major mission—and the deaths of his Jounin-sensei and teammate therein—had been weighing on his heart for quite some time. If he imagined his teammate was alive, and managing to survive while trying to return home...it would, in fact, let him rest a little easier. Even so, he wasn't sure that he could actually believe something like that. It just seemed like escapism.
"At any rate, you need a new sparring partner from the younger generation. If not someone from the clan, why not one of your former Academy classmates?"
Sasuke pondered the idea, but shook his head. It was true that practicing by himself would be a slow process, but he was in no hurry to make a decision like that. Especially not with the final round of the Chunin Exams happening tomorrow. Still, he couldn't fault Itachi for his words; Sasuke knew that his older brother was only trying to look out for him.
"I'll save that for some day after tomorrow." The younger man said, causing a slight smile to creep into Itachi's expression.
While it was true that Sasuke hadn't accepted the idea, Itachi hadn't expected him to do so right away. Whether it was his current age or his regular personality, Sasuke was traditionally very headstrong and difficult to coach. So, him not having outright thrown away the idea of connecting with more people...well, it made Itachi feel like things weren't quite so bad.
Years in the future, those who'd watched "Yuurei" progress through the stages of demonification would recount his fabled journey, the meritorious Ten Steps to Hell. Moving through these rites of passage ensured that he was not only a demon lord in the flesh, but in the mind and body as well. Any human who could complete them might win his place in Makai if he accomplished them knowingly, earning the right to become a lesser demon who otherwise held great power over mortals and found even footing with many creatures across the distant cosmos. For a newborn demon to commit those words to deed without knowing them, Oathkeeper or not, was a titanic achievement that proved him tenacious beyond measure.
As a human child, he had taken the Step of Stealth. In Nami no Kuni, he had progressed to the Step of Ruination. And a scant few months afterwards, upon his return to Konoha, he achieved the Step of Bloodthirst. To pass three of the Ten Steps in a decade, in the human world, was already quite fast-paced; reaching two of them in well under half a year was unheard of. Some would account for it as his still-human body allowing him to train himself to levels no demon his age could possibly have reached. To others, these words only had the air of denying his talent its recognition.
At any rate, no such whispers made their way to the Oathkeeper's throne.
Yuurei kept his eyes on the self-that-was-not, this time-lost clone from a place that wasn't here and a world that wasn't his. The ancient blond had a wistful look on his face, as if he'd just realized something about that far-away past that he should have considered much sooner.
"You seem troubled." He said.
"Hardly." The enthroned man replied. "I'm a clone, after all. It's not my place to have thoughts or feelings in keeping with a true, living creature. I just...thought of a possibility."
"Oh?" Yuurei raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"It's possible that, when the youki that's kept me alive and functioning for the last ten thousand years runs out, I won't dissipate and return to the original...excuse me, my original Naruto. Doubly so given the place where we are—this isn't what it looked like in my version of the world, but you're standing in Uzushiogakure. The home of your mother, and the tomb of her clan. This dome, and the veins of diamonds that lead to it, are an enormous sealing array that contains the life essence of every person who's died here since it was created."
"You think your strength will get added to theirs." Yuurei surmised. "That all of your abilities will be sealed inside...for me to open and absorb, along with the rest."
"Yes, I think that. But I also think that undoing that seal and absorbing its contents now would be a waste. If you took in the life-force of this dead city as you are now, you would become the strongest shinobi under the heavens. But if you ever seek to journey out amid the starry sky, once you become a true demon...this accumulated power may be enough to help you survive some minor skirmishes as you continue to seek the title of the strongest in the cosmos. If my abilities are joined to theirs, the boost it provides will not be minor...but as a clone, it couldn't be an immense one, either."
"Understood. Then for now, until we meet again...I will pray for my good fortune."
"Heh. Cheeky brat." The Rinnegan in the clone's eyes seemed to spin, and he knew he was running out of time. "Maybe I will see you on the other side, whether I join with your consciousness or not. I'll look forward to it."
With that, the clone made a half-Ram seal, and darkness seemed to wash over him; Yuurei watched him disappear into his chair. with a neutral expression, but ten faint tendrils of darkness struck out and pierced him before he could move. This was the youki of another demon, weaseling its way in and bleeding into his strength. It was true that, with enough time, Yuurei's complete demonification would happen passively—but that depended on circumstance, and could take a century if he did nothing but sit and wait. So, for his final act, the clone had reached out with his own youki and interfered with the process. Though it was only a product of the Kage Bunshin technique, it was still a demon in nature, and a very strong one at that.
Yuurei felt the foreign energy settle in his keirakukei network, flowing into the edges of his organs and seeming to fade from existence—out of reach, just like his own youki, and affecting him the same way. It felt a little bit like being placed under a sensory illusion, as he walked out of the dome and casually passed along the main road of Uzushiogakure. Though he moved at a leisurely pace, the city seemed to warp around him; his lone companion in the crystal dome hadn't explained anything about it, but he had a distinct feeling that it was a masterwork of Fuinjutsu. At any rate, it sent him on his way, and he walked through a gate-shaped hole before coming to witness a grassy beachfront. In the distance, a massive storm laid waste to the ocean, and a skeletal figure holding a blue orb. That sight piqued Yuurei's curiosity, but he'd seen enough insanity in this place to void any curiosity he felt.
Pulling out the scroll that Kidomaru had left him, Yuurei pondered it for a moment; while he was certainly capable of running through the stormy sea, there was a great deal of risk involved, and he would still be at least a full day away from Konoha if he reached the mainland that way. But if he used the reverse-summoning scroll, there was no real guarantee where he might end up. But it had been given to Kidomaru as a safe way to escape unexpected predicaments—a situation that Yuurei was very much in right now.
"Rock and a hard place, eh?" The blond couldn't help a wry grin, knowing that if he reached the mainland manually, it would be a constant run back to Konoha.
If he got there in that fashion, he'd be running on fumes. And yet...there was no guarantee that he'd be thrust into dange. Compared to what could just as easily be a trap, it was safer and easier to take the direct route. With a deep breath, he took a long leap forward, and the salt in the air made its way to his lungs as his feet tapped the surface of the sea's choppy waters. While there were records of hurried ninja opting to cross the waters surrounding the Elemental Nations on foot instead of renting a ship or taking the land route, no amount of firsthand accounts could have prepared Yuurei for the grueling experience...especially in conditions this tumultuous. Heading straight into the area blanketed by thunderclouds, he was forced to exert greater amounts of chakra to scale large waves and preemptively dodge bolts of lightning. Every so often, the thunder came from all sides to rattle his brain and make his footing slip momentarily.
Could a storm of this proportion really be natural? As the blond thought back, he considered the idea that it might have something to do with the blue sphere he'd seen a corpse holding. And yet, that seemed just a bit too far-fetched, even for a clan whose Fuinjutsu had been universally feared. On the other hand, he supposed, it didn't really matter. Either he would cross this storm, moving in what he assumed to be a straight enough line back to the mainland, or he would falter and die, and his questions would go unanswered.
Yuurei lost track of time in the storm, but at the rate he was consuming his chakra, he could hazard a guess that he'd been traveling for about four hours. This wasn't the longest he'd spent traveling, but it was the longest he'd exerted himself at his top speed, and two limbs didn't seem to cut it. Soon, he was climbing on all fours, demonic red eye unblinking as he chased the end of the grey waves and black sky. Blood thundered through his veins as he crested the tallest wave yet, and with a final bound, he found sand with a treeline. Twisting midair to land on his feet, the blond shook off the water he could, and looked up to see a perfectly clear sky over his head. The path to Uzushiogakure, it seemed, had intentionally been made hazardous. Yuurei had bigger problems to solve at the moment, though.
Jumping up into the thick, interweaving branches of the forest before him, Yuurei put one foot in front of the other as he continued to run like his life depended on it. Subconsciously skimming through Kakashi's Sharingan-active memories in an attempt to get his bearings, the proto-demon eventually found a slightly detailed map of Hi no Kuni. Based on its information, he angled his course a little further to the south, and continued on his way.
It had been several months since he'd left Konoha. As he ran, his mind wandered, and he was curious to see how Sai, Sasuke, Ayame, and several of his other friends had been handling themselves in his absence.
