BORUTO'S MASTERS – TAO MA'S SECRET
The Camp
Shikadai approaches Tsunade and Sakura. The two have been the closest of friends since Sakura arrived in the camp which is good news as far as he is concerned. They are the clearest bridge between the 'death' users and those who use other elements. If Tao Ma still plans to kill them then the Haruno clanswomen will be the key to stopping that from happening.
"May I sit?" he asks.
"Sure," Tsunade gestures to a wooden chair next to Sakura.
Shikadai sits down on the comfortable wooden chair. Considering it's foundation of raw materials it is miraculous that it feels so good, though Shikadai knows it may just be a relative luxury. He is trained for war, he can endure a lack of creature comforts for a long time, but he has never been trained for a conflict that would last this long. The true war has yet to even start.
"Lady Sakura, you can clearly use form of divine energy. That's how you were able to fight those guys the other day. Am I right?"
"Yes."
"Has anyone explained to you exactly what divine energy is. Has anyone explained where it comes from, how to use it to get stronger, why we can use it and the locals can't use chakra?"
"Yes, Lady Tsunade has explained it to me," Sakura reveals.
"OK. If you don't mind my asking, what is your element. That is, the tablet that has appeared in your inner world, what is written on it?"
"There are two tablets in my inner world. One marked 'strength', the other marked 'healing'. I've been told that's unusual."
"It's remarkable!" Shikadai exclaims.
The Nara clansmen is more shocked than anything else. This is another anomaly that has arisen as a result of time travel. The Sakura from this time spent years helping them to fight back against the soldiers of Homeworld. In all that time she never mastered divine energy. He wonders why it is different for them. Despite years of experience in this time, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Kakashi, none of them were able to grasp divine energy. Somehow, their younger, less-experienced counterparts were able to master that energy. The gap in skill is too remarkable, it's as if there is another factor driving them forward, an invisible presence.
"Using two elements is very rare," Tsunade reveals, "There was this teacher we had at the academy who could that too. Her name was Nina. She used to be a bandit, but she decided to fight against the empire. She was a good teacher, knew exactly what her students needed to hear."
"You liked her?" Shikadai asks.
"She was a good person."
"So, you don't resent the people of Homeworld yet?"
Tsunade greets the answer with silence. That is supposedly what is binding them all together here. A belief that the people of Homeworld are beyond forgiveness, that they cannot be trusted, that they will always turn against the pocket-worlds. Tsunade is another exception to the rules, another break in Tao Ma's plan to purify the group. She is the only 'death' user to not hate the people of Homeworld.
"How do you feel about them Lady Sakura?" Shikadai asks.
"I haven't really had a chance to meet many of them, but this Nina sounds alright. I heard about the Headmaster too, I think Sora was his name. I understand that there are a lot of bad people here, Sasuke and I were attacked by some when we arrived. However, thinking that the people of this world are beyond salvation, I'm not sure that I will ever be like that. I just think Naruto would be disappointed when we meet him again. That guy acts like an idiot sometimes, but when it comes to issues like this, he's right. He's just so right."
Shikadai sees another weakness in Tao Ma's plans, they cannot account for Naruto. His voice, even when he is not present, influences the shinobi of the Hidden Leaf constantly. He understands what Sakura means, he met with the 7th Hokage many times when he was younger. He is not known for his intelligence, a subject that often frustrated Shikadai's father; but on the important subjects he was spot on. While others on committees would debate these subjects, when Naruto spoke everyone just stopped and listened. The people of the village questioned him, but they never doubted him. He was right.
There were two people who originally betrayed Naruto. It is no coincidence that this was Hashirama and Boruto. Only the 1st Hokage could challenge Naruto's voice, they were the only Hokage who led the village into such golden eras, only he could speak with the same authority as Naruto. Boruto is different, he never claimed to know these subjects like Naruto. For a child of the Leaf though it is almost expected that you will surpass the previous generations; Uzumaki Boruto was cursed in that sense, for he had an enormous shadow to step out of. Indeed, it was Boruto's responsibility to disagree with Naruto, that was what Minato told him.
Shikadai notices Tsunade resting her head in her hands and recalls her condition.
"Do you know what may be causing Lady Tsunade's headaches?" he asks Sakura, "I believe she has been experiencing them for longer than you would expect."
"There are confidentiality rules," Sakura reminds Shikadai.
"You can tell him," Tsunade says.
"OK. Lady Tsunade's brain has been transposed. I've never seen anything like it. Her mental anguish is being confused for physical anguish. Basically, bad thoughts will cause her pain."
Shikadai nods, "What a drag. Is there anything that can be done about it?"
"Not with chakra. Perhaps with my 'healing' energy I could do something, but it would be risky. I'm not willing to risk a friend's life on such long odds."
Chakra!
The word echoes in Shikadai's mind over and over again. Chakra! One of the missing pieces of his puzzle, one step closer to understanding his enemy, one more secret that Tao Ma has kept from them.
Tao Ma told them he was a pocket-worlder just like them, fighting for vengeance. He told them that he was one of the only survivors of his world, that when he was reanimated, as a sage mode user, it caused him to understand the element of 'death'. He claimed he used this principle countless times to help people understand just as he did, that he travelled the pocket worlds looking for natural chakra. However, there is something that doesn't add up.
Tao Ma has only ever shown class 5 divine energy.
Tao Ma has never used chakra.
If he is from a pocket world, why has Tao Ma never used chakra. Why is he not a sage as the others are? Has he held back for all this time, or did he never have natural chakra to begin with?
Many Years Ago, The Dark Dimension
Having watched the death of thousands of his protectors during a terrible battle, a young man had made a breakthrough. The Dark Dimension had begun to hear stories of people like this propping up. Initially they didn't believe it, but one man forced them to change their perspective, that man was Endou Akashi.
The young man was another, just like Akashi, who had naturally broken through and discovered a double transcendent element. This type of element was the worst fear of the dark dimension, they knew very little of how to counter it. Only the empress among them could readily compete with people on this level, they were not willing to let Homeworld add to their numbers.
Things had only recently become much worse for the Dark Dimension. They heard of the youngest ever person to master an element that transcends two levels, Furst Jonas. Akashi was troublesome but Jonas was worse still. He brought to the table a scientific knowledge and curiosity that made his research just as dangerous as any coming from the Dark Dimension.
The Dark Dimension needed to step up their research, they needed to come up with something just as dangerous as the science touted by Jonas. Now they saw that they had an opportunity. They kidnapped a young man who himself had just mastered a double transcendent element. A villager, who had just watched everyone die.
This villager's name was Tao Ma.
Tao Ma was the perfect subject for their experiment. Seeing that he had understood 'death' that made him the exact opposite of Akashi who had understood 'life'. Perhaps in time he would come to stand on the level of Akashi, Jonas and Sora.
Initially, having broken through and understood 'death' Tao Ma fought back against the Dark Dimension single-handed. When the local Homeworld army heard about this story they dismissed it as impossible. The Dark Dimension had just overwhelmed one of their stronger battalions, there is no way that someone who had just broken through could take them all on.
Tao Ma could not keep fighting forever though, at that point he had no battle experience at all. When the Dark Dimension send one of their officers to see what was happening that officer quickly subdued him. She wisely decided not to kill Tao Ma, realising the potential that his powers had to fight back against Homeworld's new resistance. This wise decision was rewarded handsomely by the empress.
Tao Ma to this day remembers them discussing how he could 'take it'. At the time he had no idea what it was that he was referring to.
What was being discussed was the Dark Dimension's own implementation of research Furst Jonas was carrying out. They needed to be more vicious, more cunning with their creations, and they were. What Furst had in the form of his rare genius, the Dark Dimension had in the form of their years of experience.
The Dark Dimension had created their own divine ability.
This divine ability was different though, it had to be. Divine abilities were the weapons of Homeworld, used to grant strange abilities and to multiply divine energy reserves many times over. The people of the Dark Dimension could not use divine abilities themselves; they needed a Homeworlder to take it for them. Their divine ability had to break whoever was going to take it, it had to warp their mind.
They had tried to push this divine ability onto countless Homeworlders now. The majority of attempts were to push the ability onto an officer, someone who could infiltrate the enemy's ranks and feed information back to them. It never stuck with any of the officers, so the empress demanded they try it on anyone. Villagers, soldiers, bandits, mercenaries and generals, the divine ability never stuck with any of them. It was as if the ability was cursed. That is until Tao Ma came along.
As they hoped, the divine ability finally stuck with Tao Ma.
Divine abilities are best absorbed in an unconscious state, but Tao Ma was brought back to consciousness when he absorbed it. His tortured cries echoed through the chamber as more divine energy rushed into his body. A previously outgoing gentleman who loved those around him, he was driven to the point of insanity by the process.
The Dark Dimension drew their conclusion, the requirement for their divine ability was the element of the user. They concluded that only 'death' users could use this divine ability.
The Dark Dimension used many dark tactics in the war. They were willing to sacrifice anything to take Homeworld for themselves. Their world was coming to an end, Homeworld had only just been born. They used their own dead in battle. They created a terrible technique that summoned the husks of their deceased comrades, that powered them with the energy that was inherent to their land.
This energy was called chakra.
When Tao Ma gained his divine ability, many of the husks suddenly bent to his will. They rushed over to him and freed him from his restraints with a newfound power. They too had the power of 'death' granted to them. Tao Ma's divine energy had become their power as well. The scientists and mages of the Dark Dimension realised what set these husks apart from the others, they were using a special kind of chakra, natural chakra.
Though many of the husks were of no use to him, those that Tao Ma had control over followed his orders to the letter. He controlled everything they felt, everything they thought and every impulse of their body. The only thing he lacked power over was their will for self-preservation.
Tao Ma could draw natural chakra users to his cause and grant them powers beyond anything the Dark Dimension could do before.
When the empress herself heard of this tremendous breakthrough, she came to inspect Tao Ma. Certainly, his power was disappointing. He could not rival the other Homeworlders with double-transcendent elements. His power was insignificant compared to her own and many of the Dark Dimension's senior warriors, but he was a significant breakthrough. He could sneak behind enemy lines and take them out, he could gather information.
When the empress asked what his mission was, she knew that the Dark Dimension had succeeded. She knew that the modified divine ability had worked how they had expected and that it had shattered his mind.
Tao Ma answered, "My mission is the death of all Homeworlders."
Present Day, the Camp
"I know you've been lying to us!" Shikadai says, unusually animated as he lays into Tao Ma.
Sasuke watches the scene with curiosity. At this point he is already convinced that Tao Ma is deceiving them, he's more curious about the reactions of the others. He watches Hashirama to see if there is still a glimpse of the old 1st Hokage there. He watches Tsunade to see how committed to this new cause she has become. Lastly, he watches Boruto, to see just what sort of person Naruto's son is.
"Lying to you?" Tao Ma chuckles, putting a hand over his mouth to feign shock, "What could possibly have given you that impression Mr Nara? Surely my sincerity cannot be brought into question on the basis of my mannerisms."
"You told us that resurrected sage mode users intrinsically understood the element of 'death', but that doesn't make sense does it. Something about your story just doesn't add up."
"Hold on Shikadai," Boruto gets to his feet. "That story makes perfect sense, it happened to me after all. It happened to me, it happened to me, my master and Lady Tsunade after all. We've seen proof that this is the case with our own eyes."
"Then why doesn't he have chakra," Shikadai asks, waving his finger at Tao Ma.
Sasuke smiles. If he needed any more proof that Shikadai is Shikamaru's son, he's just been given it. Shikadai is right of course, Sasuke has sensed small amounts of chakra from everyone here. No more so than you would expect from an average shinobi. The majority's chakra reserves are insignificant compared to the few glowing beacons present, particularly himself, Hashirama and Boruto. Tao Ma has no chakra though, no chakra at all. It's unnatural, back in their pocket world all life could be seen to have just a tiny amount of chakra flowing through it.
Boruto holds his head in his hand.
"Hold on," Hashirama says, "Is it really that unusual. Just being from a pocket world doesn't guarantee that you are a shinobi. Most of our villagers don't have command of chakra, there is no reason they couldn't use divine energy though."
"They still have noticeable chakra though," Sasuke argues, "Lord 1st, I don't know if your senses are as good as they used to be, but I can tell you that using my rinnegan I can't find any chakra in him."
"Perhaps your senses are straining in this new environment."
"The rinnegan doesn't stop working in a new environment."
"You have only just arrived here Uchiha Sasuke. Tsunade has been speaking to Sakura, verifying who she is. However, nobody has been speaking to you in the same way. We have no way of knowing that you are the real Sasuke."
Boruto interrupts his masters, "That's enough."
Sasuke continues to watch the conflict in Boruto, wondering which way he will go. It should be obvious to him now that something is out of place, how he proceeds will be telling as to what his intentions are. Hashirama clearly wants to overlook this. Sasuke himself clearly wants to investigate this. With his two masters arguing about the correct way forward, what will Boruto's decision be.
"I've seen it with the Tenseigan," Boruto continues, "Shikadai is right, you don't have any chakra reserves, do you Tao Ma?"
"I do not," Tao Ma admits confidently.
Shikadai is thrown. Tao Ma is openly admitting to his deception. This is not something he anticipated. He expected him to lie his way out of it, to search desperately for his next opportunity to kill the shinobi who remain. Doesn't he realise that admitting to this lie will only tighten Boruto's guard around them? How could it possibly help him?
"You told me that you came from a pocket world, that you suffered at the hands of the military. You told me that Lara's subordinates came to your world, that there was nobody left. But Shikadai is right, if you came from a pocket world you wouldn't have chakra."
Tao Ma meets this with silence.
"There you have it Boruto, he's been lying to you," Shikadai says. "Don't you get it now? You can't trust him; we should get away from him as quickly as possible. He's lied about this and you have to see that he is lying to you about the assassination as well."
"That's a stretch," Hashirama interrupts.
"I disagree," Sasuke says.
Boruto glances between his two masters again, torn in two opposite directions. Encouraging him to trust Tao Ma, Hashirama pulls him to the left. Encouraging him to trust Shikadai, Sasuke pulls him to the right. He decides to listen to his heart, and he asks himself what he would do if neither of them were there.
He is the Shadow 9th Hokage, what matters to him is protecting the village. To do that he needs to know the truth.
"Tao Ma, I have to know something before I can make a decision."
"Ask away," Tao Ma encourages Boruto.
"If you aren't from a pocket world, if you're family didn't die at the hands of the military as you claimed, then why do you do it? Why do you want the people of Homeworld dead so badly?"
Tao Ma continues to grin on the outside, but on the inside he cringes.
Boruto is the most important part of his plans.
Boruto is one step closer to the truth.